MATHENY SAYS METH DESTROYING COUNTY

Calling it a case of domestic terrorism, Sheriff Jackie Matheny says the
epidemic of methamphetamine labs in Warren County is tearing the fabric of
the community, harming offenders and innocents alike.

"It's absolutely destroying our community," said Sheriff Jackie Matheny in
addressing the McMinnville Noon Exchange Club Monday. "Some people think it
just affects a chosen few, but that simply isn't true. It's destroyed a lot
of families already. It's touched many of our lives."

Matheny said local law enforcement has eradicated scores of labs over the
past few years; however, their work has not slowed the production of the
illegal drug which is made from many common household components.

"We keep busting them but they keep springing back up," Matheny said. "Back
around 1995, we worked hard on the crack cocaine problem and really took it
down a notch, but in the case of meth, we just don't see any light at the
end of the tunnel."

Matheny pointed out the overall crime rates are reflective of the
acceleration of drug problems here. In 1995, when crack cocaine was at its
height, the county saw record numbers of crimes and arrests. Following the
assault on crack cocaine, Matheny said crime numbers fell to a decade low
by 1998. However, the crime numbers again rose after 1998, and have
continued to grow each year thereafter. Matheny pointed to statistics which
showed three times more arrests were made last year than a decade earlier.
Matheny said the culprit is methamphetamine.

"We've made more arrests than ever, but it's still spiraling upward,"
Matheny said. "It's gotten so bad parents are willing to turn in their
children for using it just so they know where they're at during the night.
It's going to destroy us if we're not careful and it's going to destroy a
lot of good people."

Matheny said one strategy now being used is the meth task force, which is a
combination of local, state and federal agencies, all with the goal of
stamping out the meth problem. Matheny said the multi-agency task force is
able to prosecute meth producers on the federal level, thereby handing more
jail time to the offenders.

Matheny, who continues to teach the DARE program in schools, said he
recently saw one of his former students arrested on meth-related charges.

"This was one of my students. He was a great athlete. I coached him, so I
know," Matheny said. "When I was talking to him, he told me 'I just can't
beat this, Jackie'. It goes to show how this stuff can get a strangle hold
on anyone. And, once it's got a hold, it's hard to get loose."

Along with the impact on the users and their families, Matheny said the
health problems presented by the epidemic presents a problem to the public
as a whole.

"If someone is making this stuff next door to you, you're inhaling the
fumes and these fumes can be very harmful, causing all kinds of cancers and
health problems," Matheny said. "I've seen some big, old strapping men,
reduced to 100 pound walking skeletons by using this stuff."

Matheny said anyone with information concerning meth manufacture should
report it to authorities.

"I get a call almost every day from someone who knows about someone making
or using the stuff or maybe someone who has a family member on the drug,"
Matheny said. "We're doing all we can to get at it, but we've got a long
way to go."

Matheny's address to Noon Exchange will be broadcast on WCPI 91.3 at 9 a.m.
Thursday, and again at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.