McConnell: HIDTA designation will help deter drug trafficking, save lives
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke at a Friday afternoon press conference that announced Nelson County’s designation as part of the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Friday, Oct. 10, 2014, 11:40 p.m. –– Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell visited Bardstown Friday afternoon to formally announce Nelson County’s inclusion in the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program.
The HIDTA designation means additional federal resources will be available in Nelson County to fight drug trafficking. According to HIDTA Executive Director Frank Rapier, these resources can include money to pay for law enforcement, additional equipment or other resources.
The resources available to Nelson County via the HIDTA program will be matched to the need, Rapier said.
The HIDTA program brings federal, state and local agencies together to fight drug trafficking, he said. Rapier called drug abuse “an epidemic that we can’t ignore because lives are at stake.”
Rapier credited McConnell’s work as vital in getting Nelson and Madison counties added to the HIDTA program.
McConnell said the HIDTA program will help law enforcement track down drug traffickers in a fight that must be continued. “Giving up is not a good option,” he said.
Bardstown City Councilman John Royalty, right, greets McConnell following the press conference Friday at the Bardstown Police Department.
He cited the murder of Bardstown Police Officer Jason Ellis as an example of the inherent danger of drug trafficking, noting that Ellis was one of the department’s top officers in drug arrests.
“No county has paid a higher price than Nelson County,” he said. The HIDTA program will continue the fight against drug trafficking with an ultimate goal of saving lives.
“Out of respect for Officer Ellis’s legacy and to protect families across this county, we must do all we can to combat the scourge of illicit drug use,” he said. “The lives of our fellow Kentuckians and the future of our neighborhoods and communities are at stake.”
The HIDTA program’s assistance will be matched to the need, Rapier said. The assistance can take a number of different forms, including funding for overtime pay, equipment or other resources and assets.
The state-funded Commonwealth Attorney’s office prosecutes the majority of drug cases in Nelson County, and while the federally funded HIDTA program can’t help fund local prosecutions, the U.S. Attorney’s office has a program called the Special Assistant U.S. Attorney program (SAUSA) that provides federal prosecutors who can take some of the county’s drug trafficking cases into the federal court system, he said.
After the announcement ceremony, McConnell was a studio guest on Gregg Anderson’s “Talk of the Town” radio show on WBRT.
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