PETERSBURG STORE CUTTING BACK ON STOCK OF COLD MEDICINE USED TO MAKE METH

PETERSBURG - The manager of Petersburg's Family Dollar Store plans to cut
back on her stock of cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine after someone
smashed a store window last weekend and stole the medication, as well as
the store's safe.

"I'm going to carry just a handful and nothing extra - just the bare
necessity," Debbie Thompson said.

Pseudoephedrine, when combined with such chemicals as anhydrous ammonia and
ether, can produce methamphetamine, an illegal drug.

A thief threw a large rock through the store's front window late Friday or
early Saturday. A juice display was knocked over, and the safe, which
contained an undisclosed amount of money, and a large quantity of the
medication were taken, Thompson said.

Assistant police chief Chris Milligan said the burglary is under investigation.

Family Dollar was closed Saturday as Thompson and others spent part of the
day cleaning up broken glass and puddles of juice.

"It was just awful. It was such a mess," said Thompson.

Certain cold medicines - including those that were stolen - have been kept
for some time behind the cash registers at Family Dollar, at the request of
the police department. Similar policies, requiring customers to ask for the
medication, are in place at Kent's IGA, Dollar General, Potter Drugs and
Heder's Apothecary in Petersburg.

Thompson said the burglar left behind pills containing pseudoephedrine that
were either coated or in capsule form.

"You could tell that someone was picking and choosing," she said.

And while the broken window has been replaced, Thompson said she no longer
feels safe working alone at the store before it opens or after closing.

"If someone wants to get in, they're going to get in," she said.

She said she's also concerned about what appears to be a growing
methamphetamine problem, especially since she has six grandchildren. "I
wish there was a way to nip it in the bud," Thompson said. "It makes me
sick. It's so scary."