TURKEY DAY BUST REDEFINES 'DEFENSIVE DRIVING'

While we were slaving over a hot stove Thursday, some other "cooks" were
using our highways and byways as their kitchens and creating a recipe for
disaster.

A police stop Thanksgiving Day near the Big Sandy Regional Jail in
Paintsville offers a frightening example.

Inside the truck stopped by Johnson County deputy Howard Dotson was what
appeared to be a working lab for the manufacture of crystal meth, including
two jars of the highly volatile chemicals used in the manufacture of that drug.

The find confirms concerns shared by police that drug cookers are becoming
a mobile danger, taking the manufacturing process to the road to avoid
suspicion and detection.

And, they are filling our roadways with car bombs.

The manufacture of crystal methamphetamine creates fumes that are highly
explosive. As long as the jars holding these drugs are sealed, the dangers
are less, but a fender bender in the wrong place at the wrong time could be
disastrous.

Drug makers and drug dealers are an innovative lot, and law enforcement
must match them with stiff penalties to deter the move to mobile operations.

In addition to charging them with the illegal manufacture and distribution
of drugs, these moving bombs should be cited for transportation of
hazardous materials, terroristic threatening and any other charge that
might fit the crime.

Our prosecutors and our courts should consider the potential for disaster
before any bargains are made or any sentences are imposed on the guilty.

The rest of us, meanwhile, need to redefine defensive driving.

Keeping an eye on the other guy on the roads has always been a good policy,
but now it could be a matter of life and death.

[snip]