OFFICIALS SEEK DRUG FUNDS FOR UMATILLA COUNTY

Congressmen think the county should be designated a High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area.

So far this year, law enforcement officials have seized 20,567 marijuana
plants in Umatilla County, more than the combined total of plants seized in
the rest of the state, officials say.

They also seized 40 methamphetamine labs in the county in 2001 and another
26 so far this year.

Those statistics are why U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Sen. Gordon
Smith, R-Ore., recently sent a letter to the federal government asking for
a piece of a federal drug control agency's funding pie.

Walden and Smith have urged John P. Walters, the director of the federal
Office of National Drug Control Policy, to designate Umatilla County as a
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA).

Such a designation would entitle local law enforcement agencies to
additional resources to help them combat what many see as a growing drug
trafficking problem.

The two mailed the letter to Walters after learning that Umatilla County
failed to receive the designation, although four other Oregon counties did

Dallas Boyd, a spokesperson for Walden, said Walden is grateful those four
counties are in line to receive extra help. But, Walden is ``merely
pointing out that Umatilla County is in awful bad shape in terms of preva-
lence of drug manufacturing'' as well, Boyd said.

Clackamas, Douglas, Multnomah and Washington counties recently received
HIDTA designations. Deschutes, Jackson and Marion counties previously
received the designation.

According to statistics gathered by the Umatilla County District Attorney's
office, more meth labs have been seized in Umatilla County than in other
counties that received the federal designation.

In 2001, officials seized 40 meth labs in Umatilla County, more than either
Douglas (28) or Clackamas (10) counties, the press release said. In 2002,
officials seized 26 labs in Umatilla County, more than officials seized in
Washington (25), Clackamas (10) or Douglas (six) counties.

Seizures of marijuana plants in the county has particularly outpaced
marijuana seizures elsewhere in the state. Through September, officials
seized 20,567 plants in the county, more than the combined total of 13,920
in the rest of the state.

The Umatilla County figures include seizures from two major busts. On May
28, officials seized 9,744 plants at Buckaroo Creek on the Umatilla Indian
Reservation. On Sept. 18, they seized 6,503 plants on private property east
of Milton-Freewater.

The legislators' letter particularly highlighted their concerns about the
continuing viability of local, interagency drug task force, Blue Mountain
Enforcement Narcotics Team, or BENT, without federal support.

Umatilla County District Attorney Chris Brauer echoed those concerns.

``The lifeblood of the task force largely rests on a future (HIDTA)
designation,'' Brauer said.

He said the task force is the main agency working to fight drug trafficking
in the county. ``We don't have the funds in the bank to continue on with
task force activities indefinitely,'' he said.

Boyd said he thought the Office of National Drug Control Policy only
designates HIDTAs annually. And he was unsure if the legislators' letter
could prompt Walters to reconsider adding Umatilla County to the list
before next year.

But, he said Walden hopes to keep Umatilla County on the federal radar
screen for a future possible designation or other federal help with its
fight against drug trafficking.