A grant from the state will fund the Lawrence County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force for another year. The $50,000 grant, signed by Gov. Bob Riley, comes from funds made available to the state by the U.S. Department of Justice and administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. "Illegal drugs threaten the health and safety of Alabama Communities," Riley said, "The investigations and arrests conducted by the task force send a clear message that drug distributors and pushers will not be tolerated in Lawrence County." [continues 90 words]
The grant received by the Lawrence County Drug Task Force will help fund the unit for the coming year but it is $11,000 short of the requested amount. Gov. Bob Riley announced last week that the task force had received a grant for $61,000. The funds were made available by the U.S. Department of Justice and are administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA). "If we had gotten the $72,000 grant we had requested, we could have hired an additional officer for the task force," said Task Force Director Amard Martin. "But we didn't get enough for a new officer. But it was more than last year when we only got $45,000." [continues 196 words]
