NEIGHBORHOOD GROUPS FIGHT FOR COMMUNITIES; DRUGS DRIVEN OUT OF ELOISE,
OFFICIALS SAY; FIGHTING DRUGS by ERIC PERA The Ledger
Copyright (c) 1997, Lakeland Ledger Publishing Corporation

They meet over potluck meals of potato salad and fried
chicken to formulate strategy.

They walk their streets at night, armed only with
flashlights, to thwart the virulent streetlevel
entrepreneurs. They risk injury from rockandbottle
assaults by videotaping customers who use their
neighborhoods as a 24hour drivein for illegal drugs.

In frustration, they view themselves as civilian police.

And they make a difference.

Many of the 21 neighborhood associations in Polk exist
primarily to combat drugs with awareness, afterschool
alternatives for children and better cooperation with
police.

An association of residents that aligned with a
community police unit two years ago proved anathema to the
open drug trade in Eloise, long considered one of Polk's
mostactive outposts for obtaining crack, marijuana and
methamphetamine.

The association fostered trust between residents and
police. In turn, residents cooperated with drug
investigations, which led to more arrests, police said.

Last year, agents raided an Eloise house and three
mobile homes, seizing 12 pounds of methamphetamine worth as
much as $ 1 million, and about $ 750,000 in cash a
record meth bust in Polk. Six people were arrested. Four
are serving time in federal prisons; two are on probation.

Sheriff's officials say street buys are practically
nonexistent now in Eloise.

"This has probably been the biggest turnaround that
Eloise has had," said Johnny Brooks, president of the
4yearold Eloise Neighborhood Association."Four years ago
there was open selling in the streets, big time."

Across the nation, community associations are
proliferating to bolster society's institutions police,
schools and churches.

The impetus, said David Hawkins, director of Social
Development Research Group at the University of Washington:
People realize that institutions no longer can be expected
to cure America's ills.

People have to get involved.

Communitybased police units, for example, are effective
because they foster a moretrusting relationship between
residents and law enforcement, Hawkins said. That formula
is critical to a healthier community. "It's more likely to
affect behavior and shape behavior without ever having to
arrest anybody," he said.

Polk has 21 neighborhood associations registered with
the county's division of housing and community development.
The division does not keep track of membership numbers.

Increasingly, such associations are springing up in
defiance of open drug activity, especially in Bradley
Junction, Davenport, Eloise, Florence Villa, Highland Park
Manor and Waverly.

Highland Park Manor members, aligned with Polk sheriff's
community deputies, developed enough muscle to receive a $
265,000 Community Development Block Grant that will be used
to build a daycare center. Construction is scheduled to
begin in October. In February, the state Department of
Juvenile Justice awarded a $ 65,000 grant so the
association can start an afterschool program.

The grants prove there's strength in numbers a
defense in the war on drugs, said Paula Allen, executive
director of the Central Florida Resource Conservation and
Development Council in Lake Wales. Allen provided technical
assistance in writing the grants and making formal
presentations. "This is the way it can be done," she said.
"And it takes time."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture budgets $ 100,000 a
year for the 2yearold council, which originally was
intended to help the poor obtain affordable housing.

But within eight months, the council's two staff members
and four volunteers who cover nine counties broadened
the scope to focus on combatting crime and drugs.

Crucial to that end is empowering residents with
information and resources, and enticing them to interact,
especially with law enforcement, Allen said. "We're trying
to bring them out of their houses, to meet neighbors."

The formula has decreased calls to the Sheriff's Office
from Highland Park Manor from 115 in 1994 to 70 in 1996,
said Sgt. Thomas Porter.

Highland Park Manor "at one time was the cartheft
capital of Polk County," said Mary Campbell, one of two
community deputies that divide time between that community
near Lake Wales and Babson Park. Kids were stealing to buy
drugs, she said. "A lot of those kids are behind bars."

Community associations inspire a village mentality,
Campbell said, motivating "parents to become responsible
and accountable for their children."

Nearly 4,000 such groups nationwide deal specifically
with curbing substance abuse, according to the Community
AntiDrug Coalitions of America.

The notforprofit group in

Alexandria, Va., boasts 3,700 member organizations that
receive program ideas and technical assistance for
networking school, church, police and

local government.

The coalition has 60 groups in Florida, including Tampa,
St. Petersburg and Orlando. None are in Polk.

Members push for teen curfews, afterschool computer
clubs and graffiti eradication to reduce drug abuse and
related crime. Since the coalition formed in 1992, two
members have demonstrated profound success, said Jim
Copple, coalition president.

A curfew in Wichita, Kan., reduced juvenile crime by 65
percent.

A coalition program called Safe Streets helped reduce
annual 911 calls in Tacoma, Wash., from 43,000 to 22,000
between 1992 and 1993.

Many of those emergency calls were related to crime,
which has decreased because of the Safe Street program,
Copple said.

"There's a proliferation of these groups, largely
citizen

driven, and they are doing some amazing work," said
Copple, who faults the media and politicians for shrinking
from their responsibility to focus attention on the
nation's drug problems.

That neglect, he said, is responsible for an increase in
substance abuse in the last four years.

Said Copple: "The drug issue, as a national issue, has
fallen off the radar screen." Several agencies in Polk
County can help residents who want to organize to fight
drugs. The agencies, which will provide information on
everything from combating crime to grant research, include:

Polk Housing and Community

Development: Louis Burgess,

5344360.

Central Florida Resource Con

servation and Development Council: Paula Allen,
executive director, 6780523.

Polk County Sheriff's Office,

community services section: Sgt. Linda Johnson,
5340980.