Operation Our Town continues to play a key role in helping law enforcement officials fight crime in Blair County.

Operation Our Town was founded in 2006 with a mission to facilitate partnerships between community and business to fight drug abuse and crime through proven law enforcement treatment and prevention techniques.

Value Drug Co. was one of the first businesses on board.

“It has been an amazing ride. We saw an opportunity to work with Operation Our Town and be a corporate supporter and have been ever since,” said retired President Greg Drew.

Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks told members of the Blair County Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Club on Thursday that local law enforcement officers are faced with more drug overdose deaths than ever before.

“We had another fatal overdose last night (Wednesday). It has become an almost daily occurrence in Blair County. The vast majority are fentanyl mixed with xylazine. We know what is killing people, the issue is are we able to do something about it,” Weeks said.

The county has seen an increase in methamphetamine usage and trafficking, along with some other powerful drugs.

“Over the last five to seven years, we have seen an influx of methamphetamines, which used to be made in southern Blair County, two or three times a year. Now it is not unusual to confiscate one to six pounds on a traffic stop. We are seeing fentanyl in bulk amounts we have never seen before and combined with xylazine, which is more potent and addictive,” Weeks said.

Weeks also said there has been an increase in human trafficking.

“Providing drugs to a drug-addicted person for sex is human trafficking. The last two or three years, it has become very prevalent. Those who have gone to court have been convicted,” Weeks said.

Last year was a busy year for officers in Blair County.

According to Operation Our Town’s Law Enforcement Year in review, through mid-December, there were 93 drug-related arrests made by the joint efforts of the Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and Drug Control and the Blair County Drug Task Force. The overwhelming majority of the charges were for methamphetamine and heroin/fentanyl.

BNI and the task force worked successfully throughout 2024 conducting search warrants, buy/busts, controlled purchases of narcotics and conducting saturation and interdiction patrols to better the Blair County Community. In December, a man from Philadelphia was stopped during a saturation detail and was arrested after being found with nearly a pound of methamphetamine, more than 1,200 bags of heroin/fentanyl and more than 100 grams of cocaine/crack cocaine.

“The best way to combat the drug problem is through proactive drug enforcement. The best opportunity for us to do that is to partner with the attorney general’s office, state police and Operation Our Town to make operations possible,” Weeks said. “People talk about the cost of incarceration, they don’t talk about the cost of not incarcerating those who prey upon our community. … We need to make Blair County a safer place to live.”

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 814-946-7467.