A GOOD CHOICE

The addition of Aasim Baheyadeen to the Jackson County COMBAT Commission is
good news. Based on his background, he can be a forceful voice in fighting
drug abuse in the Kansas City area.

Baheyadeen's involvement with the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime alone is good
grounding for his new role on behalf of Jackson County taxpayers. Appointed
by County Executive Katheryn Shields, Baheyadeen will fill the unexpired
term of Richard Robinson, Jr.

As part of Ad Hoc, Baheyadeen helped organize marches against drug houses,
especially in the central city. These marches were made up of citizens,
most of them African-Americans, who wanted it known that such illicit
businesses, set up in residential areas, were not welcome.

The marches helped form a link to police and were consistent with what is
now commonly known as community policing. The marches also relieved the
sense of isolation that law-abiding neighbors of drug houses sometimes have.

The best that Baheyadeen has to offer COMBAT is his experience in the
trenches, especially his indefatigable belief in redemption. He knows that
enforcing laws against drugs sometimes isn't enough to stem the tide; drug
awareness and prevention programs help, too. And, as vice chairman of the
board of Move Up, Baheyadeen certainly knows that people can be salvaged
and made useful in the community.

Baheyadeen, like others who have marched against drug houses, has etched
into his memory the sweet faces of small children playing on porches and
oblivious to the criminal adults selling crack and other drugs in their
midst. He knows too many childhoods have been lost too soon.