PROLOGUE

The little girl who told police her mother sold meth is now 7 and has been adopted by a family in Butte County. There were no suitable relatives to care for her.

CHAPTER 1

Terri and Paul, the meth-using parents of Timothy, were convicted of possessing meth for sale. Paul was sentenced to six months in jail and five years' probation. He is scheduled to be released next month. Terri was given five years' probation and is living in the same Sacramento apartment they were arrested in.

Timothy, now 15 months old, remains in foster care.

CHAPTER 2

In Green Bay, Wis., Steve Preisler ("Uncle Fester") is "thinking about" producing a sixth edition of his manifesto for making meth.

CHAPTER 3

Father Time, the pioneer of Valley meth making, remains locked in Stanislaus County Jail in downtown Modesto. He is scheduled to be in court Dec. 28 for a pretrial hearing.

CHAPTER 4

Law enforcement officials say the number of meth labs in California continues to rise. Through June, 619 labs and 157 lab dump sites had been reported this year, and that does not include some of the state's busiest meth lab counties, which will not report totals until the end of the year. Seventy-one meth lab seizures and lab waste dump discoveries in the first six months of this year were in Fresno, Kern, Madera, Merced, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Stanislaus and Tulare counties, according to a meth task force for the California Department of Justice. There were no records for Tehama, Glenn, Colusa, Butte, Yuba, Sutter, Yolo or Kings. Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement spokesman Mike van Winkle points out that without an increase in meth-fighting resources, the numbers are likely to level off simply because there aren't enough cops to bust more: "We can only be in so many places in a year."

CHAPTER 5

Nationwide, the Drug Enforcement Administration reports:

In the Houston area, there is a dramatic increase in the seizures of meth produced in Mexico.

In northern Georgia, efforts are being made to eliminate "ephedrine warehouses. These operations bill themselves as diet centers when in fact they furnish methamphetamine manufacturers the chemicals needed to create clandestine laboratories."

In Nevada, meth lab busts have quadrupled in the past three years, largely due to the lack of laws on restricting chemicals used to make meth. To get around chemical restrictions, Las Vegas agents say meth makers are substituting hypo-phosphorous acid for red phosphorus. This so-called method is quicker and avoids problems with obtaining red phosphorus. "However," the DEA reports, "it is much more dangerous . . .  if the cook is not knowledgeable about the cooking process, there is a great potential of blowing up the clandestine laboratory."

Drug agents predict the rural Yakima Valley in Washington could be the next super lab hot spot. In 1999, authorities seized 550 meth labs statewide, ranking it second nationwide behind California.

Oregon's first super lab bust was in 1999. During the first six months of this year, three super labs have been busted. "Our worst fears have been realized," Portland DEA agent Michael Coleman says. "Meth is the single biggest threat to Oregon."

On April 1, Cleveland, Ohio, busted its first meth lab.

CHAPTER 6

Kevin, the one-time king of hydrogen chloride gas, has a year remaining in a halfway house. He had been moved from his original place in May after he received a visit from narcotics agents. One agent, he says, held a fistful of $100 bills and told Kevin the money would be his if he told them who is operating superlabs. Kevin didn't utter a word. "The snitch is always known," he says.

Rick McIntyre, the trucking firm manager-turned-drug dealer, graduated in August from Fresno's Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center Program. He is back at his previous job as an operation manager of a trucking firm and back at his home in Fowler with his wife, whom he nearly choked to death while on meth.

CHAPTER 7

Alan Jordan, the heavy equipment operator and meth enthusiast who was convicted of making the drug, is serving a life sentence at the federal prison in Lompoc.

Sandy Miller, the preacher's daughter who became a prostitute and pimp and lost her kids because of meth, has graduated from residential drug treatment and now attends outpatient counseling four days a week. Her two youngest children have been adopted, but she's opened an adoptive file that will allow them to locate her when they grow up. She visits her oldest daughter, who lives with the girl's father.

Jackie Hughes, the onetime beauty who lost her looks, teeth and daughters to meth, also lost the house she was living in to a fire. Firefighters suspected a meth lab. The Red Cross gave Hughes and her companion Bob Hicks motel vouchers. When those ran out, they began staying with friends. Currently, they live together in a friend's house in west Modesto, located about a mile from their former house.

CHAPTER 8

Despite the success of Butte County investigator Sue Webber-Brown's Drug Endangered Children's program, the state continues to fund pilot DEC programs in only seven counties. Several others, including Fresno and Kern, are financing their own programs based on Webber-Brown's.

CHAPTER 9

The letter Amelia Turse received from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board ordering her to have more tests done at the site of the meth lab on her Reedley farm included an Aug. 31 deadline for her to respond. Not knowing what to do, she let the deadline pass. "I haven't done anything about that letter," she says. "What are they going to do? I guess they could hire somebody to do the work and send me the bill.

Well, let them." She believes it's unfair that she is being held responsible for cleaning up a mess she didn't create, one that resulted from criminal activity.

CHAPTER 10

Last month, Gov. Davis vetoed a bill that would have required state agencies to draft standards for counties in determining whether a meth lab site has been satisfactorily cleaned up. The bill had been opposed by the Davis administration on the grounds it was expensive ($3 million) and inflexible. The veto means each county will continue to set its own rules in determining when a meth lab is sufficiently cleaned up.

CHAPTER 11

Congress, caught up in a presidential election year and lagging behind on its annual spending bills, had not taken final action on methamphetamine legislation as of the last day of September. The Drug Enforcement Administration, however, weighed in with proposed new rules in late September. Citing what it called the "diversion of these chemicals to clandestine drug laboratories," the DEA proposes using the existing Controlled Substances Act to impose further restrictions on red and white phosphorus and hypophosphorous acid. Legally, the compounds are used in fireworks, fertilizers and safety matches, among other products. But a recent DEA survey of the 50 largest illegal meth labs also found that 87 percent relied on red phosphorus, while white phosphorus has been found in an increasing number of Idaho meth labs. These labs use the phosphorus to help "drive" the conversion of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine to meth. If added to the so-called Class I list of controlled substances, the red and white phosphorus could be used only under additional registration, reporting and record-keeping requirements.

CHAPTER 12

Bill Ruzzamenti, the DEA special agent in charge of the Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program, says he is "very hopeful" the request for a $1 million increase to the program's $1.5 million annual budget will be granted by Congress this month. "But it's an election year," he adds, "and you never know."

CHAPTER 13

David Malgosa, arrested in the July meth-for-sale sting set up by a Kern County law enforcement task force, is in the Kern County Jail awaiting trial.

CHAPTER 14

Butte County residents trying to get into residential drug treatment don't work with Carol Multrum anymore. Since Sept. 18, she has switched duties. Multrum now focuses primarily on Drug Court clients, including groups and treatment screening. In July, she started work on the county's new High Intensity DUI Enforcement (HIDE) Court. With her added workload, Multrum says she couldn't continue taking the general calls. Counselor Rich Bennett has taken over her responsibilities and will take calls 1-3 p.m. every Monday. Multrum's advice to her successor: "Keep a good sense of humor, and don't take the mean calls personally."

Deborah Williams could not be reached in September. She was not in Laura's House. Acquaintances at the Reality Alumni Drop In Center say she left the area.

CHAPTER 15

Nicki Lujano graduated from King of Kings Sept. 5, her second time through the program. She believes this time it will stick. On Sept. 19, she went to vocational school orientation at Fresno City College and is considering several short courses, including phlebotomy and computers. Lujano's oldest daughters still live with their fathers. She said if she can't come to a verbal agreement with Chelsey's father, she will go to court this month. She already has an agreement with Aymee's dad to see her more. Eventually, she would like joint custody with both daughters. At home, Lujano and Dane DowDell still are together. DowDell dropped out of his drug treatment program but is going to Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Since April, he has been working as a maintenance man at a senior citizens village. The couple finally had their yard sale in August and raised $190. Nicki also is still gardening. She has planted four more trees. The original three all made it. "I lucked out," she says.