Three men were arrested Friday evening after deputies with the Russell County Sheriff’s Office found two active meth labs inside a home near the Eli Community.

Deputies Nick Bertram and Clete McAninch received information that methamphetamine was being made inside a home at 256 Dockery Road and began their investigation at the Thomas Roark residence and received permission to search the home from Roark, according to the deputies.

Two active meth labs were found in the kitchen along with several precursors used in cooking meth, according to deputies.

Thomas Roark, 50, John Dearing, 39, and Eric Kazsuk, 38, were all taken into custody and charged with manufacturing methamphetamine with Kazsuk also being served with a warrant for failing to pay child support, according to records.

All three men were taken to the Russell County Detention Center.

Deputies Lee Smith and Evan Burton also assisted with the arrests Friday.

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While not on the agenda at Monday night’s regular meeting of the Russell County Fiscal Court, the most discussed topic concerned the use of emergency helicopters in the county as several magistrates voiced concerns from folks they had heard from in the community to Russell County EMS Director Terry Hancock and Russell County Ambulance Board Chairman James Gray.

Magistrates Larry Holt and Ronald Johnson each said they had received questions about the use of emergency helicopters, more specifically the cost involved in being transported using a helicopter and which helicopter service should be prioritized, if any at all, and if emergency helicopter calls have gotten excessive by EMS personnel.

After a lengthy discussion on the issue, Hancock reiterated his belief that calls for emergency helicopters in the county were not excessive.

“I think we addressed this back several months ago, same issue,” Hancock said. “We’ve got a job to do, we’ve got protocols to follow by the state EMS board and the state medical director.”

Hancock said each situation is different but his personnel do what they believe is best for the patient in calling for a helicopter and if transporting a patient to a hospital that provides a higher level of care is needed, that is what would be done.

Another issue discussed was the use of Air Evac, a membership based service in Albany, and Air Methods, a helicopter service based in Somerset with no membership base. Air Evac members are not charged for services because of the yearly dues they pay to the company.

Johnson said folks with Air Evac memberships had expressed concern to him about their air transportation, if ever needed, by another service other than Air Evac and the expense that would arise from that. Johnson said it was his belief that Air Evac should have first call priority in Russell County due to their large membership base here.

Hancock said location, helicopter availability, estimated response times and other factors contribute to what service gets called to respond.

“When a decision is made to call for a helicopter and put a patient in a helicopter, that decision is based solely on what we’re presented with when we get there,” Hancock said. “You could have a concussion…but we don’t know that you don’t have major head trauma, we can’t do CAT scans or anything like that but it is our job to get you to the best appropriate care and if we think you’ve got head trauma we’re going to send you to a level one trauma center as quick as possible.”

Johnson and Holt both said they agreed that emergency helicopters were a great tool to have but that sometimes, in less severe circumstances, folks are being flown out with lesser injuries and are being hit with financial hardships they simply cannot afford.

“You take a family out here working for $25,000 or $30,000 a year and they’ve got a $34,000 bill you’ve got them in a life-struggling situation then trying to pay this,” Johnson said.

County Attorney Kevin Shearer said this matter must be thoroughly researched before any changes to policy are made because those policies and what comes of them could come back to haunt the court in the form of expensive lawsuits.

No action was taken regarding the issue Monday night but will be discussed further during the coming months by the fiscal court.

It is the court’s hope that representatives from both Air Evac, Air Methods and other emergency helicopter companies used by the county could meet with magistrates and Judge-Executive Gary Robertson in the near future to discuss the issue further.