MONEY TO DRUGS TO SEX - PROSTITUTION ON THE RISE

Sex Trade Plays A Part In Vicious Cycle Of Urban Blight

Editor's Note: Aliases have been used to protect the identity of some sources.

SALISBURY -- In the middle of the humid July heat, Shelly Johnson sat
down to the first full meal she's had in weeks wearing a long-sleeved
hooded sweatshirt, which was far too big, and baggy blue jeans that
had seen better days.

ADVERTISEMENT These were the only clothes she had left, and in the
past six months, her clothes had been stolen six times.

Prostitution has placed Johnson in situations that TV dramatizes and
normal people cast aside as unbelievable. But on Wednesday, Johnson
started her confession.

"Last night, I was on the railroad tracks sleeping. All I wanted was
something to eat. I made $10," Johnson said, almost whimpering and
ignoring direct eye contact and speaking under a fake name. "I got
something to eat and a place to sleep. I drink too. It kills the
pain. I hated myself last night."

A new kind of triangle trade is infecting city streets.

In the 18th century, rum to molasses to slaves left scars this
country is still healing from. Now, any day on Church Street and the
surrounding neighborhood, money to drugs to sex, is creating chaos in
the hub of Delmarva.

Prostitution used to be a low-profile crime affecting only a handful
of participants, but the sex trade has entered the spotlight in a
city trying to combat urban blight and curb violent activity.

In the past seven years -- the only data available -- the number of
prostitution arrests has increased six-fold, and this year, the
police are on track to exceed last year's total.

For as little as $10 to $20, men can get some Salisbury hookers to do
anything they want. Some even accept a mere hit of crack cocaine or a
few ounces of heroin for their services.

"She may be dumb as a post and ugly, but there's always a man willing
to buy her body," said Donna Clark, a nurse with Salisbury Urban
Ministries on Church Street. "She has no teeth, she is flaked out on
crack, but she can still sell herself."

Where substance abuse and addiction are prevalent, survival is not
far behind. For many, prostitution wasn't the career choice they
chose -- it's the option that's left.

"Obviously prostitution continues to be a stigmatized operation, so
when women are in it, one has to look hard at why they're there, and
what their options are," said Anita Clair Fellman, Chair of Women's
Studies at Old Dominion University in Norfolk.

Blame the environment in which they grew up, a poor education,
expensive housing, avoiding responsibility or the physical ailments
that prevent them from a normal job.

Just don't say they're worthless. Nearly a dozen local agencies and
organizations haven't given up hope.Condoms and hugs

Most people can find several reasons to live. Shelly Johnson only
acknowledges one.

"I've done a lot of bad things in my life. I don't need God hating me, too."

Her husband committed suicide years ago.

It was shortly after he beat her with a rock. He knocked out eight of
her teeth, broke her jaw in three places and left her to die in a
ditch, she said. At least he was kind enough to leave a note on her
body telling the police who should take custody of their children.

"I've always been on the bottom. I can get from my feet to my knees,
but I can't get above that. How do I get above that?" she said. "I
guess I hate myself so much that I don't care anymore."

Johnson may say she doesn't care, but she does.

In fact, she has many talents. She can hang dry wall, paint walls or
even be a seamstress. She also was a caregiver to some elderly
clients from time to time. Her past, bureaucracy and her
grandmotherly age, however, catches up with her.

"Let's say I get a job. I have no ID. It takes 10 weeks to get the
ID. Then it gets stolen," she said. "I have so many barriers to jump
over. I have three (bad) discs in my back. My bladder's falling down
on me. I want to punch somebody some days. You just feel like getting
in the middle of a room and shouting."

When she's not rummaging through Salisbury for food, shelter and the
occasional hook, she offers the only thing she can give: Condoms and hugs.

"Girls just want me to hold them like a mom does and comfort them ...
When I have extra money, I buy condoms for them, too."

Her kindness, however, has backfired at times. While she gains
acceptance within multiple street gangs and factions, the police have
seen her as a valuable resource and stopped her as many as nine times
in a single night.

Johnson understands they're doing their jobs, but she feels they're
going after the wrong people.

"The little people are just trying to survive," she said.Major effort
for misdemeanors

The Salisbury Police Department has mounted a large effort to
decrease prostitution across the city in the past three weeks,
nabbing a dozen suspects through the use of undercover officers and
surveillance.

The effort targeted not only prostitutes, but the "johns," or
customers, who frequent them.

"If I didn't have johns, I wouldn't have the prostitutes," Salisbury
Police Chief Allan Webster said. "These people who solicit these
girls, you're playing Russian roulette -- you could get robbed, you
could get some disease. Why would someone jeopardize their own life
or the life of their family when they got back home?"

Much of the problem is concentrated around the Church Street
neighborhood near routes 50 and Business 13. According to an analysis
by The Daily Times, four out of every five prostitution arrests since
1999 happen there, and it's getting worse.

"During the months of June and July 2006, officers of the Salisbury
Police Department observed an increase in prostitution related
activity in several neighborhoods of the city ... in the Church
Street/Railroad Avenue area and the Smith Street/Newton Street area,"
according to a news release.

There is no tally or even an estimate as to the numbers of
prostitutes working in Salisbury, but they're usually from Delmarva.
Even when they're placed in jail, it's never for long because the
crime doesn't carry a felony penalty.

Webster said his department is dedicated to ridding prostitution from
city streets, and he hopes they seek treatment and rehabilitation.
But he admits, drug addiction is a serious problem that the police
department cannot handle on its own.

"Crack is a very addictive drug. The high doesn't last that long.
It's so addictive, that once you come down, you need money to buy
that drug," he said. "Incarceration will keep them off the street,
but if you don't cure the addiction, they're going to be right back
out there again."Sex for drugs

Crack and heroin are so manipulative that they change the way the
mind works. Even after someone stops using crack, it doesn't leave.

"They're still fighting an addiction problem because the residue
sticks in the brain for a year and short circuits the
neurotransmitters," said Susi Powell-Todd, director of The Village of
Hope that helps women with rehabilitation and housing. "The first
time you're on crack, you think you're omnipotent. There's nothing
you can't do."

Powell-Todd, who was once addicted herself, said users chase this
first high, but it's never as good again, no matter how much they
use. Those addicted keep trying and they'll do anything to get it.

Powell-Todd said that despite the "coldness" involved, it was the
easiest way for these girls to get their fix.

"You're laying down in this man's arms. This man lays down on top of
you. You don't really know him from Adam, but you're laying down with
this person, and he has his way with you. You do it because you want
that $20 piece (of drugs) and you have to do whatever he wants to get it."

These narcotics are addictive to the point that 90 percent of people
fail to kick the drug the first time because they relapse.

Many people work against the users -- especially the dealers who will
give free hits so they don't lose customers. Many of the pimps or
boy-friends will also encourage use so they can keep control.

"Unless that person is very committed, it's hard to get them to come
around," she said. "It's particularly difficult if they've crossed
that line into prostitution because of the fact that when they cross
that line, it really does a number on them."

But this doesn't stop Powell-Todd from making regular drives through
the Church Street neighborhood. She wants to serve as a reminder that
she is there, waiting for them, if they decide to quit.Easy money

On Friday nights, it's the same group of old men who prowl the
streets looking for their favorite girl, Clark said.

She is in the center of the situation with office windows that
overlook the daily problems. She used to be able to walk the streets.
She used to be able to talk at length with girls. She even used to
have drug-dealer protection because she helped them with dental work.

All of that has changed now.

"I could befriend the girls, but the pimps didn't like me because I
was asking them to care about themselves and the girls," she said.

She's been far from scared off, but now she drives the streets in her
tan minivan with a bit more caution.

When she makes contact with a prostitute, she tells them to have
hope, and that they're worth something more than what they're doing.

"You're talking to someone who has no self-esteem. Most of them are
broken," Clark said. "They mentally cope by not thinking about what
they do. If they start to think about it, they start to feel bad for
themselves, so they get high and don't think about it anymore."

It takes time for her message to sink in.

But for temporary sanctity from drugs, pimps and violence, some women
walk to the Christian Shelter run by Brother Jim Barnes. The
protection, however, isn't always appreciated.

"One lady stayed with us a couple of weeks. Then the next thing we
know, she's hustling her johns across the street in a burned out
broken down home working during the day," Barnes said. "Often, they
do it because they have nothing else in their lives. They have no
sense that there is something disgusting or degrading in their life."

Barnes said he tells the women about the value of their life and that
God hopes they'll change their lives.

Unfortunately, he said, drugs are in control, and even the tiniest of
amounts will make them happy.

"If they can get $2 together, that's what they want," Barnes said.
"Even 50 cents worth is enough to get you over to the next one."Vicious cycle

Barnes estimates the education of most Salisbury prostitutes to be
minimal, and this lack of knowledge contributes to the recurring
problem in several ways.

Besides not understanding the consequences of their actions, they
don't have the skills for higher-paying jobs. And without the
education, they're a higher risk for employers who might try to train
them, Barnes said.

"Many have very little education, no more than 10th grade," he said.
"If the alternative is taking a job in a chicken factory which is
hard work, 40 hours a week, why would you want to work?"

The problem is compounded by being able to work as a prostitute,
tax-free, for larger sums of money.

It's not as simple as saying, get off the street and get a real job.

"If you're saying get off the street so they can work at McDonald's,
they're getting oil burns, or working in poultry and all of those
factories who have been through many labor issues," Fellman said. "If
you point them off the street to get them into Perdue or Tyson's, is
that an improvement in their lives?"

Fellman doesn't support prostitution, but she doesn't think the women
are evil or there by choice.

"Those vulnerable to prostitution have no other skills or
experience," Fellman said. "The perspective may be less in terms of
moral turpitude .. It's a survival strategy for women who have very
few other options."

The region's current low unemployment rate -- 3.9 percent -- might
also be a contributing problem because more competition exists for
the low-paying jobs.

"People who are skilled are gobbled up, so the lower-skilled
individuals are eventually fighting wherever they can," said Memo
Diriker, a business trend analyst for Salisbury University.

In addition, those who engage in prostitution usually have domestic
factors hindering job performance ranging from substance abuse,
finding child-care and reliable transportation.

"I doubt that this is a choice for a lot of them," he said. "For a
lot of them, it's going to be the sole solution."