METH FILLS DAY FOR AUTHORITIES

Every day, someone in Oklahoma deals with the problems of methamphetamine,
whether they are lawmen on the beat or users trying to beat an addiction.
The Associated Press, with the help of its member newspapers and
broadcasters, wanted to show the drug's presence in the state during a
randomly selected 24-hour period. On July 24, this is what happened: . Meth
travels social ladder in Oklahoma . Origins of meth in Chinese plant

12:06 a.m.: Le Flore County Deputy Sheriff Justin Phillips is on a manhunt,
responding to a possible sighting of a man wanted for allegedly operating a
large meth lab in the back of a pickup. Hours earlier, two men led deputies
on a chase before crashing the truck near Panama and fleeing. Search dogs
tracked them for miles in far eastern Oklahoma before losing the trail.

2:30 a.m.: An eight-hour shift driving the backroads of Ottawa County in
search of drug activity and tracking down informants comes to an end for
sheriff's Lt. Scott Graham. This was a quiet shift, but that's not always
the case. The three-man narcotics unit he supervises has seized 15
methamphetamine labs this year and arrested more than 35 people.

3 a.m.: In the early morning darkness, the special operations unit of the
Caddo County sheriff's office conducts surveillance on an anhydrous ammonia
storage site. They'll be here for six hours. Farmers use anhydrous ammonia
as fertilizer, but thieves often steal it to make meth.

8:40 a.m.: In what has become a daily ritual, a woman and her two young
sons stand outside the county jail in Miami, hoping to catch a glimpse of
inmate Richard O'Hara through a pair of slim windows. O'Hara, who is
accused among other things of attempting to manufacture methamphetamine,
works in the prison laundry. "He'll be here soon," Teresa O'Hara tells her
boys, wrapping her slender arms around them and turning their heads so she
can look into their eyes. "Your daddy will be here soon." She was arrested
along with her husband and also faces trial this year.

9 a.m.: Bartlesville police and a special task force use a battering ram to
enter a house where 6 grams of suspected methamphetamine are found. Two
people are arrested. At the same time in Poteau, a jury hears testimony in
the trial of James Preston Ray Sr., 59. Ray was serving a 10-year suspended
sentence for meth possession when his parole officer allegedly found a meth
lab in the bedroom of his home.

9:30 a.m.: James Dillon, 31, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, sits
handcuffed to a dozen other men in a Tulsa County courtroom. When it's his
turn, he pleads guilty to manufacturing methamphetamine and injuring a
minor child. He receives seven years in prison for his first meth
conviction. His girlfriend, Michelle Ashlock, also is there but must await
sentencing on the same charges. Her 10-year-old son was in the house where
meth cooking was taking place. The boy tested positive for the drug.

10 a.m: A Carter County task force, acting on a tip, finds suspected
methamphetamine in the home of a young couple. Agents say two small
children, including an infant, were living in the house. The parents are
arrested. The children go to live with a relative.

Noon: On death row of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, inmate
Harold Loyd McElmurry II is served a lunch of beans, greens, cabbage and
cornbread. McElmurry told police he and his wife were high on
methamphetamine when they killed an elderly Lenna couple in 1999. This is
his last Thursday to live. His execution took place July 29.

2 p.m.: The office of U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne, prepares a news
release about new funding for meth enforcement. "We've got to meet this
crisis head-on," Lucas said. "Our local police departments and sheriffs'
offices are on the front lines of this war."

3:30 p.m.: Back in LeFlore County, Deputy Phillips visits a home near
Panama, where a tipster says he might find one of the suspects from the
previous day's pursuit. He doesn't find the suspect -- just another
suspected meth lab. Two people are taken away in handcuffs.

And in a Tulsa courtroom, Kevin Lee Weber is sentenced to 20 years in
prison for trafficking meth via express delivery. A police dog had alerted
on a package sent by Federal Express and addressed to Weber's Tulsa
apartment. A search turned up 4.5 ounces of meth inside.

3:40 p.m.: McCurtain County law officers descend on a Broken Bow home after
an undercover agent speaks to a suspected meth dealer. They seize glassware
and chemicals and arrest a man and a woman. It's their 31st such seizure
this year. "We're probably more aggressive than we've ever been," Sheriff
Mike Willaby said, "and trained to know what we're looking for."

4 p.m.: Returning to work in Ottawa County, Graham arrives at his office
and immediately picks up the phone to call a drug informant. "What have you
got for me today?" Graham asks. "I need some help. What can you do for me?"

4:30 p.m.: The Poteau jury convicts Ray on meth charges. At the same time,
nearly 200 miles away, a special operations team in Norman is called out. A
man has discovered trash from a suspected meth lab on his property.
Officers clean up empty bottles of a gas additive called Heet, camp fuel
and lithium battery casings. Twenty yards away, they find another pile of
suspected meth debris.

7 p.m.: In Perry, a group of young women gather around Gloria Brown for a
weekly Bible study. They look older than they are, aged by the drug
addictions they are trying to beat through a faith-based program called
Overcoming Through the Crisis. One woman tells the group she's worried
because the boyfriend with whom she used to sell and do drugs is coming
home for the weekend. "I don't want to go back to my old lifestyle," she
says. "I don't want to be tempted to do something wrong. But I'm afraid of
being alone. I'm so much older than him and now that he's thinking
straight, I might not be appealing to him." Brown recalls her own
daughter's journey -- a 20- year drug addiction that brought lost jobs,
rehab after failed rehab, five children with five different dads, a family
ripped apart and ultimately, jail. A faith-based program eventually helped
her daughter beat that addiction.

10:30 p.m.: Cruising along a state highway in Stephens County, Deputy John
Guthrie pulls over a pickup with its license plate light out. When the
driver rolls down the window, Guthrie smells the telltale odor of ether,
which is used in meth making. He contacts a drug team, which arrives with a
drug-sniffing dog. They find suspected meth in a passenger's purse and in a
tissue in the passenger door. A man and woman are taken into custody.

11:15 p.m.: Drug agents and Shawnee police stop two men walking on the
city's south side. They find smokable meth, along with PCP, on the ground
and believe the suspects dropped the items. They can't prove it, though.
Both men have outstanding drug warrants so they're taken to jail anyway.

CONTRIBUTING: Anadarko Daily News, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Daily
Ardmoreite, The Duncan Banner, KOTV-Channel 6, McAlester News-Capital &
Democrat, Miami News-Record, Norman Transcript, Perry Daily Journal, Poteau
Daily News, Shawnee News-Star, Tulsa World.