CONCERN ABOUT DRUG ACTIVITY LED TO ASSAULT

Victim Asked Dealers To Move On

South Bend-- His roommate says it wasn't the first time Dale M. Robakowski
confronted someone about selling drugs in the neighborhood, but this time it
ended badly.

Robakowski, 45, of the 1200 block of McCartney Street, was struck by a
speeding car Friday evening just outside his home after he had asked the
driver not to conduct his business there, according to witnesses.

Police said that after hitting Robakowski, the driver stopped, backed the
car up, and struck him again before driving off south on Portage. He was
taken to Saint Joseph's Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

"What we gather right now, the victim didn't want him selling drugs in the
neighborhood and confronted him about that," investigator Chares Stokes of
the St. Joseph County Special Crimes Unit said. "A lot of people overheard
the argument"

Stokes said police have identified a suspect, but no arrests had been made
by late Tuesday.

Robakowski's roommate, Tim Weaver, 35, said Robakowski had approached
dealers a number of times before, asking them not to sell drugs in his
neighborhood.

In fact, Weaver said Robakowski asked him to move in with him just under a
year ago in part to help him keep drug dealers off McCartney Street.

"We've been weeding it out a little bit at a time, " he said. "We don't
want no drug dealers around here..... We tell them, 'There ain't no business
for you here' "

But this is the first time their assertive approach has had such tragic
results.

Weaver said Robakowski's injuries are extensive, including a fractured
spine, a punctured lung and a broken pelvic bone. Weaver added that
Robakowski has had heart problems in the past.

"He's not in good shape at all," Weaver said.

A nearby resident, who asked not to be identified, said that drug activity
is a constant problem in the neighborhood and expressed frustration that
little seems to be done about it.

The resident claimed to have provided police within days prior to the
assault with a list of several vehicles spotted in the area believed to be
involved in drug activity.

The list was said to have included a license plate number and a description
of the vehicle which hit Robakowski.

Stokes said he was aware of the purported list of suspicious vehicles, but
"nobody knows what happened to that."

Bill Borders, president of the Keller Park Neighborhood Association, which
includes the homes on McCartney Street and abut 500 homes in the vicinity of
Keller Park, said the police have been helpful in trying to keep drug
dealers out.

"But it's like everything else," Borders said. "You can only do so much."

What the association has done is try to clean things up, participate in
Neighborhood Watch programs, and keep an eye on houses suspected of being
involved in drug activity, Borders said.

But he added that the area around Robakowski's home is especially
problematic because of its proximity to a street that is heavy with traffic.

"That's right next to Portage and you just can't control everything," he
said.

As for Weaver, he said he will continue to take a confrontational approach
in trying to control what happens on his street.

If anything, he said, what happened to his roommate has only made him more
emboldened.

"I can look down the street right now and see dope fiends," he said. "This
is the rotten apple of society. These are the degenerates of the world. It
makes me sick. Don't, get me wrong, I ain't no saint. I like to party, but
I don't go around selling crack cocaine."