PIGTOWN ACTIVISTS SAY POLICE INDIFFERENT TO THREATS

They started out just trying to clean up a community, picking up
trash, fixing broken lights and working with police.

But along the way, activists in South Baltimore's Pigtown neighborhood
managed to anger the area's drug dealers, who've started to threaten
them, the residents say.

"I've had a gun pulled on me three times," said activist Nathan Flynn,
standing in an alley Sunday near his house.

"My tires have been slashed. I don't feel safe to walk alone outside.
My fiancee doesn't feel safe."

Getting backlash from drug dealers is frightening, but what really
irks Flynn and other activists is the court system's lack of response
to those threats.

On Wednesday, Flynn said a known area drug dealer, who had pulled a
gun on him before, threatened to shoot him and kill his dog.

"He said, 'In 30 days, I'm off probation and I'm going to shoot you
and your f--- mutt,' " Flynn said.

Then two other dealers with the man told Flynn they would "piss on his
dead body," the Pigtown resident said.

"This was a specific threat by somebody who has pulled a .38-caliber
on us before," Flynn said.

Upset by the threats, Flynn went to police, who told him because they
did not witness the incident, he would need to go to the court
commissioner's office and swear out charges against the dealer.

But when Flynn and Sebastian Sassi, director of the public safety
subcommittee of the Washington Village/Pigtown Neighborhood Planning
Council, went to the court commissioner, they were turned away, the
men said.

"The woman there told me it's not against the law to threaten a
citizen," Flynn said.

"She said it would be a crime to threaten [Baltimore Mayor] Sheila
Dixon, but not an average law-abiding citizen. ... I was offended.
This is a city where a family was firebombed because they called
police. Haven't we learned anything from that?"

Calls from The Examiner to the court commissioner's office seeking
comment on Friday were not returned. Flynn said he doesn't know the
name of the woman he spoke with there.

Dan Cosgrove, chairman of the WPNPC, said it's frustrating to see a
lack of response to a threat against an activist.

He said Baltimore needs more people like Flynn, who volunteer their
time cleaning up public property that the city has let
deteriorate.

"We're trying to show leadership," he said.

"We've taken a neighborhood plagued by narcotics trafficking and we've
turned it into a pretty decent neighborhood. We're organized and
proactive. .. Pigtown is experiencing a turnaround, a renaissance.
What we don't need is threats of violence."