METH EPIDEMIC COULD BE DRIVING OUT RESIDENTS

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) statistics say that in all of Franklin
County, including Winchester, there were 60 meth labs seized in 2003, up
from 39 in 2002. Franklin County Drug Investigator Mike Bell said that since
January this year there have been 36 labs busted out in the county and
Winchester Drug Investigator Sgt. Danny Mantooth said there have been 26
seized within Winchester city limits.

The predominance of the problem with meth in our community is troubling, but
is it actually causing upstanding members of our society to move away? "A
meth house near you is no fun. They're up all hours of the night and raisin'
Cain. It's awful," said Franklin County Drug Investigator George Dyer. Dyer
said that he has noticed neighbors of meth labs quietly putting their homes
up for sale, but that only one or two have directly told him that they were
moving because the were fed up with the meth mess. "Most people hang in
there and hope it will get better, and a lot of people put it in their mind
that they're not going to be run off from their home," said Dyer.

Dyer expressed hope that things will soon start to improve. "They have
passed the law to put meth in the same bracket as cocaine starting July 1st.
That will really help us to keep them off the street longer.

After July 1st, I really hope to see things improve."

Real estate agent Margaret Lynch said that she has not noticed a increase in
people moving away from Franklin County, but that she believed we were in a
steady growth period with more people coming into Franklin County than
moving out. She said that the meth problem has caused her to have to be
"really, really careful who I rent to." Mrs. Lynch said that she has been
suspicious of a few homes and has had the police to run checks on them, but
so far she has not had to hire a hazardous waste team to clean up any of her
properties. Winchester Attorney Jerre Hood has recently started a business,
Hazmat Klean, with Margaret Armour to clean up the homes that are left
contaminated when meth has been cooked.

Hood said that they've had several calls, but not a lot of people have
decided to go through with a cleaning yet. He said most of the prospective
customers he's heard from so far have been older folks who own rental
properties and have had renters to cook meth. The people that have called so
far have called because they don't know what to do. "My opinion is that
there's a lot of meth out there in other counties, but the reason we have so
many seizures in Franklin County is that our law enforcement is really
working hard to get these labs cleaned up," said Hood. "In the twelfth
judicial district, our law enforcement has been more aggressive on the meth
problem than I have ever seen for any other illegal substance," said
District Attorney General Mike Taylor. "We're just inundated with it here,
because it started on the mountain in Grundy, Franklin, and Marion counties,
and it has branched out from there. Hamilton County is just now starting to
see meth labs and it has become a problem in East Tennessee and in West
Tennessee." Those that are thinking of moving away from Franklin County
because of the meth problem might consider that the plague of meth is
spreading all over the Southeast, and it could be even worse elsewhere.

Taylor said that, while all the meth labs that have been confiscated in our
district have used red phosphorus, that many of the labs in upper east and
west Tennessee are now using the more deadly and dangerous Nazi method,
which uses anhydrous ammonia and lithium or sodium metal.

Taylor said that the anhydrous ammonia is extremely corrosive and therefore
difficult to contain, because it will quickly rust through containers. In
addition, lithium metal is highly likely to explode if it has any contact
with moisture. Taylor said, "I've had DEA agents tell me that they don't
even like to mess with those Nazi method labs, that they don't want to be
around them." He said that the labs using this process are so hazardous that
DEA agents have to wear self-contained breathing apparatus to go into them,
because the fumes are stronger than any filter they could use. Even with the
self-contained breathing apparatus, like a diver or a fireman would use,
they can only stay in the lab for 20 minutes at a time. We have not had any
of the Nazi types of labs in Franklin County, and County Mayor Monty Adams
says that's because anhydrous ammonia is not a product that farmers around
here use, so the product is not available to the meth makers.

Adams said about the meth problem in our county, "It is a problem, but I
don't think that it's a wholesale problem, but rather a localized issue.

There are certain neighborhoods where it is a tremendous problem, and if I
lived in one of them, I'd want to move too. However, I am not really aware
of any mass exodus; I still see more people coming in than going out." Adams
also said that he felt our law enforcement is doing a tremendous job.

North Georgia is also dealing with methamphetamine production in their
counties and towns.

Georgia State Representative, and chairwoman of their House Methamphetamine
Study Committee, Barbara Reece recently said about meth in Georgia, "I don't
think it's public enemy No. 1 at this point, but it is a rapidly escalating
problem."

Winchester Mayor Richard Stewart spoke to the meth problem as well. "It's a
no-win situation for everybody involved.

It hurts everybody from our kids to our elderly.

You have to have some sympathy for the people hooked on it. Our funeral
homes are going to be the busiest places in town in ten to fifteen years
because it's just killing them." The mayor also said that he hadn't heard of
anyone moving specifically because of meth, and that he had heard about the
stiffer penalties starting July 1st and that "that's got to help."