COUNTIES GET HELP IN DRUG WAR

Etowah, Marshall will share in federal appropriation to fight meth.

By Cindy West Times Staff Writer Law enforcement agencies in Marshall and
Etowah counties will benefit from a $750,000 federal appropriation to fight
crystal methamphetamine, but they aren't sure how they will be able to use
the money yet.

U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., announced the appropriation, which also
includes Cullman and Walker counties, about two weeks ago. The money will be
split evenly among the four counties, giving each $187,500.

"We are still awaiting word from the Department of Justice as to what are
the permissible uses for the money. We still do not know all the details
yet, and we are told it will probably be four to six weeks before we know
more," Marshall County District Attorney Steve Marshall said.

He and Marshall County Drug Enforcement Unit Director Rob Savage have a wish
list of what they would like to buy to fight the drug that accounts for
about 80 percent of the DEU's cases.

"I know of several things we're looking at. The first has to do with
surveillance equipment, video and audio," Marshall said. "What we have is
becoming very outdated and not working appropriately. Another is general
equipment for daily use, from automobiles that are aging out to other
equipment we need from the tactical side."

The tactical equipment includes protective gear like helmets. "Some of the
guys are in need of having their body armor replaced," Savage said. He also
wants to improve the drug unit helicopter's ability to light up an area
during operations.

Marshall said that it appears his office will administer the grant for the
four counties. He didn't know if anyone from Etowah, Walker or Cullman
counties had asked for the appropriation. "Rob and I have been hounding
Aderholt's office about the issue. They talk about the Black Belt; his
district is the meth belt. His counties are all the ones dealing with this
issue," Marshall said.

Marshall and Savage met with a representative from Aderholt's office about
eight months ago. "We tried to explain to him that this is a problem
throughout the district. I don't know how they picked out these counties,"
Savage said.

Savage explained to Aderholt's representative how the DEU cooperated with
other agencies on drug cases such as the one involving Ricardo Corona.
Corona has been arrested for trafficking in methamphetamine three times in
the last three years. When he was arrested last April, the DEU and Cullman
officers worked together to seize five pounds of the drug.

"We worked closely with Cullman and we borrowed vehicles from the Etowah
County task force because Corona knew our vehicles," Savage said. "We're
doing everything we can to share resources, but even doing that we still
come up short on many occasions.

"Something a lot of people don't understand is the grant we operate under is
good about supplying personnel costs and operation costs, but there is not a
single nickel allocated for equipment. Unfortunately the equipment we use is
expensive," Savage said.

A single transmitter device, more commonly known as a wire, can cost more
than $10,000, and video surveillance equipment can cost $20,000 or more. The
Marshall County DEU is in its 12th year of operations. "I believe that makes
us the second-oldest drug unit in the state," Savage said.

A federal grant funneled through the Alabama Department of Economic and
Community Affairs is the DEU's main source of funding.

The same federal grant started the Etowah County Drug/Major Crimes Task
Force in December 1994 and continues to fund it. Task force supervisor Todd
Entrekin, who is chief deputy at the Etowah County Sheriff's Department,
said the sheriff's department subsidizes all the task forces needs that
aren't covered by the grant.

"We would like to get equipment to assist us in methamphetamine
enforcement," Entrekin said. "We need new vehicles - our vehicles are in bad
shape - and we want to send people to be certified in meth school so they
can take down labs."