JACKSON COUNTY VOTES TO EXTEND COMBAT

Jackson County voters on Tuesday extended the sales tax that provides
millions of dollars for drug enforcement, prevention and treatment.

With all precincts reporting, the Community-Backed Anti-Drug Tax was
approved 22,267 to 12,391.

COMBAT is a quarter-cent sales tax that has generated between $15 million
and $20 million annually to hire more police, teach children the dangers of
drugs and give addicts the opportunity to kick narcotics.

Tuesday's results will continue COMBAT for seven years through March 2011.
Voters initially approved the tax in 1989 and renewed it in 1995.

County Executive Katheryn Shields and Prosecutor Michael Sanders led the
renewal effort.

Shields said the outcome of Tuesday's election showed that voters remembered
COMBAT's accomplishments.

"I'm very pleased," Shields said. "COMBAT is important because it is such an
innovative way to deal with the issue of drugs. A lot of communities have
programs that focus on police efforts...What's unique about ours is that it
combines law enforcement with treatment to help the nonviolent addicted
offender lead a productive life and with prevention to help children avoid
drugs."

During the campaign, supporters credited COMBAT with closing 7,200 drug
houses, removing $300 million in narcotics from the streets and providing
4,300 treatment slots annually.

COMBAT funds about 80 agencies, including the Comprehensive Mental Health
Center. It will receive $670,234 from COMBAT this year for treatment and
prevention programs, said William Kyles, the center's executive director.

He said Tuesday's extension of COMBAT allows many area treatment and
prevention programs to continue. Without COMBAT, the center would have
closed its residential treatment program in Independence and would have
slashed a Kansas City treatment program in half, Kyles said.

"There hasn't been a whole lot to cheer about in services for people this
past year with all the budget cuts at the state level," Kyles said. "To have
also lost funding from COMBAT would have been devastating."

The organization supporting the tax, Citizens for Crime Reduction, raised
$120,335 for billboards, television advertisements and other expenses,
according to reports filed last month. Contributors included civic groups,
foundations and labor unions.

The two groups opposed to the tax, the Organized Opposition to the Jackson
County Anti-Drug Tax and the Jackson County Taxpayers Association, ran
low-key campaigns that included public forums and letters to the media.

Opponents said they will continue to monitor the tax.

COMBAT "better make hay while the sun shines and clear up drugs. Because
when they come back seven years from now, we will be ready for them and we
will start (campaigning) earlier," said Richard Tolbert of the Organized
Opposition.

During the COMBAT campaign, opponents questioned the effectiveness of the
tax, saying drugs remained prevalent. They said too much tax money went to
law enforcement and too little went to treatment. They said COMBAT aimed at
low-level dealers rather than traffickers bringing drugs into the community.

Opponents also criticized COMBAT for funding Drug Abuse Resistance
Education, which brings police officers into schools to teach the dangers of
drugs. They cited national studies that said DARE was ineffective.

However, supporters said COMBAT allowed officials to expand local DARE
programs to make them more effective.

Supporters also defended the allocation of the tax revenue. They said COMBAT
merged the efforts of drug enforcement, treatment and prevention, which they
said made each area more effective.

This year, about 15 percent of the tax money will go to treatment agencies
and about 13.5 percent will go to prevention programs including DARE,
officials said. About 28.5 percent will be allocated to law enforcement and
the prosecutor's office.

About 33 percent is designated for programs in the court and County Jail
that also involve treatment. The remaining 10 percent is used to help COMBAT
agencies and others obtain anti-drug grants.