Pubdate: Sun, 06 Jun 2004
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2004, The Tribune Co.
Contact:  http://www.tampatrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Note: Limit LTEs to 150 words
Author: Bill Kaczor, The Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

AGGRESSIVE DRUG CRACKDOWN DRAWS CRITICISM FROM LOCALS

BONIFAY - A crackdown on methamphetamine in Holmes County has not received 
unanimous acclaim there or in some nearby communities, authorities say.

Sheriff Dennis Lee and his deputies have arrested more than 700 people and 
raided 76 clandestine laboratories since February 2003. Holmes ranked 
second only to nearby Bay County in taking down labs across Florida last 
year, according to federal Drug Enforcement Agency records.

"We've had a lot of people criticize us for putting so much effort into the 
drug problem," Lee said. "Some people believe if people want to use dope in 
their own house that they should be left alone to do it regardless of what 
the consequences are for the rest of the neighborhood."

He attributes that attitude at least partly to history.

"During the Depression this community tolerated moonshine because money was 
hard to come by," Lee said. He said that many "didn't feel like marijuana 
was any worse than moonshine."

Lee this year is facing re-election opposition in the Democratic primary 
from Tim Brown, a former deputy. The winner will face Republican Jim 
Whitaker. Neither challenger opposes the meth crackdown, but Brown 
criticized Lee's conviction rate as too low.

Chief Deputy Eddie Ingram replied that about 90 percent of meth defendants 
are convicted but the overall rate is lower because of plea bargaining by 
prosecutors that drops or reduces many charges.

Lee praised antimeth efforts in neighboring Jackson and Walton counties and 
nearby Bay County but he wouldn't discuss details or offer an opinion on 
other nearby communities.

"I've got to live with them," Lee said.

Ingram wasn't so reticent, saying he has heard some sheriffs and other 
officials say they don't have a meth problem or that cracking down will 
cost too much.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent supervisor Ed Hudson 
said he didn't think sheriffs are ignoring meth but that smaller counties 
have to be selective because of limited resources.

DEA records show Washington County, which borders Holmes on the south and 
is slightly larger, had five meth labs cleaned last year at federal 
expense. That compares with 23 in Holmes.

"We don't have the volume of problem as they have had in Holmes County," 
Washington County Sheriff Fred Peel said. "They have made an issue of it 
there and we just haven't."

Peel disagreed with an assertion by Ingram that the heat being put on meth 
in Holmes is driving some labs into nearby counties.

Sheriff Johnny Daniel of Jackson County, just east of Holmes, said he also 
has less meth activity than Holmes but cannot explain why. DEA records show 
four labs cleaned in Jackson last year.

With more than twice the population of Holmes, Jackson has greater 
resources, including a four-member narcotics team, Daniel said.

He agreed that some meth cooks are moving across county lines, including a 
couple from Holmes who drove their motor home to Jackson where they were 
arrested.

Geneva County, Ala., bordering Holmes on the north, has battled meth for 
more than a decade. Deputies there raided nearly 100 labs last year and 
about 40 so far this year, said Tony Helms, commander of the sheriff's drug 
task force.

Helms said he thinks some of Holmes' meth activity may have moved there 
from Geneva instead of the other way around.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager