WORKERS GET METH TRAINING

IDOT Crews Told Of Hazards Drug Labs Can Create

MORTON -- The image of a methamphetamine addict's deteriorated face flashes
on a projector screen, her stringy blonde hair falling on bleached and
ravaged skin.

Beside the state trooper operating the projector is a table containing a
thermos, cold tablet containers and a milk jug with rubber hoses hanging
from its sides -- all items useful to a meth cook.

The 35 or so men watching the slide show are not police officers,
prosecutors or case workers.

They are state highway workers -- members of one of the newest groups
forced to change the way they work because of the ongoing battle between
police and meth addicts.

"What does this have to do with you? They could be alongside the road
making meth," said trooper Brian Copple.

The recent meeting in Morton is a symptom of the spread of the drug -- an
acknowledgment that police officers are not the only ones who can come in
contact with addicts and the potentially lethal chemical cocktails they
discard along roads and in remote locations.

Items that look like common litter could kick up deadly gas clouds, Copple
said, and people who appear to be stranded motorists could be paranoid addicts.

"They could come across somebody in a car, see this stuff, and then start
dealing with a person that is tweaking on meth and could hurt them," said
Copple, who plans on meeting IDOT workers in each of the Peoria-based
district's nine counties.

"We're not going to get involved in policing or enforcing or those kind of
issues," said IDOT operations engineer Shane Larson. "We just want our guys
to be protected and be knowledgeable about what can be out there when
they're out there picking up trash."

Road workers are not alone in being trained to spot meth byproducts and
avoid those who make them.

Chad Carnahan, a maintenance mechanic for McLean County's parks department,
said he attended a similar class in late February in northeast Indiana.

"It really opened my eyes up how vulnerable Comlara (Park) is to this
stuff," said Carnahan, one of three full-time maintenance workers on the
trails and water daily north of Normal.

The park, also the location of Lake Evergreen, has numerous areas with
little traffic, Carnahan said, and it sits near an anhydrous ammonia
storage area. The farming chemical is a key ingredient in meth.

Shortly after Carnahan returned from Indiana, park employees found a hose
they think was used to draw anhydrous ammonia from a tank. But growth over
the hose indicated it had likely been there for about a year.

Police at the Indiana seminar indicated meth cooks commonly use propane
tanks to store anhydrous ammonia, but the tanks are not designed to hold
the corrosive substance, Carnahan said. The tanks could rupture, injuring
or killing someone.

"We pick up trash along the roadside ... on our trails," Carnahan said.
"And you go back, you think it's a propane bottle, you throw it in the back
of a utility vehicle, and the next thing you know, this thing explodes."

Carnahan said he wants to increase awareness of the risks from addicts and
their lab waste, and said people should notify park employees or police if
they see anything suspicious.

"You're not trying to scare them from coming to your area, but you just
don't want them to get hurt," Carnahan said.

Dan Winters, general manager of American Disposal Services of
Bloomington-Normal, said employees of his company receive related
hazardous-materials-identification training, adding it would be a good idea
to address meth waste separately. His company collects trash in much of
McLean and some surrounding counties.

Some highway maintainers said they have already seen signs they are working
in the same areas as meth cooks. Bob Naylor, safety manager for the Peoria
IDOT district, said some workers told him they found about 50 discarded
Sudafed boxes in a week.

After 18 years with IDOT, highway maintenance worker Rick Grashoff said the
meeting with Copple was his first narcotics training.

"This is interesting," Grashoff said. "I enjoy this. This is what we need."

He said IDOT workers would have previously picked many items like those on
the table next to Copple as common litter. Now he and others will be wary,
notifying authorities if they find suspicious items.

"As long as I'm a lead worker, I'll have my guys call me and we'll get hold
of state troopers," Grashoff said.