GROUPS JOIN FORCES TO FIGHT METH IN PEKIN

About 20 People Attend Meeting

PEKIN - For the first time since methamphetamine became a problem in Pekin
several years ago, the city is seeing a decline in the drug's activity, law
enforcement officials said Thursday.

"It's going down," Pekin police Sgt. Glenda Hollis said during a meth
informational meeting at Edison Junior High School. "The word is out, the
meth task force does a lot of interviews and there is a scare going out
now."

Mic Seward of the Tazewell County Probation Office agrees.

"In February, we had 20 major Pekin arrests," Seward said. "It seems to be
tapering off ever since then."

But while activity is on the decline, problems exist. Most notably is the
user's addiction to the drug.

"Right now, I have not had a meth user who can handle not being in jail,"
Seward said. "The minute they are out of jail, they are getting Coleman
fuel, plastic tubes."

About 20 people attended the informational meeting put on by the Pekin
Police Department, Tazewell County Probation Office and Tazwood Mental
Health Service Inc.

According to records from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information
Authority, 36 meth labs were seized in Tazewell County during 2002. Before
1998, there were no meth labs seized in the county, state records show.

Since 1999, more than 90 suspects have been arrested in Pekin for allegedly
dabbling in meth, according to records compiled by the Police Department.

The number of Pekin meth arrests climbed in January and February shortly
after the city joined with federal drug agents, the Tazewell County State's
Attorney's Office and Sheriff's Department, among others, to form the task
force.

As a result, several of the people arrested face federal drug charges that
could land them in prison for up to 60 years.

The prospect of a longer prison sentence alone is scaring some of the
region's most well-known meth users away, Seward said. Before the task force
was formed, most meth users faced state charges, which carry considerably
less prison time than federal charges.

Authorities also claim most retail stores in Pekin and surrounding
communities are well-educated on what products to sell in small quantities.
That includes anything that can be considered a meth precursor, like cold
pills, Coleman fuel, plastic tubing and lithium batteries.

The drug is made when a solvent - like lamp oil or ether - is added to
pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, chemicals commonly found in cold pills. The
mix can be highly combustible and result in a fire or explosion like the one
that occurred at a 14th Street apartment in January.

Hollis said retail stores are doing a good job in keeping the items used to
manufacture meth away from users.

In fact, the 28-year veteran of the Pekin Police Department recently
attempted to purchase several packs of batteries at Pekin's Wal-Mart for the
department's cameras. Her purchases were denied.

"At Wal-Mart, you can only buy a certain number of items," Hollis said.
"They have registers only allowing five purchases (of batteries).

"I said, 'Now wait a minute, I have six cameras.' "