COUNTY SEEKS JAIL FUNDS

GUNTERSVILLE -- In early March, Marshall County Commission Chairman
Billy Cannon requested federal funding for a regional jail and law
enforcement center for the county.

It has a projected cost of $25 million to $30 million.

Five categories of law enforcement -- sheriff's department, Alabama
Bureau of Investigation, Alabama Tobacco and Firearms, Immigration
and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation --
would have centralized offices as part of the complex, which could
serve as a model for the entire Southeast.

He reported Monday on the commission's yearly trip to Washington,
D.C. Commissioners Douglas D. Fleming and Tim Bollinger were on the
rotation for this year's trip and accompanied the chairman.

They met with Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, to present the proposal
and outline reasons why Marshall County would be a good location.

"Presently we have more than 200 inmates and are nearing capacity.
Our inmate population has grown from 60 in 1996 to 200-plus in 2007,"
Cannon said. "Alabama has the highest prison population (ratio) to
the overall population in America. There are over 591 prisoners in
Alabama for every 100,000 citizens.

"We were able to boast about our community corrections program, which
has over 110 inmates working at local industries, paying restitution,
court costs and fines while still saving and working for a future.

"We asked for a grant for four 15-passenger vans to enhance this
program. These buses run 24 hours per day. Our program is showing
that alternatives do work!"

The increased need for criminal housing is up 400 percent in a little
over 10 years, according to Cannon, primarily due to the county's
growing methamphetamine problem.

"We have an epidemic here and are having to deal with the local costs
of clearing meth labs up, jail overcrowding and longer shifts and
overtime for law enforcement personnel," he said.

Cannon cited crystal methamphetamine as the No. 1 problem in 44
states, with more than 50 percent of children in the Marshall County
Child Development Center's "out-of-home placement program" there
because of the drug.

"Burglaries and robberies here are moving to an all-time high. That's
how they fund this addiction," he said. "It is a tremendously
important situation."

He commended state Rep. Frank McDaniel, D-Albertville, for his role
in introducing legislation that makes it more difficult to buy
over-the-counter items that can be used to make methamphetamine.

Cannon said commissioners prepare for the annual trips to the
nation's capital and take with them presentations, documents, need
factors and proposals that take advantage of the face-to-face time
they can spend during their appointments with lawmakers and their staffs.

This year's trip was timed during the National Association of
Counties' yearly convention, where Marshall County representatives
had access to their counterparts from all over the country.

Marshall County Sheriff Scott Walls also assisted in preparing the
proposal for the new jail and law enforcement center.

"Every time I go, I come away with something that helps us," Cannon
said. --- For more, see Thursday's Reporter.