With a freshly granted $286,228 from the Lilly Endowment, a group of county organizations are focusing attention and funding on various local drug-related programs.

The Kosciusko Community Collaboration, comprised of numerous foundations, businesses and city and county departments, will be allocating funds to projects for the education, prevention, treatment and enforcement of substance abuse.

"What I liked most about this project was the broad range of community interest in dealing with the drug problem," Warsaw Police Chief Steve Foster said. "I saw a significance in what was being researched and what they focused their attention on."

By the end of the month, the collaboration hopes to provide 200 locks for anhydrous ammonia storage tanks located throughout the county. The ammonia, an ingredient used in methamphetamine production, is purchased yearly by farmers and used twice on crops during the growth process.

Reports of theft from the storage tanks are not uncommon for the Kosciusko County Sherrif's Department and due to the fragile state of the anhydrous ammonia, these thefts often lead to injuries during the chemicals transportation.

"We've had burn cases caused by people trying to put this anhydrous into a cooler or propane tank to take to a meth lab," Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine said. "With these locks, we're trying to eliminate this type of anhydrous use to the best of our abilities."

Rovenstine participated in a focus group to address the ammonia storage problem. The initial solution the group considered was to put a glowing gel in the ammonia, which would mark a thief's hands for easy identification by authorities.

"This process was used in Michigan, but we found problems with the cost of continuously putting it in the tanks," LifeQuest Coordinator Judy Mugg, a director of the collaboration, said. "Plus, we'd have problems with marking the workers that filled the tanks, so the locks were a much better option."

"We feel we found the most convenient fix without incurring expenses for the farmers," Rovenstine said.

The locks, uncuttable and secure caps for the anhydrous tank, are planned to be delivered to Creighton Brothers and cooperatively distributed to county farmers.

"Being a farmer with this (storage) tank ourselves, I know that not much interferes with the farmers during the farming season," Creighton Brothers President Ron Truex said. "I just hope we can get these locks installed quickly.

"There's a lot of money and addiction in meth, so I don't know how long it will be before someone finds a way around the locks. Necessity is the mother of invention," he added. "But this is a step in the right direction. It will buy us some time until we come up with another solution."

Of the grant money dedicated to the projects, $12,000 will be used for the locks purchase and installation.

Also addressed by a collaboration was a need to educate middle school students of the dangers and consequences of substance abuse.

Programs and presentations are being planned for both Lakeview and Edgewood middle schools, involving video presentations and speeches for various different representatives from the county.

"We hope to give both students and their parents credible information they can learn from and work with," Foster said. "It's important we provide direction, resources and a way to go about dealing with these situations."

The programs are estimated to begin during the 2006-2007 school season, and "additional community awareness will be sought through local media, athletic events and the county fair."

"We'll be cooperating with the goals of the DARE program," Foster said. "This is a tender age when the kids are exposed to so many things. We need to make sure they understand what's out there."

Additional projects for the collaboration will include making drug testing kits available for the middle schools, as wel as the construction of a halfway house for rehabilitation and recovery purposes. The collaboration will also be initiating financial assistance for treatment purposes. [[In-content Ad]]