TRADE BOOMING ACROSS COUNTY - IN DRUGS

MT. MORRIS - Vicki McVay said it wasn't too long ago that she felt
safe enough to walk to her job at a Saginaw Street gas station.

Now, as police say the drug trade in the 1.2-square-mile city is
skyrocketing, McVay's car is never far away.

"I live three blocks away and would love to walk to work at 3:30
a.m.," she said. "But it's not gonna happen."

The more than mile-long main road through town is becoming a haven
for small-time drug dealers, said Mt. Morris Police Chief Keith Beaker.

The city isn't the only one to experience an increase. Countywide,
authorities are seeing drug activity in nearly every city.

"The drug arrests have just been amazing," Becker said. "The economy
is bad. Maybe it's easier for these small-timers to make a buck than
to get a job."

Not even a year ago, Mt. Morris police would call it a busy month if
there were two drug seizures in a 30-day period. Now, Becker said,
local cops are seizing two cars a week belonging to drug dealers and
users, most of whom aren't residents of the city.

"It's everywhere in the county," said Sheriff Robert J. Pickell,
whose drug unit, the Posse, has seen a marked increase recently in
heroin, cocaine and prescription drugs.

The number of people arrested - a mix of repeat and new offenders -
has remained fairly stable, but the quantity of drugs being found has
risen as much as five times in some cases.

What makes the increase in drugs even more unusual is that many
dealers now are carrying a variety of drugs. In the past, a dealer
might just sell heroin. But now, said Flint police Lt. Phil Smith,
one dealer is likely to offer a variety of drugs.

"It was uncommon to find crack and heroin side by side," he said.
"Now they're like Wal-Mart; they've become more diversified."

Mt. Morris, a city of 3,300, recently changed its local ordinance,
allowing officials to prosecute small dealers with misdemeanors
rather than wait for the county to prosecute. Big deals, Becker said,
are usually handed off to Pickell's drug team.

McVay said that while she hasn't seen a lot of the deals, she hears
about them. And when she's at work, she said, she sees people she
believes to be drug users and dealers walking up and down Saginaw Street.

"The people that come in here, you can tell," she said. "They're
wanting change for big bills."

McVay also worries about other criminal activity as a result of the
uptick in the drug trade. Last year, several area stores were robbed,
and McVay said working weekends and nights at the gas station
increases her fears that she could be a robbery victim.

She has a point.

Although statistics aren't kept on the correlation, burglaries and
robberies typically follow increases in the drug business, said Flint
police Lt. Phil Smith.

It's not just cities such as Detroit or Flint, or those nearby such
as Mt. Morris, that are seeing the jump in drug activity.

In Fenton, Police Chief Rick Aro said arrests and seizures, mostly of
young people dealing in small amounts, are going up.

Officials warn that it's only a matter of time before communities
that haven't seen a rise, such as Clio, are in the same situation as
Mt. Morris or Fenton.

"People shouldn't be surprised to see it in their area," said Lt.
Mitch Krugielki, head of the Flint Area Narcotics Group.

Krugielki said that last year was one of the most successful in terms
of arrests and seizures the unit has ever had. FANG also has seen
more dealers selling heroin and cocaine than in the past.

Clio resident Sheryl Wheeler said the situation isn't bad in her
community now, but she anticipates that problems might be coming.

"I don't go into Mt. Morris at night because I heard it's getting bad
there," she said. "I definitely expect it to come into Clio."

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FLINT-AREA DRUG SEIZURES RISING

2006

Arrests: 351

Cocaine (powder) seized: 7,982.6 grams

Cocaine (crack): 1,411.1 grams

Marijuana (processed): 365.73 pounds

Heroin: 81.7 grams

Ecstasy: 1,388 pills

Total street value of drugs seized: $4,056,212

2007

Arrests: 342

Cocaine (powder) seized: 42,301 grams

Cocaine (crack): 1,696.2 grams

Marijuana (processed): 1,717.3 pounds

Heroin: 146.88 grams

Ecstasy: 2,324 pills

Total street value of drugs seized: $8,209,932

Source: Flint Area Narcotics Group