OFFICIALS TO JOIN DRUG TASK FORCE

PINEVILLE - It appears Bell County will have an independent drug
enforcement agency. Officials of the fiscal court, City of Middlesboro and
City of Pineville gave verbal intentions to join the Cumberland Plateau
Area Drug Task Force.

The multicounty drug task force will have arrest and investigative powers
in all the counties it serves. "In 2000, legislators created Kentucky ASAP.
That basically allows counties to form some organization that will start to
work on this problem," said state representative Johnnie Turner.

"This is a step in the right direction and I'm glad to be a part of it,"
Turner said. Bell County Assistant County Attorney Neil Ward said he
visited a Jamaican island that at one time was noted as a drop off for
Colombian drug dealers, but they no longer use that island. "We've had
enough in our community," Ward said of the attitude of the island
residents. Ward said that is what it was going to take to eradicate drug
dealers in Bell County, residents saying they are fed up and don't want
them around any longer.

Bill Bisceglia, Bell County Deputy Coroner said he has had 80 coroner calls
this year and eight of those deaths were directly linked to drug overdoses.
"I have five cases lying on my desk right now pending toxicology results,
that I feel very strongly that four are going to be overdoses," he said.

Bisceglia said most of the drug-related deaths were from prescription
drugs, used illegally. He noted that all deaths have to be reported to some
agency, such as the state police, child welfare, Kentucky Cancer Registry,
U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Safety. "We report drug deaths
to no one." There isn't any agency recording drug-related deaths. "We are
remiss in our duties if we don't set up some sort of reporting system,"
Bisceglia said.

After reiterating the drug problem and how it affects every family, Knox
County Attorney David Jorjani spoke about part of the solution, targeting
the street level drug dealers. He said what brought into clear focus the
need for a multi-county drug task force was when he had to prosecute a 14
year old girl who was prostituting herself to buy methamphetamine.

Jorgani said the task force is trying to get local concern about the drug
problem and intelligence with federal dollars and expertise. "The war on
drugs can't be won in a day or week or a year because it did not start
yesterday or last week or last year. It is going to take a consistent,
highly trained effort over a long period of time to really turn this battle
around," he said. Through Congressman Hal Rogers office and the High
Intensity Drug Area task force long term drug investigations that when they
are brought to court, it is a near automatic conviction. To join the
Cumberland Plateau Area Drug Task Force, Jorgani said each governmental
entity needed to contribute $14,600. The funds would go to match a three to
one federal grant to finance the organization.

The grant money will pay the salaries for an operations director, secretary
and one local agent for each participating county. The funds also will go
to pay for drug buys, equipment for the officers, funds for paying
informants, video and audio tapes and weapons for the agents. The
operations director is Roland Huckabee a former state police officer with
more than 24 years experience, nine of which he was head of the Eastern
Division of Narcotics. The agents have not been hired. The task force has a
board of directors made up of police chiefs, sheriff's and state police who
will oversee the fiscal responsibilities. They will not be involved in the
investigations. The only time another law enforcement agency will be
involved is when assistance is need. The board will not know who is under
investigation. Only the agent and operations officer will have that
information. Huckabee compared the task to the 1930's "Untouchables", in
Chicago. Bob Mitchell, representing Hal Rogers, said the Congressman was
willing to give the tools needed, through federal grant, to help law
enforcement get rid of drug dealers. "He is adamant that we get a federal
bill that would track prescription drugs across state lines," Mitchell
said. Contained in the bill would be a provision that police investigators
could go across state lines to question druggists where there is a suspect
and the pharmacist would be required to cooperate in the probe. Jorjani
said he hopes the task force will be self sufficient in three to five years
and would not have to depend on local or federal funding. He said the task
force would be financed through confiscated drug money.