SENTINEL WATCH September 5, 2005 Issue

METH IN OUR BACKYARD? PRAYING FOR THE COMMUNITY

SANDRA SCOTT

I'LL admit, I was a bit shocked at what the deputy sheriff carried up from the creek behind our house. Out for my evening walk, I found the rubber-gloved officer trying to climb down the steep bridge embankment to pick up a plastic grocery bag. I showed him the easy way down on our side of the creek. As he climbed back up carrying the bag, he announced it contained the byproducts of methamphetamine manufacturing.

According to a National Association of Counties survey of 500 agencies in 45 states, meth is the leading drug problem in the United States. This easy-to-manufacture drug is highly addictive and available to all income levels and age groups.

Local law enforcement agencies, struggling with the growing meth problem, have asked for help. They have encouraged the public to become more alert to the activities of those individuals in their own neighborhoods who may be in the meth manufacturing business, and to report those operations.