RESIDENTS TAKE MATTERS INTO OWN HANDS

When Oglesby resident Judy Pearson lost her 15-year-old grandson, Justin
Eklund, to a heroin overdose in May 2004 she knew it was time to fight back.

Pearson, whom Justin affectionately called "Grandma Tootie," now
occasionally walks the streets and alleys of her 3,600-person city, writing
down the license plate numbers of any vehicles near what she and police
perceive to be a drug house.

"Police can't be everywhere so you need to have a good neighborhood watch,"
she said. "I just want to get rid of drug dealers in my town."

Grandma Tootie is not alone in her effort.

Ottawa Mayor Bob Eschback in September 2004 called together leaders from
Ottawa Police Department, Community Hospital of Ottawa, local school
districts, and others after several parents complained to him about the
city's illegal drug problem, specifically heroin.

The group of local leaders and residents held monthly meetings to discuss
what could be done, but they realized they lacked guidance.

On Jan. 10, they found a plan at the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of
America's meeting in Washington D.C.

Afterwards, the Illinois Valley Anti-Drug Coalition was born in Ottawa.

"The parents felt like they were all alone, they couldn't believe their
kids were using heroin and they didn't know what to do about it," said
IVADC director Jeff Nugent. "Now we have a big umbrella group to get
everybody on the same page so we're not duplicating our efforts."

The coalition works to get children talking to parents about the illegal
drug problems they either have or see in and out of school, get residents
involved in community watch programs, hold drug awareness seminars, and
discover new ways to battle the illegal drug problem in Ottawa.

"I wasn't willing to sit back and say my kid won't do drugs," Nugent said.
"Heroin has no distinction. Straight-A students or bottom-of-the-barrel
students use it. It doesn't matter, and that's the frustraing part."

Most of the coalition's efforts have come int he form of raising awareness,
they have scored at least one victory, according to Ottawa police, who have
attributed at least one arrest to the coalition.

But Nugent said the coalition would likely need two to three years before
it makes any significant gains in its war with heroin and other illegal drugs.

"People can't sit back and think this will go away," he said. "They have to
get involved, not necessarily with the organization but with their children
at home."

A similar anti-drug coalition is in its infant stages of development in La
Salle, Peru, Oglesby and Utica.

IVCH and La Salle-Peru Township High School officials are organizing the
Illinois Valley Communities Against Substance Abuse.

The group hopes to coordinate awareness efforts and organize neighborhood
watch programs.

Tracie Mazzorana, unofficial lead organizer of the group, said IVCASA
members are aware of how a coalition launched in Spring Valley fizzled out
earlier this year, and will take steps to prevent that from happening again.

"We want to create something that will last and be helpful to the community
for a long time," she said. "The drug problem isn't going to go away
anytime soon."

Mazzorana said she wasn't sure if illegal drugs could be extinguised from
the Illinois Valley through anti-drug coalitions.

"If we can, it's going to take the whole community to do it," she said.
"But even if it can't be stopped, do people have to tolerate drugs in their
neighborhood?"

A Roadmap For Success

The last time a community in the Illinois Valley fought heroin was in 2003
after Spring Valley police noticed many people were carrying small amounts
of the drug when police stopped them for minor traffic violations.

As months passed and heroin arrests grew, Spring Valley city alderman Jim
"Uda" Taliano organized a community meeting to discuss the problem. From
that meeting the Spring Valley-based Illinois Valley Community Action
Coalition was formed.

The coalition enlisted the expertise of community groups all focused on
informing Spring Valley residents of the heroin problem and then working
for a solution.

Its promising beginnings were full of increasing volunteerism and
"let's-get-em" attitude.

Spring Valley police chief Doug Bernabei said they enjoyed many early
victories.

"You would have tot have your head in the sand to not know heroin was a
problem in Spring Valley," he said. "We put the drug problem on Page One,
the community got involved, and it led to many arrests. It got to the point
where drug dealers and users simply moved to other places in the Illinois
Valley."

The coalition's quick success and expansion into Oglesby, La Salle, Peru
and Utica most likely led to its quick decline thorughout most of 2004
until it officially disbanded in January.

"I think we got too big too quick and people are so busy with other things
that no one had time anymore," Bernabei said. "Another theory is that they
also started seeing such significant success from law enforcement here in
Spring Valley that they felt they had addressed the problem."

Yet, while this coalition was active, eight of the 13 heroin-related drug
overdose deaths in the Illinois Valley took place within the Spring
Valley-based coalition's jurisdiction after it expanded.

The recent heroin-related drug overdose deaths of a 17-year-old Amanda
Puyear and 46-year-old Joyce G. Bretag took place after the coalition was
disbanded. The other three were Ottawa residents.

Spring Valley resident Marsha Pikula, who was married to Rene Valdez, a
Spring Valley man who died of a heroin overdose in 2003, said based on
word-of-mouth and what she and Rene's children, Angel Valdez, 19, and
Steven Valdez, 17, tell her, many people are still using heroin in Spring
Valley.

Pikula said there needs to be a forum for children to talk among themselves
about the heroin they see and hear about in local schools and discuss ways
to combat the problem.

"If people get tough and police get tough then we can kick these drugs
out," she said. "They're still here in Spring Valley, I just don't think
the police are equipped enough to do anything about it."

When Bernabei looks at Spring Valley he knows the heroin problem has only
been contained. He's not naive enough to think it could ever be solved. As
soon as a suspected drug house is discovered it becomes top priority,
Bernabei said.

"It's not nearly the problem it was before because drug dealers and users
knew we were close to kicking down their door with a search warrant," he
said. "The problem is that it is a regional concern. All those people did
was move to other places in the Illinois Valley."

Heroin addiction is a patient and resourceful illness. The city of Spring
Valley on the western edge of Bureau County answered heroin's challenge and
scored dozens of victories. Now, the cities and villages east of the small
city must learn how to deal with this deadly foe.

'Not On Our Watch'

In Biblical times, Jerusalem's walls were in disrepair and the gates had
been destroyed by fire. A man named Nehemiah led an effort to repair the
walls, but Jerusalem's enemies began a plot to infiltrate the workers and
kill them.

In response, Nehemiah and the Jews prayed and posted a guard day and night
to meet the threat. In the end, by God's grace, they were victorious.

Today's version of Nehemiah's effort lies within an Ottawa Christian group
called "posted" - a growing non-profit organization made of 400 volunteers,
mostly from the faith community, who are ready to defend Ottawa from the
growing heroin threat in the Illinois Valley.

The group is an arm of the Illinois Valley Anti-Drug Coalition based in
Ottawa, working in tandem with everyone from Ottawa law enforcement
officials to Christian and secular youth groups.

"I want there to be one day when drug dealers say I'll go anywhere but
Ottawa," said Pastor Brian Wangler of First Church of the Nazarene in
Ottawa, who founded posted on May 4.

A church's role in the community is typically one of solace. But when God's
bugle sounds for his Christian soldiers to take up arms and mobilize for
war, do not underestimate their obedience.

"There needs to be some kind of militantness against the harm that
threatens the city and our children," said Pastor John Nordstrom of Christ
Community Church of Ottawa. "It disrespects the people who have died if we
don't get firm in our message."

That message is threefold.

The first message is directed to members of the faith throughout the
Illinois Valley to "get their heads out of the sand," Wangler said.

"People are dying," he said. "I'm not going to wait for a drug dealer to
knock on my door and introduce drugs to my daughter. I'm going to go out
and get them first."

The second message is to those in the Illinois Valley who already are
engaged in the war on illegal drugs. Wangler said posted wants them to know
their members - those Christian soldiers who wear red bracelets as prayer
reminders, banded together under their faith in God and the rally cry "not
on our watch" - are ready to fight alongside them.

"As people of faith, this is where we've been posted by God to fight this
battle," Wangler said. "We are as determined to bring healing as we are to
put drug dealers in jail." The third message is to the drug dealers in the
area.

"We care about you. We want to help you. However, we will pray you clean or
we will pray you arrested, convicted and jailed," Wangler said.

So far, it's worked.

Ottawa police have credited posted members withhelping in several
drug-related arrests.

And people, Christian or not, have overloaded posted officials, offering to
volunteer or donate cash.

One donor was a 15-year-old Ottawa girl who has friends who are addicted to
illegal drugs. She saved nearly $500 in baby-sitting jobs and gave it to
posted for more seminars and to help fund the organization. So far, posted
has raised more than $3,000 and donations continue.

The future of posted is unclear, Wangler says. Perhaps it will spread to
other cities in the Illinois Valley, but for now, they are concentrating on
getting it correct in Ottawa first.

"Heroin is not a small problem, so by all means, if anyone wants
information on what we're doing, we can talk," he said.

There may be no thunderbolt of wisdom that can explain why an addict is an
addict, or why heroin has infected the people living in the Illinois
Valley. But there is one prevailing idea shared among those most concerned
- - this scourge must stop now.

"If we don't, more will die. It's as simple as that," Wangler said.