JACKSON COMMITTEE OKS CRACKHOUSE DEMOLITION PLAN

An ordinance creating steps for the city of Jackson to tear down
suspected drug houses passed a key committee vote today, but some on
the council wondered whether the process is worth it.

The procedures in the proposed ordinance are mirrored in a 2008 law
giving cities the power to tear down vacant houses used for drug
activity, but leaves the decision up to a circuit judge. That's a
higher legal burden than the city's normal procedures for tearing
down blighted buildings, a fact that had some on the council concerned.

"I don't see a whole lot of help here," said Council President Frank
Bluntson. "It's still going to be left up to the courts."

The ordinance is a version of a proposal first authored by Ward 3
Councilman Kenneth Stokes in 2006 following a warrantless raid on a
suspected drug house led by then-Mayor Frank Melton. Melton would
spend the rest of his life (he died in office a year ago) fighting
legal charges stemming from that raid.

Stokes said the ordinance, which still needs approval by the full
council, is a start, and said the city needs to lobby the Legislature
for more authority to move on suspected drug dens, including occupied houses.

Deputy City Attorney James Anderson said the state and city are bound
by the U.S. Constitution, which restricts the power of government to
seize individual property.

"There is a limit to what government can do," he said.

The ordinance is based on a law passed in 2008 allowing cities to
seize and destroy unoccupied houses where there is evidence they are
being used to sell or use illegal drugs.

Under the ordinance, the Jackson Police Department is charged with
collecting evidence against a drug house, or a majority of residents
living within 400 feet of the house can petition the city to move on
a house suspected of being used for drugs.

Notice is then given to the property owner, either through the mail
or through a legal ad placed by the city in a local newspaper. The
council then has a public hearing on the house within 30-90 days and
a vote to declare the house a nuisance.

After that, the case is filed in Circuit Court with the property
owner and anyone else with a lien or interest in the house listed as
a defendant. A final determination on the house is made in a hearing
by a circuit judge.

"If any of these steps are missed, the process is flawed and has to
start over," said Deputy City Attorney Monica Joiner.