It was, at least, until the Sheriff's Office and revenooers last week raided the Norris farm where they allege crystal meth (the moonshine of the 21st century), pot and moonshine (the moonshine of the 19th and 20th centuries), were being made or grown.

Think about it. How many times have you gotten a contact high just breathing the air at Disneyland?

That's apparently what happened at Four Oaks' Stony Brook Farms last week. Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said his deputies were there investigating reports of a stolen tractor when the scent of distilled mash assaulted a deputy's nostrils.

They discovered $5,000 worth of moonshine, 12 marijuana plants and small amounts of meth and ecstasy, Bizzell said.

Meth operations flourish and get busted elsewhere, but Johnston County at times seems to be synonymous with it. Bizzell said that's because his department is so "proactive" when it comes to searching for meth labs.

"We actually go out looking for meth heads, and when we catch them, they want to tell about their mamas and daddies and cousins" who are also running the illegal operations, he said.

In 2007, Johnston County ranked third in the state, behind Harnett and Anson counties, in the number of meth labs seized. The distinction of being meth heaven, whether because of zealous law enforcement or just a lot of meth heads, is one many residents could live without.

Kelly Barbour certainly could. Barbour knew when he saw the news of the Four Oaks bust that when he got to work the next day he was going to be teased by co-workers at Leith's BMW and Rolls Royce dealerships.

"When I say, 'Johnston County,' they automatically think I live in a singlewide trailer with a meth lab inside or a still out back," Barbour told me weeks ago when he first called to complain, half in jest, about the public's perception. "It's embarrassing sometimes. They think you're a good ol' boy or a redneck."

Barbour is the service manager, supervising a crew of mechanics who work on cars costing, in some instances, more than 20 singlewides.

He lives in a brick home, rides high-end bicycles for a hobby and shoots a five-handicap on the golf course. Yet, when I asked how people respond to him when he tells them he's a lifelong resident of Johnston County, he called a passing co-worker into his office and repeated the question.

"Y'all got the meth labs," the man, Kevin, said laughing.

Sheriff Bizzell, who led the raid on the happiness operation at the Norris farm, said he gets razzed about the county's reputation, too.

"I'm president of the N.C. Sheriffs' Association this year, and when I go into a room a lot of them will say, 'There's ol' Sheriff Bizzell of Johnston County: home of the finest moonshine ever made.' "

Bizzell said much of that reputation lingers, like the pungent odor of distilled moonshine in the air, from the days when legendary moonshiner Percy Flowers was making so much high-quality 'shine in Johnston County that he reportedly bought sugar by the traincar loads.

"That was before my time," Bizell said.