In March of 2008, Sheriff James Williams believes he started making good on his promise to clean up drugs in Ashe County when his office conducted an investigation that nabbed 15 suspects who were charged with possession of various illicit drugs including marijuana, opium, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. At the conclusion of the day, investigators believed that the operation was a success as it conveyed a clear message to drug users and distributors that they better sleep with one eye open because the sheriff's office would be looking for them. [continues 622 words]
Last in a series As methamphetamine usage continues to rise in the western part of the state, various regional and national drug rehabilitation centers have upped their efforts to provide treatment and support for users and their families. In the Post's second installment on the examination of the rise in methamphetamine usage and production, the efforts of the Ashe County Sheriff's office were touched upon as Sheriff James Williams offered a stern message to anyone who uses or may be contemplating drug usage: "sleep with one eye open." [continues 627 words]
First in a series At the turn of the millennium, law enforcement agencies in Ashe County began discovering a disturbing trend that was sweeping through the small mountain county; a rise in methamphetamine trafficking and usage. Methamphetamine or "crystal meth" has been a growing threat to Western North Carolina communities since 1999 when the drug reportedly replaced crack cocaine as the principle drug threat, the North Carolina Drug Threat Assessment reported. Ashe County has not been left untouched by the drug's debilitating effects. [continues 1096 words]
Ashe County commissioners on Monday did their part to help fight the war on meth labs springing up in the northwestern part of the state. The board adopted a resolution urging stronger penalties for the manufacturing and selling of methamphetamines, and promised $7,812.50 to the Ashe County Sheriff 's Department to help match an application for a $250,000 grant for the Northwestern North Carolina Methamphetamine Task Force. Deep Gap fireman Darien South and his mother, Mary South, appeared before the board requesting adoption of resolutions seeking stronger penalties for those who manufacture and sell methamphetamine and who operate meth labs. [continues 809 words]
Time for another Gooberhead Award, presented periodically to those in the news who have their tongues running a hundred miles an hour ... but who forgot to put their brains in gear. Today's award is shared by the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia and his higherups who are in charge of America's screwy drug policy. What's screwy in this case is Washington's insistence that our homegrown cocaine problem can be solved if only impoverished farmers in Bolivia and elsewhere can be forced to stop growing coca. But these farmers point out that - Hello! - coca is not cocaine. It's just a leaf crop that they've been growing and consuming for centuries, since before there was a USofA, with the leaves themselves simply chewed by the native people as a safe and mild stimulant - much as coffee is used by us Americans every day. [continues 193 words]
To the Editor: 1984 is riding into town on the back of the methods used by the police and society in the drug war. Warrant less, suspicion less searches using urine or dogs is indoctrinating our youth to accept Big Brother as their guardian angel. Whatever happened to parental responsibility? Since drugs are cheaper, stronger and easier to buy than 30 years ago, what good is drug prohibition? Officer Howard J. Wooldridge (retired), Member, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Dallas, Texas [end]
To the Editor: What 's good about a drug raid? Police admit that the people busted will be replaced before the paperwork is finished. From presidential candidates to radio pundits, drug use is rampant in American politics. I certainly don't think we should let our leaders hold us to higher standards than they are willing to accept for themselves. Congress refuses to submit to drug testing, such measures have always died in committee. But it 's perfectly acceptable for them to force your child to. Until there are drug tests in Congress, we shouldn't allow them to drug test our schools. Our future leaders deserve no less than our current ones. Jay Hunter Pittsburgh Penn. [end]
The ball is now in the court of the General Assembly. When the legislature returns to Raleigh later this year, the special session agenda must be expanded to allow the passage of tougher laws on meth labs. Until Nov. 7, there was the possibility an existing law could be applied to meth lab operations. Earlier this year, District Attorney Jerry Wilson, who serves in the 24th District, announced he would prosecute several meth lab operators under a post-9/11 law covering weapons of mass destruction. [continues 383 words]
To the Editor: Over the last several years, residents of Ashe County have been quick to speak out either for or against on controversial issues. Now is the time that Ashe County needs to speak out against one of the biggest and most dangerous problems county residents are being faced with: meth labs. These labs are now becoming rampant in Ashe and Watauga counties and can pop up anywhere. Do you know what it's like to see your son, who has been healthy from the day he was born through the first 30 years of life, suddenly lose his health due to exposure to chemicals from a meth lab? [continues 1180 words]
There are good, and reasonable ways to search for drugs in our schools-and some very, very bad and dangerous ones. The nation got a look at the bad side this week as videotapes of a Nov. 5 police raid at Stratford High School in Goose Creek, S.C. aired. The pictures were ugly, to say the least. At 6:40 a.m., 14 officers of the local police department entered the high school. With their weapons drawn and, at times, pointed at students, they cordoned off the main hallway, then forced students to the floor, handcuffing any who hesitated. Then drug dogs sniffed. The dogs reacted to 12 backpacks-but no drugs were found. No weapons were found. No charges were filed. At least yet, and at least not against any students. [continues 288 words]
District attorneys and law enforcement officials from three states met in the Ashe County Courthouse Wednesday to begin a new cooperative effort against methamphetamine labs in this region. The gathering marked the first meeting of the Three Corners Methamphetamine Task Force. This cooperative group now includes agencies from northwestern North Carolina-all the way to Winston-Salem-southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee. Over 70 officials attended the first of what will be monthly meetings. Clandestine methamphetamine labs are appearing rapidly in this part of the state, and spreading eastward. "If they are not in your county now, they will be," said Jerry Ratley, SBI special agent in charge of Diversion and Environmental Crimes. He warned that "officers are in greater danger of being injured by a meth lab than of being shot." Ratley went on to say, "This problem is not like other problems we've faced in law enforcement before. [continues 221 words]
Law enforcement and judicial leaders from three states met Wednesday in Jefferson to begin working together to fight the meth lab epidemic. That is a good first step on the way to battling this menace. Our first column on meth labs brought reaction from across the continent, with some of it questioning the idea of even attempting to regulate the use of presently illegal drugs such as methamphetamine. The question of drug "prohibition" is one separate from that of meth labs. There is no right to pollute a community, or endanger the lives of firefighters and law enforcement personnel, or contaminate buildings, or put children and adults in danger. [continues 351 words]
The bad news is there is no good news about clandestine methamphetamine labs. That was the message at a public meeting in Boone Tuesday. Attorney General Roy Cooper, SBI Director Robin Prendergraft and field agents told the 100-plus people assembled at Fairfield Inn that their resources are overwhelmed and the laws on the books are inadequate to deal with an explosive increase in the number of meth labs in North Carolina. That is especially true in Watauga County, where 24 of the 116 labs found in the state this year have been uncovered-over 20 percent of the state total. [continues 524 words]
We concur with District Attorney Jerry Wilson's concern over the spread of methamphetamine labs in this region, without agreeing with his latest effort to stop them. Earlier this week, Wilson filed charges of two counts of manufacturing a nuclear or chemical weapon against Martin Dwayne Miller, 24, of Todd. This was as a result of his arrest on charges of operating a meth lab. The new charges come under the relatively new weapons of mass destruction law. This law defines a chemical, biological or nuclear weapon as "any substance that is designed or has the capability to cause death or serious injury and...is or contains toxic or poisonous chemicals or their immediate precursors." The intention of the law, of course, is to prosecute terrorists who seek to make weapons of mass destruction. This portion of the law is so broadly written that Wilson might not be alone in seeking to prosecute people under its terms. [continues 292 words]
