DRUG PLAGUE EVEN STRIKING BELLA VISTA VILLAGE

Despite the recent creation of a drug task force in the Benton County
Sheriff's Department, the drug problem in the county is getting worse,
Sheriff's Department Captain Tom Brewster said Oct. 14.

Brewster addressed the drug problem in Benton County and northwest
Arkansas during a talk at the Senior Protection Academy in the
Sheriff's Department headquarters.

The academy is one of a series of periodic seminars held by S.A.L.T.
(Seniors and Law Enforcement Together), a group of citizens selected
on the basis of leadership abilities from communities throughout the
county.

Not only is Benton County plagued by locally manufactured
methamphetamines, it appears that the county is also beginning to see
some amount of methamphetamines coming into the area from the Mexican
cartel, through California and other western states, Brewster said.

Lt. Ken Farmer of the Bella Vista Division of the Benton County
Sheriff's Department also noted an increase in drugs and drug-related
crimes in Bella Vista. The number of drug-related arrests in the
village more than doubled in the first nine months of the year
compared to all of 2002.

"So far, we've had 21 arrests for drug-related crimes, compared to
nine last year," he said. "We're finding that many of the criminal
offenses we're encountering are committed by people using
methamphetamines."

Brewster said the Benton County Sheriff's Department is working hard
to have Arkansas join HIDRA, (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area),
which pulls together state, local and federal law enforcement agencies
in an effort to stop drug trafficking on a regional basis.

Arkansas has been asked by the state of Louisiana to join it in
seeking a HIDRA designation, which Brewster said requires a $500,000
"buy in" on the part of the participating state members but opens the
door to obtaining federal funds for education, manpower and equipment.

"Arkansas is a main route for drug trafficking both north and south
from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada along Interstate 540, and east to
west from California to the east coast along Interstate 40," Brewster
said.

In the Benton County Jail, 80-85 percent of the prisoners are there
because of offenses involving drugs.

Bella Vista is also seeing its share of drug trafficking.

"One of the biggest marijuana operations we've ever uncovered was in
Bella Vista," he said, adding that methamphetamines are also
frequently manufactured and used in Bella Vista homes.

"Last weekend, we arrested the driver of a semitrailer at the truck
stop near the Missouri border in Bella Vista. He was rolling around in
a mud puddle as the result of using methamphetamines," he said.

"Think about having a truck driver at the wheel of an 18-wheeler going
down the highway in that condition."

Methamphetamines are easy to make and all the materials needed are
available at Wal-Mart for less than $400, he said. With that
investment, a meth maker can make $1,200 worth of the drug.

People who have never used the drug can be affected by its use and
manufacture.

"Making the stuff contaminates every surface in the house," Brewster
said. "It's a danger even to the people who are making the drug."

People who move into a former meth house get sick, and sometimes die,
he said.

"We put up signs in the meth houses we find, but we have no way of
knowing if the signs stay up, and we don't know if a renter or buyer
is notified of the danger.