COMMISSIONERS CALL FOR TOUGHER METH LAB LAWS

Ashe County commissioners on Monday did their part to help fight the war on
meth labs springing up in the northwestern part of the state.

The board adopted a resolution urging stronger penalties for the
manufacturing and selling of methamphetamines, and promised $7,812.50 to
the Ashe County Sheriff 's Department to help match an application for a
$250,000 grant for the Northwestern North Carolina Methamphetamine Task Force.

Deep Gap fireman Darien South and his mother, Mary South, appeared before
the board requesting adoption of resolutions seeking stronger penalties for
those who manufacture and sell methamphetamine and who operate meth labs.

Many meth labs are found in homes, and this poses a serious hazard to
firefighters who respond to fires in homes where meth is or has been
manufactured. The threat is also to children or other innocents in the
home, and anyone who might visit the home and unknowingly inhale fumes from
methamphetamine manufacturing.

South said that residue from chemicals used in meth production can also
last for a decade, making the home dangerous for future residents, and
should a fire occur in the home's future, the fumes would be just as
dangerous to firefighters.

Darien South knows this danger first hand. He told the commissioners that
he was among a crew unknowingly responding last January to a fire in a
structure used as a meth lab. An explosion of chemicals used in production
of methamphetamine caused the fire. Fumes injured several of the firemen,
and South suffered permanent lung damage.

"You don't know, walking into these, what they are," said South about meth
labs in homes. "They catch you off guard."

South described his injuries and resulting health problems from exposure to
meth fumes, but he isn't seeking pity or accolades. He simply wants to
alert others to the danger.

"I'm not a hero. I just enjoy being able to help folks when they need
help," he said. "Safety is the primary concern, for community members and
the innocent people. We want citizens to set a trend that they won't
tolerate meth labs."

South said those who manufacture methamphetamines often pour contaminated
waste material on the ground or in streams, and this will eventually reach
the drinking water supply. He said the rural environment of the mountains
is seen as a good and safe place to live, but it is also a haven for these
labs. Watauga and Ashe last year had the highest number of meth labs found
in the state.

As a result of the growing number of meth labs, fire departments have
instigated protocol including use of air packs before, during, and after
being on scene of a structure fire. "We treat everything as a meth lab,"
South said.

South thanked the commissioners for adopting the resolution, and the board
plans to send copies to all the other counties in the state as well as to
legislators. South said he is getting letters and petitions signed to take
to the legislature when it reconvenes this year, and is in contact with the
State Bureau of Investigation for their advice in seeking stronger criminal
penalties for manufacturing and selling methamphetamine.

The resolution includes a request that adequate state and federal funding
for law enforcement agencies be a top priority in the legislature, and that
fire departments have availability to grants and other sources in order to
maintain necessary equipment for dealing with the dangers posed by dealing
with methamphetamine labs.

"It's our terrorist. It's meth," said Sheriff Jim Hartley to the
commissioners as he described the problem of clandestine methamphetamine
labs, and showed the board a map of their growth across the state.

"If you have a third grade education, access to the Internet, and fifty
bucks, you can be in business," he said. "It's sad, but it's true."

This problem has resulted in the formation of the Northwestern North
Carolina Methamphetamine Task Force, joining sheriff 's departments in
Ashe, Watauga, Wilkes and Forsyth counties and the SBI. A federal partner,
such as the DEA, U.S. Marshals, or other such agency, is needed, Hartley said.

The task force's strategic plan is to seek grant funding for a year to
establish and collect intelligence on the meth cookers in the northwestern
area and follow through on eliminating clandestine labs. Succeeding years
would include acquisition of surveillance equipment, improvement of
investigative techniques, and employment of special prosecutors to hold
methamphetamine drug courts.

The task force needs to obtain certification for its officers in the
various counties and special suits for going into a suspected clandestine
meth lab. Right now, Hartley said, each must wait on special agents from
the SBI in order to deal with a suspected meth lab. The SBI is spread thin,
he said, responding to the growing problem all across the state. "They'll
help us all they can, but we're going to have to stand on our own legs," he
said. "And all this equipment is expensive."

Hartley said the task force wants to apply for a $250,000 state grant to
get underway with personnel, supplies, equipment and training. This would
require a local match of $62,500, split among the four partner counties.
Ashe County's share would be $15,625, and Hartley agreed to provide half
that from his budget. The application must be in to the Governor's Crime
Commission by Jan. 30.