Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007

Redribbon week series on meth

'CRANKTOWN'

METH HAS AFFECTED 8 OUT OF 10 PEOPLE IN THIS RURAL COMMUNITY No one can tell you exactly where Beulah starts and where it ends.

In the northeast corner of Lee County, its tangled roads stretch from west of Beulah High School to the backwaters of Lake Harding.

Many of its citizens work in Opelika, Auburn, Columbus and Valley, Ala.

They live on farms and in lake cabins. Some people have lived here all their lives. Others have recently moved here to take advantage of Beulah's rolling meadows and hidden sloughs.

Unless you looked at the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau statistics, you wouldn't know that nearly 50,000 people live within 10 miles of the high school. The average working person makes slightly less than $20,000. The average household income is slightly less than $40,000, according to 2003 census estimates. Nearly 29 percent of the people 25 years old and older do not have a high school diploma.

But beneath the placid surface of this rural community lies a dark secret.

For the past seven years, a growing drug problem has made this the unofficial methamphetamine capital of the Chattahoochee Valley.

Welcome to "Cranktown, USA."

The drug --- often called crank, among other things --- has been the target of intense investigation by a number of law enforcement agencies, including the Lee County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

By one man's count, nearly 60 residents from this area have gone to prison on methamphetamine charges. Last year, the Lee County Sheriff's Office made 104 methamphetamine cases ranging from possession to manufacturing. About 40 percent of those cases were in Beulah, estimates Lee County Sheriff's Capt. Van Jackson. (In 1999 when Lee County law enforcement was beginning the meth fight, methamphetamine arrest and case figures were not kept.)

Bill Bryan, the pastor of The Bridge Assembly of God church, has been there 14 years. He calls meth "a weapon in the enemy's hand."

"It has economically ruined families," Bryan said. "It has created distrust within families. They don't know who they can trust within their own families."

The Ledger-Enquirer interviewed more than a dozen people --- including law enforcement officials, methamphetamine users and family members impacted by the drug.

A sobering reality emerged: The drug has touched eight out of 10 people living here. It has destroyed users, wrecked families and sapped the spirit of this community.

Huge impact

Delinda Nelson is a 48-year-old grandmother. She is raising two kids because their mothers chose meth over family.

Nelson's 31-year-old daughter has served time in an Alabama prison for a meth-related conviction. Her daughter is out of prison now, living in Beulah. But Nelson has had custody of her 10-year-old granddaughter for eight years. Two months ago she took in a 4-year-old girl from one of her friends when the child was faced with being put in foster care because the young girl's mother was involved with a man using methamphetamine.