A long-standing joke that isn’t funny is that Allegan County is the “meth capital of Michigan,” and the two Republican Party candidates for prosecuting attorney spoke at length about the topic at Thursday night’s Leighton Township Board meeting.

Myrene Koch, who was appointed prosecuting attorney seven months ago, and challenger Mike Villar both said the controlled substance continues to be a challenge.

The matter came up while Koch was telling the board the crime rate has gone up by 54 percent in just the last six months. When asked why, she pointed to the continuing plague of methamphetamine use and sales and a recent uptick in attempted assaults by strangulation.

“Meth is very big (as a problem) in Allegan County,” she said, while pointing out that heroin and Fentanyl seem to be more prevalent on the east side of Michigan.

When asked about Allegan County being the meth capital, Koch replied, “I don’t think that problem is being solved,” but she said the West Michigan Drug Enforcement Unit has been working hard to reduce it.

Villar said there is some historical precedent.

“When meth first hit, the most important ingredient was anhydrous ammonia, which is common on farms and this is a very rural county,” he explained.

The issue stubbornly has resued to go away and “the recidivism rate for meth offenders is very high.”

District Court Judge Bill Baillargeon spoke earlier in the evening about successes with the drug court, sobriety court and veterans’ court specialty programs, but the focus on the problem after the fact.

Koch was appointed prosecutor in March after Roberts Kengis was elevated to Circuit Court Judge, succeeding Kevin Cronin, who resigned abruptly in January without explanation.

Villar has been a practicing defense attorney in Allegan for the past 27 years and is engaged in commercial real estate in the community. He also runs Sunday religious programs at the Hidden Ridge campground dusing the summer and has been a youth sports coach.