Madison County’s Promise
Drug Free Task Force Meeting
June 6, 2012
10:00a.m. – BRiDGES, Canastota, NY
Present: Mary Bartlett (RSVP), Steve Goodfriend (StopDWI), JoAnne Morak (CAP),
Chief Gifford (Hamilton Police), Abby Simchik (BRiDGES), Gretchen Slater (BRiDGES),
Susan Jenkins (BRiDGES), Sarah Howell (MCP).
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The meeting was called to order and minutes were approved.
Safe Pill Drop Off Update
a. The Safe Pill Drop off received 471.52 pounds of pill in April. The poundage was so high
this time, in part because we had a family drop off waste medication from a pharmacist
who had passed away. Many of the medications were from the 1960’s and were in glass
bottles.
b. Sarah has spoken with Investigator Brown at the DEA and he has not received word of a
fall take back day yet. He expects to know within the next month or so. He said that the
fall take back will most likely take place in October near Halloween.
i. Members of the committed were curious to know if we could hold our event in
September, and possibly have the Sheriff’s office hold the boxes for pick up until
the DEA event in October. Sarah said that she is not sure that this will be a
possibility, and that we need to check with the Sheriff’s Department.
c. Members asked how the new drug kiosk was doing in the Madison County DMV. Abby
said the kiosk is doing well; new signage was put up to clear up any confusion as to what
the kiosk can accept. The first week the kiosk collected 20 pounds of waste medications.
i. More advertising is being created and will start to run shortly in the county
through various media outlets.
ii. There have been talks about adding another kiosk in Hamilton. Chief Gifford
said that it would most likely be housed at the Police Substation at the airport.
This Police substation project is just going out to bid, so this will be a while off.
Town Hall Meeting
a. The town hall meeting was well attended there were around 40 people in attendance.
Gary Bulinski of the Traffic Safety Research inc. explained drug classifications and
discussed the signs and symptoms of people on synthetic marijuana and bath salts.
Investigator Burgess discussed the recent methamphetamine busts in Madison County,
and told participants what to look for, and what steps to take should they encounter a
portable meth lab.
b. JoAnne mentioned looking into partnering with the Madison County Bus system if we
hold another town hall meeting. Perhaps they would run the busses that evening and
offer residents free transportation to and from the meeting. This could be a great way
to give them more business.
Bath Salt Discussion
a. Bath salts are rampant across the country. Abby mentioned an incident that happened
over the weekend at St. Luke’s hospital in Utica; a security guard was assaulted with
medical implements by someone on bath salts.
b. Bath salts combine effects from several different drugs
c. Chief Gifford said civil laws need to be used. Ali Babba’s head shop is looking to open a
new hooka bar outside of village limits.
V.
VI.
VII.
d. Sarah asked if the committee wanted to look at a media campaign as a follow up to the
town hall meeting. The mention of a tell your story piece was brought up. This is
something the committee can look into.
e. Chief Gifford said that K2 and Bath salts are so dangerous because there is no control,
and law enforcement officials are not 100% sure what they can do. He mentioned that
a training for law enforcement on what to look for, what they can do, and how they can
build a case would be extremely helpful.
i. This brought the group to a discussion on what a training would look like. The
committee thought a full day training would be helpful. The morning session
could be what do these drugs look like, how do we handle someone on these
drugs. Perhaps using a Drug Recognition expert or perhaps Lee Livermore from
Poison Control. Susan said that she could mention this at the Chief’s meeting to
see if this is something of interest in the county.
Mini Grants
a. Sarah asked the committee if they wanted to take on the Mini Grant project for at least
this last year of funding. The Mini Grant fund already has $236 from last year that we
can utilize. Susan mentioned just bringing it up to $250.00 and giving out several small
grants or one grant.
b. Mary suggested doing a fund appeal to anyone who has been involved in MCP. Sarah
said that this was a great idea, but she was hesitant because they had to revoke a mini
grant last year. The group was unable to meet the requirements. One group also
returned their funds two years ago for the same reason. This will be discussed further in
July.
Announcements
a. Cornell Cooperative Extension is holding Open Farm Day again this year. This event will
be held on July 28, 2012 from 9:30a.m.-1:00p.m. Volunteers are needed for this event to
greet visitors at the farms and 4H youth fair, stamp Open Farm Day Passports, Sell Raffle
Tickets, Give out buy local prized, and help with the scavenger hunt. Please contact
Lindsey McDonnell at 315-684-3001 ext. 125 or lm523@cornell.edu to sign up.
b. Susan facilitated a sever training at the Marble Hill Inn this past week. In the last 3
months 59 bartenders have been trained in Madison County. She also received a
request for an ID scanner for the Earlville Opera House event. There will be an off
premise training on October 18th.
c. Chief Gifford said that the Hamilton Bar environment in inundated with underage youth
according to his son. He has police on the street checking the bars.
i. He said he has been in contact with the State Liquor Authority on trying to get a
training for law enforcement on what to look for.
ii. Abby said that BRiDGES is in the process of looking into providing incentives for
those who pass compliance checks.
d. Madison County Fair will be July 12th -15th.
Adjourn
a. The next Drug Free Task Force Meeting will be July 18th at 10:00a.m. here at BRiDGES.
Please note in light of recent events we will be discussing Bath Salts, and Lee Livermore
from Poison Control is planning on attending this meeting.