Cape Girardeau County streams funds to specialized federal drug enforcement program

The Cape Girardeau County Commission agreed Thursday to administer federal funding that provides specialized legal services to local law enforcement through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program.

Prosecution services funded by HIDTA are provided locally by special assistant federal prosecutor Tim Willis. He is stationed in the federal building in Cape Girardeau and collaborates with law enforcement agencies across 16 counties on methamphetamine cases in Southeast Missouri.

The HIDTA program, according to the Office of National Drug Council Policy website, was created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 and provides help to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies "operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States." It is fully funded by federal grants.

Willis said the HIDTA program is one effort to control drug production, import, distribution and use.

"For many years, Missouri was No. 1 in methamphetamine lab incidents. I think now we are No. 2, after Tennessee," Willis said.

Willis attributes the decrease in incidents to an emphasis on enforcement, which has included putting products containing pseudoephedrine, one of the ingredients of the drug, behind pharmacy counters or requiring a prescription to purchase them. A statewide database that tracks pseudoephedrine purchases was also created to identify repeat buyers.

Besides the negative effects of the "ferociously addictive" drug on the user, Willis said, manufacturing the drug creates dangerous pollution.

For every three to four grams of methamphetamine created in a small lab, he said, three to four pounds of "very toxic waste" is created. Often, waste is dumped into rivers.

"The damage that is done in communities and families through methamphetamine abuse is ghastly," Willis said.

Other business

In other business, County Clerk Kara Clark Summers asked commissioners for approval to seek bids for 99 electronic poll books intended to reduce processing time, printing costs, elections staffing requirements and information errors.

The books would replace printed voter registration lists and enable poll workers to assist any voter that enters the site. Currently, workers are assigned a section of the alphabet, such as A through E, and can only help those whose last names fall within that range. With the new system, workers would also be able to instantly update voter information and find correct polling sites for voters who come to the wrong one.

Summers plans to evaluate the total cost and determine how many of the 29 county voting sites can be equipped. Money for the equipment will come from state grants, the Election Services Fund and the 2012 county elections budget.

Summers said she could not reasonably estimate yet what the electronic polling books might cost because vendors vary widely in what they are charging and what hardware is involved with the new technology. Last year, she said, state legislation was passed that permits electronic signatures at the polls, which has spurred manufacturers to develop systems. She hopes to get at least three bids and have the equipment in at least one polling site for testing by the next election Feb. 7.

Commissioner Paul Koep­er presented a request for remodeling the recorder of deeds office. The commission approved up to $20,000 from the capital improvements fund created by refinancing the jail bonds to replace worn-out carpet, level the floor, paint, change lighting and rebuild the counter to make it accessible to the disabled. The office's last major upgrade occurred when the building was renovated in 1985.

Appointments for Cape Girardeau Area Magnet were announced for 2012. Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy and Mike Jennewein will be reappointed to one-year terms on the board of the not-for-profit economic development organization.

salderman@semissourian.com

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