RAISE BOND FOR METH CHARGES

A huge rash of arrests over the past week is pointing out the one of the
area's biggest problem, the production and sale of the drug methamphetamine
is getting out of control.

Area law enforcement say they have made a total of nine discoveries of labs
producing the highly addictive and sometimes deadly drug in the past seven
days. Clearly, the meth situation has ceased to be just a problem and has
turned into an epidemic of drug abuse and shattered lives.

However, the circumstances surrounding a recent arrest of a couple on meth
charges seem to point out a glaring flaw to us about how the courts have
been tackling the problem in Franklin County.

The pair in question had been allegedly found running a lab with children
in the home. Police made arrests and charged them with felonious possession
of methamphetamines, manufacturing methamphetamines and aggravated child
abuse. The kids were handed over to state custody.

They were booked into the Franklin County Jail under a $10,000 bond, but
the amount was then lowered to $7,500.

We can not understand this action undertaken by our courts. The
methamphetamine epidemic is getting worse and both state and federal
officials have stated that Franklin and Grundy County is right in the
middle of the epicenter of the problem.

But instead of setting a high bond to keep the suspects in jail, we have
recently seen lower bonds being set for meth charges than in any other
county in our area.

For example, in neighboring Coffee County, while there are no set fines for
meth offenses, bond for a person accused of running a small lab will start
at $25,000 with larger labs netting a bond of $50,000. That amount is
tripled if a suspect is caught again with a lab while out on bond for the
first offense.

The situation is the same in Moore County, with bonds of $25,000 set for a
first offense and $50,000 for the second time around.

The bond for getting caught with a meth lab in Bedford County is $50,000.

In Lincoln County, possession of a "rolling meth lab" which means cooking
the drug in a car or truck means that the bond will be set at a whopping
$100,000.

But here in Franklin County, a recent find of materials for a lab in a
vehicle in Estill Springs only resulted in a bond of $2,500 for both
suspects...and the pair had been arrested a little over a week earlier in a
drug sweep by Winchester Police.

Since an individual only has to pay 10 percent of a bond to get out of
jail, the suspects in question only had to cough up $250 to hit the streets
again, which for those in the drug dealing business, is just pocket change.

Grundy County also sets their bond low for meth offenses: $7,500 for a
first arrest

In fact, the way the law is currently set up, a person can see mandatory
jail time for a charge of driving under the influence, while a charge
involving meth carries no such guarantee for a suspect.

But while the costs to the suspects seem to be low in our county, the costs
of the aftermath are much higher.

According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, the clean-up costs for just one
of the sites where a meth lab was last week found totaled $10,000. But
ultimately, it isn't the government paying for the cost of clean up...its
you and me, the taxpayer.

Making it easier for suspects to get out of jail and right back into making
the vile stuff doesn't sound like the best way to stop the massive problem
that is plaguing our county.

It's time that the bond set for charges involving methamphetamines gets in
line with the rest of our neighbors.

Otherwise, criminals might see the lower bonds in our area as a perceived
weakness and decide that Franklin County is the perfect place to set up
their business.