PISGAH VIEW SLAYING A GRIM REMINDER OF OUR NEED FOR FULL
OFFENSIVE ON SCOURGE OF DRUGS

The need to stop drug-dealing in public housing complexes became
even more evident last week when a motorist was gunned down in
broad daylight on a street in Pisgah View.

We don't know for sure if David Garland's last trip was drug-related,
but he was killed in an area known for drug dealing, and the man being
sought for questioning is charged with failing to appear in court on a
drug charge.

One Pisgah View resident said she frequently saw the victim, who lived
in Leicester, driving in the area.

Whatever the reason for the shooting, it brings home the conditions
under which the residents of Pisgah View live. "I used to feel safe
about letting the kids run around," said Sekia Wadsworth, who hopes to
move out by year's end. "But with all the violence around, I don't
want to let them outside."

That is unacceptable. Every resident of Asheville, whether living in a
neighborhood of posh single-family homes or in a public housing
project, deserves safe surroundings. The conditions that spawned last
week's gunfire must be eradicated.

The drug traffic must be fought on all fronts. That means going after
buyers as well as sellers, wholesalers as well as retailers. Arresting
the street dealers, usually young African-American men, does no good
as long as the major suppliers are not touched. When poverty is the
norm and people feel hopeless, there will always be another dealer to
replace the one who was busted.

Which brings up the vital second part of the campaign against drugs.
That part involves mentoring and counseling, job training and
community policing, all the things that go into helping vulnerable
young people targeted for recruiting to become dealers see that they
have better options. Law-enforcement is a vital part of the battle
against drugs, but no amount of law-enforcement can do the job in the
absence of hope.

One aspect of the investigation that was disturbing to some people was
the fact that Garland's body was left in his car for three hours while
police gathered evidence at the scene and was still inside when the
vehicle was taken away on a flatbed truck.

"I just feel like that is really messed up," said Pisgah View resident
LaShonda Carson. "He deserves better than that." Other onlookers felt
much the same way. Police Capt. Tom Aardema said later that the
vehicle was taken to an enclosed bay where forensic technicians could
better evaluate matters such as bullet trajectory, with the victim
still in the position in which he was shot.

All right. But it would have been better had someone at the scene
explained this to the onlookers. They probably would have felt better
had they been told that by handling the matter as they did, police
were making it more likely that the perpetrator would be caught and
punished.

And then there is the old double standard. Would the body of a rich
man shot to death on an upscale street have been left in his car as it
was taken away? One suspects not. If keeping a vehicle intact,
including the victim's body, is good for Pisgah View, it is good for
anywhere.

And if safe streets are the norm in upscale areas they should also be
the norm in public housing. Drug dealing cannot be tolerated anywhere.

No mother should fear to let her children play outside because they
might be cut down in the crossfire of a gun battle.