EMBATTLED DRUGGIST GETS GRANT FROM CITY

Money Will Finance Newsletter Internships

New Orleans pharmacist Carlton Charles no longer has his pharmacy, a
license to dispense narcotics or thousands of dollars that prosecutors say
he may have earned selling illegal drugs. But he does have a $5,000 grant,
compliments of the City Council.

Charles, the executive publisher of The Tremé Voice, a neighborhood
newsletter he launched in November, said he asked for $30,000 to support
his publication, but he isn't disappointed he got less.

"I'm thankful for what we got," Charles said Wednesday. "Some people
applied and got nothing."

The $5,000 is part of $850,000 in grants financed with proceeds from the
New Orleans Economic Development Fund. The fund was created in 1991 when
voters approved a small citywide property tax. The council approved the
grants this summer. Each recipient is supposed to provide some sort of
stimulus for the city's economy.

Charles said he plans to employ high school interns with the $5,000 grant.
So far, however, "I haven't received a dime," he said.

Charles' turn as a publisher follows a troubled career as a pharmacist and
years of controversy stemming from his purchase of the Gambino House, a
long-vacant 1850s building at 1418 Esplanade Ave. that was destroyed by
fire weeks after the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority announced it would
force him to sell the crumbling mansion.

Charles has said he had nothing to do with the fire.

Last year, law enforcement authorities arrested Charles with nearly 1,000
tablets of the anxiety drug Xanax. He pleaded guilty to possessing
narcotics with intent to distribute.

In a plea agreement with the U.S. attorney's office, Charles agreed to pay
a $266,398 fine. Then-U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan Jr. described the penalty
as "the best estimate of the amount of money (Charles) may have made from
the illegal sale of prescription drugs." The deal also required Charles to
sell Esplanade Pharmacy and surrender his pharmacist's license for at least
three years.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Al Winters said his office received a check for
$250,000 from Charles weeks after the deal was announced. The rest had been
obtained previously in a seizure connected with the arrest, he said.

The Louisiana Board of Pharmacy suspended Charles' license for five years
instead of three, because Charles had other "pharmacy-law offenses," said
Carlos Finalet III, the board's attorney. In addition, Charles had to pay a
$5,000 fine. Charles automatically will have his license reinstated in 10
years, but he's allowed to apply for reinstatement after five years if he
pays another $5,000, Finalet said.

Charles said this week that his arrest and a history of troubles with the
Gambino House -- including a demolition-by-neglect lawsuit by the city's
Historic District Landmarks Commission in 1993 and the city's repeated
rejecting of his requests to tear down the building -- are in the past.

He said the future is about the work he's doing with the newsletter, which,
according to its inaugural November/December 2000 issue, "was conceived as
a tool to help give expression to the residents and business owners of this
vital community as it slowly begins to rebuild after decades of neglect and
decline."

The newsletter, 2,000 copies of which are published six times a year, is a
vehicle to deliver "good news about our community each and every time the
opportunity presents itself," Charles said. Furthermore, it offers "an
opportunity to blow the horns of the champions of this community as often
as we can."

Treme is a community vibrant with intellectuals, artists and musicians,
Charles said. He described the newsletter as the first of its kind in Treme
and said it is much-needed.

Others agreed.

Lolis Edward Elie, a lawyer and civil rights champion who has lived in
Treme for the past 20 years, welcomes the publication. Elie, who suggested
the newsletter's slogan, "a voice for the voiceless," said he wished every
neighborhood had a newsletter.

Elie represented Charles in connection with the Gambino House.

Marie Marcal, the president of the Esplanade Ridge and Treme Civic
Association, which battled for years to protect the Gambino House from
being destroyed by neglect, also sees the newsletter as a good idea.

Marcal, who emphasized she's speaking as an individual, not as president of
the association, said: "I don't have a problem with it. I don't begrudge
him the $5,000."

Charles, who lives in Gentilly, said he's restoring a Creole cottage in
Treme and is thinking about moving into the historic neighborhood. He said
he has financed The Tremè Voice primarily with his own money but hopes it
will collect enough revenue from advertisers to become self-sufficient.