Rural Washington counties: Keep anti-meth program

Rural counties in northeastern Washington have mounted a public campaign to renew a methamphetamine-fighting program they say has cut crime.

Public officials in Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln and Ferry counties are urging their constituents to ask legislators to extend a four-year pilot program that has pumped nearly $1.6 million a year into 13 rural counties.

A coalition of sheriffs, prosecutors and Superior Court clerks credits the program, which expires this summer, with helping reduce participating counties’ crime rates substantially more than the state average.