tech horse-kiblerBy Wayne Gates –

The Brown County Drug and Major Crimes Task Force is getting a new evidence storage building.
An outbuilding at the Brown County Sheriff’s Office was donated for that purpose and Kibler Lumber in Mt. Orab is donating building materials for the project.
“The donation from Kibler’s will allow us to get the evidence facility operational very quickly.  All the task force members would like to thank David Bohl, Jenny Conrad and Randy Colliver for their generosity in making this donation of all the materials needed to complete the renovation of the building,” said task force commander John Burke.
Task Force member Buddy Coburn explained why the donation was important to the task force.
“We need our own building for storage and to keep the evidence separate from the evidence in BCSO cases,” Coburn said.
“Evidence is crucial to winning a case whether it goes to court or not.  A perfect chain of custody with your evidence is a big part of that, and having a separate building will help us do that.”
Task force evidence is handled and catalogued by BCSO Deputy Larry Hollingsworth and Agent Vicky Coburn.
Buddy Coburn said that the donation will be a financial relief for the task force which has many costs of doing business.
“You have the cost of your agents where the task force funds a portion of their salary, vehicles, expenses, equipment and buy money to purchase drugs and pay informants,” Coburn said.
He added that the drug problem in Brown County affects everyone, whether they realize it or not.
“Ninety percent or better of the drug cases will have a link to a theft case.  It’s been that way for years, and it’s worse now than ever.”
Coburn said that members of the public can help the task force if they wish to do so.
“Any monetary donations are greatly appreciated.  We’ve applied for some grants and have gotten some, but Brown County, due to it’s smaller population doesn’t get the same funding that some of the larger areas do,” Coburn said.
Anyone wishing to donate money or materials to the operation of the Brown County Drug and Major Crimes Task Force is asked to call (513) 623-3278.