CATOOSA TO FORM METH TASK FORCE

Officials Look For Ways To Halt 'Epidemic'

To fight on the local level what authorities around the country are
calling an epidemic of frightening proportions, Catoosa leaders last
week convened to discuss establishing a methamphetimine task force.

Catoosa County Board of Commissioners Chairman Winford Long on March
31 asked Catoosa Coroner Vanita Hullander to head the task force
during a quarterly commissioners meeting with the county's elected
officials at the Colonnade.

Hullander suggested the committee aggressively look at ways to combat
Catoosa's growing meth problem, which she described as "a bigger
epidemic than HIV.

"It is a community disease - it's not just a law enforcement problem,"
Hullander said. "Most users are back on the drug after being out of
jail for a week. The lifespan of a meth cooker (manufacturer) is about
two years. They can make it anywhere. Even in the back of a truck."

The coroner said that meth users face tremendous health problems that
will eventually lead to deaths. Chronic use of t Catoosa County
commissioners and elected officials meet March 31 at the Colonnade for
a quarterly meeting. The group focused on the rampant meth use
plaguing Catoosa. (Staff photo by Randall Franks)

he drug, commonly known as crank or ice, is also contributing to
significant increases in child abuse and domestic violence, she said.

Hullander said she wants to bring together agencies that are
experiencing the effects of the drug to develop information on how it
is directly impacting the county and create ways to combat the problem
and deal with its effects.

Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Herbert "Buzz"
Franklin said that his office has gotten a lot of meth-related
convictions in recent years.

"The judges are giving the manufacturers a lot of time, but it is not
unusual for them to get out on bond, be charged again, get out on
another bond and be charged again," he said. "Sometimes they can have
as many as five different charges before we get them to court."

The district attorney noted an instance when an inmate even devised a
functioning meth lab in the judge's chambers at the Dade County
Courthouse last year.

Franklin said meth offenders are entitled to bail under the law. He
said one approach his office is considering to assist in the problem
is to develop a drug court in the circuit.

Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers said meth manufacture and usage
constitutes the number one drug-related crime in the county.

The after-effects of meth withdrawal on county inmates make it
extremely costly to the county, he said. Summers said taxpayers are
forced to pay for the medical care of inmates as a result of the
devastating health effects of the drug. The average inmate arrested
for meth use cannot make bond and spends an average of six months in
jail, he said.

Local meth users range in age from teenagers to 70-year-olds, with
most being between 15 and 35, the sheriff said.

"It is damaging a lot of people," he said. "One of the trends we are
seeing is we cannot even use them as informants. You can't believe
what they say. You can't trust them."

Staff writer Kevin Cummings contributed to this article.