LAW-ABIDING PROTEST ON THE HILL

She used to sit on a crate in her room, high on crack, watching the world
go by in her hallway.

Janet Thompson had wandered the wilderness most of her life. As a
22-year-old, she served two years and seven months in prison for grand larceny.

"I was on drugs and homeless," said Thompson. "I was on drugs when I came
up here."

"Up here" is Spring Hill Apartments, the 1,500-resident complex perched
above Charleston's downtown. Owned by Maryland developer Arnold Karp,
Spring Hill is also known as Roseberry Circle, owing to its address.

Most of its residents receive rent subsidies from the federal government.
Police statistics show it to be plagued by a high number of drug-related
offenses.

Five years ago, Thompson got off the crate. And crack.

"I got tired of being tired," she said.

Thompson has instead fashioned a career of sorts for herself, dabbling in
legal matters, writing government grant proposals and volunteering at
churches. She says she has also attended a career college and real estate
school.

"I work all the time," she says. "I just don't get paid for it."

We should add community activist to her title. She and seven other Spring
Hill residents have formed "One Voice" Community Council, an organization
designed to bring about change in the project.

Chairwoman Thompson and neighbor Bill Garrett helped fire off a letter last
month to a slew of officials, including Karp and several U.S. Housing and
Urban Development folks.

Their complaints are many. They want the project's assistant manager
removed. They want a grievance board set up by the end of the month, and an
apartment provided, using already acquired Community Development Block
Grant money, for a day-care center.

"We're a city within a city," says Thompson. "But we have no day care,
recreation facilities or meeting rooms."

The residents haven't heard anything from management. Karp didn't return a
phone message left Wednesday.

Garrett, 73, has lived at Spring Hill for nearly 30 years. Like Thompson,
he is an ex-convict. A 20-year boxing title-holder in the state of
Kentucky, he did 10 years after moving to West Virginia for his role in a
1966 fight.

The three of us talked about their efforts Wednesday, in Thompson's busy
apartment. Religious and psychological books dot the room, including "The
Toltec Way - A Guide to Personal Transformation," an Indian philosophical
tome, and "The Science of Mind."

Thompson very much describes herself as a Christian, though she feels no
need for a church. Garrett, on the other hand, is a broad-shouldered,
vigorous fellow who helps pastor New Hope Missionary Baptist Church on
Washington Street East.

"I tell people, 'Don't do the things I did,' " Garrett said. Garrett is in
the minority of residents who don't receive a HUD subsidy. His four-bedroom
townhouse rents for $675 a month, plus utilities.

Both preach a message of renewal at Spring Hill, an area long maligned for
its problems. Together, they guess they've watched 15 young people sent off
the hill to prison.

"We want to do better," Thompson said. "We want our community to develop."

Thompson's far-flung interests - she is taking a computer repair course -
include grand plans for Spring Hill.

"My goal is to buy the hill," she said. "To use the HUD dollars to let
people pay for their apartments. If you own the place you're not going to
smoke crack in the hallways.

"You're a taxpayer."