To steal a quote from Hannibal on the '80s TV action show "The A-Team": "I just love it when a plan comes together."
I'm referring to three things that recently seem to be working out.
Of course, we're still a ways from the finish line in all three, but at least we seem to be on the right path.
Meth Bill
HB 1030 was introduced into the Indiana legislature by State Rep.-elect Rebecca Kubacki (R-Syracuse) and Rep. Wes Culver (R-Goshen.)
The bill would make decongestants containing pseudoephedrine HCI available by prescription only - just like it was before 1979 when it was made over the counter.
For the record: PSE-based cold meds are a minority of cold meds. There are tons of cold meds out there that people will still be able to buy without a prescription. Nobody is trying to make all cold meds prescription only. Just the ones with PSE.
See, to me, this is a no-brainer. Without PSE, meth cookers are out of business.
Hmm. What a concept.
No more meth labs. No more meth explosions. No more meth fires. Lots fewer lives lost or ruined. Lots fewer children exposed to toxic chemicals. Lots less time spent tracking down the smell of ether by law enforcement. Lots fewer homes damaged or destroyed by meth cooks. Lots less crime including stealing to obtain money for meth, property damage and loss due to fires, motor vehicle accidents and assaults. Lots fewer people in jail (50 percent of the people in Kosciusko County Jail are there because because of meth.) Lots less pressure on pressure on Social Services.
Cost?
In 2009 the RAND corporation did a study on the cost of meth to society.
Because of the difficulty in pinpointing the role of meth in crime, medical care and other factors, the RAND researchers gave a range of estimates. The annual toll nationwide may be a low as $16.2 billion or as high as $48.3 billion.
The cost to Indiana alone has been estimated at $1.7 billion a year. That's because Indiana ranks number two in the country behind California for meth lab busts.
And guess what?
Kosciusko County consistently ranks in the top three counties for meth lab busts in the state. That means - voila! - we are close to the top in the nation when it comes to meth labs.
I had a chance this week to talk about economic development in our community. There are some good people working very hard to attract talented people and businesses into this community. How do you suppose that dubious meth distinction sits with these prospects?
I have heard every argument there is against this legislation and I can refute any one of them. Tracking? Personal freedom? Convenience? Whatever. You think you have a good argument against this bill? Call me. I will change your mind. Seriously. Call me. 574-267-3111, Ext. 225.
Wait a minute. I have to back pedal on that. There is one argument I can't refute.
Money.
The people who profit from selling PSE-based cold meds will lose money. Why? It's simple. The Indiana State Police Meth Suppression Unit knows that 50 percent - 50 percent - of all the PSE cold meds sold in Indiana wind up in meth labs.
One drug store chain in Indiana was selling around around 4,000 boxes of PSE cold meds a week statewide back in August. That's a lot of runny noses in August. Yeah, that's a lot of money spent on PSE. And it's straight-up blood money.
So go ahead. Make that argument. You win. And society loses.
Call or e-mail your legislators. Tell them to give us the tools we need to save our community from the meth scourge.
Airport Expansion
I am not exactly sure how it all came about and I don't exactly care, but now it seems like we can loop CR 100E around the end of the runway the Warsaw Airport wants to lengthen.
Careful readers may remember the last paragraph of my most recent column where I opined: No one is opposed to a longer runway. They're opposed to closing the road. Can't we could work toward a solution where we have it both ways?
That's pretty much been my view from the outset, but that view was tempered by Airport Manager David Beall.
A month or so ago, at the outset of the airport runway debate, Beall stopped in my office to talk about things.
I asked him, instead of closing CR 100E, why not just pave a loop out around the end of the runway?
It wouldn't be as nice as the straight shot it is now, but it would be a lot less inconvenient than routing people all the way over to Ind. 15 or CR 175E.
But Beall assured me that Federal Aviation Administration regulations precluded my loopy idea. He said the FAA requires a 2,500-foot buffer from the end of the runway. That's darn near a half mile.
So by the time you looped CR 100E a half mile east, you'd almost be to CR 175E. It just wouldn't make sense and the FAA would likely not approve it anyway.
But comes now the new plan - which the FAA has at least agreed to consider - that has the road a lot closer than 2,500 feet to the end of the runway.
So it seems my loopy idea wasn't quite so loopy after all.
Beall now says the FAA is not completely averse to making exceptions if the impact on the community warrants them.
Of course, this begs the question why we didn't just propose the loop in the first place?
But you know what, I don't really care. I just think it would be great if the Airport Board could get their runway extended without closing CR 100E.
Homeless Shelter
Eric Lane and his Fellowship Missions have struck a deal with the City of Warsaw to rent the former Heartline Pregnancy Center.
The city owns the building and is renting it to Fellowship for a buck, plus utilities.
Some readers may remember a bit of a flap occurring when Fellowship proposed a homeless shelter in the former Brennan's building downtown.
So between the new place for women on North Buffalo Street and the existing place for men on South Buffalo Street, Fellowship seems to have enough facilities to get by.
At some point in the future, perhaps Fellowship will be able to pull together a plan to purchase and renovate a more functional shelter, But for now, it seems as if the homeless are being helped.
