SHERIFF MOUNTS RURAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST METH LABS

MONROE CITY, Ind. - Communities searching for innovative ways to stop
the production of methamphetamine have tried everything from
distributing locks for fertilizer tanks to training road crews to
identify meth labs. Steve Luce, a sheriff from Knox County with a Wild
West streak, dons a cowboy hat and hops on a horse. Since March, the
sheriff and his deputies have gone by horseback through forest and
farms three or four times a month, looking for the labs in places
where cars and all-terrain vehicles cannot go. "It's my job to let
them know we don't want them here," said Luce, a former heavyweight
wrestler. Use of methamphetamine is soaring in the Midwest and South,
especially in rural areas.

It is a highly addictive stimulant that can be snorted, smoked or
injected. The meth labs, consisting of kitchen appliances and glass
jars, can be small enough to fit in a backpack; at least one found in
southern Indiana was on the back of a motorcycle. Most of the
ingredients to make meth are easily found at a supermarket, except for
anhydrous ammonia, a fertilizer commonly found on farms. Ingredients
handy Knox County is popular for meth labs because of an abundance of
the fertilizer and rural areas that provide places to hide. In 1999,
nine labs were found in the County, compared with 71 last year. Luce
said it's not uncommon for 70 percent of the inmates in his jail to be
behind bars because of meth-related crimes. "They get hooked on this
stuff," he said. "It's evil." For farmers, meth also is a menace.

Thieves stumble on their property to steal the fertilizer. They hide
labs in the middle of cornfields, unknown to a farmer until the labs
are run over by farm machinery. Some farmers are afraid to call
police, said Chad Brown, a salesman at Grower Co-Op in Vincennes.
"They're afraid they're going to come back," Brown said. "They feel
like they'll tear up their equipment if they call them in." In 2000, a
farmer in Flat Rock, Ill., was shot in the eye after chasing two men
attempting to steal anhydrous ammonia from his property.

He survived but was blinded. Luce said the horseback patrols are
helping to win farmers' trust.

He invited farmers to a hog roast before the patrols started and
persuaded them to let him go on their land. Others agreed to lend
seven horses to the program. Since the patrols started in the spring,
he and his deputies have found 18 labs, 17 of which were inactive.
"The horse definitely has an advantage.

They can go where four-wheelers can't go," Luce said. Nose to the air
On a recent day, Luce and his men saddled four horses and headed to
Long Pond, located on abandoned strip-mined land. Deputies followed on
four-wheelers bought with $7,600 in drug seizure money. As they
navigated hilly, steep paths, Luce and his deputies looked for signs
of meth, such as the smell of ether or ammonia.

They stopped when they saw fabric hanging from a tree, knowing it
could be a marker left by a cook. They didn't find any methamphetamine
that day. But First Sgt. Dave Phelps, team leader of the clandestine
lab team for the Indiana State Police, said the horse patrols are a
practical solution to the meth problem in a state where the number of
meth labs rose from 988 in 2002 to 1,260 in 2003. "So many are hidden
out in the woods and fields in desolate areas," Phelps said. "If any
agency really wants to aggressively look for them, you've got to look
outside the box." Luce hopes the inroads he has made with farmers
continue to yield results among his county's 40,000 residents.

Just nine labs were found in Knox County in 1999, compared with 71
last year.