ACTIVISTS HOPE TAUNTS DRIVE DRUG DEALERS OUT OF ANGLETON

ANGLETON -- For the past few months, a cross section of Angleton's populace
has gathered in front of the homes of drug dealers to make a simple demand:
Stop selling dope or get out of town.

Wearing outfits they call their "drug-fighting uniforms" -- white hard hats
and T-shirts -- they chant a litany of slogans at those the police have
identified as narcotics sellers in this town of 19,000.

Combining elements of a high school pep rally with overtones of a religious
revival, this brand of civil protest is one of the newer wrinkles in the
country's never-ending war on drugs.

Angleton, the 18th city in Texas to organize a local chapter in the Turn
Around America movement, has never seen anything quite like it.

"This is a pretty conservative town," observed City Councilman Patrick Henry
on Thursday night as he rode through town with a group of demonstrators.
"This is a lot of action for Angleton."

On this night, about 30 activists in the Turn Around Angleton program made
the rounds of the local crack houses. The majority traveled through town
while sitting on hay bales on a flatbed trailer.

At each stop, the demonstrators, ranging from elementary-age school children
to gray-haired grandmothers, recited catchy chants aimed at alleged drug
dealers.

Using megaphones, they made enough racket to bring neighbors outside to gawk
while police officers stood nearby to ward off retaliation.

"If you keep selling crack, we will be back!"

"Twiddly dee, twiddly dum, dealing drugs is mighty dumb!"

"We're standing tall and looking good, we're taking back this neighborhood."

At one stop, the group assembled at an apartment complex where police waited
to parade a husband and wife who had been arrested on charges of delivery of
cocaine.

As the two were led to a squad car in handcuffs, the

anti-drug activists surrounded them to cheer the police and jeer the
suspects.

One demonstrator wished a sarcastic "Merry Christmas!" to the suspects while
others chanted, "Stupid, stupid, how does it feel/To be in back of a police
mobile?"

Among the demonstrators pointing and jeering was Dorothy Sebesta, 68, who
said she is thrilled by the sight of two suspected drug dealers being taken
to jail.

"It's exhilaration because they're off the street," she said.

Like most of the other crusaders, Sebesta had never seen crack cocaine or a
marijuana cigarette.

Still, she and other Turn Around Angleton activists are convinced that drugs
pose a serious threat to their town's youth and to the future of the
country.

The strategy behind the Turn Around Angleton campaign is simple: to create
as much attention as possible at the homes of drug dealers to drive away
their customers. In time, the theory goes, the dealers will move out of town
or be forced to sell their wares from their cars, where they are more
vulnerable to police.

Angleton police say a few known drug dealers have left town.

Angleton, the seat of Brazoria County, doesn't have a drug problem any worse
than other small towns, police say, but for those involved with Turn Around
Angleton, any drug dealing is too much.

Among those quick to join the campaign was Melinda Brown, who said her
10-year-old daughter, Tameka, came home last summer to tell her that a boy
in their west Angleton neighborhood offered to sell her some crack cocaine.

"He even showed it to her," said Brown, 35. "I said, `Don't worry, baby, I'm
gonna do something about it.' It has to start with us."

Now Brown marches regularly with the group.

Founded 10 years ago in Philadelphia, Turn Around America employs tactics
that have raised concern among some civil libertarians.

Jay Jacobson, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union
in Texas, is worried about the connection between local police departments
and the people they direct to protest sites.

The possibility for abuse is great, he said.

Texas Attorney General Dan Morales, however, has declared it legal for
police departments to release the names and addresses of known drug dealers
and the locations at which they sell illegal drugs.

Police identify suspected drug dealers to the Turn Around group based on
information received from confidential sources or on the basis of undercover
drug transactions.

Gov. George W. Bush also has endorsed the activities of Turn Around groups.

The organization's tactics vary. Besides public demonstrations, the Turn
Around campaigns write letters urging landlords to evict tenants suspected
of selling drugs.

In some cities, demonstrators have spray-painted "drug dealer" on the street
pavement outside known drug houses. In other towns, activists videotape the
license plates of cars that stop at suspected crack houses.

In Angleton, where the City Council provided $8,000 to get the anti-drug
campaign off the ground, complaints have been aired about the organization
targeting the wrong people. No apologies have been issued, however, and no
one is backing down.

"They'll always tell you you're at the wrong house. That's the first thing
they say," said Mark Dawson, a regional coordinator for Turn Around America
in La Marque who has helped the Angleton campaign.

The police department, with 37 officers, has only one full-time narcotics
officer.

The civilians in Turn Around Angleton serve as an added deterrent to drug
trafficking, police say.

While police say informants keep them apprised of where dope dealing occurs,
making a case that can be prosecuted is still difficult.

"Just because you know where they are, you still have to have probable cause
to get in the house," said Sgt. Katherine Davis. "You have to have
undercover officers and informants."

Since Angleton formed a Turn Around chapter, community leaders in Galveston,
Freeport and Bay City have expressed interest in starting organizations of
their own, Dawson said.

In the Texas City-La Marque area, Dawson credits the organization with
shutting down drug operations at 41 homes during the past three years.

"It's effective because it puts power back in the hands of the people," he
said. "It empowers neighborhoods to be responsible for what happens and it
knocks down racial barriers between minorities and the police department."

Police in Texas City say the demonstrations have been effective.

"It draws attention to (drug dealers') houses. It annoys them to no end
because it runs their customers off," said Capt. Ronald Berg. "No customers,
no money. It doesn't take long for the drug dealers to move out. The police
can't clean up these neighborhoods by themselves."

In Angleton, the demonstrations have elicited a variety of reactions,
ranging from obscene gestures to a woman exposing herself.

Those reactions, though, only encourage the demonstrators, who are awarded
stickers that they place on their hard hats to commemorate practically any
type of response they get.

The hard hat worn by Diane Cross, a 57-year-old Lake Jackson resident, is
covered with stickers, including one that depicts a dog to commemorate the
time she was called a bitch by one unhappy target of the demonstrators.

"It's a merit award, more or less," she said. "It means I have cared enough
to be involved."

More often than not, the neighbors of suspected drug dealers say they
welcome the demonstrations.

"I wish they could be out here every night," said Douglas Anderson, 53, a
truck driver who said drug dealing is flagrant in his west Angleton
neighborhood.

The police in Angleton are under no delusions that drug activity will be
wiped out by the public protests.

Even so, they believe the demonstrations have had an effect.

"The main idea is to pull the community together," said Police Chief David
Ashburn. "I don't think you ever completely stop it, but the drug dealers
are not going to be as open or bold as they once were."

Checked-by: Don Beck