Operation Sawmill residue still haunts Georgia Bend

By MELISSA BURNSED

Operation Sawmill was a high profile multi-jurisdictional investigation into a methamphetamine and marijuana drug distribution ring headquartered near the Florida/Georgia border, in southern Charlton County. As part of the penalty phase of the prosecution, the government seized the 26 acre distribution site in the Georgia Bend.

Three years after the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the investigations results and the arrest of fourteen people, nearby homeowners are left with fears of soil contamination from the hazardous drugs that were stored on the property during the illegal operations. Lingering questions about which agency has control of the property and who will be responsible for clean up costs have gone unanswered, in the wake of initial reports of toxic residue from the methamphetamine and other chemicals that were stored and distributed on the site.

Methamphetamine, more commonly known by its’ street name of meth, is a highly addictive lab created drug that can cause strokes, heart attack and even death. It can be snorted, smoked or injected. Users get a short high from taking the relatively inexpensive drug.

While the drug is a cheap high for users, the costs for cleaning up soil and buildings where it is manufactured and stored can be staggering. Charlton County Sheriff Ernest "Dobie" Conner, at one time estimated it might take more than $100,000 to clean up the South Georgia site.

Locals worry about the possibility of those dangerous contaminants leeching into groundwater and their wells. Some environmentalists have also expressed concerns about the effects on Sparkmen Creek, which runs downhill adjacent to the property. Sparkman Creek is a direct tributary into the waters of the Saint Mary’s River, one of only a handful of rivers which are still classified as pristine waterways.

The convoluted question of ownership and responsibility stems back to the joint investigation. Local law enforcement officers from both Georgia’s Charlton County and Florida‘s Baker County, along with state and federal authorities worked together on the investigation into the drug ring that transported drugs from Mexico and California to the distribution hub established by two brothers near their home in the Georgia Bend.

Following up on an initial tip to Baker County by a confidential informant, the North Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, which included locals and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency, worked for a year to build a case against those individuals who were part 

James Dwayne Merrett

of the illegal drug distribution ring.

In late February 2005, ringleaders James Dwayne Merrett and his brother John Charles Merrett were arrested, along with alleged co-conspirator Charity Ann Merrett of Saint George, Georgia. Other drug  ring members were also arrested including half a dozen Baker County residents who were involved in the distribution of the meth and marijuana all over North Florida and South Georgia. Authorities also nabbed international drug supplier Carlos Ibarra, as the possible mastermind of the North American distribution network.

John Charles Merrett

In all, it is alleged that the Merretts and their associates distributed a total of more than 1,000 pounds of marihuana and six pounds of methamphetamine. The conspiracy is alleged to have lasted from 2001 until February 2005.

After the ring members were tried and sentenced the property ownership issue remained unresolved, because the case involved so many different agencies.

Rumors of how extensive the contamination was and about possible unsuccessful efforts to auction the primarily creek bottom property have circulated throughout the rural enclave where the Merrett family lived and ran the drug ring. Residents have been unable to get any answers from local, state or federal bureaucrats, despite requests for information.

Efforts by North Florida News Daily  to obtain official reports and surveys of the property which detail levels of contamination from various state and federal government agencies, hit a brick wall and did not result in the release of any documentation or comment.

Earlier this year, the issue of ownership was finally resolved when the U.S. Marshall’s Service deeded the entire 26 acres to Charlton County. The economically disadvantaged county had sought a few hundred feet of land on the northern property perimeter for a limited right of way to replace an old dilapidated bridge that crosses Sparkmen Creek. The Marshall’s Service rejected that request and instead offered to donate the entire site to Charlton, thereby absolving the federal government of any responsibility for the clean up costs.

Charlton County Administrator Steve Nance stated that the county and the Georgia Department of Transportation have already capitalized on having the necessary right of way for the new bridge by letting bids for the project last month. "Our savings for acquiring that right of way should cover the costs associated with cleaning the property."

According to Mr. Nance, the Georgia Department of Environmental Protection has expressed a willingness to work with the county on the clean up operations. "Georgia regulations aren’t as strict as Florida’s, when it comes to some of the materials left on the property and we felt confident that we can handle the situation down there," he said.

The county administrator stated his board of commissioners also has hopes of putting the useable portion of the property on the market once the clean up is complete. (The site is mostly unusable creek bottom, with the approximately four to five acres where the sawmill operation was located classified as uplands suitable for residential and other uses.)

"We will ultimately have to clean up the junk and other residue debris, but to my knowledge there is nothing toxic to humans on the property, so the residents can rest easy," Nance added as an assurance.

Despite the assurances, Georgia Bend residents and those concerned about the preserving the untainted waters of the St. Mary’s River remain unsatisfied. They want to see the government surveys of the site, so the true extent of the contamination can be known and monitored. How one of Georgia’s least populated counties will be able to afford the decontamination costs is a dilemma that has taxpayers concerned. The time frame for the clean up is another issue that residents want to see clearly defined.