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40 °F 5 Day Forecast Tuesday, December 9, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend November 30, 2003 Authorities have too few tools to force lab cleanup By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune The number of meth labs and the contaminated sites they leave behind continues to climb in Jackson County. However, officials grapple with the meager tools they have to make people clean up. The Jackson County Narcotics Enforcement Team seized 13 meth labs through mid-November. That’s up from 10 in all of last year. In 2001, the team seized a record 18 labs. Statewide, police seized 591 labs in 2001, said Chuck Karl, director of the state’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program. State budget woes have thinned the ranks of drug investigators, so the number dipped to 529 last year and busts are expected to slump even further this year. Still, the number of contaminated sites reported to the Oregon Department of Human Services’ drug-lab cleanup program has held steady at between 200 and 220 annually, program coordinator Tom Mitchell said. Advertisement There are several methods to make meth, but all of them use solvents, corrosives and metals and salts, according to cleanup program publication on the chemicals and risks. Solvents pose a fire risk and cause irritation, drowsiness and, with long-term exposure, liver and kidney damage. Corrosives, including both acids and bases, cause irritation and burns. Metals and salts used have dangerous fumes, can be corrosive and pose a fire and explosion risk. Studies have linked the chemicals to cancer, brain and nervous system injury, injury to the liver and kidneys, birth defects and reproductive disorders. Thorough decontamination can remove the risk. When properties are listed as unfit for use because of drug-making, most owners clean the sites promptly, Mitchell said. The 1991 law doesn’t mandate cleanup and relies on owner motivation. "It’s a built-in incentive that people would want to get done so they can use their property again," he said. Mitchell said his program, which is part of the health services division, leaves checking whether people are using an unfit property to law enforcement. People using an unfit property can be charged with trespassing, he said. To clean up property, an owner must hire one of 26 state-licensed, drug-lab-decontamination contractors to evaluate the mess and create a work plan that meets state approval. When the work is done, the contractor sends a report to the cleanup program. The health division issues a certificate of fitness, then the owner can get the property taken off the list. The program usually works as designed, local building officials said. Chris Reising, Medford’s building safety director, said his department gets notification of five or six contaminated lab sites a year. "In most cases, it’s rental properties," he said. "The tenant was the one making drugs and the landlord cleans it up so he can rent it again." Reising said if someone complains about people living at a contaminated property, his department would order an eviction. Jackson County building official Bob Gilmore said his staff of three inspectors doesn’t have time to visit contaminated properties scattered outside of city limits. In fact, he thinks most of the places are in such bad shape that no one would try to use them, but if the department got a complaint, an inspector would respond. County ordinances, borrowing from state law, authorize the building official to condemn drug-lab sites as dangerous buildings or treat them as nuisances that must be cleaned up, said assistant county counsel, Doug McGeary, a former prosecutor. "Those are the hooks we would generally use," he said. In the five years he’s been in the county counsel’s office, however, he hasn’t seen the county move against any drug houses this way. In a property condemnation, the building official decides a building is dangerous, tells the owner to solve the problem and sets a deadline for it to be done, McGeary said. If a solution isn’t reached by the deadline, the owner can face a $600 fine per violation or, in the case of an ongoing problem, a $200 a day fine up to $10,000, he said. Possible solutions include cleanup and repairs to make a dangerous building safe, vacating a building and securing it so no one can use it, or demolition, officials said. Ordinances also enable the county, in some cases, to clean up unsafe conditions and put a lien on the property for the costs, McGeary said. Officials and private citizens also can file a civil suit to seek an injunction that would force cleanup. "The problem is money," McGeary said. The condemnation process includes opportunities for the landowner to appeal, so it can be lengthy and costly, as can a civil case. And when it comes to cleanup, the county worries about stepping in if officials aren’t sure that a property won’t slip back into a dangerous condition, McGeary said. The county often recommends that neighbors take the civil action themselves, he said. "That puts the onus back on them and usually makes them angry" that their tax dollars aren’t at work on their problem, he said. JACNET officials said they are studying federal statutes that punish owners of property where there is drug activity. Such properties can be seized according to the law, which officials said is rarely used in Oregon. For more information, see www.dhs.state.or.us/publichealth/druglab/index.cfm Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4459, or e-mail [email protected] A history of drugs and crime at 910 Schieffelin Gulch June 1989 — The Jackson County Narcotics Enforcement Team seizes a big marijuana-growing operation inside a large shop on the property. June 1990 — Tipped by California authorities, JACNET seizes 25 pounds of amphetamines, $34,000 cash and a lab capable of making pure and potent meth from the shop where marijuana was grown previously. News reports at the time called it the biggest bust in Jackson County and probably the most sophisticated lab in the state. Five people linked to the lab were convicted in U.S. District Court of manufacturing methamphetamine and sentenced to between 20 years to life in prison, the Mail Tribune reported. March 2001 —Investigators find a working meth lab in a bus parked on the property. John Martinelli and Peggy Fowlkes are arrested on charges of manufacture, delivery and possession of amphetamines. He pleads guilty to manufacturing and she pleads guilty to delivery. Steven James Vance, who lives on the property with his father and other family members, was arrested on a probation violation charge. June 2001 — JACNET finds lab equipment and chemicals at the home and arrests Vance on charges of possession and manufacture of amphetamines. He pleads guilty to drug manufacturing. July 2001 — Property is listed by the state as unfit for use because of drug-lab contamination. November 2003 — JACNET discovers a lab processing meth in a motor home on the property. Five people are arrested on probation violation warrants. Two of them, Eric William Isherwood and Karen Martin, are charged with manufacture and possession of amphetamines. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times