METH TASK FORCE GROUP MAY BE EXPANDED

ATHENS, Tenn. -- The blight of methamphetamine labs is spreading north from
Southeast Tennessee, prompting U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp to propose some counties
north of Knoxville be added to the Southeast Tennessee Methamphetamine Task
Force list.

That would bring the total number of counties sharing the special drug
funds for cleaning up the labs to 22.

"We're going to have to expand the scope to add more counties," Rep. Wamp,
R-Tenn., told members of the Meigs County Chamber of Commerce on Monday
during a noon luncheon.

He said the illegal labs are beginning to show up in Anderson, Jefferson,
Unicoi, Granger and Clayborne counties, and as was the case in Southeast
Tennessee, local budgets simply cannot handle expensive cleanup costs after
busting the operations.

Rep. Wamp recently met with U.S. District Attorney Sandy Mattice about
expanding the territory. Currently, an additional $1 million per year is
added to the Drug Enforcement Agency's regular budget for the area to fight
the drug trade.

Not only are meth lab numbers increasing -- Meigs Sheriff Walter Hickman
said Monday his department has busted four just in the past few weeks --
but they also are becoming more high-tech and dangerous.

On. Feb. 21, the McMinn County Sheriff's Department Drug Abatement Response
Team led a night raid on a laboratory where video monitoring equipment
surrounded the house, said McMinn Sheriff Steve Frisbie.

The lab operator was watching the operation from the nearby woods with a
Russian-made night-vision scope, deputies said.

Deputies began a search of the woods, and suspect Kerry Skelton yelled,
"You've got 30 seconds to come out of the woods or I'm going to start
shooting," according to police reports.

He rested a .45 Llama semi-automatic pistol on a stump and was aiming at
Deputy Chris Miller.

Realizing he "was out-gunned," Mr. Skelton gave up without a fight,
detectives said.

Inside the home, along with Mr. Skelton's 3-year-old son and 74-year-old
mother, deputies found a pipe bomb, chemicals, methamphetamine other
weapons and the surveillance system, police said.

Mr. Skelton is charged with operating the lab, possessing meth, and
aggravated abuse of a child. He is currently in the McMinn County Jail on a
$17,000 bond.

This is the third major lab shutdown in McMinn County this year, detectives
said, adding the job is getting more dangerous with each bust.

Rep. Wamp said lab operators usually go to rural areas, because, like
moonshine, meth labs emit strong, recognizable odors.

But unlike moonshine, "it is 50 times more deadly," he said.