Daily Press News Editor
MONTROSE — A cross-agency meeting raised awareness about the drug task force’s nearly empty coffers, but did not raise a clear solution, participants said.
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“It might make people pay more attention; otherwise, we’re still where we were before the meeting started,” Task Force Agent Jack Haynes said after several agency heads and representatives of U.S. Rep. John Salazar and U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar discussed funding possibilities.
Curt Williams, agent in charge for the local CBI field office, said the meeting was encouraging because it showed unity. “But no one acted. No one said they would help.”
The task force, formerly known as the Delta/Montrose Drug Task Force, provides concentrated investigations into drug and drug-related crimes in Montrose, Delta, Ouray, San Miguel, Hinsdale and Gunnison counties. It is funded by in-kind contributions of officers, salaries and equipment from participating agencies and federal grant funding for overhead operations.
That funding, primarily under the federal Byrne grant, has been diminishing yearly while Montrose’s meth problem grows. Though once at the head of the line for priority funding under the federal Meth Hot Spots program, the task force was left with nothing when Congress did not pass the necessary appropriation bill in February.
“As we grew, our funding shrank,” Delta County Sheriff Fred McKee said. “Meth continues to skyrocket.”
District Attorney Myrl Serra said between 70 and 85 percent of cases in the 7th Judicial District have a substance abuse component. By contrast, the task force’s Byrne grant funding has been reduced to $47,000 — “peanuts,” according to San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters.
Masters suggested approaching local governments and businesses to contribute more to the task force, which he said manages to do what it does on the low budget.
“This task force works on peanuts,” he said. “It’s elephant food. If we rely on the federal government, if we rely on the state, there’s limited resources. ...We need to take care of our problem right now.”
Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey told the gathering what was being done in his jurisdiction and said Grand Junction’s comparative success in fighting meth involved highlighting the problem on both state and national levels.
“I’m disturbed to hear your Byrne grant is dwindling,” Hilkey said. He urged local agencies to collect specific data that could be used to persuade decision makers. “You really have to demonstrate the problem beyond your saying it.”
Hilkey later asked the governments within the 7th Judicial District to consider creating special improvement districts specifically for law enforcement efforts. “No one likes to talk about increasing taxes, but it’s an opportunity you need to at least think about,” he said.
The federal government isn’t flush with cash either, Karen Flowers of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Grand Junction office explained.
“Resources are stark,” she said, and additionally, the DEA pursues the highest level of drug trafficking to stem the tide. Nonetheless, she said the agency is trying to work with Haynes and the local task force to see if it can offer more help.
No one disagreed about the task force’s importance and Cantwell told those in attendance the CBI was behind the local task force’s efforts, even though it will be moving its Montrose regional office to Grand Junction.
“We are committed to keeping an agent here,” he said, adding that task forces were the best weapon against meth. “That’s the only way. You’re never going to stop it. There’s a lot of money in it. The citizens have to wake up and realize there is a drug problem.”
Cantwell said both communities and the Legislature needed to be involved in fighting meth.
Gunnison County Sheriff Rick Murdie said the Legislature should consider reinstating law enforcement agencies’ authority to seize property linked to drug crimes. In the past, he said his office was able to fund its own task force with the proceeds. “If it’s not hurting these guys financially, they’re going to keep doing what they’re doing,” he said.
Williams formerly headed up the state’s largest drug task force. “We did have a lot of assets. Then I came here. It hit me the drug problem isn’t any different. In a way, it’s worse,” he said, because smaller agencies aren’t as well funded.
Williams didn’t think anyone was deliberately cutting out the rural areas, but local agencies had gone above and beyond to maintain the task force. “They’re supplying everything,” he said. “There’s got to be some help some place.”
Delta County Commissioner Wayne Wolfe urged politicians to push for more money for rural areas. “Don’t reduce the Byrne grant,” he said. “Increase it.”
Staffers from the Salazar brothers’ Grand Junction offices pledged support. “My boss is one of those who has helped,” Rich Baca said of John Salazar, who also is a member of a congressional meth task force caucus.
The funding dilemma remains, Haynes said. “The question is simple: What are we going to do about it? Who’s going to step up? I don’t know if we’re getting an answer to that.”
Montrose Police Chief Tom Chinn said state, local and federal governments were doing what they could. “We’re at the beginning of something positive. If we don’t talk about the issue, how do we expect to resolve it?”
Kaitlyn Heichel wrote on Nov 3, 2009 2:01 PM:
Sarah Bond wrote on Jul 13, 2009 5:31 PM: