PASTORS SEEKING CRACKDOWN ON ENSLEY SLUMLORDS

Pastors across the Birmingham area plan to call on lawmakers to toughen the
penalties for slumlords as part of an effort to clean up the streets in the
Ensley community where three Birmingham police officers were fatally shot
Thursday. T.L. Lewis, moderator of the Peace Baptist District
Association, said slumlords should be treated as druglords, because slums
are a haven for drugs. "If you will provide a haven for drug pushers, then
you are a druglord," he said. Residents say the scene of the shooting, 1619
18th St., was a drug house, and they had recently alerted police about the
problem. The officers were serving a misdemeanor assault warrant when they
were killed. Records on file at the Jefferson County Board of Equalization
list H.G. Clark as the owner of 1623 18th St., which is in the same building
as 1619 18th St. Clark, who lives in Homewood, acknowledged that he pays
taxes on the property and has managed it for about three years but says he
is not the owner. He declined to name the owner.

Clark said he had no knowledge of any drug activity on the property.
"Nobody told me that this was going on."

Lewis said the Peace Baptist District Association includes more than
50 congregations across the Birmingham area, including First Baptist
Church of Ensley and Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church, which are
both close to the shooting scene.

Abyssinia's pastor, R.L. Patterson, said parishioners want to reclaim
their neighborhood. "We want our community to have a safe place to
live." Abraham Woods, pastor of St. Joseph Baptist Church and
president of the Birmingham chapter of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, said everyone should be a part of the solution.

"We must go into action against slumlords that have residences where
druglords will set up," he said. "We're asking all of our citizens to
join hands and hearts and minds with the police department."