FORFEITURES FUND NARCOTICS TASK FORCE

SEGUIN - Despite being short staffed for much of 2002, the 25th Judicial
District Narcotics Task Force was able to cover its own expenses from
forfeiture and restitution funds and still have enough money to operate for
about two years.

The task force received $85,710 from forfeitures, according to its recently
released 2002 statistical report. Combined forfeitures with savings, the
investigative agency was able to continue to cover its operating expenses
rather than request funding from the counties and cities sponsoring the
agency, which operates in Colorado, Guadalupe, Gonzales and Lavaca Counties.

"Actually, that figure is about normal or a little on the high side," said
Keith Majors, task force commander. "The average is between $60,000 to
$100,000 per year. Some of our money last year actually came from the sale
of some vehicles sold the previous year, which helped our numbers. In
addition, we currently have enough in the bank for two more years of
operations."

Majors credited that surplus to a strong year in 2001 during which the task
force received about $400,000 in forfeiture funds after a round up
involving several people in Bexar and Guadalupe counties.

The task force was able to keep up its funding stream despite being
understaffed for much of 2002.

"We were down to two agents and myself for a few months during the year,"
Majors said. "And having only two people makes this a difficult job. But
now we are almost back to full strength. In addition to the two officers,
we have one who just graduated from training and two currently in training.
That leaves only one additional position left to fill." Majors said the
number of arrests was down due to the manpower problems. The task force
made 80 felony arrests and 108 misdemeanor arrests during the year. In
addition, they seized 982.7 grams of marijuana, 251.7 grams of cocaine,
848.6 grams of crack cocaine and 1.5 grams of methamphetamine. The total
value of the drugs seized was estimated at $289,416.

"We did recover a lot of cocaine during the year," Majors said. "But not
that much meth. In fact, we recently made a bust that involved more meth
than we seized for the entire year. A lot of that has to do with our
(confidential informants). We based investigations in part on where they
lead us. If they are involved in cocaine, then they lead us to other people
involved with cocaine. If we turn to any of those people, they generally
lead us to more cocaine. People involved in narcotics generally are
involved in one particular drug."

In addition to the drugs packaged for sale, the task force also seized 100
marijuana plants during the course of the year. Most of those were taken in
a single bust. "It wasn't that big of a deal but we do include it in the
numbers," Majors said. "It was an incident where an individual had a bunch
of plants in pots around the house. It wasn't like they were cultivating
them in a field."

In addition to their own work, the task force was also involved in one of
the larger seizures in the state during 2002. They provided assistance to
the Guadalupe County Sheriff's Department and the Department of Public
Safety Highway Patrol during the seizure of 895 pounds of cocaine being
transported in an 18-wheeler on Interstate 10 on April 20, 2002. The
cocaine had an estimated value of $8.1 million.

In addition to the task force's narcotics operations, they also performed
21 community service programs.

"We talk to a wide variety of groups though out the year," Majors said. "We
speak to civic organizations like Lions and Rotary clubs and to youth
groups. One of our biggest presentations was to a group of 150 Girl Scouts
who were having a safety day. We talked about the dangers of drugs and even
did a canine demonstration for them. We're happy to go to whoever calls us
for a program."