DRUG GRANTS PAY OFF; BUT GAS PRICES HURT SHERIFF'S BUDGET

PASCAGOULA -- "Two drug enforcement grants are paying off but the rising
cost of gas is causing an opposite effect," Sheriff Mike Byrd said Monday.

"We spent $26,000 on gas in a five-week period. This last week, our gas
bill was $5,700. I don't know if it's going to get any better or what, but
I just wanted to prepare you if we run short in that area," Byrd told
Jackson County supervisors during their monthly meeting.

Byrd's department covered 139,765 miles last month.

Two grants are helping the department in drug fighting efforts.

The sheriff's department received $400,000 from the Department of Justice
last year and this year, received $250,000. Byrd told supervisors during
their monthly meeting Monday that his department plans to apply for
$250,000 next year.

Byrd said the funding is needed "because of all the meth labs and
meth-related cases we are working."

All but $25,000 of the two grants have been spent on drug-fighting equipment.

Byrd appeared before county supervisors discussing the transfer of funds to
pay for equipment the department recently received.

He said $49,000 went toward the purchase of six all-terrain vehicles "we
had to have to go into wooded areas to locate these meth labs and also to
get us through those swampy areas that we may need to get to."

"We've gotten almost 400 meth labs since I've been sheriff," he said.

Byrd said the county will continue addressing the meth lab problem.

"We've received our trailer with all of our equipment in it. We have a
trailer for working these meth labs now. These chemicals are very volatile.
We got air packs, suits...all the stuff we need in this trailer to go in
and work these meth labs. Because if you walk in and you have a red
phosphorous lab, you're going to die, just that quick," he said.

Byrd said Jackson County surpassed Pensacola, Fla., with the most labs
cleaned up.

Supervisor President John McKay said for Jackson County, surpassing
Pensacola represents both good and bad news -- good in that the labs are
being cleaned up, but bad in the number of labs that existed.

He said it "shows how bad off we are in our county."

A $15,000 marijuana eradication grant received two weeks ago pays for
overtime for officers participating in the exercises.

During an operation last week, Jackson County Sheriff's Department,
Narcotics Task Force of Jackson County, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics
Eradication Team and RAID Unit of the Mississippi National Guard, joined
forces and seized 30 marijuana plants in a rural area of northeast Jackson
County.

Byrd said the county's recently refurbished helicopter was used in the
operation.

The plants -- located in a secluded, wooded area behind a house -- were in
plastic containers protected by mesh wiring to prevent animals from getting
the plants.