NOT ALL CITIES HELP TO FUND DRUG TASK FORCE

Since 1988, the Calhoun-Cleburne County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force has
worked to remove drugs from the two adjacent counties.

Task Force agents often work in Oxford. Records show the second-highest number
of cases made in the two counties between Oct. 1 and July 17 -- 101 cases --
were made in Oxford. Yet Oxford, with the second-largest budget of any
governmental body in Calhoun County, is one of two area jurisdictions that
never have contributed to the funding of the Task Force during its 15 years of
history. The other is tiny Hobson City.

Oxford Mayor Leon Smith, who would not comment on reasons for not helping to
fund the Task Force, says the size of his city's budget "doesn't have anything
to do with the price of eggs."

For the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, Oxford again has appropriated no
money to help match the federal grant that funds the Task Force.

The work of Task Force agents is varied and often hazardous. Two New York men
recently were convicted of trafficking synthetic heroin after they were
arrested by Task Force agents in cooperation with local police agencies aboard
the Amtrak passing through the area. Task Force agents were involved several
months ago in the arrest of the suspect in the shooting of a Cleburne County
deputy. With growing frequency, the agents raid labs set up to manufacture
methamphetamine. Then the agents disassemble the labs, a job that poses serious
health hazards from fumes.

The Task Force is funded in some part with seized money and property. But much
of its basic funding comes through a grant that must be matched with money from
local governments. The grant is used to cover the salaries of eight of its 10
investigators, two office staffers and a prosecutor.

Next week, a grant renewal application will be mailed to Montgomery. The
Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs will review it and decide
how much money to add to what the city councils and county commissions of
Calhoun and Cleburne counties contribute to the Task Force.

It will be some months before Task Force officials will learn how much money
they will operate with next year, but they already know who will and will not
contribute.

Ohatchee has contributed for the first time this year. A decision on continued
funding is pending in Piedmont.

Hobson City police Chief Daryl Parker said his city can't afford to contribute.
Hobson City has an annual operating budget of just $485,000 for all city
functions.

"I'll give them some cases, but other than that, that's all I can do," Parker
said. The Hobson City Police Department, which consists of Parker and two
officers, is working on a coordinated effort to make arrests in smaller drug
cases so the Task Force isn't "clogged with these," Parker said.

In a 1997 article on Task Force funding Smith said he believed Oxford Police
officers could take care of Oxford.

"I'm not going to talk about that," Smith said last week of the city's
continued lack of participation. "That's an old story. It's been going on 20
years. Talk to them, maybe they know."

Task Force officials said they do have a working relationship with Oxford
police officers.

"They got a dope problem just like everybody else," said Task Force commander
Lt. Richard Smith. "It's a problem for everyone, and it needs to be confronted
as a cooperative effort. It's the only way to make headway."

Task Force agents particularly are called on by Oxford police to dispose of
methamphetamine labs, he said. Between Oct. 1 and July 17, the task force
destroyed 10 labs in Oxford -- again the second-largest number among the
various Calhoun and Cleburne county jurisdictions. Anniston led with 19.

The Task Force isn't bound by jurisdictional lines and can't be concerned with
financial contributions if it is to battle drugs, officials say

"We go where the information takes us," Lt. Smith said.

Those who work with and contribute to the Task Force say the group could
accomplish more with more money. Lt. Smith said the Task Force would like to
hire more agents. "We hurt for money," he said.

"They're definitely a huge asset to the law enforcement in Calhoun and Cleburne
county," said Weaver police Chief Wayne Bush. "If anything, I think they're
under-funded. I think they could do much more."

Anniston Mayor Chip Howell said the city is supporting the effort through
continued focus on the drug problem.

The Anniston City Council voted Tuesday night to give the Task Force $45,707,
the largest contribution of any jurisdiction in the two counties.

"We have based it on the population of the city ... and not all are
contributing, but we feel it's important to take the lead," Howell said.

The Task Force also made the most cases in Anniston -- 506 from October 1 to
July 17.

The amount each governmental body contributes is up to its own discretion.

Heflin and Cleburne County began contributing to the Task Force three years
ago.

"We felt like by going through a group such as the Calhoun-Cleburne Drug Task
Force, being a part of that, by all of us helping fund it, they could provide
us better coverage for our county than we could ourselves with the same
funding," said Heflin Mayor Robert Rigsby.

If governments don't contribute or participate in the control of drugs, "then
they don't have an appreciation for our youth," Rigsby said.

Individual departments have designated officers to work as Task Force agents in
years past, but as manpower has become limited, police chiefs and sheriffs have
been forced to keep their officers and deputies at home, patrolling local
roadways. Many say they would like to put officers back on the force as soon as
they can.

Richard Smith is one of two agents assigned to the Task Force by the Anniston
Police Department, and Anniston pays the salaries of the two in addition to its
contribution to Task Force funding. The other eight Task Force investigators
are directly employed by the Task Force through the grant.