TWO DAYS AFTER DISCOVERY, HOLE FULL OF METH MATERIALS EMPTIED

Hockerville Pit Found On Leased Land In Vicinity Of Stolen Car

PICHER, Okla. -- A large quantity of equipment and chemicals used for the
manufacturing of methamphetamine was hauled away from a sinkhole near the
Hockerville community Friday by a private contractor for the Drug
Enforcement Administration.

Thirty-seven 55-gallon containers of chemicals were among the materials
removed from the sinkhole, apparently used by drug makers as a dump site.
It was found Wednesday afternoon by local officers with the two-county drug
task force.

Whether any cleanup or testing of the soil and ground water will be done
remains to be seen, according to a Bureau of Indian Affairs environmental
officer. The sinkhole is on leased Indian tribal land near Hockerville,
northeast of Picher.

A car stolen earlier in the week from Baxter Springs, Kan., was also found
concealed under a tarp in the heavily-wooded area.

Authorities said the large sinkhole, over a partially collapsed mine shaft,
appeared to have been used by area meth makers over an extended period of
time to dump their used chemicals, unsuccessful batches of liquid from
making the drug, and paraphernalia associated with the manufacturing of
methamphetamine.

Sam Hart, 31, who lives on the leased property where the pit and car were
found, told officers he had no knowledge of the drug dump or the stolen
car. Hart is awaiting preliminary hearing on charges of possessing drugs
and paraphernalia that were filed against him by the drug task force in
February.

DEA agent Gary Young called in a company that contracts with the agency to
do drug manufacturing cleanups, but said the agency could only remove the
main materials. It would not conduct soil cleanup or testing of ground
water for contamination.

Charles Addington, with the Bureau of Indian Affairs police, said Friday
that contract workers with the Ferguson-Harbour company from Alabama
arrived at the site about 3 a.m. on Friday, and had cleaned out the pit by
8 a.m.

He said John Dalgarn, the local BIA agency environmental officer, was
trying to arrange for further evaluation of the site. Dalgarn said later,
however, that the BIA's environmental department "will need a lot more
information on what a cleanup and plugging that mine shaft will cost before
we can get anything done."

Dalgarn said that because the agency's new fiscal year budget began
Tuesday, it might be difficult to get funding for the work. He said the
agency would ask the Department of the Interior, which oversees the BIA, to
examine the situation, but said the likelihood of funding is "pretty iffy
right now."