Vigo County limits sale of cold medicine used to make meth\nTERRE HAUTE -- Authorities say merchants have been cooperative in the first weeks of a new Vigo County ordinance aimed at limiting the sales of cold medicines that can be used to make methamphetamine.\nThe ordinance covering products with ephedrine and pseudoephedrine took effect in January as officials try to fight production of meth in the county where police have found hundreds of illegal labs in recent years.\nDetectives made several random checks this week on businesses that sell the medications, citing two stores for failing to obtain a permit required by the ordinance, Vigo County Sheriff Jon Marvel said.\nThe county ordinance prohibits customers from buying more than two packages of medications containing the covered drugs during a seven-day period. Retailers must also check the photo identification of customers and provide monthly log of purchases to the county prosecutor's office.\nThe sheriff's department has issued more than 60 permits to stores, many of which have put their cold medications behind the sales counter, Marvel said.\n"We'll continue our checks of the merchants and issuing citations," he told the Tribune-Star for a story Thursday. "We face a serious problem here and we're trying to deal with it, as well as work with the businesses."\nState police reported that authorities found 166 meth labs in Vigo County last year, the most among Indiana's 92 counties. The county also topped the state list in 2002 and 2003.
Mullberry marshals acquitted of charges for shooting at car\nLAFAYETTE -- A jury has found two deputy town marshals who opened fire on the vehicle of a fleeing suspect not guilty of criminal recklessness charges.\nGlenn L. Wilson, a transport officer for the Clinton County Sheriff's Department, and Matthew K. Myers, a deputy with that department, were working in their part-time jobs for the town of Mulberry at the time of the shooting in September 2003.\nTippecanoe County Prosecutor Jerry Bean filed the charges against the men for firing nine shots at a car they had stopped near the town about 10 miles southeast of Lafayette that was driven by a man wanted for violating probation.\n"This was a case that we thought needed to be decided by a jury, and that's what's happened, and we respect their opinion," Bean said.\nThe driver who fled from the officers, Shane Wilson, no relation to the deputy marshal, was convicted of resisting arrest. He is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.\n"They're excited to get back to serving the public, because this has been a cloud that has been hanging over them and their colleagues and their families," defense attorney John Kautzman said after the verdict Wednesday.\nClinton County Sheriff Mark Mitchell said he was eager for Myers, 31, and Wilson, 55, to return to active law enforcement duties.\nIf they had been convicted, state law would have prohibited them from continuing as police officers.
