ASHLAND The apprehension of 27-year-old Antonio Roan last week at a traffic stop on Carter Avenue wasn’t just another one of the many arrests made by the DEA-sponsored Tri-State Narcotics
ASHLAND A bad batch of drugs â suspected of being a heroin/fentanyl mix â is believed to be killing users in Boyd County.
Boyd County Coroner Mark Hammond confirmed Tuesday six to seven deaths in the Ashland city limits and Boyd County are believed to be attributed to drug overdoses. With toxicology results two to three weeks out, Hammond said his office could not conclusively rule the deaths drug-related, but other factors point to it.
According to Hammond, the influx of drug overdoses began last Tuesday or Wednesday and was killing people at a rate of about one a day. Monday marked the first day in which no deaths were reported, Hammond said.
A suspect found with guns and drugs April 7 in Huntington told an ATF-led task force said he was strapped because he was from Baltimore and the Detroit set did not like that too much, according to federal court records.
Edward J. Sample, 36, was charged April 16 in the Southern District Court of West Virginia with possession of a gun in the furtherance of a drug crime. Sample is currently being held at the Carter County Detention Center.
Sample is also suspected of firing 13 rounds of a gun into a trailer out in Cross Lanes, West Virginia, in response to a drug debt, court records show.
ASHLAND With two guilty pleas and a sentencing in federal court Monday, the Tri-State Narcotics Teamâs work is paying off, according to the top dog of the West Virginia DEA.
Agent Jack Sparks said the court action is a âa big winâ for the TNT, which has seen booming business in Boyd, Greenup and Carter counties on this side of the river, as well as in Kenova and Huntington. Â
âTheyâre out here working every day,â Sparks said. âWe have federal drug agents and federally deputized agents working hard on the streets here in a four-, five-county area.â
While seeing results in federal court is a good thing for morale, Sparks said drug agents want to see an impact on the supply of drugs in the community.
Tall City Brewery Still Going Despite COVID-19 Setbacks in 2020
Tall City Brewing Co. is a craft brewery in Midland that despite the COVID-19 setbacks of the past year, has been able to stay open and now seeing booming business.
According to the Midland Reporter-Telegram, Jeff Thomas and four partners opened Tall City Brewing Co. on November 15, 2019, unaware of what would happen less than 6 months later when COVID-19 caused the country to shut down.
But fast forward to now and Thomas says that business is now booming after COVID-19 shutdowns and a decline in the oil industry.
“It comes down to the quality of the beer,” Thomas explained. “Our brew master Jack Sparks does an awesome job. He’s from Dallas and was working in Miami but wanted to get back to Texas. We were lucky to find him!”