Agencies
Gear Up to Fight Drug Labs
[FEB.
25, 2000] It
is as addictive as crack cocaine, cheap and easy to make
with mostly legal substances and immensely profitable. It’s
methamphetamine, the up-and-coming drug in the Heartland,
and it’s being made in portable laboratories in Central
Illinois. Because the problem is getting close to home,
Lincoln area health and law enforcement agencies have set
up two seminars to let the public know about the dangers
of the drug and what can be done to stop its manufacture
and distribution.
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The
first seminar is scheduled for Monday, March 6, at 7:30
a.m. at the Lincoln Park District on Primm Road. The
second is Monday, March 13, at 6:30 p.m. at Lincoln Junior
High School, 208 Broadway. The seminars are sponsored by
the Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Task Force of the Healthy
Communities Partnership (HCP).
Dayle
Eldredge, coordinator of HCP, said the morning and evening
times were set to accommodate the people in the community
who are most affected by the problem. This includes
farmers whose tanks of anhydrous ammonia can be tapped for
one of the ingredients used in the manufacture of meth,
business owners who might unknowingly be selling other
products used to make meth, and parents, school officials
and anyone else interested in a safer and healthier
community.
Eldredge
believes there are two reasons meth labs are moving into
the area. One is the availability of anhydrous, a liquid
fertilizer most farmers use, and the other is the
proximity to Interstate Route 55. Manufacturers can make
the drug in the area, then sell it locally and also use
I-55 to ship it quickly and easily north to the Chicago
area and south to St. Louis.
Both
Eldredge and Public Information Officer Rich Montcalm of
the Lincoln Police Department, emphasize that meth is an
extremely dangerous drug.
"This
is not a recreational drug. Its addiction cycle can be
compared to crack cocaine," Eldredge said. "And
it is easy to take. It can be snorted, injected, smoked or
swallowed."
"Like
crack, you can get addicted the first time you use it. It’s
a very dangerous drug," Montcalm said. "It
affects every social class from the richest to the poorest—all
across the board."
Not
only is meth a dangerously addictive drug, he said, the
ingredients used in making it are volatile and that meth
labs are highly flammable. A meth lab is a fire hazard to
any structures near it.
Also
known as crank, ice, speed, and go, methamphetamine is not
only easy to make, it can be made quickly, Montcalm
explained. Meth labs may be set up in houses, apartments,
barns, abandoned buildings, cars, motel or hotel rooms,
even in the backs of semis. The labs can operate for a few
days in one spot and then move on. Meth use started on the
West Coast and moved east, coming into Illinois from
Missouri, where the drug has been a major problem.
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![](../images/ads/nobbe/nobbe_2x3_000124.jpg)
Meth
is much cheaper than the equally addictive crack cocaine,
and most of the ingredients are easily available. "We
don’t see much crack here in Lincoln, but we have seen a
little meth. It was being made in a couple of houses here
in town," Montcalm said. "We’ve seen an
increase recently in the number of labs in Central
Illinois.
"There
is a big market for this drug and the people who
manufacture and sell it can make a lot of money. One gram
may sell for $80 to $100 and a pound goes for $7,300 to
$10,000. The average dose is about 5 milligrams," he
stated.
Eldredge
said the two informational meetings are open to everyone.
Master Sergeant Bruce Liebe of the Illinois State Police,
presently assigned to the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration, will be the featured speaker.
"We
hope teachers will come to one of these meetings so they
can recognize when meth is being used, spot suspicious
behaviors and call parents’ attention to them. Merchants
should be aware what to look for and how best to alert law
enforcement agencies. Parents can learn what to look for
in the neighborhoods. Farmers can learn what to check on
their anhydrous tank and when to alert law
enforcement," she said.
Short-term
effects of methamphetamine use may include euphoria, loss
of appetite, insomnia, paranoia, agitation and
irritability. Long term effects can be malnutrition,
psychosis, depression, memory loss and possible damage to
the heart, brain, lungs and liver.
"A
big majority of our crime in Lincoln is alcohol or drug
related," Montcalm said. "If we don’t get
these meth labs under control we will see even more crime.
Citizens can help us stop them by being educated."
Healthy
Communities Partnership is an umbrella organization formed
in 1997 by the Lincoln Logan Chamber of Commerce
Healthcare Committee to address health care problems in
the community. The Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Task Force is
one of three such groups functioning under HCP.
[Joan
Crabb]
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One
Step Ahead
Logan
County Safe School Task Force—a plan in action
[FEB.
24, 2000] No
one wants to think about it. No one wants to talk about it
without knocking on wood or whispering a prayer that it
will never happen. There is no doubt that the families and
students in Littleton, Colo., never expected the
horrifying, unthinkable crisis that they found themselves
swept into in April of 1999, when two young men murdered
and injured fellow students and teachers before killing
themselves. We stare at the unwelcome reality that it does
happen, and that we must think and talk about it. It’s a
very scary "what if."
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At
the start of the 1999-2000 school year, Dan Fulscher,
director of the Logan County Emergency Services and
Disaster Agency (ESDA), received a call from Lincoln High
School Superintendent, Fred Plese about initiating some
kind of emergency/crisis plan, beyond the school’s own,
involving all available agencies in the community. Three
meetings and six months later, the result of that call is
the "Logan County Safe School Task Force."
The
main function of the Safe School Task Force is to define
and outline the objectives and responsibilities of each
emergency response agency that would be involved in a
school crisis situation. Some of the local agencies are
the obvious ones such as the police, fire and rescue crews
and emergency medical services. Others include Logan Mason
Mental Health, the Logan County Health Department,
Sangamon Valley Red Cross, and Logan County Salvation
Army. Each agency serves cooperative and individual
functions, from counseling to feeding and sheltering.
![](../images/taskforce/task2.jpg)
[Dan
Fulscher, ESDA Director on the left .
Don Farmer, from the Sangamon Valley Red Cross on the
right.]
On
Wednesday, Feb. 23, the newly formed task force held their
third meeting at the Logan County Safety Complex. Patrick
Keane from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency led a
tabletop exercise in which a school shooting scenario was
presented. "Shots fired at Lincoln High School,"
Keane began. The group then walked through the proper
chain of response and notifications. It was evident that
the two most important keys in that type of crisis setting
would be continual situation assessments and communication
among the agencies involved.
The
scenario continued starting with school administrators
reaching 9-1-1 emergency services and the Lincoln police
quickly responding and appraising the situation. The task
force members mentally and verbally simulated the
incident. School lockdown. Notify all other local schools
to lockdown as well. Police establish an on-site tactical
command center.
[Patrick
Keane from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency
presenting a school shooting
scenario talbetop exercise to the task force]
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The
imagined scenario developed further. They now learn there
are four or five students in the gymnasium. The fire
department, ambulance service, ESDA and Abraham Lincoln
Memorial Hospital are notified. The media is contacted.
ESDA then contacts the Sangamon Valley Red Cross and Logan
County Salvation Army to set up a secure shelter facility.
Evacuation of the school begins as soon as the area is
secured and it is safe to do so. Transportation must be
provided to safely remove the students and faculty from
the school and transport them to the shelter where the
Logan Mason Mental Health and Logan County Health
Department workers will tend to physical and emotional
needs. There is a need for still another site, away from
the school, and the first shelter, where the students may
be reunited with their parents.
There
is much to be considered says Fulscher, "First of all
it is a reality that we have to plan for these types of
things. Terrorist attacks, bombs, chemicals, or any
weaponry, if we fail to plan in these areas, then the plan
will definitely fail us." Fulscher added, "In
this area (Logan County) we appreciate the police, all of
the emergency agencies, Patrick Keane and Fred Plese, for
bringing this to light, and helping spearhead the task
force so we can be ultimately prepared in case of the
actual event."
Lincoln
Community High School Superintendent, Fred Plese stated,
"If there is a crisis at the school, we will have the
plan in place." When asked how he personally felt
about the Safe School Task Force, Plese replied, "I
feel good about the task force but, as an educator I don’t
feel good about having to do this. A school shouldn’t
have to be a fortress."
Keane
stated, "What I am pleased with is that Lincoln
recognized the potential threat and has prepared to meet
that threat. Because of that, they are miles ahead of many
other, much larger jurisdictions."
[Curtis
Sutterfield]
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Explosion
Fire
at Mount Pulaski business
[FEB.
23, 2000] "It
sounded just like a bomb, followed by a fireball which
shot out of the building through a doorway, knocking
down a wall," Chief Robert Thomas of the Lincoln
Rural Fire Department declared. Firefighters from Atlanta,
Beason, Chestnut, Lincoln, rural Lincoln and Mount Pulaski
fire departments responded to a report of heavy smoke and
some flames at a maintenance building for Mt. Pulaski
Products, Skelton Plant. Logan County paramedics also
responded and remained on the scene.
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Firefighters
were called out at 10:13 a.m. yesterday morning. The
Lincoln Rural Fire Department, the first on the scene,
worked with State Fire Marshal Jim Oliver, using what is
commonly known as a "defensive attack." No one
was sent into the building immediately, since no people
were believed to be inside.
As
firefighters surrounded the scene, an explosion followed
by a fireball erupted. It is believed that an acetylene
tank caused the explosion.
Three
firefighters, Chris Sprinkel, Chad Letterly and Ron Shawgo
were sent to the hospital with minor injuries. All
suffered burns and one had a knee injury.
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Decisions
were made on the spot as to how to best contain the fire
and preserve evidence which will help determine the cause,
Thomas explained. The fire marshal will be sifting through
and assessing the site -- an "overhaul of the
fire" -- this afternoon.
The
building, tools and maintenance equipment, along with an
older water truck were declared a total loss. Total
official inventory and dollar amounts have not yet been
declared. By fire department estimates there was $85,000
worth of damage. This morning Mt. Pulaski Products had no
comment on the issue.
[Jan
Youngquist]
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