United States Representative Brett Guthrie came to town talked about Daviess County’s High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to talk to regional directors from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency and the Chamber of Commerce Friday afternoon.
Daviess County was announced as one of the six counties in the nation to be chosen for the HIDTA program in May. The program provides support both federally and state-wise for coordination, equipment, technology and other resources to cease the production and sales of illicit drugs.
Guthrie was called to bring in some federal resources combined with the efforts from the state. Some of the efforts provided will be the communications between the designated officers from the ATF.
Guthrie said that there is a lot of pressure on the Owensboro Police Department and Daviess County Sherriff’s Department to handle the local drug crimes.
Looking at nearby counties like Warren County he noted that under their HIDTA status, they have been able to put a “big dent” in the drug problem in that community.
However, Guthrie said they are not looking intently at the low-level drug users instead those that are pushing large amounts of drugs either throughout the region or the country.
“My Warren county connection that I know [said] that it’s always a fight. It’s a ‘whack-a-mole’. If you knocked this one down somebody pops up somewhere else,” Guthrie said.
When it comes to the Booster shot for the COVID-19 vaccine, Guthrie said there are two things that the FDA is considering on the importance of taking the shot: ‘Is it safe?’ and ‘Is it effective?’
Guthrie believes the argument behind the booster is since the vaccine is almost entirely effective against the Delta variant, “why take a third shot when somebody else in the world needs one shot,” Guthrie said.
Guthrie is also excited about the arrival of 100 Afghan refugees to the city.
“I don’t know any group that would be more like that than Afghans who worked with American soldiers to make sure American soldiers,” Guthrie said.
He said there was a problem with the way the country left Afghanistan which ended in complications for vetting of the refugees. Nonetheless, as long as the refugees are vetted properly he is glad to have them in the city and in the area.
