BORDER PATROL SHARES BUST $

Ogdensburg-based U.S. Border Patrol Agent-in-Charge Jean-Pierre R.
Plante is understandably philosophical about the big-volume drug
seizures his agency routinely makes along the Route 37 corridor in St.
Lawrence, Franklin and Jefferson counties.

The numbers are daunting.

On Oct. 13, agents followed a pickup truck that unwisely made a U-turn
at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Theresa in Jefferson County. The
getaway driver headed for Morristown on Route 37, drove the truck
across a field into a residential yard and fled successfully on foot.

Inside the side panels of the pickup's were 66 pounds of bundled
hydroponic marijuana with an estimated street value of $264, 000.

Last March in Waddington, state police assisted Border Patrol agents
in pulling over a vehicle on Route 37. Inside the truck was $109,000
in cash, allegedly from a drug sale.

Plante is philosophical about the busts because it is work that never
seems to end. Every one feels good to pull off, but it is just another
battle in a war. Just part of the job.

"Just one more," Plante said in his office on Friday. "It is something
that we have been doing for years."

An hour earlier, Plante had a chance to take the results of the March
bust a little further and have it provide a local benefit. Courtesy of
the Border Patrol, he distributed four checks totaling $71,000 of the
$109,000 to St. Lawrence County law enforcement agencies. They will
use the money to advance their own drug crime investigation.

The agencies and the money they received were: Massena Police
Department and St. Lawrence County Drug Task force, $21,976.96 each;
Potsdam Police Department, $10,998.48; and the St. Lawrence County
Sheriff's Department, $16,482.72.

Potsdam Police Chief John Kaplan and Massena Police Sgt. Douglas
Kassian said their departments' shares of the $71,000 will go to pay
for equipment, overtime and other costs related to drug
investigations.

Undersheriff Kevin Wells said his departments' and the task force's
shares will be used for drug investigations in general. Like with the
Potsdam and Massena departments, overtime and equipment will be among
the uses, but there are others not yet determined. "Nothing specific
is targeted for it," Wells said.

The $109,000 was confiscated when Ogdensburg-based state police
working with the Border Patrol inspected a car that had stopped for a
check in the eastbound lane of Route 37.

Plante commended the troopers for helping out, a role that has been
preformed many times before the Waddington bust. Troopers were on the
scene earlier this month in Morristown as well.

"These guys are super," Plante said. "They're there every time."

The Potsdam and Massena police departments are members of the county
task force.