Several community leaders took to the lectern Wednesday night in Comfort, and they all shared one common message: The community must play a role in keeping drugs out of Kendall County.
The Comfort Area Foundation played host to the first Comfort Town Hall of 2022 Wednesday night in the pavilion at Comfort Park, and the meeting was focused on the impacts of drugs being funneled into and through the community.
Kendall County Sheriff Al Auxier kicked off the conversation reminding Comfort residents they aren’t immune to the growth hitting Hill Country cities and sprawling out into the more rural areas of Texas.
“Everybody here knows that Kendall County is still one of the fastest-growing counties in the country,” Auxier said. “So, from a law enforcement perspective, that brings a lot of challenges with it along with many other challenges the county has to deal with. Here in Comfort – I think I’ve said this before – you may realize you are the next frontier. Boerne is growing at such a rapid rate, so people are looking to go out just a little further. So, Comfort, is the target.”
The sheriff said this population boom brings with it crime from those passing through the area on Interstate 10 or those moving into the area, which he said is being largely impacted by a changing drug production landscape.
“There’s good news and bad news,” Auxier said of the growth spurt in Comfort and the county. “The bad news is that were not immune from anything that anybody else deals with in any local community. As popular as Kendall County is, we have our issues. The primary driving factors and a lot of the issues that we deal with from a law enforcement standpoint are drug related.”
Detailing the evolution of drug production in the country and locally over the years, Auxier said the 1960s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s saw marijuana and cocaine as the primary illicit drugs of issue. Then, 10 to 15 years ago, he said methamphetamine became a growing issue. However, at that time he said there were still certain compo nents needed to produce the drug that could be traced and tracked to stationary laboratories that were needed to convert the raw materials.
Now, Auxier the mobility of these laboratories has increased significantly, meaning meth manufacturers are building these drugs on the side of the road, and he said law enforcement agents are pulling over vehicles that have the materials and equipment in their trunks.
“In today’s world, we’ve graduated to a whole new level of drugs,” Auxier said. “The list of components that people are using to manufacture different things has exponentially grown. These drug manufacturers are using anything and everything.
“I read just the other day catalytic converters are a hot commodity being stolen. We’ve had these catalytic converters stolen at the school yard in Boerne and another RV storage place. They’re stealing that for the components inside which are very valuable, grinding that up and using it. These folks would grind up the kitchen sink and put it in there if they could.”
Beyond meth, Auxier talked about the fentanyl crisis ravaging the United States and warned that Kendall County is not immune from this endemic. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration identifies fentanyl as a synthetic opioid that is 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.
According to information from the DEA and the National Forensic Laboratory Information System, fentanyl reports increased nationwide 10-fold in three years, going from about 5,400 reports in 2014 to about 56,500 in 2017. This shows the rapid influx of the substance into the United States.
Auxier said his office was contacted by the DEA about four months ago and ended up assisting stopping a vehicle from El Paso. Deputies found 35,000 fentanyl pills in the vehicle, adding that only a few granules of the substance can be deadly.
“If officers touch it with their bare hands, its absorbed into their body and they fall to the ground within minutes and start convulsing,” Auxier said to further explain just how potent this heavily trafficked drug is. He also confirmed there have been fentanyl overdoses in Kendall County.
Auxier also noted the deadly substance is being packaged to imitate standard prescription medication. The DEA fact sheet on the substance states: “Illicitly produced fentanyl is sold alone or in combination with heroin and other substances and has been identified in counterfeit pills, mimicking pharmaceutical drugs such as oxycodone.”
While these drugs are making their way through Kendall County, which local law enforcement and elected officials are working hard to stop and deter, Auxier urged the local community to not allow a level of crime they can’t or don’t want to tolerate.
“I’ve said this before,” Auxier started. “A community – I don’t care how big you are – will allow the level of criminal activity to rise to a level that the community will tolerate. What I mean by that is if you as a community understand and learn what’s happening and you want to do something about it, then you will share your voices with those who make the laws, the legislators to allow the resources for the local police, the state police and federal agents to work together and try to minimize that and bring that down – we’re never going to eliminate that – but to a more tolerable level.”
At the community level, Kendall County Lt. Kevin Klaerner talked about his efforts with the D.A.R.E. and Shattered Dreams programs incorporated into local schools.
Paul Giguere also spoke that evening about the newly formed Kendall County Behavioral Health Initiative which is working to strengthen interconnectivity between the community and the more than 140 organizations working in the county.
“People are sick and tired of it,” Giguere said. “We’re done. But that’s talk, and it’s about action. Whatever you want Comfort to be, it’s in your hands. Whatever we want Kendall County to be, it’s in our hands.”
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