DRUG TRADE RUINING NEIGHBORHOOD

Let's Hope New Police Chief Will Re-Energize Fight

GREENVILLE - The early-morning sun bathes this Greenville neighborhood in a
false sense of serenity - the phalanx of drug clientele has yet to show up
at the intersection of Mulberry and Ohio streets.

But as the day wears on, the tempo of the traffic picks up, as faces -
young, old and in-between - all familiar to the street-corner drug dealers
hanging around this open-air bazaar begin to appear.

It's a disturbing image of the flourishing illegal drug trade, nestled in
with single-family homes, and hard-working people who see a piece of their
community slowly being sucked up by the criminal dysfunction who prey on
its streets.

To those who live here, the almost nonstop drug processional presents a
sordid human canopy - random gunshots, squealing tires, placing a
God-fearing neighborhood at risk - it's a din that drowns out their urgent
pleas for help.

"The boys in the 'hood' have run things around here for a long time," said
one resident. "You mind your business, because you might get shot." For
many of these residents, hopelessness and despair have long since replaced
frustration - a growing disappointment with law enforcement apparently
unable to rid their community of this menace.

Perhaps with the Greenville City Council's appointment of Lon Pepper Jr. as
chief of police, the department will be re-energized in attacking this
illicit drug trade.

But as one Greenville police officer said, "The drug dealers are like
cockroaches: turn on the light, and they just scatter to a different
neighborhood."

So those who are charged with protecting our safety are hamstrung by an
entrenched governmental bureaucracy, and a lack of resources.

But we have heard that lame refrain before.

So what is a community to do?

Hope and pray, much like the residents who live near Mulberry and Ohio streets.

The tragedy of it all is that most of these homeowners are hopelessly
trapped, because who is going to purchase property in a free-flowing drug zone?

"What you have out here is a drive-through drug den," said Oliver, another
resident. "They can get you the drugs faster than McDonald's."

What concerns many people in the neighborhood is some youngster is going to
get killed by a stray bullet or run over by one of these jerks who have
turned these residential streets into a drag strip.

"We have an epidemic drug situation in this community, and the police are
doing nothing about it," Oliver said, resignation creeping into his voice.
"And the elected officials are really no better."

District 5 Councilwoman Audine Haynes understands the neighborhood's pain,
because she lives there. In fact, the former Washington County deputy
sheriff knows firsthand what law enforcement is not doing.

Haynes has never subscribed to the "duck and run" philosophy of many
politicians - she faces tough questions head-on. Haynes said she has waged
an unsuccessful 18-month campaign to amplify the problem. She is not
satisfied with the response from law enforcement.

"Everything is true. The residents are afraid for their safety," she said.
"I am truly tired of it, because there needs to be more drug arrests."

Haynes looks at the aggressive drug enforcement taking place in neighboring
Sunflower County and wonders why the same measures cannot be utilized in
Greenville?

"What we need to do is quit skirting the issue, and begin to do something
about the problem," Haynes said.

Because if law enforcement does not begin to show some semblance of a
response, the criminal element will continue to conduct business as usual.

In the long run, who will suffer?