MORE THAN 60 SOUGHT IN DRUG BUST

More than 60 persons, mostly Cookeville area residents, were being sought by
an army of cops today in a huge drug bust that has been over a year in the
making. Hundreds of law officers gathered at the National Guard Armory early
today to begin serving about 64 sealed indictments for various drug
offenses.

They came from the Cookeville Police Dept., the Putnam Sheriff's Dept., the
TBI, the Drug Task Force, the National Guard's counter drug unit, and other
area agencies.

Most of the illegal drug trade targeted in this investigation involved
cocaine in one form or another, a drug which may have been overshadowed by
the current plague of methamphetamine problems, but which, nevertheless,
remains "a bad problem," according to District Attorney Bill Gibson.

It was an investigation which began with a big goal, Cookeville Police Chief
Bob Terry said.

"We set out to try to identify cocaine dealers in this area and their
sources too, and we wanted to prepare as many cases as we could," Terry
said.

Many of the cases involve "crack" cocaine, a cooked down form of powder
cocaine, a substance that is "highly concentrated and very addictive," said
Capt. Nathan Honeycutt.

Sheriff David Andrews said the investigation and today's round-up amounts to
"a pretty good lick" against drug dealers.

"I'm hoping we've hurt them, to put it plainly," Andrews said. "There will
be a lot of people in jail tonight, and we'll make a place for them. And
today is not the end of it either, it's just a beginning. They had better
keep looking over their shoulders."

As the officers who would be making the arrests listened at the Armory
meeting this morning, DA Gibson said, "We're going to make a huge dent in
the cocaine business in this area."

He also warned the officers that "all evidence in these cases is sealed by
the court for the next 90 days."

"Nothing about how these cases were made can be discussed," Gibson said,
apparently referring to work techniques beyond the undercover buys
traditionally used in such investigations.

Gathered at the Armory waiting for their assigned lists of suspects, the
officers also heard Chief Terry say, "This is probably going to have a more
significant impact on this city than anything we've ever done."

They heard TBI interim director David Griswold say, "These are major cases."

In other interviews today, DA Gibson told the Herald-Citizen that many of
the cases being made "will be multiple offense, Class A felonies punishable
by 15 to 25 year sentences."

"This operation shows how dedicated we all are in keeping our war against
drugs on all fronts going in the Upper Cumberland," Gibson said.

"I think it's notable that many people have called for cases to be made
against the bigger drug suppliers, and we are starting to have some success
with that. This operation touches all levels of the illegal drug trade
really."

Chief Bob Terry also talked about the quality of cases included in this
investigation, saying they "amount to a direct hit on drug dealers here,
with the emphasis on the city and areas right around it."

"We have a proliferation of mid-level drug dealers here, and they are what
makes the drug business go around, so to speak. This investigation has
touched a wide range of them and their customers."

He also said the list of the accused includes "a lot of repeat offenders."

All of the officials involved in the investigation praised the hard work of
the officers who made the cases and the excellent cooperation among the
various agencies involved.

"We are proud of our officers and all the time they put into this operation,
and we're proud of how successful this has been," Capt. Honeycutt said.

"It's been a long drawn-out investigation which has identified a lot of drug
dealers and we are in the process of bringing them to justice."

Chief Terry said, "Cases like these take a lot of time to develop. They
cannot be rushed."

The roundup was expected to take all day today and into tonight, with many
officers working overtime to accomplish the task of locating each suspect,
making the arrests, and bringing each one in for booking.

As of press time this morning, the names of those on the list were not
available to the public. The names will be released after those arrested
have been officially booked.