Pubdate: Sat, 15 Nov 2003 Source: Clarion-Ledger, The (MS) Copyright: 2003 The Clarion-Ledger Contact: http://www.clarionledger.com/about/letters.html Website: http://www.clarionledger.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/805 Note: From staff and wire reports / Staff writer Cathy Hayden contributed to this report COCAINE FOUND IN SCHOOL BOXES Discovery Second In Week Involving Miss. School Cocaine was found packed into boxes carrying food at a South Mississippi school cafeteria for the second time in a week. Fifteen pounds of cocaine were found at East Central Upper Elementary on Thursday, a week after the same discovery was made at an elementary school in Ellisville. Just like in Ellisville, the drugs in the Hurley school were found in a box of frozen ground beef. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has recalled all of the packages from H and H Meat Packing in Mercedes, Texas. No arrests have been made in either case, which is also being investigated by the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. Gary May, director of child nutrition in the state Department of Education, said no one connected with a school or the Hattiesburg-based school food distribution center, Merchants Co., is suspected of being involved. "There was no knowledge by Merchants or anyone at a school. There was no way for them to know which case they'd get," he said. He said investigators believe the cocaine was supposed to have been removed from the truck coming from Texas before it got to Merchants' cold storage facility in Jackson. All schools that might have received shipments of frozen ground beef through Merchants Co. have been told to put aside the shipment for pickup and not to open it. "All of the product is on hold and USDA has several inspectors coming in to search it," May said. The drugs found in the shipment at Jackson County's East Central Upper Elementary were discovered when the box was set aside and it came open, May said. "Children were never in any harm," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman