It's common knowledge alcohol gives a cheap buzz, but many citizens around the Leathered area think a more expensive high was the reason Black Gold Liquors was robbed of cash for the second time this year.

A masked white male entered the store armed with a single-barrell shotgun last Wednesday and demanded all the money in the cash register, according to a visibly shacken and still distraught Leann Hale, who was quite poised considering she was just robbed at gunpoint.

"I wasn't as scarred as I was the first time," Hale said. "I hate to say it, but I guess I'm getting used to it.

"It seems like this only happens to me," added Hale. "We've been broke into a bunch of times, but these last two were both in broad daylight."

The alleged larceny was the second robbery this year at Black Gold Liquors. The store was robbed once before this year in mid-May, according to the store's cashier.

That robber also demanded only money from the store, but the first thief also escaped in Hale's car. The vehicle was later returned unharmed and even Hale's compact disks remained in the car.

The latest robber - a white male listed as approximately 5'11" remains on the loose - escaped on foot, but those interviewed believe another person was involved with an escape vehicle. The Perry County Sheriff's Department reponded to the 911 call and consider the suspect dangerous and capable of robbing again in the area.

The two daytime robberies are the only times ever the store has been robbed for only money. All the other robberies were nighttime thieves stealing stocked alcohol, according to Hale.

George Bailey, a local gentleman at the store to give Hale emotional support, said he was going to give liquor store owner Glenn Baker an extra security camera he has at home.

Bailey and other concerned citizens are quick to point out they believe the slew of local robberies of late are related to the drug epidemic.

"There's no doubt in my mind these thieves are wanting money for drugs," Bailey said. Bailey isn't the only local resident who believes the local drug epidemic contributed to this and the slew of other area robberies, most demanding quick cash.

"It's these pills. They'll do anything for one," said local resident Orre Cress, a night watchman at a nearby dairy bar and grocery store called Joe's Superette.

Joe's Superette, a little more than five miles from Black Gold Liquors, has been robbed more than three times in the past couple years, but had never been broken into before, according to Cress. The Leatherwood resident admited a security watchman at an out-of-the way market is rare even in larger metropolitan areas.

"I don't know the answer with these drugs because it's definitely not an easy one," a beer distributor said at the Blue Goose, another liquor store in the area that hasn't been robbed since 1981, according to workers at "The Goose."

"It's getting worse with all the robberies," the beerman said. "There's not much we can do until they start getting these doctors who write pills for anything."

The latest thief at Black Gold Liquors took more than $400 in cash from the register, a large amount according to Hale, who said the store begins the day with less than $100.

"It's a real bad situation surrounding these drugs," Cress said. "I don't know what we're going to do about it."