ORDINANCE CONTROLLING SALE OF METH INGREDIENTS NOW CITY LAW

The Crossville City Council passed the third and final reading of the
ordinance controlling the display and sale of products containing
ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and phenylpropanolamine that can be used in the
manufacture of crystal methamphetamine.

The ordinance means that none of the over-the-counter cold and allergy
products that contain these chemicals can be displayed on customer
accessible shelves and buyers must both present identification and sign for
the purchases giving an address.

Upon discussion, some changes were made in the final version of the
ordinance to adjust the maximum amount that can be purchased to up to 100
tablets containing no more than 3 grams of the ingredient.

In addition, the provision that no one under 18 can purchase the products
was removed following discussion by the city attorney Ken Chadwell.

Bettina Black, president of the Tennessee Pharmacists Association, had
contacted Chadwell earlier in the day to discuss the measure and said that
the changes would coincide with what other communities were doing. The
group had consulted on the original bill and supports the ordinances by
local governments. Black said that the 18-year-old provision was in the
original statewide bill, but based on the recommendation of the state
attorney general it was removed because of a previous court decision.

Councilman Carl Duer said the difference between the two amounts was very
small and he agreed with the recommended changes. The motion to pass the
ordinance on third reading passed unanimously.

Crossville Mayor J.H. Graham III said that he has had wonderful comments of
support from the public on the matter and he recommended that the
Cumberland County Commission also consider passing the measure. Graham
added that when the state legislature reconvenes next year, they should be
encouraged to increase the penalty for meth from a misdemeanor to a felony.

In a related matter, Councilman Wyatt brought a discussion about a possible
drug dog for the Crossville Police Department to the council. Wyatt said
the drug problem is growing out of hand and asked Police Chief David Beaty
to tell council how a drug dog might help his department.

Beaty explained that a drug dog would be very helpful to his department and
that most of the departments in the surrounding areas have one or two of
the trained dogs. According to Beaty, three dogs would allow one for each
shift, but two dogs could be used to cover most of the city's needs with
some overtime expense if needed. The dogs cost between $8,000 and $10,000.

According to Beaty, the dog would be assigned to a single officer who would
also care for the dog while off duty. The officer would need to make a
commitment to work with the dog for at least five years.

Councilman Wyatt said he was very interested in having a drug dog for
Crossville. Mayor Graham asked city manager Jack Miller and Chief Beaty to
gather additional information and bring it back to council at a future meeting.

For the third time, Crossville City Council has rejected all bids on a new
sound system for the Palace Theatre. The one bid that met all the
specifications was over the amount budgeted for the project. Council
approved a plan to save the city money on the project and is expected to
save over $15,000 on the total cost. The city will try bidding only the
purchase of the necessary equipment and hire the services of a
sound/electrical engineer to oversee the installation of the equipment
using some city personnel for the non-technical work involved.