Posted: Thursday, September 27, 2007 12:00 am
CHEYENNE (AP) - It's been four years since a methamphetamine lab rendered a home here uninhabitable, and proponents of legislation to require landowners to clean up meth labs say the bill could have helped clean up the property.
Police raided the house in 2003, finding inside a sick child and buckets of feces as well as the meth lab, which had contaminated the home with toxic chemicals.
Police say they recently checked on the vacant house and found that it was just as contaminated as before. Sgt. Terrance Bell said no one should enter the home except to save someone's life, and even then wearing a full chemical suit.
Bell said the home should have been professionally cleaned long ago.
"I know the owner of the property has been contacted," he said. "I don't know if he has even made any arrangements to have it cleaned up."
County records list the owner as Richard W. Mitchell, of Boulder, Colo.
Last winter, Sen. Bob Fecht, R-Cheyenne, who is Cheyenne's police chief, introduced a bill that would set standards for cleaning up meth labs. The bill was narrowly defeated on final reading in the House.
"There were concerns by members of the House on the rights of property owners," Fecht said. "I think there was a misunderstanding in that they thought the state goes in and takes homes away from people.
"It basically says that if there is a property where meth has been made, it requires cleanup."
Fecht said home values in the neighborhood have fallen since the meth lab was busted.
"Homeowners around that area would say we need this legislation yesterday," he said.
Cheyenne-Laramie County Meth Coordinator Lisa Scholz said she supported such a bill. She said the reason it didn't pass was legislators weren't sufficiently educated about the toxic chemicals produced by meth labs.
"It does need to be addressed, because there are environmental concerns," she said. "This type of waste product harms humans, animals and the environment."
Fecht said he would try to reintroduce the bill during this winter's legislative session. Fecht said the bill would give property owners 90 days to clean up a contaminated property.
Because it's a budget session, any non-budget bill would need a two-thirds vote in either chamber to be introduced.