NO SHELTER FROM DRUGS: EFFORTS UNDER WAY TO DISCOURAGE LOITERERS AT GOOD
SHEPHERD

A homeless shelter and local law enforcement officials are trying to keep
drug addicts and loiterers away from the shelter.

When the doors close daily at 1 p.m. at Good Shepherd House - a daytime
shelter for the homeless - ramblers, some of them drug dealers, mill around
trying to make a sale.

"The problem has been that people who are not our clients have been
gravitating toward our area," said Don Hessenflow, director of
administration. "Some of the homeless people have substance abuse problems.
The church is there and you just don't want people having to go through a
crowd of drug dealers to go to church on Sunday."

It's hard to try to help someone combat a drug abuse problem when suppliers
hang around the shelter at the corner of Sixth and Queen streets, he said.

Charles Bell knows all too well that such temptation for a drug addict is
overwhelming. Mr. Bell has been coming to Good Shepherd for years and has
been drug free for more than a year.

"It does make it difficult," Mr. Bell said. "It was hard for me to stay
clean. It's hard, especially in this environment."

Just last Sunday, a crowd gathered at the corner, where some asked
church-goers for money as they left the Sunday morning service, Mr. Bell said.

"It was outrageous. There was a lot of them up there. They don't care what
day it is," he said.

For years, neighbors have complained about the problem, which has led to
littered neighborhood streets. Empty cigarette lighters strewn along
sidewalks are evidence of drug use in the area. Drug users need the
lighters to heat crack in order to smoke it.

Gunfire often interrupts quiet nights.

"I see them out there fighting," said Cynthia Cunningham, who lives next to
the church. "It seems like it's getting worse and worse."

Police patrol that corner, she said, but the crowd usually disperses when
police come and congregates as soon as police are gone, Ms. Cunningham
said. She said she'd like to see police patrol the area 24 hours a day.

"We do know that there is drug activity there," said Wilmington Police
Officer V.L. Atwood.

Police met with shelter employees and neighbors this week to discuss
cracking down on the problem. Police have agreed to patrol the area more,
Officer Atwood said.

"We're not going to have unnecessary loitering or littering," she said.

A soup kitchen opened at the site in 1983. The Good Shepherd day shelter
opened in 1989. On an average day, 125 to 175 people turn to the shelter
to eat the continental breakfast and full-course lunch. Recipients also may
take showers and grab a clean change of clothes.

Those caught doing something illegal are reprimanded. Recipients of the
shelter's services must abide by rules. Those who break the rules are
suspended.

"It's not just violating a law, we have rules," Mr. Hessenflow said.

Those who use the center cannot use profanity, and sleeping and smoking are
prohibited on the premises. If a client is caught smoking, he is suspended
from using Good Shepherd's services for one day. If he's caught a second
time, the suspension is bumped up to seven days, and a third time
constitutes a 30-day suspension. A person is refused services after the
fourth offense.

Mr. Hessenflow points out that different offenses call for different
punishments.

"We want to be a big part of the solution," he said. "That's the real
issue. It is something that we have wanted and it's something that the
church wants. The neighbors are all trying to work together."

Arthur Bruton has lived in his Queen Street home for nearly 40 years. He's
dealt with discarded beer bottles and other litter on the sidewalk in front
of his house and in his yard for too long, he said.

"In the last couple of months it's gotten better," said Mr. Bruton, who
attributed the changes to the shelter's new director. "I haven't ever had
this kind of problem until a few months after the shelter opened."

People used to clog the sidewalks in the area, making it nearly impossible
for neighborhood residents to pass through, he said. He's watched drug
exchanges take place in his own driveway. He doesn't blame the shelter and
said he's going to help keep an eye on things.

"I'm going to try to get some of my neighbors to help. They'll help. If
they see something wrong they'll call and let them know about it. I believe
the way the people are going now, it'll be all right," he said.