PASTOR LEADS GET-TOUGHER DRIVE AGAINST METH

How can Middle Tennessee solve its methamphetamine problems? One
Cookeville-area pastor is circulating a petition that would ask the state
legislature to impose mandatory sentencing for the manufacture and
distribution of crystal methamphetamine and crack cocaine.

So far, more than 2,000 people in Putnam County have signed the petition
including Sheriff David Andrews, County Executive Kim Blaylock and
Cookeville City Councilman Ricky Shelton.

"We need to make our community, and even our state, a place where dealers
don't want to be," said Roger Payne, pastor of Miracle Mountain Ministry on
First St. in Cookeville.

"If we can make it so unattractive for dealers, then they may take their
business elsewhere. I'm not talking about addicts, but the suppliers of
meth. They're destroying families and communities and have no conscience
about what they're doing," he said.

Payne has been distributing his petition at area business and churches.
Monday night the petition was passed around at the regular meeting of the
Monterey City Board. Copies of it can be found at the restaurants 'Our Home
on First' and 'Bobby Q's' and businesses 'Doc's Automotive' and 'WATX Radio.'

Payne has volunteers distributing the petition in East and West Tennessee
but is still looking for help in passing the petitions around and getting
more of them signed by the mid-December deadline.

"We'd like to have over 5,000 signatures by the time the legislature meets
again in the new year," he said.

Payne is hoping a show of grass-roots support will open the purse strings
of the legislature which several years ago loosened sentencing guidelines
to save money.

Assistant District Attorney David Patterson of Cookeville has talked in the
past with State Sen. Charlotte Burks about the possibility of stronger
penalties for meth distribution.

"Meth is more dangerous than cocaine plus it causes people to become
extremely violent, but there's no money in the state to pay for increased
jail time. Any proposal that requires more money is not being passed,"
Patterson said.

Even though methamphetamine is known to be more addictive than cocaine and
cause more violence in its users than cocaine, the penalties for its use
and manufacture are presently often less than half the jail time assigned
to cocaine users.

Both cocaine and meth are categorized as Schedule 2 drugs, but a special
provision several years ago resulted in cocaine users usually being
sentenced to jail terms of from eight to 12 years.

Meth producers and distributors are usually sentenced to from three to six
years.

"And a standard offender can count on a 30 percent eligibility rate on his
sentence," Patterson said. That means most offenders serve only a third of
their sentence and with additional 'jail credits,' they often serve much
less than that.

"An offender sentenced to three years can often get out in less than a
year," Patterson said.

"The punishment for meth use is ridiculous. It doesn't begin to fit the
crime at all," he said.

Not only do meth users and producers serve less time than those who use
cocaine but the drug is so addictive that time served doesn't translate
into a clean bill of health. Even those who serve a year in jail have only
a 10 percent chance of staying off the drug once they get out from behind bars.

Payne thinks that only pressure from the community will affect the actions
of the state legislature.

"I was so impressed when the Cookeville City Council passed an ordinance
requiring retailers to be accountable for the sale of meth ingredients,"
Payne said.

"I know many people think it was insignificant, but it wasn't. It was very
important and the first step toward showing the legislature how vital this
fight is. Now it's time to go a step farther.

"The present system obviously isn't working," he said.

The District Attorney's office must agree. It has recently received a grant
to hire a special prosecutor to deal exclusively with drug cases.

* Anyone who would like to volunteer to help get petitions signed should
call Payne at (931) 528-0391. To sign a petition, go to one of the
restaurants or businesses listed above or check with your local church.