ASHEVILLE VICE MAYOR WANTS CITY TO PAY FOR WAR ON DRUGS IN PUBLIC HOUSING

ASHEVILLE - When Asheville Vice Mayor Carl Mumpower spent a night in one of
the city's largest public housing complexes, he stayed up watching drug
deals take place outside his window.

"The drug dealers are not afraid. They're not apprehensive," he said. "It's
clear that they are predators that have no natural enemies."

That's not news to Bernice Mathis, a resident of Deaverview Apartments
where Mumpower stayed. Mathis says drug dealers come to the complex on the
city bus and make a day of drug dealing.

"They leave on last bus of the day, and another crew comes in to stay all
night," she said.

Changing things in neighborhoods like Deaverview and the city's nine other
public housing developments would take a full-scale war on drugs, Mumpower
said.

Today, he and City Councilmen Joe Dunn and Jan Davis will try to convince
the rest of the council to pay for that war with $750,000 to $1 million.

City Council is scheduled meet for a budget work session at 2 p.m. on the
first floor of City Hall.

Mayor Charles Worley said Mumpower had not explained where the money for a
drug war would come from. Worley said the city should also look closely at
problems related to drugs, such as the conditions in public housing that
might make it more vulnerable to drugs and crime.

Asheville police have been waging a war against drugs since the late 1980s
when they discovered the link between violent crime and crack-cocaine and
cocaine dealing.

"What we had was a situation of drug rip-offs and violence associated with
drug rip-offs," said Will Annarino, Asheville police chief from 1993 to 2003.

Though other neighborhoods in Asheville have problems with drugs, officials
say the city's public housing complexes draw drug dealers because they're
geographically isolated and get little drive-through traffic from the
general public.

"They're going to go where they can hide, intimidate and thrive," Mumpower
said.

Not a priority

Throughout the 1990s, the police department received money from the federal
government for special enforcement in public housing. But about two years
ago, the government cut one of the department's major funding sources, a
program that provided $330,000 a year to support a four-person public
housing police unit.

"The revenue streams we've seen over the last 12 years have continued to
dry up," Interim Police Chief Ross Robinson said.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the police department has
applied for grants to fight crime in public housing but has been denied
because its proposals do not directly address homeland security, Annarino said.

"The city Police Department asked for very legitimate grants . and did not
get them because they weren't on the president's list of priorities set for
homeland security," Annarino said.

For residents of public housing, the funding cuts meant a new piecemeal
approach in which the city and the housing authority devoted money to
smaller efforts. The housing authority has spent $125,000 a year from its
renovations budget to hire off-duty officers to patrol the complexes.

Last summer, a slew of violent crime plagued the two largest complexes,
Deaverview and Pisgah View apartments.

In one case, a man was gunned down in front of a Deaverview apartment at 5
p.m. in May as children played nearby. Later that summer, a woman was
arrested in Deaverview for allowing men to have sex with her 14-year-old
daughter in exchange for drugs. Like many of the criminals caught in public
housing, the people involved in those two crimes did not live where they
were arrested.

Since then, the city and Police Department have worked together to create a
new public housing unit with nine officers. The unit's supervisor, Lt.
Kevin West, said his officers spend about half of their time working on
drug-related problems.

Mumpower called the new public housing police unit a step toward fighting
drugs in Asheville, but said it's not enough.

"It's not even close to adequate, and no one ever thought it would be,"
Mumpower said. "It's been a major improvement, but to defeat hard drugs in
our community we have to provide a level of police service that exceeds the
level of service by drug dealers."

And not just in public housing. Officers have to be stationed around the
city to meet drug dealers when they flee to other areas.

"You can't go at this halfway," Mumpower said. "You have to provide
significant manpower. You can't, we can't, do a limited response. (The drug
dealers) are too good. They're too creative. There are too many of them."

Finding the money

Mumpower's proposed budget of $750,000 to $1 million could create a 24-hour
drug enforcement unit. With the support of two other council members, he
hopes to convince the rest of the council that the tight budgeting needed
to come up with the money would be worth it.

To get the money, Worley said the council would have to raise taxes or
shift funding from another source.

Asheville's 2003-04 fiscal year budget is just less than $100 million, with
$14 million allocated for the Police Department.

Worley also said he wanted the new police chief, expected to be hired by
this summer, to have input in the war on drugs.

Whether or not the funding is approved, the City Council has listed
fighting drugs as one of its goals for the year, he said. The council has
met with Asheville City Schools leaders to discuss problems in public
housing that affect students, including drugs.

David Jones, the executive director of the Asheville housing authority,
expressed his support for a new anti-drug campaign. "The very idea that
they are looking at it and realize that that is an important issue in our
community - we are pleased as can be to hear that."

Timeline of violence in 2003

May 26 - George Boston killed at Deaverview. Boston, who was out on bail
for murder charges, was shot multiple times while children played outside.

June 16 - Albert Fleming shot at Pisgah View. A bullet to his side made him
a paraplegic.

July 12 - A 10-year-old girl was grazed by a bullet fragment that went into
the car she rode in at Pisgah View. A 23-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy
were arrested in the shooting, which injured them both.

Aug. 3 - Three-month-old Angel Divine Randall smothered to death at Pisgah
View Apartments. His father, 16-year-old Princeston Christopher Randall,
was charged with murder.

August - A woman is arrested in Deaverview and charged with allowing men to
have sex with her daughter in exchange for drugs.

Dec. 11 - Odell Dixon, 18, died after being shot in the head at Lee Walker
Heights Apartments. A 13-year-old boy faces charges.

Police in public housing

a.. In the 1990s, an Asheville police unit called ARGUS - Asheville
Residents and Government Unified Strategy - had three officers and one
supervisor who policed public housing.

b.. About a year and a half ago, the federal program that paid the three
officers' salaries was cut. The ARGUS officers were reassigned.

c.. Without ARGUS, the housing authority started its own security force.
The team, run by former Asheville police Lt. Walt Robertson, had about six
off-duty officers who answered police calls in public housing. d.. In 2003,
the police department applied for grant money to pay for enforcement in
public housing, but was denied because its proposal did not specifically
address homeland security.

e.. In June 2003, the Asheville City Council approved $150,000 to pay for
three police officers in public housing.

f.. On July 21, police assigned patrol officers to fight crime in
Deaverview and Pisgah View apartments. The housing authority's security
force continued to patrol the other eight public housing units.

g.. In January, police commissioned a new public housing unit that now has
eight full-time officers and a supervisor .