SEMINAR TO ADDRESS HOW DRUGS, CRIME PLAGUE CITY

In the past six months, the Rev. Louis Coleman has attended nearly a
dozen funerals of people slain in Louisville, and he has listened as
mothers and fathers described how drugs ripped apart their families.

Coleman said he looks at the number of homicides in the community and
worries how high it will climb before the violence is curbed.

TO LEARN MORE Marq Golden, youth services assistant for Little Rock,
Ark., will speak at noon Thursday on how a community can help police
curb violence. He will spea at First Congregational Methodist Church,
3810 Garland Ave. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, call the Justice Resource Center at 562-6737.

So far, there have been 31 this year -- eight more than this time last
year.

Louisville Metro Police officials say that nearly one-third of this
year's slayings have been related to drugs.

"Men aren't supposed to cry, but I tell you what, when you think of
the tremendous impact drugs are having on our community," it's hard
not to, said Coleman, executive director of the Justice Resource Center.

Coleman and other local activists want community leaders -- in fields
ranging from business and health care to politics and education -- to
recognize the drug and crime problem and become part of the solution.

The Justice Resource Center has invited a city official from Little
Rock, Ark., to visit Louisville this week to tell community leaders
how that city fought a nationally publicized battle against gangs and
drugs a decade ago.

On Thursday, Marq Golden, who is the youth services assistant for
Little Rock, will speak at noon at First Congregational Methodist Church.

The Justice Resource Center has invited leaders from more than two
dozen organizations, including banks, hospitals and the school system,
to attend the seminar.

"The police can't fight this alone," Coleman said.

"The business leadership is going about their merry way while drugs
are taking over this city. We're saying, `Now, it's time business
people come and recognize that drugs is probably ... the number-one
problem in our community.'"

Golden said he'll talk about Little Rock's trouble in the early 1990s,
when gang and drug violence was so rampant that the nightly news was
constantly detailing gang killings.

Graffiti covered property across the city of more than 180,000 people,
and a growing number of young people were clothed in gang colors.

It wasn't until the 1994 Home Box Office Productions documentary "Gang
War: Bangin' in Little Rock" aired that city leaders got involved, Golden
said.

Shortly after that, voters approved a 1/2-cent sales tax, on top of
Arkansas' 5.125-cent sales tax, which last year alone raised
$16.9million to pay for youth programs, neighborhood treatment centers
and special police enforcement projects.

"People were in denial for some time," Golden said.

"I don't think they were willing to face the issue. People would say:
`It's just over there in that area. I'm not affected by it.'"

But it was affecting everything, including tourism in the area.

Nearly a decade after the city began implementing prevention programs
and city leaders began working with police, juvenile crime has dropped
60 percent in Little Rock, Golden said.

"Everyone has to have the understanding of what's really at stake
there," he said.

"You're not only looking at the image of the city, but looking at
people's lives in the community."

Coleman said he has heard from agencies such as the Housing Authority,
which plans to send a representative to Thursday's seminar.

He hopes several agencies will want to become involved in planning a
community strategy.

"We're not going to beg for people to come and sit in a chair. We want
people willing to help improve the situation we are in," Coleman said.

Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson's office plans to have someone attend,
spokesman Jay Blanton said.

"We'll certainly be there in a listening capacity," Blanton said. "We
think it's positive any time anyone wants to step up and be involved
in a positive way."

The police department also plans on having a commander attend,
spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said.

Golden said if Louisville is interested in implementing programs
similar to those in Little Rock, he's willing to help.

Coleman said he hopes city leaders are willing to look at Little
Rock's success, which he acknowledges cost a significant amount of
money.

"We want the leadership of this community to know, we're not pointing
fingers at you. We want to point fingers with you to get things
solved," Coleman said.

"Most of this isn't about money. Most of this is about having the
willpower to do the right thing."

TO LEARN MORE

Marq Golden, youth services assistant for Little Rock, Ark., will
speak at noon Thursday on how a community can help police curb
violence. He will speak at First Congregational Methodist Church, 3810
Garland Ave.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, call the Justice Resource Center at 562-6737.