A-C POLICE SEIZE HOME IN DRUG RAID

Police have long had the right under state and federal law to seize
property if they can show it's linked to the illegal drug trade.
Athens-Clarke police have rarely moved to commandeer a house. Thursday,
they seized a west Athens house owned by an 82-year-old widow neighbors
call ''Ma,'' claiming she was knowingly letting her son use the property as
a staging site for drug sales. Police predicted more home forfeitures, as
they look for fresh ways to end open drug dealing that still troubles some
Athens neighborhoods. ''This community is why we're here today -- it's part
of our problem-solving approach to policing the community,'' said Mike
Hunsinger of the Athens-Clarke Police Drug and Vice Squad. ''I think we're
going to see more of it.'' Fannie Gresham's attorney, Jim Smith, likened
the police action to the widespread illegal theft of African-American real
estate that tarnishes America's past. ''What they're doing is taking
property from black folks,'' he said. ''They don't attack white folks.''
Under the watchful eyes of neighbors, officers entered the tiny Julius
Drive home of Gresham and changed the locks. Police on Thursday also
arrested Gresham's son, Tommie ''Top Dollar'' Gresham, 50, on a cocaine
possession charge after he allegedly dropped several rocks of crack cocaine
and fled the scene, returning later while police were still there. His
mother was at the hospital visiting a sick relative during the police
operation, according to her attorney, who accused police of confiscating
the home of an innocent old woman. Neighbors described her as a kindly lady
who walked to a nearby church every Sunday for services. ''Right here is a
good example of the state taking property'' without evidence, Smith said,
videotaping the operation from the street. ''There's not any drugs in this
house. They have never seized any drugs in this house. This lady is not
accused of a single thing.'' The police complaint alleged the senior
Gresham facilitated her son's alleged operation by allowing the house to
become a hub of drug activity. Some 29 incidents of drug activity have been
noted at the address there since 1992, records show. Police were armed with
a court order issued by Superior Court Judge Stephen Boswell, who heard
evidence in December of alleged drug activity at the property. Police say
drug dealers were caught numerous times by police fetching drugs from the
house for street-side sales, and running after cars to sell drugs to
motorists. Boswell gave Gresham 14 days to move her belongings. A hearing
on the seizure is scheduled for February in Clarke Superior Court. Boswell
signed the order as a visiting judge after the Western Judicial Circuit's
three Superior Court judges recused themselves in the case. Seized by the
state government was a Jim Walter home that Gresham and her husband erected
in the 1950s, paying for it partly with money from a job she held at a
local poultry plant. Her husband Tom died in June. The sudden lockdown at
the address surprised at least one visitor, dropping off a package for
Gresham, who she described as a lovely person and a good customer. The
visitor found only an empty locked house. ''All I know is what I bring
them,'' Mary Brake said.''It's prescription drugs.''