THAT'S NO BALONEY --

GRANT TO HELP CHASE OFF DRUG DEALERS WITH HOT DOGS

From now on, a Near-Eastside neighborhood will be chasing away drug
dealers with a hot-dog cart. Literally.

The Brookside Bunch Neighborhood Association on Friday received a
$4,297 grant from the Department of Metropolitan Development to
implement a drug-elimination program.

The money will be used to buy a hot-dog cart, which the association
will set up near alleged drug houses to give away hot dogs. The theory
is that traffic to the free food will deter buyers and sellers from
seeking illegal drugs for that day.

Bob Childs, former president of the neighborhood group, said he and
his wife, Charlotte, have been working on the program for years. They
got the idea from a similar project in Florida, where residents ousted
unwanted neighbors with the help of hot dogs and cold drinks.

Childs and a group of volunteers used the tactic in a Near-Eastside
neighborhood two years ago. The success was overwhelming, Childs said.

"(Bad neighbors) moved out the next day. It tickled everybody to
death," Childs said. "We set up on the corner, diagonally away from
the place. We gave out hot dogs and passed out information, and the
next day they moved."

The new project will be more mobile because it will use a towable
cart. It will be moved from neighborhood to neighborhood, with local
residents supplying hot dogs, mustard and ketchup.

"This will be an ongoing process of eliminating drugs and 'bad
neighbors,' " Childs said.

The cart also might be used for fund-raising activities.

Childs expects to have the cart in operation by Aug. 6.