NUMBER OF ILLEGAL METH LABS ON THE RISE

During Tuesday's news conference announcing the indictment of 31
individuals in Walker County on federal drug charges, law enforcement
agencies told how many clandestine laboratories have been seized in a
33-county area in northern Alabama, and the cost of cleaning up those labs.

Over the past three years the number of clandestine labs has risen
dramatically and authorities said there was a definite problem.

In 1999, only 12 clandestine laboratories were seized by law enforcement in
Alabama, but that number more than tripled in 2000 when 43 labs were
seized. The numbers continue to rise at a rapid rate - in 2001, 66 labs
were seized, and so far in 2002, 63 labs have already been seized.

But the 2002 number rose again Tuesday.

During Tuesday's news conference, authorities were notified that two more
labs had been seized in Walker County, bringing the total number of labs
seized in the county, from May 2001 to March 2002, to 14. The statewide
total is 65.

James Craig, the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency's special agent in charge
of the New Orleans Field Division, said the joint investigation, which
resulted in the 31 indictments in Walker County, took nearly two years and
a tremendous amount of manpower.

"Investigations of this type can't be done without the support and
cooperation of all the agencies involved, especially the troops out on the
street," Craig said. "It was truly a joint effort and I think it sends a
message that federal, state and local government are going to work together
to solve the problem we have with these labs.

"And we definitely have a problem, you can see the numbers continuing to rise."

Craig said it was joint investigations like this that were going to send
the right message to the individuals involved in manufacturing methamphetamine.

"It shows we are going to get them," Craig said. "We'll prosecute them to
the fullest extent, either at the federal or state level, wherever we have
to take them to get this stuff off our streets."

According to Craig, going after a clandestine laboratory where
methamphetamine is being produced is very dangerous and very costly.

"For every pound of methamphetamine produced, five to seven pounds of toxic
waste is produced," Craig said. "Because of the toxic waste, HAZMAT has to
come out and cleanup one of these labs."

Who pays for that? "The taxpayers," said Craig.

According to Craig, the cost to clean up the average small toxic laboratory
in a box is between $2,000 and $5,000. The Environmental Protection Agency
budget for 2002 to clean up clandestine laboratories is $24 million.

Craig said if the number of clandestine labs continued to rise, that
wouldn't be near enough to clean up the numerous laboratories being found,
not only in Alabama, but all across the United States.

For example: If the average cost of cleaning up a laboratory was $3,000,
then already this year law enforcement agencies have spent $195,000 in the
past four months to clean up the 65 laboratories that have been found in
Alabama alone.

These labs are being found in neighborhoods throughout Walker County.

Walker County NET director Paul Kilgore said because of the expense and
dangers involved in cleaning up a lab operation, the NET unit has been
working closely with the Federal DEA.

"The federal agents take over because the cost of cleaning up a meth lab is
enormous and they have federal grants set aside for that purpose," Kilgore
said. "If we tried to clean up a lab ourselves and something went wrong,
the federal government could make us pay up to $500,000 for a cleanup."

Meth labs are being called the moonshine stills of the new millennium.

In July of 2001 the Cordova Police Department located a meth lab in a
wooded area near Cordova.

Kilgore said the NET unit expected to see more and more labs located in
wooded areas around the county, because so many people are now
manufacturing meth.

"This stuff is getting like wildcat whiskey used to be," Kilgore said.
"They go in the woods or anywhere they can to make it."

Tom Nuse, the resident agent in charge of the Federal Drug Enforcement
Agency's Birmingham field office, said the average citizen can help law
enforcement officials in their efforts to eradicate the illicit
manufacturing of methamphetamine from neighborhoods around Walker County
and the state of Alabama.

"The toxic chemicals used to make methamphetamine give off an odd odor,"
Nuse said. "It's not like anything you've ever smelled before, it doesn't
smell like rotten eggs, gas or anything of that nature.

"If there's an odd smell in your neighborhood, one you've never smelled
before, call your local law enforcement agencies, let them come and check
it out."

Authorities strongly urge citizens not to check out an area where an odd
smell is coming from themselves. They say these labs, and sometimes the
individuals who operate them, are very dangerous.

Citizens may call the following local numbers to report any type of illegal
activity in their neighborhood:

*City residents should call the Jasper Police Department at 205-221-6790.

*County residents should call the Walker County Sheriff's Department at
205-302-6464.

*The Walker County Narcotics Enforcement Team at 205-384-7255.

*CrimeStoppers at 205-221-5050.

All calls are confidential.