NEIGHBORS DEMAND POLICE CRACKDOWN

Irate residents living in the Shields-Robinson neighborhood have called an
emergency meeting tonight to protest prostitution, drugs and gang activity
taking place in their area. The meeting is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. at the
Capitol Hill Lions Center, 3816 S Robinson.

"Why should our children see prostitutes at work? Why does the law protect
the rights of criminals and not the rights of the taxpayers?" asks a flier
that's being distributed by the Shields-Robinson Neighborhood Association.

"The meeting will show community support and that we don't want such things
happening in our neighborhood any more," Carla Tannehill, a longtime
resident and mother of two, said Wednesday.

"We're all really frustrated because police officers are coming up and
telling us they can't do anything about the prostitutes, that their hands
are tied," said Tannehill, who's helping to form a voluntary neighborhood
watch to write down the cartag numbers of prostitutes' clients.

Sue DuCharme, executive director of the South Oklahoma City Council of
Neighborhoods, said her organization has received numerous complaints from
S Robinson residents that the prostitutes' clients have caused
"bumper-to-bumper traffic jams" and increased street crime, illegal drug
sales and gang activity.

"These are residential neighborhoods, and it's a crime to sell sex,"
DuCharme said. "We want public officials to do their part and help fix this
problem."

DuCharme said "citizen patrollers" will be at the meeting site, which will
offer voter registration services and anti-prostitution petitions to sign.

Tannehill said association members plan to ask public officials about
reports that some Oklahoma City police officers have not actually arrested
prostitutes for soliciting in the S Robinson area, but merely given them
rides in patrol cars to NE 23 Street.

District Attorney Wes Lane, Oklahoma City council members Ann Simank and
Brent Rinehart, Major Chuck Allen with the Oklahoma City police department
and state Sen. Keith Leftwich and state Rep. Al Lindley, both D-Oklahoma
City, are expected to attend.

Tannehill said she can't stand in her own front yard without being
propositioned by "johns," men wanting to buy sex.

"I'm afraid to let my children ride their bikes down the street because
some of the johns speed down our street at more than 50 mph," she said.

The neighborhood group also plans to ask people attending the meeting to
sign a petition to get penalties for prostitution increased, Tannehill said.

Right now, a first arrest for selling sex brings a fine of only $300.
Shields-Robinson residents would like to see that increased to $2,000.

One streetwalker told an area business owner that prostitutes make more
money in one night on S Robinson than they do in Dallas, Tannehill said.
"She said she can make $1,000 a day turning tricks in south Oklahoma City,"
Tannehill said.

"I don't think people in south Oklahoma City really want to be known for
that," she added.