FARMINGTON -- So-called meth houses aren't a growing problem only in Davis County and Utah -- they appear to be plaguing the entire Western United States. That's the opinion of County Commission Dannie McConkie, upon returning recently from a conference in Tacoma, Wash. He and Commission Chairman Carol Page and Commissioner Alan Hansen attended the National Association of Counties (NACO) Western Interstate Region meetings. A half-day panel discussion dealt with the meth issue, one McConkie said "is a western problem. It almost doesn't exist at all in the Eastern U.S.

"It started on the California coast, came in (Utah, etc.) with the gangs, and is moving easterly. There was a commissioner from Florida there who said they don't have that. But they've got heroin, cocaine, etc."

McConkie said there was a lot of discussion on "how to protect the innocent? People can rent a hotel room or an apartment, set up their cooking, buy raw ingredients, cook and make (meth), then sell it to our kids.

"It's damaging -- hard on personalities. Users become instantly addicted, suffer irreplaceable damage to their brain cells. It causes permanent damage," he emphasized.

Lawyers and investigators and others were on hand to share strategies, ways the problem might be tackled. "It costs money to put together teams specifically to go after it. This takes cash.

"We've got a meth problem in Davis County, and we have people busted for it all the time," he said.

The commissioner recalled a case several years ago where a home was purchased in Bountiful. The new owner was told by neighbors when moving his family in that the previous owners had set up a meth lab. The health department checked the home, determined it wasn't safe for the kids to live in.

"Carpet, paint, walls had all been so infiltrated with it, they said it was not safe. Then he had to move his family back out of there, rent another place to live, while he had that house fixed. It cost $70,000 to fix a home he bought, was making mortgage payments on. This shows how it affected an innocent man," he said.

Such issues as who pays to fix problems in hotel rooms were also discussed, he said.

Sessions covered a wide range of issues, including health departments, Medicare and Medicaid, mental illness, child abuse, children's justice centers and alcohol and drug abuse.

"They covered probably subjects that are important to government on various levels," he said.

Drawing on 30 years' experience as a former employee of the Utah Department of Transportation, McConkie served as moderator for a panel discussing rural roads. Issues centered largely on obtaining planning funds and related issues.

McConkie is also a member of the 119-member NACO board. He, like the other two commissioners, is a member of many committees on a local and state level, and sometimes beyond.

For instance, as president of the Utah Insurance Pools which covers liability risk management issues, he attended meetings n Moab late last week.

tbusselberg@davisclipper.com