Task Force Nets $512K in Drugs

Area law enforcement combined efforts to recover 256 marijuana plants
valued at $512,000 from wooded areas in Alexander City and New Site
this week.

According to Alexander City Police Capt. Wade Miller, the plants were
found between Coley Creek Road and Scott Road and at the end of Young
Road off of Sixth Street Extension, both in Alexander City and off of
Chapel Road in New Site.

"Every year we fly and look for marijuana," Miller said. "Of course we
use information and tips provided during the year when we go to fly.
While flying we check those locations and check other locations.
Sometimes we fly two times a year, depending on our manpower and funds."

The eradication was a result of the Alabama Marijuana Eradication Task
Force, Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force, New Site Police,
Alabama Bureau of Investigation Narcotics Division, Alabama National
Guard Counterdrug Unit, the Alexander City Police Department and Fire
Department and the Tallapoosa County Sheriff's Department working
together to obtain the plants.

The marijuana was cut down or pulled up by the law enforcement
officials and destroyed by fire. New Site Police Chief John McKelvey
said they were also burned because there was no way to determine who
planted them in the New Site area.

"They were found in a wooded area and the closest residence was
probably a mile and a half away," he said. "There is no way to prove
whose they are. But it is a continued and joint effort by law
enforcement agencies in this county as an anti-drug thing."

No arrests have been made at this time.