TASKFORCE TAKES ON DRUG HOUSES

WHEELING - If you have concerns about dilapidated buildings or drug
houses in East Wheeling, members of the Holy Ground Taskforce for
Hopeful City want you to help identify these properties.

"We want people to come to this meeting to tell us what buildings they
believe to be drug houses so we can get the police to investigate
those places, and get the buildings torn down," said taskforce member
Melvin Williams.

Taskforce members want East Wheeling residents to express their
concerns about problem buildings during an open house event at the
Church of God and Saints in Christ at 12th and Byron streets from
7-8:30 p.m. Thursday.

"We want people to specifically tell us what buildings they think are
being used as crack houses so that we can deal with these places,"
Williams said of structures where citizens believe illegal drugs are
being sold.

Bill Bryant, also a taskforce member, said there are buildings in East
Wheeling that -- even if they are not used as marketplaces for drugs --
are still causing problems in the area.

"We have a lot of drug houses up here, but we also have a bunch of
abandoned buildings, and other buildings that have a bunch of garbage
and weeds and stuff around them. We have to get rid of these kind of
stuff," he said.

The Rev. Mark Seitz, Chairman of the Community Renaissance Taskforce
for Hopeful City, said this is the kind of event East Wheeling needs.

"The people who live in East Wheeling know what is going on there, so
they are the ones who have to tell us how we can help them by letting
us know the sources of the problems," he said.

Seitz said the main purpose of Hopeful City is to give people the
change to address community problems.

"It is important the city of Wheeling to work with the citizens up
there (East Wheeling) to do whatever can be done to make the area
safer for residents and visitors, and this is a good way to start," he
said.

Williams said he hopes an event like this will inspire people to work
together, as well as take more pride in their neighborhoods.

"If we can work together with the city to see that these things are
taken care of, we will be able to make our neighborhoods safer for
everyone," he said.