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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican troops have made an historic seizure of 15 tons of pure methamphetamine in the western state of Jalisco, the Mexican army said in a statement released late Wednesday. Soldiers discovered the huge cache in the town of Tlajomulco de Zuniga, a suburb of Mexico's second-largest city, Guadalajara. The statement had no other details but said it would publicly present the seizure on Thursday. Spokesmen answering the phone at the army's base in Guadalajara refused to comment further. No one could say late Wednesday what the largest seizure was previously in Mexico. The United Nations Office...

A crude new method of making methamphetamine poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment — a burden so costly that it's contributing to the closure of some burn units. So-called shake-and-bake meth is produced by combining raw, unstable ingredients in a 2-liter soda bottle. The influx of patients is overwhelming hospitals and becoming a major factor in the closure of some burn wards. At least seven burn units across the nation have shut down over the past...

CULIACAN, Mexico — From age 6, each of the Gonzalez brothers learned to make bricks, trudging like nine little chicks behind their father every day before dawn to work in his dusty hilltop brickyard. Three years ago, three of them in their 30s and 40s quit the backbreaking work, saying they had a better opportunity abroad. Now, having escaped the Mexican drug war that leaves dead bodies on the streets of their city of Culiacan almost daily, the brothers face the gallows in Malaysia, standing trial on Wednesday for allegedly working in a factory where police found $15 million in...

Drug Travels From Africa To Indianapolis In 48 Hours. Most residents of Indianapolis, including many in the law enforcement community, have never heard of the drug called khat...over the past three years, hundreds of pounds of the drug have been sold on the streets of Indianapolis, mostly to people of African descent... Khat is a plant that grows plentifully in east Africa, specifically in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Users chew the leaves of the plant to release a compound called cathinone, which is considered a "schedule 1" amphetamine and hallucinogen under U.S. law... traffickers used cell phones and sophisticated code...

Bradley County Commissioners voted Monday to ask Congress to try to restore federal funding for cleanups of illegal methamphetamine operations. The vote was 14-0 to ask Commission Chair Louie Alford to write a letter to U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann asking him to try to get the funding restored. Bradley County Sheriff Jim Ruth announced two weeks earlier at a Law Enforcement Committee meeting that federal funding for meth “lab” cleanups was cut with only two days’ notice. According to reports, the department averaged two to three meth lab busts a month last year. Removal and disposal of chemicals in an...

Last week, Mexican authorities seized over 23 tons of ethyl phenylacetate, which is used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. The drug component was discovered at the Pacific port of Manzanillo, in a shipment from China. In April 2010, Mexican officials seized 80 tons of phenylacetic acid and its derivatives shipped from Shanghai, China. Imports of ethyl phenylacetate require authorization from the country’s health ministry, so the shipments are intentionally mis-labeled before leaving China. Last year, an anonymous U.S. official told Reuters that between October and November 2010, Mexican authorities seized 818 tons of chemicals used in making crystal meth. Due...

Note: Photos included. NOTE The following text is a quote: DEA-Led Operation Delivers Over 2,000 Arrests FBI, ICE and Mexican Govt. also take part in “Project Deliverance” which leads to the seizure of $154 million and 74.1 tons of drugs, as well as the arrest of a high-priority target DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart Announces Project Deliverance JUN 10 - (WASHINGTON) – DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart joined Attorney General Eric Holder to announce the arrest of 2,266 individuals on narcotics-related charges in the United States and the seizure of more than 74.1 tons of illegal drugs as part...

NOTE The following text is a quote: Third Man Sentenced for Distribution of Methamphetamine in North Idaho Michael Ray Opland, 52, of Shoshone County, Idaho, was sentenced yesterday to 188 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and failure to appear, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced. U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge also ordered Opland to serve five years of supervised release following his prison term. Opland pleaded guilty to the charges in September 2009. Co-defendant Paul Dean Hartman, 44, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, had previously been sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Lynn B. Winmill in January 2010...

WASHINGTON - Law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 2,200 people in a 22-month investigation targeting Mexican drug trafficking organizations in the United States, the Justice Department announced Thursday. The probe, called Project Deliverance, focused on the transportation networks that carry methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana into the United States, with return trips of drug proceeds and weapons. Attorney General Eric Holder told a news conference the initiative struck a significant blow against the cartels, but called it "just one battle in what is an ongoing war." Over 400 of the more than 2,200 arrests were made Wednesday.

Some Using Armed Guards, Trip Wires To Safeguard Plots. Not far from Yosemite's waterfalls and in the middle of California's redwood forests, Mexican drug gangs are quietly commandeering U.S. public land to grow millions of marijuana plants and using smuggled immigrants to cultivate them. Pot has been grown on public lands for decades, but Mexican traffickers have taken it to a whole new level: using armed guards and trip wires to safeguard sprawling plots that in some cases contain tens of thousands of plants offering a potential yield of more than 30 tons of pot a year. "Just like the...

Police seize 5,000 amphetamine-based ‘Yaba’ pills, often referred to as "Hitler's drug," at Ben-Gurion airport; “It allows Thais to work for two days straight,� senior police source explains. A dangerous and addictive drug that was originally developed by Nazi scientists to boost the endurance of Axis soldiers, and which causes users to become aggressive and violent, is being smuggled into Israel from Thailand in ever-larger amounts, The Jerusalem Post has learned. In Thailand, the methamphetamine-based drug is known as “Yaba� (crazy medicine), and in the West, it is often referred to as “Nazi Speed� or “Hitler’s drug.�

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Oct. 1, 2009) — Four Missouri National Guardsmen in the 7th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team based at Fort Leonard Wood recently participated in clandestine lab training at the Missouri Highway Patrol headquarters. The four men, 1st Lt. Nathan Looper of Lynchburg, 1st Lt. Matthew Marks and 1st Lt. Richard Sambolin of Waynesville, and Staff Sgt. Jason Allabaugh of Chadwick, took the course as part of their training, along with law enforcement officials from across the state. The class was primarily geared toward the detection and cleanup of methamphetamine labs. “Now we can look...

Overcompensation: (psychiatry) an attempt to overcome a real or imagined defect or unwanted trait by overly exaggerating its opposite. Today brings a prime example of the phenomenon: Brian Williams overcompensating for his image as a pampered straight arrow by joking about having a vast staff of servants, looking forward to the prospect of watching some nude male swimming, and, yes, doing meth to get going in the morning. View video here.

Easy money, sleepless nights lure users, cultural expert says Western Colorado is far from immune to the looting such as that alleged by federal agents after the arrests last week of 24 people in southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado. There’s a modern twist, however, to the looting that western Colorado and other officials have noted of late: methamphetamine. Law enforcement officials declined to elaborate on incidents in which they have noted the connection between looted sites and meth use, but archaeologists and law enforcement officials said they are aware of the connections. Looting and methamphetamine use have more in common...

Note: The following text is a quote: DEA Task Force Targets Lancaster Street Gang APR 09 -- (LOS ANGELES) – On April 8, 2009, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Timothy J. Landrum, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca announced the culmination of a 12-month investigation targeting the drug trafficking activities of the Lancas 13 street gang. The Lancas 13 street gang is responsible for distributing methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana throughout the Lancaster and Palmdale areas, and as far away as Ohio. This joint investigation has resulted in 97 arrests,...

Police focus on 3 in Vegas boy's abduction Grandfather already arrested; police say he may have stolen millions from Mexican drug cartel Associated Press Oct. 18, 2008, 10:25PM1 2 Las Vegas Review-Journal Authorities continued to scour northeastern Las Vegas in their search for Cole Puffinburger. Share Print Email Del.icio.usDiggTechnoratiYahoo! BuzzThe grandfather of a 6-year-old boy who was kidnapped from his home here was held in a Southern California jail Saturday as authorities continued to investigate his relationship with the Mexican drug dealers who allegedly kidnapped his grandson. Clemons Fred Tinnemeyer, 51, was arrested in Riverside, Calif., by FBI agents late...

A Rogers husband and wife who worked as a pastor and school bus driver were sentenced Monday to four years in prison for cooking methamphetamine in their family home. Joseph and Barbara Sisneros pleaded guilty last week to a reduced charge of possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to manufacture as part of a plea agreement between Deputy Prosecutor Drew Ledbetter and defense attorneys Blake Warren and Bobby Digby. "This meth lab was not a small operation," Ledbetter told Benton County Senior Circuit Judge Tom Keith. "Certain people should be held to a higher standard. At best, the court could...

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Hutchinson man is on trial this week on charges he put his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son in a hot clothes dryer. In a videotaped interview with detectives shown in court Wednesday, Aron Pritchard said he put the children in the dryer to show them they could have a good time without much money. An hour later, the dryer had become hot and the boy had second-degree burns.

BREMERTON, WA An 18-year-old Bremerton woman told police last week that she may have mistakenly placed a bag of meth into a local ATM for deposit into her bank account, according to documents filed in Kitsap County Superior Court. An employee at Kitsap Credit Union told police that a bag of suspected methamphetamine showed up in a deposit envelope to be deposited in the woman's account at an ATM at the 100 block of Washington Avenue. When police contacted the woman, she said that she's used meth and may have accidentally put the bag into the deposit envelope when she...

The foster mother of a 2-year-old Oregon boy said Friday she plans to appeal a state decision to send the child to Mexico to live with his grandmother because the father has two attempted rape convictions and his mother has drug problems. "It's the most unbelievable thing that could possibly have happened," Angela Brandt said about the Oregon Department of Human Services decision announced Friday. Brandt - the mother of four children - and her husband, Steve Brandt, had sought to adopt the child after he was placed in their foster care when he was just four months old. But...

A new kind of methamphetamine that has a strawberry flavor and bright pink coloring was seized for the first time in Carson City during a search of a Como Street apartment on Saturday, an official said. "(We are) concerned that this new type of meth will be more attractive to a younger crowd and may surface in schools," said Sgt. Darrin Sloan, commander of the Carson City Sheriff's Department's Special Enforcement Team. "Parents and teachers, please be aware of this new kind of drug that is making its way into our culture." Sloan said SET officers served a search warrant...

In the largest cash seizure in Mexican history, authorities confiscated $206 million in U.S. currency from a band of methamphetamine producers headquartered in a ritzy neighborhood here, officials said today. Two of the seven people arrested at the home were Chinese, and authorities said the bust hinted at the vast scope of an illegal drug trade that links Mexico to Asia. ... Mexican drug trafficking organizations have become increasing important in the wholesale and retail trade in methamphetamines in the United States because American authorities have placed tougher controls on the sale of the chemicals used to produce the highly...

Ted Haggard, founder and former senior pastor of New Life Church, plans to leave Colorado Springs and move to Iowa or Missouri to return to college, according to a message he e-mailed Sunday to some church members. Haggard’s family has been “offered two places” in the Midwestern states, Haggard wrote. He and his wife, Gayle, will go back to school together, but Haggard didn’t specify what college or university they would attend. “We are both planning on getting our masters in Psychology so we can work together serving others the rest of our lives,” Haggard wrote. The nationally known minister...

Last month, President Bush declared Nov. 30 "National Methamphetamine Awareness Day."The official statement from the White House implored, "I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs and activities."There's no question that meth is a particularly nasty, vicious drug, both in how it's manufactured and in what it does to the people who use it. I think some skeptics have raised legitimate questions about the accuracy of some of the more hysterical media proclaiming we're in the midst of an "epidemic," but there's no question that the drug is widely available, and that...

We, the Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard. Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct. The language of our church bylaws state that as Overseers we must decide in cases where the Senior Pastor has "demonstrated immoral conduct" whether we must "remove the pastor from his position or to discipline him in any way they deem necessary."

Last week's PoliceOne report of two major fire and house explosions in Kansas City has yielded questions related to the volatility of Meth lab settings. Although PoliceOne is aware of no investigatory indication that the Kansas City situation has any relation to drug activity, the sudden and extreme explosions that disintegrated these structures conjures up images of the kind of explosive results that volatile Meth labs can have. With that in mind, we felt it an appropriate time to share some insights into how officers can determine whether they're faced with a Meth lab setting, and some do's and don'ts...

A federal investigation results in the arrest of Jesus `Jesse' Juarez and two others so far. With a marketplace inside, the stucco-faced La Hacienda restaurant has always been considered more than a place to eat. But police say the business known additionally for its fresh-baked goods, selection of CDs and long-distance telephone cards has also been a front for illegal immigrants seeking forged documentation. The paperwork, including Social Security and permanent resident alien identification cards, could help with getting jobs, housing assistance and other necessities. Law-enforcement officials also contend the business owner has been connected with the distribution of drugs....

Wichita Falls,TX(7News) A Wichita Falls convenience store owner is going to prison for life for selling ingredients to make meth. The bust happened at the Krystal Mart store in April of 2004. The drug task force says owner Reza Vafaiyan was selling more than 80,000 tablets of pseudoephedrine, which prosecutors say could have produced more than $4 million worth of meth. A Wichita County jury sentenced Vafaiyan to life in prison for the crime.

WAR ON DRUGS A JOKE TO EX-COP In Norm Stamper's world, the "drug store" is a place that is much different from what generally comes to mind. The 28-year police veteran of the San Diego police department and former Seattle police chief wants to see all street drugs legalized, firmly regulated and sold just like we sell alcohol today. And his "shopping list" includes marijuana, cocaine, heroin, even crystal methamphetamine. "The more dangerous the drug, the more addictive and the greater the potential for health risks, the greater the justification for regulation," he said last week in a phone interview...

Former Full House cutie Jodie Sweetin has earned herself a spot on the lengthy list of child stars gone wrong. During an appearance on Good Morning America Wednesday, Sweetin, who played middle sister Stephanie Tanner on the hit sitcom, revealed that she is a recovering meth addict and once battled a daily drug habit. The ex-actress, 24, said she had trouble figuring out how to adjust to a regular childhood existence after Full House ended its run in 1995. "There is a certain sense of loss when a series ends," Sweetin said. "It is kind of hard to figure out...

Another bogus survey from the National Association of Counties. The dukes of deception who run the National Association of Counties are insulting your intelligence once again with a half-cocked "survey" about the methamphetamine menace. Now, before I commence, let me assert that I know all about the dangers—and the pleasures, such as they are—of methamphetamine. While correspondence from readers detailing their personal meth sufferings or those of a family member will cause my Gmail inbox to swell, not even the most horrific testimonial will persuade me to recant what I'm about to write. Thank you. The survey in question, titled...

At my local drugstore, shelves of cold and allergy medicine have been replaced by merchandise cards hanging from metal rods. If I want to buy one of these remedies, I have to take the corresponding card to the pharmacist's counter, wait in line, show my ID, and sign a register. This procedure, required by an "emergency order" from Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, is supposed to prevent me from using the pseudoephedrine in products such as Sudafed and Dayquil to cook up a batch of methamphetamine in my garage. If you're not lucky enough to live in a state with similar...

Suicide haunts Linda Marquez . Three of her loved ones took their own lives - her mother, her husband, her son. No death could be more devastating to the people left behind, Linda said. The people who kill themselves may think the world is better off without them, "but they don't realize that what they're doing is leaving people with a life sentence, especially the people that love them the most," she said. Her son's death finally drove her to speak out. "I thought, this is too much. People need to know," she said. Experts estimate 1 million people attempt...

News consumers on the US East Coast can be forgiven for nervously glancing over their shoulders in search of that 20-foot wave of crystal meth rolling toward them out of the Midwest, leaving in its wake a shattered landscape of trailer parks turned into toxic dumps, runny-nosed neglected toddlers clutching worn teddy-bears, and good parents turned into crazed, toothless tweakers who take time off from cooking more meth only to commit heinous crimes, steal more supplies, or have sex with their children. After all, this is, with only a little exaggeration, the message trumpeted by an ever louder cacophony of...

Yesterday my wife and I attended a community awareness meeting called at our church to talk about the growing methamphetamine and illegal drug problem in our little Idaho community. The County Attorney and a Captain with the Idaho State Troopers made the presentation, with the local Police Chief and Sheriff also in attendance. About 300 people attended. Idaho is an increasing target for the Mexico Drug Cartels for developing and deciminating drugs. The officials clearly showed and demonstrated how these drugs are being funneled, using illegal aliens as carriers, from Mexico, across the remote sections of the US border and...

Associated Press CHICAGO — Pocket-size throat sprays. Thin strips that melt in your mouth. Freezer pops. Like Mary Poppins with her spoonful of sugar, the makers of cold remedies are offering creative ways to help the medicine go down. The active ingredients aren't new, but the method for taking the medicine is. Growth in the over-the-counter cough and cold category is driven by new products, so tinkering with how people swallow the same old decongestants, cough suppressants and antihistamines is one way to appeal to shoppers. And for cold sufferers, a new twist on an old product offers a psychological...

The story seemed too righteous to be true. Man kills four people. Man takes hostage and threatens to kill her. Hostage uses faith and the power of prayer to win her release and achieve a peaceful ending to a hopelessly violent situation. Only Ashley Smith, the Atlanta kidnap victim who captivated a nation with a stirring story of spiritual victory over physical adversity, left out one crucial detail.

We'll talk with Ashley Smith who became a heroine to millions of Americans when she was taken hostage by accused Fulton County Courthouse killer Brian Nichols. Smith tells the story of her life and her harrowing ordeal in her new book "Unlikely Angel: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Hostage Hero."

The number of children being prescribed drugs for so-called behavioural disorders has soared to a record high, causing alarm that children are being unnecessarily "drugged into submission". Prescriptions of Methylphenidate - most commonly sold as Ritalin - rose to 359,100 last year, a rise of 344,400 since 1995. Figures from the Prescriptions Pricing Authority reveal that there has been a 180-fold increase in prescriptions since 1991 when only 2,000 were issued in England. The growing use of Ritalin - an amphetamine-based stimulant which improves concentration and is nicknamed the "chemical cosh" because of its calming effects - has alarmed critics....

Former S. Side mosque official pleads guilty to meth charges September 4, 2005 BY NATASHA KORECKI, Federal Courts Reporter The onetime treasurer of a Chicago mosque with ties to two people accused of funding terrorism admitted he delivered drugs to an undercover federal agent. Tariq Isa, 57, of Cicero pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to distribute and attempted distribution of pseudoephedrine, knowing it was intended to be used to make methamphetamine. Isa is the third member of the Al Qassam Mosque, also known as the Chicago Islamic Center, on the South Side, to face federal charges. Two other former mosque...

The methamphetamine epidemic has spread all the way into a local church. On Mon night, Richard J Mosley Jr., 31 was arrested for allegedly manufacturing methamphetamine at First Baptist Church, Peru, In. Mosley faces official charges of manufacturing methamphetamine within 1,000 ft of a youth center, Class A felony; possession of stolen property, misdemeanor; possession of precursors with intent to manufacture methamphetamine and maintaining a common nuisance, both Class D felonies..... The Peru man, who has no prior criminal record, was a custodian at the church for five years and is a member................Bob Adelsperger, a pastor ath the First Baptist...

WND Exclusive CONTROLLING THE SUBSTANCES Big money in Mexican meth New laws cut down on U.S. labs, but drugs still flow Posted: August 19, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com While new state and federal laws are cutting down the number of U.S. meth labs, the deadly drugs continue to flow into the U.S. across the porous border with Mexico, say law enforcement authorities. The federal anti-meth law was recently amended to permit states to impose their own stiffer restrictions and penalties. In Oregon, for instance, legislators now require cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, a principal ingredient in methamphetamine, to...

ROME, Ga., July 29 - When they charged 49 convenience store clerks and owners in rural northwest Georgia with selling materials used to make methamphetamine, federal prosecutors declared that they had conclusive evidence. Hidden microphones and cameras, they said, had caught the workers acknowledging that the products would be used to make the drug. But weeks of court motions have produced many questions. Forty-four of the defendants are Indian immigrants - 32, mostly unrelated, are named Patel - and many spoke little more than the kind of transactional English mocked in sitcoms. So when a government informant told store clerks...

Local officials from across the country yesterday declared methamphetamine the nation's leading law enforcement scourge - a more insidious drug problem than cocaine - and blamed it for crowding jails and fueling increases in theft and violence, as well as for a host of social welfare problems. Officials from the National Association of Counties, releasing results from a survey of 500 local officials nationwide, argued that Washington's focus on terrorism and domestic security had diverted money and attention from the methamphetamine problem in the states. They pleaded with lawmakers to restore financing for an $804 million drug-fighting program that the...

From the moment on Thursday when the young man sat down in Dr. Richard Stein's dental chair in southwestern Kansas and opened his mouth, Dr. Stein was certain he recognized the enemy. This had to be the work, he concluded, of methamphetamine, a drug that is leaving its mark, especially in the rural regions of the Midwest and the South, on families, crime rates, economies, legislatures - and teeth. Quite distinct from the oral damage done by other drugs, sugar and smoking, methamphetamine seems to be taking a unique, and horrific, toll inside its users' mouths. In short stretches of...

The Mexican Connection Sunday, June 05, 2005STEVE SUO MEXICO CITY -- America's methamphetamine crisis is now rooted in Mexico, where drug cartels are illicitly obtaining tons of pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient needed to make the potent stimulant. Mexico's imports of the cold medicine have vaulted from 66 tons to 224 tons in the past five years, customs records show. That's roughly double what the country needs to meet the legitimate demands of cold and allergy sufferers, an analysis by The Oregonian found. U.S. officials say meth production in Mexico is rising because Mexican traffickers can no longer easily obtain pseudoephedrine...

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Gov. Mitch Daniels visited Vigo County, where the production of methamphetamine has been prolific, to sign legislation Tuesday that will restrict the sale of cold medicines containing ingredients used to make the drug. The law is similar to a Vigo County ordinance that has been in effect since January. State police reported that authorities found 166 meth labs in the county last year, the most among Indiana's 92 counties. The county also topped the state list in 2002 and 2003. The new law, enacted unanimously by the General Assembly last month, places restrictions on the sale...

Rarely has a newspaper article made me as angry as the story of a recent drug bust on Omaha. It reported the arrest of 33-year-old Jolene Cortez for possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver. Apparently, she had a scale and $2,775 in cash in her apartment, too. Sounds routine, doesn't it? Open and shut. Just like cases all over the country. Well, not quite. According to the sympathetic portrayal of Cortez in the Omaha World-Herald, she was a loving, single mother and elementary school teacher who, though she shopped at thrift stores and ate leftovers, felt obligated to sell...

Teacher Jolene Cortez tried making ends meet on her $30,841-a-year salary. Cortez, 33, of 3660 Orchard Ave., was charged this week with possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver. Police allegedly found two ounces of meth, a scale, drug records and $2,775 in cash when searching Cortez's apartment, garage and vehicle. Police said the second-grade teacher at Omaha's Conestoga Magnet Center told them she was selling the meth for extra money. "It's hard to make it on the salary that they gave us," Cortez said. "I don't want to live lavishly, but I would like, if my son needs a...

2 ARRESTED IN HOUSE THEFT LINDALE - Board by board, shingle by shingle, for nearly three months, they dismantled the three-bedroom brick house and carted it away until only a pile of rubble was left. Their only problem: they didn't own it. Authorities say two men jailed this week took the house apart and sold it for drugs, in plain view of everyone cruising by on Lindale's Main Street - U.S. Highway 69. "We drove by and watched the house come down," said Smith County Constable Dennis Taylor. "We wondered why it was taking so long, rather than just bulldoze...