DEATH * BY * METH

This is dedicated to Travis Holappa who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered on July 25, 2004 in Northern Minnesota. This was all due to meth. I am Travis' mother and I wish to make this devastation turn into a better thing by educating and exposing the truth about meth, the dangers, and the deadly consequences it brings about to individuals and communities.

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Location: Colorado, United States

I want to do what I can to educate people about what is going on around the world with the meth problem. I want people to know about it BEFORE they even get the idea to want to try it. It is a dangerous drug and will ruin your life as well as all those who love you. I am on a mission on behalf of my only son, Travis.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Meth - No Big Deal on TV

I was watching the show HOUSE the other night on FOX. The episode was #29 "Hunting". It had to do with a gay guy who had AIDS and who took a cocktail of different street drugs. One of the characters, Cameron, found some meth in this guys personal belongings. The show is obviously more detailed and if you wish to read the summary, it can be found at: http://www.tv.com/hunting/episode/476885/recap.html

I watched as the character Cameron took meth, looked totally whacked out and lustfully jumped all over her co worker, Chase, and they ended up having sex. The episode shows her coming into work the next day looking sheepish and probably embarrassed feeling as though everyone knows she was sleeping with Chase.

What really bothered me about this episode and other programs I have seen lately is Hollywood's light view of the meth epidemic in the United States. Why don't they show what happens to many people? Why don't they show how someone can get addicted just by trying it one or two times? Why don't they show the realities in their fables?

The reason I ask is that visual entertainment has a very strong influence in people's minds. I would like to see more reality in the writing of these scripts.

Meth IS A BIG DEAL! If they care at all about their audience and the young adults that are seeing their propaganda, I would challenge them to take up the fight against drugs such as meth and show the truth! Show their audience the addictive, destructive, ravaging effects on a person, their family, their children, the community! Show the people going to prison for senseless murders and rapes because of METH! Show ALL the victims of this diseased drug!

Don't brush over the issue or glamorize it! Be responsible!

Kim

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

With Meth We're Seeing Entire Families That Are Addicted!

http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2005/dh-localnews-1227-cnorwood-5l26p3132.htm

"Placing children of meth-addicted parents presents a unique set of challenges, Ashcraft said.

The first thing you want to do in a family crisis is find a relative to place the child with if he or she has to be removed," she said. "It’s strange, but with meth we’re seeing entire families that are addicted, grandparents, aunts and uncles — everybody."

What a depressing state of affairs in this country when you can't even give the children to the extended families because they are addicted to the drug meth. Please Lord, forgive us and heal our land. Kim

See the rest of the story below or go to the link shown above.

The face of meth addiction
Chris Norwood 12-27-2005
These people, of both sexes, white and black, of all ages and from various locations, have only one thing in common. All of them have been convicted of various crimes involving methamphetamine.
They are, tragically, the cutting edge of a rapidly growing problem.
A Long History
The methamphetamine scourge is not new by any means.
"Meth has actually been around since the 1800s," said Bruce Freeman, an emergency response trainer for the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. "It was used by the Germans during World War I and by the Germans, Japanese and Americans during World War II to help keep bomber pilots awake for 30 hours at a time.
"In fact, it was commonly used for that purpose up until about 1972, but in small doses in a controlled environment under a doctor’s supervision.
"And it was around in the 1960s and 1970s as a recreational drug, too. The song ‘Mother’s Little Helper’ by the Rolling Stones is about methamphetamine," Freeman said.
What sets the current meth situation apart is the rapid proliferation of home-based laboratories, which first began appearing in Southern California in the early 1990s.
"The California labs were a different situation than what we see here," Freeman said. "You would have a bunch of guys with Uzis set up in a chicken house or a national forest or an abandoned building, cook 1,000 pounds of meth, then move on. Now we’re seeing smaller, permanent labs."
The problem first showed signs of becoming an epidemic when it grew out of California into the rural Midwest, according to Talladega County Chief Deputy Assistant District Attorney Barry Matson.
"Once you get out into the Midwest a little bit, it gets easier to set up a lab because you’ve got anhydrous ammonia in fertilizer everywhere," Matson said. "At about the same time, you have people all over the country finding meth recipes on the Internet, and you start to see the number of labs just skyrocketing."
Alabama learned from the mistakes of states farther west as the problem began to spread.
"I went to a conference in San Antonio around 1993 or 1994, when we had seen maybe one or two meth cases here," Matson said. "I was talking to a guy from Wyoming, where they were having serious problems.
"And those guys had never even had to deal with crack cocaine before. They were going straight from bootleg whiskey to meth. It was unbelievable what they were dealing with.
"Since then, we’ve been able to send people to Drug Enforcement Administration schools to give them special training. But that first generation that worked the cases out West, those guys are just about all dead right now."
Even now, east central Alabama is still at the edge of the epidemic, according to Mary Ashcraft, Talladega County Department of Human Resources director.
"It’s going to get a lot worse here, I expect," she said. "We’re definitely seeing an impact here, but it’s nowhere near as bad as what they’re dealing with in the northeastern part of the state, around DeKalb, Jackson and Cherokee counties. They’re dealing with a tremendous caseload up there."
Matson agreed.
"I think meth is going to continue to strike a broader portion of the community," he said. "Meth users, at this point, do not typically want to fool with crack, and crack users are scared of meth users. But the lines between the two groups are starting to blur a little bit, and that’s really scary."
The economics of the meth trade will be a major factor in its expansion, he said. "Right now we’re dealing primarily with home labs, but we’re starting to see major operations in Mexico, Texas and California putting out ice (a crystalline but not necessarily purer form of methamphetamine) and selling it on the street," Matson said. "That’ll hurt the local labs initially, but as the price goes up, the locals will come back.
"You’ll also probably start to see people who used to deal in crack handling meth also. Those kinds of people don’t care what kind of poison they’re selling. I hope there’s a special room in hell for people who would bring that into somebody’s life."
Impact
Aside from the obvious influx of new drug crimes stemming from meth use, the drug also impacts the justice system in other ways.
"Both meth and crack are very addictive, terrible drugs, but the paranoia associated with meth use is much worse than what you see with crack users," Matson said. "The violence associated with crack generally involves robberies to get more money or things like that.
"With meth, you have that too, but you also have an intrinsic violence that comes from being very paranoid. One of the guys from Wyoming told me a story back then about a meth addict who hung her baby up in a door hanger and then kicked it to death. It was just unbelievable."
The epidemic has also impacted DHR, Ashcraft said.
"Probably 75 to 80 percent of our foster care caseload involves parents with addictions," she said. "And those numbers have been on the rise. As a parent becomes more dependent, their basic parenting skills just go out the door. Their next hit becomes more important than their children."
In the years since meth became a problem in Talladega County, the average number of children in foster care has climbed from about 115 to about 135 per month.
"Those numbers are subject to change, and I don’t really have solid figures on how many of those are directly meth related," Ashcraft said, "but it’s still a pretty sobering statistic."
Placing children of meth-addicted parents presents a unique set of challenges, Ashcraft said.
"The first thing you want to do in a family crisis is find a relative to place the child with if he or she has to be removed," she said. "It’s strange, but with meth we’re seeing entire families that are addicted, grandparents, aunts and uncles — everybody."
Physical damage
Meth takes its toll in other ways as well. According to Jane Haney, a nurse practitioner at Talladega County Health Department, "anytime you’re dealing with severe drug abuse it inhibits your judgment. You’re a lot more likely to do risky things like have unprotected sex or to prostitute yourself in exchange for the drug. We see a lot more cases of HIV and syphilis among meth users."
Severe weight loss is considered a classic symptom of meth abuse.
"When we see cases of malnutrition and weight loss, that’s a reason for suspicion right there," Haney said. "That, and people with a lot of little sores from scratching. I’m not really sure why that is."
The home manufacture of meth also carries a whole host of dangers in and of itself, Freeman said.
The manufacture of meth usually involves three categories of hazardous substances.
"You have flammable, reactive chemicals that are used as solvents," Freeman said. "Then you have the corrosives, strong acids or bases that give off dangerous vapors and can burn the skin if it’s splashed on. These substances also generate heat and can ignite the flammable substances.
"Then you have toxic inhalation hazards in smaller quantities, particularly if you’re using red phosphorous and iodine. When you heat that up, it produces PH3, or phosphine gas, a blistering agent similar to phosgene gas, which has been used as a chemical weapon.
"Only phosphine is actually much deadlier, and it is produced in small quantities every time that method is used so there is potential for long-term damage."
The signs
The distinctive odor of ammonia is probably the most widely known indication of a meth lab, but as anhydrous ammonia becomes more difficult to come by, the red phosphorous and iodine method of cooking have become more common, Freeman said.
"The odor is going to vary according to which method they are using. But anytime your eyes and nose start running or burning, that could be an indication. Also, if you see a $10,000 surveillance system on a $3,000 shack, that could be another sign. Or if they have a camouflage tarp over the roof to prevent detection from the air."
The methods for cleaning up a meth lab are now fairly well established, but the long-term repercussions remain largely unknown.
"The DEA will hire contractors to come and properly dispose of the chemicals, but they don’t take out the drapes, carpet, countertops, clothes or any of the porous surfaces inside the house," Freeman said. "And what happens if a new family moves into that house without knowing what used to be in there? There is just no standard on how clean is actually clean."
The impact on the area surrounding a lab is also unclear.
"It would be prohibitively expensive to sample all of the soil and water surrounding a lab just to identify substances without addressing them," Freeman said.
"There are at least 10 different ways to make meth," he said. "Seven or eight of them require Ph.D.-level knowledge of chemistry. Unfortunately, the others can be accomplished with things that most people have lying around the house anyway."
Actually, Matson said, there is another method of producing the drug that probably doesn’t require a doctorate.
"We’re starting to see some pee labs now," he said. "Addicts will actually resell their urine and sweat while they’re high to extract and recycle the meth. If that isn’t the sign of a desperate addiction, I don’t know what is."
About Chris Norwood
Chris Norwood is a staff writer for The Daily Home.
Contact Chris Norwood
Phone: FAX: E-mail:
256 299-2114 256 299-2192
news@dailyhome.com

Monday, December 26, 2005

Students collect items for meth home victims

Kids rescued in raids receive necessities and comfort

Published: Monday, December 26, 2005 -- The Truth,

A3Last updated: 12/25/2005 11:11:41 PMBy DL Perrin
Truth Correspondent


Bradley’s helping other kids Bradley Kulhman, a first-grade student at Eastside Elementary School in Constantine, lends a hand packing suitcases for children taken to safe shelters after drug raids. Eastside students collected backpacks and small suitcases to fill with pajamas, clothes, toiletries and a few comfort items.

CONSTANTINE -- Students at Eastside and Riverside elementary schools are softening the blow to kids removed from homes in drug raids by packing suitcases and backpacks for them with necessity and comfort items.
When Kristin Flynn, Eastside Elementary principal, read about ordeals experienced by children in meth homes, she had to act. "I love children," Flynn said, hauling box after box of donated items to the curb for loading into the cars going to child protection offices.
"I work with children all day. I could not just sit by and do nothing when I discovered how this terrible drug was affecting so many children here in our area."
Flynn talked with teachers at Eastside, then contacted Linda Pettit and Donna Mahoney of Riverside Elementary and asked for their help collecting suitcases and backpacks filled with clothes, comfort items and toiletries for children.
Results were incredible, Flynn said, noting students and parents were generous.
"I had been discussing with my kids the impact on families when there is drug abuse like meth," Pettit said. "So when Kristin approached us, my kids were more than willing to collect things to donate. It is a great project and hopefully we will continue with it because the need is there."
Norm Taylor, Constantine Pubic Schools superintendent, praised students' and teachers' efforts. Taylor said projects like these raise awareness -- even to those innocent of drug use, possession or distribution. "I applaud Principal Kristin Flynn, staff and students who contributed to this project, especially on top of our usual holiday generosity to others."
Flynn said, "We must have 30 backpacks and suitcases here, plus boxes and bags of stuffed animals, clothes, pajamas, combs, toothbrushes and blankets." As she spoke, Sandi Chappel of Scholastic Book Fair came in with a donation of four cases of children's books. Flynn was ecstatic.
A couple of first-grade students were on hand to help with the loading. Bradley Kulhman, 7, said, "I like the blanket we packed because it is comfy and if I lost my house, like these kids do, then I'd like it to keep me warm." Next to Bradley was his classmate, 7-year-old Jack Keifer.
"It's very nice to bring clothes to them when they don't have their own clothes because it might have some of that bad stuff stuck on their clothes," Jack said, and with a sigh of empathy, he hugged a teddy bear tightly.
Glad to accept the donated items was Jean Skalski of the Department of Human Services and Suzanne Lind of the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Council.
Skalski said as many as 10 children a month are rescued from meth homes in the St. Joseph County. "Regrettably, the need for these items will not diminish."
Flynn and other teachers vowed to keep collecting as long as it is needed.


How to help
Necessity items (toothbrush, toothpaste, combs, tissues) and comfort items (blankets and stuffed animals) can be donated to be placed in suitcases and backpacks and given to kids taken to safe shelters after drug raids at their homes. To make donations in St. Joseph County, Mich., call: • Suzanne Lind, St. Joseph County Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Council, (269) 435-7817; • Jean Skalski, St. Joseph County Department of Human Services, (269) 467-1200

This story can be seen on http://www.etruth.com/News/Content.aspx?ID=363335&page=

I think this is a good idea... It may be something that you may wish to start in your own community. I am sure this give some comfort to the children that are affected. I just witnessed something along the same lines yesterday when there was a very tragic accident in an intersection near our home... I witnessed a fireman giving a little girl a small bear and she smiled. It know this is by no means the cureall endall.... but... every little bit helps, if we would all chip in and try and help the victims and addicts in some way. Kim

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Children of Incarcerated Parents

Program funding
The Children of Incarcerated Parents program at the Marion County jail is being paid for with a $100,000 federal grant and about $90,000 in appropriations from the sheriff's office budget.
The sheriff's office also has received a federal grant of about $345,000 for drug treatment, including some in the CIP program.

Survey of inmates reveals 'staggering' meth numbers
Study also shows that many in county jail are parents

CARA ROBERTS MUREZStatesman Journal

December 23, 2005

Nearly 75 percent of Marion County jail inmates have used methamphetamine.
About 40 percent of inmates are in jail as a direct result of the drug: possession, manufacturing, delivery or stealing to get the cash to buy it.
Many fall below the poverty line. More than half have never had employer-paid benefits, have no high-school diploma and at times have had no home.
What they do have is children.
About 15,000 children annually, maybe more, have parents who were or are incarcerated at the Marion County jail.
"That's a lot of kids," said Dr. William Brown, an associate professor at Western Oregon University who surveyed the jail population. His goal was to gain a clearer picture of inmates and the impact that methamphetamine is having on the criminal-justice system, social services and families.
Brown, the director of the Northwest regional office of the Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice, surveyed 442 inmates, about 76 percent of the population, one day in July. Now, he and student volunteers are back to get in-depth answers.
Their follow-up results, due in January, will be used to understand the issues and measure success of a new program aimed at helping inmate parents. The Children of Incarcerated Parents program began at the jail in the fall.
"The ultimate (question) is how do we protect our children, and part of that is making sure the parents that are coming through the criminal-justice system leave with the tools and knowledge necessary to be better parents," said Marion County Sheriff Raul Ramirez.
Children of Incarcerated Parents, a program similar to one in 13 Oregon prisons, began at the jail in October with twice-weekly classes for parents. The 12-week class graduated its first group on Wednesday.
Based on the survey and other information, Ramirez said, the meth problem is being magnified by the need for housing, employment, education, parenting skills and drug treatment.

See story at: http://159.54.226.83/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051223/NEWS/512230334/1001

Friday, December 23, 2005

Babies Among Meth Victims

Here is an article "In Our View: Children, Babies Among Meth Victims" found in the Joplin Globe. Adults can made the decision if they want to destroy their lives, but the babies.... oh the babies.... they have no choice what parents they are born to and the health, physical, psychological, mental and spiritual devastation they are handed. They are the TRUE victims. Kim

In our view: Children, babies among meth victims
12/22/05

An estimated 9.5 million Americans have used methamphetamine in some form or another — crank, crystal, speed or ice. For those who use this highly addictive drug, generally manufactured by non-chemists under questionable sanitary conditions in garages and basements, the attraction is potency, availability and low cost.The dark downside is that meth can create a dependency on first use in some people; it can lead to serious health problems for makers and users and it is extremely volatile, meaning that the fumes are toxic, flammable and explosive.A lesser publicized consequence of this concoction is what happens to children. If they are exposed for prolonged periods in home labs where the drug is being cooked, they could suffer respiratory problems, headaches, nausea, eye damage and decreased mental function. It has been suggested that prenatal exposure to meth could cause congenital birth defects and restrict infant development. There are risks, too, of premature birth or miscarriage. Police agencies treat meth labs as hazardous waste sites, donning special clothing and using breathing apparatus before trying to clean up chemical or toxic residue. We have not seen any numbers on how many children of meth mothers and operators of meth labs wind up with a health crisis. But their lives and futures might be jeopardized just by being around the manufacturing process, or by being exposed in the womb of a woman using this powerful, dangerous drug. So, the young and the innocent should be added to the list of potential victims of today’s meth rage. It is enough to make you cry ... and angry.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Focus of Minnesota's Meth Fight - Shifts

Posted on Tue, Dec. 20, 2005

Focus in meth fight shifts to out-of-state 'mega-labs,' treatment

Associated Press
ST. PAUL - The focus of Minnesota's fight against methamphetamine is shifting.
Despite some good recent news on two fronts, there's no sign that meth use is dropping in Minnesota, officials said.
A new law that restricts access to a key raw material for making the illegal stimulant is credited with a dramatic decrease in the number of homegrown meth labs.
On the second front, new prison commitments related to meth have leveled off after years of spiraling growth, and state corrections facilities are now reconsidering the timing of a proposed expansion.
Meth labs were a hazard to neighbors, law enforcement and even children. But they were never the state's major source of meth, so authorities aren't claiming a huge victory.
"I will take it as somewhat of a victory," said Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner.
Stearns County deputies are busting one or two labs each month rather than nine, but the meth problem hasn't waned in Sanner's hard-hit central Minnesota county.
"Does that mean we are dealing with less methamphetamine? No, the methamphetamine is up," he said.

Ridlon Sentenced, McNeil pleads guilty

Ridlon sentenced, McNeil pleads guilty

Judge: No single person had the courage to stand up and do what was right

Jim RomsaasMesabi Daily NewsTuesday, December 20th, 2005 12:21:35 AM

VIRGINIA — Two more defendants in the Travis Holappa kidnapping and murder case appeared in District Court Monday morning — one for a plea bargain and the other for a sentencing.
Jesse Micah Ridlon, 29, of Makinen was sentenced to 150 months in prison for his role in the crime, even though his attorney claimed Ridlon was less culpable and asked for an 86-month term.
Richard John McNeil, 33, of Aurora pleaded guilty to felony accomplice after the fact/kidnapping and a drug possession charge and will probably be looking at about a six-year sentence based on his criminal history, his attorney Bruce Williams said.
Regarding Ridlon, he agreed to a plea bargain back in January, which included his testimony against murder suspect Frank Miller, 31, of Ely.

What can I say 3 down and 1 to go. All of this does not make me happy. I actually hurts me deep inside. All of these lives destroyed because of Meth. My son will never be returned to me and one day I may even get his remains back after Frank Miller's appeals are completed... It is a deeply felt loss... all the way around. Kim

Saturday, December 17, 2005

"You'd have to be out of your mind to do that."

Below, you will see part of a story from Hampton, NY.

A new law taking effect there is the banning of the precursors needed for making meth.

To slow down the consumption and manufacture of this drug, will take so much more than one or two laws or one or two neighbors paying attention. To steal a quote from Hillary Clinton, it will take "a village" to clean up this mess. One of the contributors to an article posted on this website suggested that people do not need to go to jail and that meth users are not violent.

I agree with Danika that ALL meth users are not violent and it may have something to do with their state of mind or predisposition.... however, it has been shown that the drug changes a person's behavior so radically that they find themselves doing things even THEY never thought they would. So I cannot rule out violence as a part of the symptoms of this drugs use.

I do agree with Danika in that I do not believe that prison or jail is "THE ANSWER", however if a person has committed a violent crime, then it is societies responsibility to treat them to some time away from those who want to "live" their lives without using illegal drugs to cope.

Until there are more answers to how to solve this societal problem and until there is more actually being done, I will continue to speak out AGAINST meth use and it's users. Just because someone else chooses to use meth does not mean that I have to turn a blind eye and feel sorry for them to the point of giving up my own freedoms.

Washington County District Attorney Robert Winn said the suspect would likely be charged with a new state law banning possession of the "precursors."

The law took effect in October, and allows for felony charges against those who have the ingredients and who apparently intend to make the drug."This is going to be one of the first cases, if not the first case, under that law," Leclaire said.

Illegal methamphetamine use has devastated other parts of the country, where users suffer significant health problems and commit serious crimes to feed their addictions.

It has yet to take hold in much of the Northeast.Those who manufacture the drug combine a number of deadly chemicals. The drug can be snorted, injected or smoked. Its manufacture, though, often leaves behind highly toxic residue and creates the risk of explosion or fire.

"I don't understand how anyone can try something that has Drano and lye in its ingredients," Winn said. "You'd have to be out of your mind to do that."

The remainder of this story can be seen at: http://www.poststar.com/story.asp?storyid=203268

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Police: Meth, Pot, Mushrooms Seized From Home

2 Accused In Operation
POSTED: 4:03 pm EST December 6, 2005
UPDATED: 4:46 pm EST December 6, 2005
ZANESVILLE, Ohio -- Two people could face up to 30 years in jail after what police call the biggest methamphetamine bust in the county's history.
A Muskingum County grand jury heard about two people who were arrested following raids that collected $180,000 in drugs.

Check out this story at http://www.nbc4i.com/news/5478210/detail.html

GO OHIO!
What can be done to help? Does it have to go to a Federal level? Even if the Feds pass some law... how will that help people out here now! The people who are becoming mesmerized and addicted to this drug? How will it help the families who have already lost their loved ones to this drug and to death because of this drug? The government is a very big machine to try and move around. How can we as citizens help in this "FIGHT ON METH!" Kim

Newest Tucson City Council Members Get To Work

Dec 6, 2005, 10:23 AM MST

By Dan Marries KOLD News 13 Weekend Anchor

Methamphetamine use plagues cities across America including Tucson. It's a cheap and highly addictive drug whose users will do just about anything to get their next fix. That's why the Tucson City Council recently passed a law to restrict the sale of over-the-counter medications containing pseudo ephedrine—a key ingredient in the making of meth.

In their first order of official business, newly elected council members Nina Trasoff and Karin Uhlich got an update on the city's fight against the devastating drug.
"I feel like there's good progress being made," says Uhlich, a Democrat representing the city's ward 3, "as I noted, the importance is that products themselves are now off the shelves and behind the counter and I think there are other steps we will take together with the police department to build upon the progress and I'm very pleased by that."

Ward 6 Councilwoman Nina Trasoff, also a Democrat, echoed those same feelings. "I'm very pleased with what the police department is doing but it's only a first step, but we have to keep moving on that. I'm concerned because it's only $250,000 instead of the one million dollars in funding, so we're going to get very creative and I'm looking forward to working with the police department to find ways to do the rest of that plan even though we didn't get all of the money we wanted."

Tucson Police Captain David Neri told the council while officers continue to bust meth manufacturers the key to eradicating the problem depends on users getting treatment.

He said, "Meth addiction is truly the most difficult drug addiction to overcome so even for those people who have turned a corner in their life and have decided they want to seek help they still face probably the most difficult challenge they've ever had to face. In the absence of being able to diminish to demand, the profitability of this industry, it's availability will continue to plague us."

Does anyone know if the city officials of Tucson are really getting somewhere as this story suggests? Every little bit helps we know.... I just wish this meth demon that plagues the United States would be brought under control and eliminated. Kim

Police Bust Meth Lab

Article published Dec 6, 2005

Police bust meth lab

By NICK WERNERnwerner@muncie.gannett.com

MUNCIE -- Conservation officer Ed Rucker's conscience nagged at him as he passed a stranded motorist on Ind. 67 Sunday morning.
After all, it was cold outside and the man needed help.
Rucker said he turned his patrol sport-utility vehicle around and found a car empty on gasoline but loaded with fresh methamphetamine, unfinished meth and volatile chemicals.
"It was pretty much a bomb in his car, really," Rucker said. "You just never know what you're getting into."
Rucker's discovery sparked a day-long investigation that involved five police agencies, spanned three counties, uncovered a "large" meth lab and netted three arrests.
The stranded motorist, Shane T. Williams, 30, Chesterfield, was jailed in Delaware County on charges of dealing meth, possession of meth, and possession of precursors.
A man police described as Williams's business partner, Joseph S. Jones, 32, 6608 N. Randolph County Road 1000-W, was jailed in Randolph County on charges of manufacturing meth, possession of meth, and possession of precursors. His wife, Jennifer J. Jones, 35, same address, was also arrested on charges of possession of meth.
Cpl. Ken Lopez of the Delaware County Sheriff's Department said meth busts and arrests are on the rise across East Central Indiana because police have become more aggressive in their investigations and because the drug's popularity is rising.
"It's so cheap to produce," he said.
From January through July this year, police uncovered 18 labs in Delaware, Jay, Madison and Randolph counties. Those counties accounted for 16 labs in all of 2004, according to the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.
Before the discovery in Williams's car, Rucker provided the man with enough gas to drive to a Village Pantry at Delaware County Road 400-S and Ind. 67.
"Think of how many people he put at risk pulling up to that gas pump," Rucker said, in reference to the volatile chemicals in the car.
While at the station, Rucker ran a background check on the man's driver's license and found he was driving while suspended and wanted on a warrant from Hancock County.
The officer then arrested Williams. Rucker found the drugs, ether and other chemicals while taking an inventory of items in the car so it could be towed, he said.
Delaware County Sheriff's deputies and Chesterfield Police searched Williams's home, where he lived with his girlfriend and their five kids, ages 3-11, who were not home at the time, and found more drugs and chemicals, they said.
Evidence led investigators to the Jones home, where officers found a large meth lab in a garage, police said. Joseph and Jennifer Jones have a 3-year-old son who was home during the search, according to authorities.
Jones and Williams are friends and work together at an Indianapolis waterproofing company, Lopez said.
Police said they notified social services about the children, who were then removed from the homes.
Lopez credited Delaware County correctional officers for saving Williams's life after he tried swallowing a baggie with 8-12 grams of meth while being booked into the facility.

What a Lucky BREAK! Kim

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Talent aims for federal version of state meth law

Talent aims for federal version of state meth law
City detective sees communications gap in statute.

By SARA AGNEW of the Tribune’s staff
Published Saturday, December 3, 2005


U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., stopped in Columbia yesterday to assure local law enforcement officials that federal help is on the way in the fight against methamphetamine.
In a news conference at the Columbia Police Department, Talent said he hopes a bill he co-sponsored to limit the sale of over-the-counter cold remedies will become law by the end of the year.
"This will raise the visibility of methamphetamine on a federal level," Talent told about a dozen local law enforcement officials. "Meth is the single worst drug threat I’ve ever seen."
The Combat Meth Act would restrict all forms of pseudoephedrine, including those in gel and liquid forms. Customers would be limited to buying 7.5 grams - or about 250 30-milligram pills - in a 30-day period. Consumers would have to show photo IDs and sign logs, and computer tracking would prevent customers from exceeding the limit at other stores. The bill also would provide for rapid-response teams that could help children endangered by meth abuse.
Talent estimated that the annual cost of enacting the bill would be about $120 million.
Giving pharmacies a way of sharing information might address the problem Columbia police Detective Ron Hall said he sees with a meth law enacted this summer in Missouri.
The state law, which took effect July 15, restricts the amount of pseudoephedrine a person can buy to no more than 9 grams every 30 days. That’s about three 100-count boxes of 30-milligram-strength Sudafed.
Under the federal bill, the medicine would be required to be kept in a restricted area.
Like the proposed federal bill, the state law requires customers to show picture IDs and sign logbooks. However, the state law only applies to the pill form of the medicine, not gel caps or liquids, and it doesn’t give stores any way to communicate their sales with one another.
In other words, a consumer can go from store to store, buying his or her 30-day limit at each.
"There’s just no way" for the stores to share information, said Hall, who is a member of the Mid-Missouri Unified Strike Team and Narcotics Group, a multiagency drug enforcement group. Buyers "can hit up more than one store."
Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm said that overall, the new state law appears to be working well, but "it’s still too early to tell."
In 2004, federal drug officials reported 2,788 meth labs were discovered in Missouri - more than in any other state - which was 16 percent of all labs seized in the nation.
In Boone County, 24 labs were busted in 2002, eight in 2003 and 14 in 2004.
Hall said that in Columbia, 11 labs were found in 2004 and seven have been busted so far this year.
"It looks like the legislation slows it down," he said.
Talent said the federal bill would increase sentencing for drug kingpins and crack down on imports of pseudoephedrine. The proposed bill is tied to the Patriot Act, which Talent said has been somewhat controversial but a bill "everyone wants to pass."

"Let's contact our state representatives, congressmen, and senators and make them aware of what is going on out here!! We need laws, intervention programs, federal and private funding for treatment centers and more people to be involved with foster care in addition to state agencies. This is an incredibly large problem that can't be overlooked or swept under the rug! Let's be radical and start a grass movement!"

Kim