Shake-and-bake lab

An Oconee County traffic safety checkpoint near Fair Play Sunday night confiscated what officers say was a shake-and-bake style meth lab in a car and led to the arrest of the driver. Townville resident Eric Jason Whitten, 39, was lodged in the Oconee Detention Center shortly before 1:30 yesterday morning, charged in warrants alleging possession of “known chemicals, equipment and manufacturing apparatus used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine.” The traffic safety checkpoint took place on highway 182 at Wilderness Road. It was there, according to Sheriff’s spokesman Jimmy Watt, that officers came in contact with a green 1998 Chevy Cavalier which displayed an altered year sticker.