May 21, 2012
After nine months of investigation coordinated by the Tri-Cities Safe Streets Task Force, eleven suspects were rounded up in an initial drug sales sting, with four additional arrests on Friday, and one warrant still outstanding. If convicted of the charges, suspects could face up to fifty years in prison. Several of the alleged drug sales were near schools.
Marijuana and methamphetamine sales were allegedly made in the vicinity of Kearney's Central Elementary School, which is located next to the Kearney Public Schools administrative offices. For Kearney Schools Superintendent Dr. Brian Maher, the sales are too close for comfort: "When I read in the paper that some of (the) sales were within a thousand feet of our schools, certainly our antennas go up, whenever we see anything like that. Our concern is always for the safety of our kids, and the safety of our grounds."
