DRUG CRACKDOWNS STING STORE OWNERS

Some vendors feel they are made scapegoats

RALEIGH -- Joe Jabir stopped selling the short plastic tubes some customers
used as crack pipes. He also stopped stocking, at the request of Alcohol
Law Enforcement agents, the small plastic bags favored by drug dealers.

After a year of scrutiny from ALE agents, Jabir and other convenience-store
owners in Southeast Raleigh remain targets for neighborhood critics. The
drug dealers and drunks seeking malt liquor and fortified wine outnumber
the customers shopping for milk and diapers at these corner stores, critics
say.

After complaints from some community activists reached the General
Assembly, ALE assigned an agent to work solely in Raleigh's redevelopment
area, which stretches from Blount and Hoke streets to New Bern Avenue. A
year has passed since ALE began staging sting operations in and around some
of the 40 businesses licensed to sell beer and wine in the redevelopment area.

With the cooperation of Raleigh police and Wake County Alcohol Beverage
Control, ALE agents have arrested 130 people on a variety of alcohol- and
drug-related charges during the past 12 months.

Jabir applauds the efforts but said he is tired of store owners being
scapegoats for a community problem. " First of all, the store is not
causing the problems," Jabir said Friday morning, watching a delivery man
unload a truckload of soft drinks for his Bragg Street store. "We don't
like to see the hanging-around outside, the selling of alcohol to minors,
because we're the ones who lose our licenses, our permits."

Most ALE agents cover several counties and may be responsible for as many
as 225 alcohol-selling establishments. Since December 1998, Agent Ken Pike
- -- before his transfer to a supervisory position -- and Agent John Adorjan
have worked exclusively in Southeast Raleigh.

At least in terms of arrests and alcohol-license violations, the smaller
caseload has paid off for them.

"I don't want to say the traditional mode didn't work, but this way sure
works a lot better," Adorjan said.

At the first "Cops in Shops" sting operation in March, undercover agents
and Raleigh police officers posing as store clerks and customers arrested
76 people. Of the 103 criminal charges filed, 22 were felony drug charges.

"The drug activity was so rampant that our agents could barely get out of
their car before they were approached by several people selling crack,"
Pike said.

The ABC Commission has stripped the ABC permits of three Southeast Raleigh
stores since last January.

At one of them -- Watson's Mini Mart at 402 E. Bragg St. -- owner William
Watson was charged with selling crack cocaine inside his store, according
to ALE records.

The arrests have cast a much-needed spotlight on the "economic violence"
created by some convenience stores, said Octavia Rainey, chairwoman of the
North Central Citizens Advisory Council.

"ALE has created more awareness of everything that the inner-city
neighborhoods have been saying about these stores," she said. "ALE has
proved it, what we have been living through."

Employees of Wee Bob Mini Mart at 810 Rock Quarry Road used to stock rocks
of crack cocaine on the grocery shelf in front of the cash register, ALE
records show.

When undercover agents went in to the store July 15 to buy crack from an
employee, according to the ALE report, a store clerk had to tell the huddle
of people there to buy drugs he would get to them one at a time.

Four Wee Bob employees were arrested on drug charges, and the store's ABC
permit was suspended for 80 days.

Ouida Exum, co-owner of the store, said she had noticed crowds of people
hanging out in her store and had reported to police her suspicions that
some of her employees were involved in drugs.

"It was very difficult, very devastating," she said about the 80-day permit
suspension. "But I can't say in all fairness they were unfair to us."

Other stores got in trouble for selling stolen property, usually cartons of
cigarettes and stereo equipment.

The Quick Stop at 1130 Garner Road lost its ABC license in July after
undercover agents arranged to sell the owner 15 stolen cases of Enfamil
infant formula.

During that undercover operation, part of a larger investigation by the
Raleigh Police Department, 13 stores within the redevelopment area
knowingly bought stolen goods.

Raleigh Police Capt. Mike Longmire said that even the stores that did not
accept stolen goods share some blame.

"I don't buy into the excuses of the store owners who want to pass the
blame," he said. "All I can say is, in those cases where store owners did
not purchase stolen property from us, none of them called 911 as a good
citizen to report it."

ALE agents say that progress has been made in their cleanup effort. They
point to the percentage of stores in Southeast Raleigh cited for selling
alcohol to minors.

Only four stores, or 16 percent of the stores targeted in an undercover
operation, sold alcohol to a minor. Statewide, according to ALE, the
percentage of stores caught selling to minors was 26 percent.

Recent sting operations have netted far fewer arrests. Last month, 28
people were arrested on a variety of drug and alcohol charges.

On Jan. 25, convenience store owners will meet with Rainey and other
neighborhood residents, the second meeting organized by ALE.

Resentment on both sides remains, however. At the first meeting, in
November, several store owners said that parts of the black communities
they serve are prejudiced against store owners who immigrated from the
Middle East.

"There are people in the community who think we are a bunch of dumb
foreigners," Jabir said Friday. "I cannot stand it. But I also have
neighbors who are excellent to us. I have over 200 signatures from the
neighborhood saying they need me to stay here."

Another sore point for some store owners is a state law passed last year
that gives the Alcoholic Beverage Commission the authority to suspend or
revoke the ABC permits of stores where alcohol accounts for more than half
of the stores' total sales.

James Nwizu, the owner of Sahara Mini Mart on South State Street, said he
can't wait until a store owner is cited for violating the 50 percent law.

"They can make laws, but it's another thing for people to challenge the
law," said Nwizu, who had his ABC permit suspended for five days in May
after a store employee was arrested for selling two $10 bags of marijuana
to undercover agents.

"Why are you going to punish somebody for selling legal items?" Nwizu
asked. "It's not against the law to sell malt liquor. That [50 percent] law
is going to be challenged."

What remains undetermined is how long ALE will continue devoting an agent
to the city's redevelopment area.

Although the sting operations have caught everyone's attention, Rainey said
that to follow through, the ABC Commission could be doing more.

"When they fine someone $1,200 and suspend their license five days, to me,
that's a smack on the hand. When you give them a three-month suspension,
they know they can't sell beer and wine and can't make a profit," she said.
"Then they take it seriously."