HARRISON OBTAINED PLANE LEGALLY, BUREAU SAYS

GULFPORT -The Harrison County Sheriff's Department did nothing wrong in the
way it obtained an airplane or used it, the director of the Mississippi
Bureau of Narcotics said Friday.

Frank Melton said the plane, obtained to extradite prisoners, and one the
bureau gave to the Hancock County Port Authority and Harbor Commission are
only a small part of a larger probe involving "politics and personal favors."

Melton declined to comment on the plane given to Hancock County, which
reportedly was given for a two-year period during which a university
research project would equip the plane with sensors for use in finding
marijuana plants. According to a report obtained by The Sun Herald, the
sensors were never installed.

The bureau's investigation questions transfers of aircraft and weapons
handled by the agency's previous employees. The probe is related to a
larger one involving allegations of coercion, racism and record
falsification at the Air National Guard's 186th Refueling Wing in Meridian,
where the planes were stored.

The probe also is related to allegations claiming a former aide to Sen.
Trent Lott and a former bureau employee who ran the Guard's Air Refueling
Wing transferred property in exchange for political favor.

Melton said Harrison County is not accused of wrongdoing.

"It was obtained legally and operated with absolute integrity," he said.
"If Sheriff (George) Payne called me today and said he needed some
equipment I didn't need, I would give it to him, with the appropriate
paperwork, knowing he would use it for the good of his taxpayers."

Payne said he is relieved to hear Melton publicly clarify the issue because
"I'm tired of opening the paper and reading that our plane is part of an
investigation when I know we obtained the plane through proper channels and
turned it into an asset for the county."

The bureau is continually declaring its older equipment as surplus. In
1999, it transferred one plane, a Beechcraft King Air, to Harrison County.
The next year, Hancock County received a Cessna 206.

The King Air has been unusable since the engine broke in February 2001.
Hancock County has returned the Cessna to the state, but port officials say
they haven't been told if their involvement is under investigation.

"Rumors of wrongdoing on our part are unfounded," said Hal Walters, port
director. "Our records are accurate and open for review."

The Cessna was maintained in Hancock County through a joint agreement in
cooperation with the Air National Guard and a University of Southern
Mississippi project at Stennis Space Center, said Walters. An oceanographer
used the plane for research, he said, and a project was planned to put
sensors on the plane for spotting marijuana.

An unidentified informant claims in the report that the sensors were never
put on the plane, and that the plane had a new engine, props and a paint
job before it was transferred to Hancock County.