By JIM SALTER
Associated Press
VAN BUREN, Mo. (AP) - One county on the edge of the Missouri Ozarks seemed oddly immune to the scourge of methamphetamine ravaging the state, boasting few meth raids or arrests in recent years.
Some Carter County residents think they know why now that a meth bust has landed their own sheriff in jail.
Tommy Adams had been county sheriff for a little more than two years when he was arrested earlier this month after allegedly giving meth to an informant. He's since been charged with meth distribution and is being held in Cape Girardeau County jail on $250,000 bond.
Now a county once seen as an exception has become the latest example of how deeply meth has saturated every corner of rural Missouri life.
Both Adams and his attorney have declined several interview requests.