METH: COUNCIL URGES STATE TO ACT

Commenting on the lack of interest in the General Assembly toward combatting
the growing problem of meth abuse, members of the Cookeville City Council
last night adopted a resolution urging state lawmakers to take "swift
action." Councilman Ricky Shelton introduced a resolution stating that "A
joint House-Senate committee on methamphetamine legislation could not find
funding to support proposals aimed at stemming the fast-spreading epidemic
of this highly-addictive drug."

"I was very disappointed when I heard last week that the state wasn't going
to do anything about this problem," said Shelton after reading the proposel
resolution. "But I still hope they can find some money to do something.

"Some think it is only a rural problem, so those legislators from urban
areas don't see it as a problem and think we can just wait a year," Shelton
said.

The resolution further urged support of Gov. Phil Bredesen in the creation
of a task force "to develop comprehensive, meaningful legislation that can
be funded in a responsible manner."

Other Council members voiced their agreement. "We need to toughen up and let
these people [meth dopers] know they're not welcome here," said Councilman
Sam Sallee.

"It's very, very detrimental to this community," said Councilwoman Jean
Davis.

"I consider it an epidemic in this community," said Vice Mayor Steve Qualls,
presiding for Mayor Chuck Womack who is on a hiking expedition in New
Zealand.

"Other communities have got to try to stop this problem at its source like
we did here in Cookeville," said Qualls in a reference to an ordinance the
Council enacted last June restricting the over-the-counter sale of products,
usually cold medications, from which ingredients for meth are extracted in a
crude cooking process.

Police Chief Bob Terry, speaking to the Council, acknowledged that meth
abuse at the moment appears to be a largely rural problem but "In
Tennessee's four big cities they are mortally fearful about this getting
started in their communities, and that should ramp up our cause... Several
communities across the state have adopted the Cookeville ordinance."

Buyers of quantities of products containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine,
such as Sudafed, are required to sign for their purchases, and Chief Terry
said his officers are "tracking those people who are traveling from one
store to the next."

"We have not found a single retailer here who has been unwilling to
participate," said Terry. "I think this ordinance will take legs and go
across the state."

Terry said he believes the governor "intends to address the issue and not
just put a Band-Aid on it -- and it's more than just putting people in
jail."

Vice Mayor Qualls said he'd heard that meth addiction is so unrelenting that
some who are jailed and deprived of access to the drug are "eating scabs
from themselves and drinking urine just to get high again."

City Manager Jim Shipley pointed out that the police department's budget for
the coming year calls for two additional officers who would be assigned to
anti-drug duties.

A member of the audience, Carol Raschke, who said she and her husband had
retired and recently moved here, addressed the Council "to encourage you in
your continued fight against this."

The resolution was approved on a 4-0 vote.