POLICE STEP UP ENFORCEMENT

If some landlords don't make an effort to keep drug traffickers out of
rental properties on Culbreth Avenue and Hunter Street, those rental
properties could be taken from them, said Thomasville Police Chief Larry
Murdock. "We're about backed into a corner," Murdock said Tuesday. "We're
going to have to seize somebody's property and sell it."

Illegal activity in the neighborhood around Culbreth Avenue and Hunter
Street has been chronic for years, he said. Until landlords begin screening
their tenants more carefully and evicting those caught with drugs, trouble
in the area will continue, Murdock said.

State law allows landlords to evict drug traffickers immediately, he said.
When Thomasville police officers make drug arrests on rental property, they
notify the landlord by certified mail.

And landlords who don't evict drug traffickers can have their property
seized through civil public nuisance lawsuits. Murdock said his department
may have to pursue such lawsuits. There are two landlords who haven't
cooperated with police in trying to clean up the neighborhood, he said.

Rick Sebastian owns an eight-unit apartment building at the corner of
Culbreth Avenue and Hunter Street. He told the Thomasville City Council
Monday that "drugs are as abundant as water out of your spigot" in the
neighborhood.

Gail Morrison lives in Sebastian's building. She said drug dealers loiter
in her yard on a regular basis. She's found needles, marijuana and crack there.

"It's not even safe for kids to come outside," she said. "It's got to stop."

Morrison and Sebastian asked for police to make more arrests among people
loitering in the neighborhood.

Murdock said his officers have to be careful about arresting people
suspected of trespassing because they could turn out to be property owners
in their own yards.

Sebastian compared drug operations on the street to "a drive through,"
people in their cars purchase drugs from loitering dealers.

The transactions happen so fast it's hard to catch drug dealers in the act,
Morrison said. When police approach them, dealers simply toss down their goods.

Murdock said his department publicized two community meetings there earlier
this year, but no residents showed up.

Another meeting will be scheduled soon, he said, noting that community
involvement would help police get problems under control.