PERILS OF THE PARK. . .

Beulah in the Pines mobile home park may not be a southern slice of heaven,
but for 45 families, it's home. For Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell,
though, the park looks more like home to the illegal drug trade in the tiny
town of Micro. Bizzell is right to want the park cleared of criminals, but
he would be wrong to catch law-abiding residents in that dragnet.

Clearly something had to change after two people were killed at the park
within 24 hours of each other a couple of weeks ago. Since then, the
sheriff has been sending deputies there almost every day to serve arrest
warrants for drug violations -- and well he should. But Bizzell also told
The N&O last week that if he can't clean up the park, he'll use the laws
against public nuisances to close it.

Making good on his threat would be grossly unfair to residents whose only
crime was to seek bargain housing. Often, a bargain is the only option for
the disabled, the unemployed and the single mothers who live in Beulah in
the Pines. Most of them own their mobile homes and pay rent as low as $105
a month for their lots. Few other parks would allow the older trailers to
be moved in, even if they could withstand the wear and tear of moving.

A more compassionate solution would be for Bizzell to redouble his efforts
to make the park safe for residents. Perhaps a mini-substation could be
established from which deputies could keep an eye on the park. Then closing
it probably would be unnecessary.

The good news from Micro is that Bizzell's deputies and the park owner have
begun working together to expel drug dealers and other scoundrels. Lights,
speed bumps and no-trespassing signs won't erase the tragedies of two lives
already lost, but stopping the damage from spreading to other lives is well
worth doing in any case.