TWO DRUG HOUSES KNOCKED DOWN IN HAINES CITY

Police Say Removing the Buildings Will Make It Easier to Stop Local
Drug Sales

HAINES CITY - A small crowd gathered to watch the front-end loader
smash through what was the house at 1102 Ave. G early Friday morning.

The house and the rooming house at 1607 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way
were seized by the city and ordered to be demolished.

Police have made numerous arrests for drug-related and other criminal
activity at both buildings in the past several years.

Police Chief Morris West said he was glad to see the buildings
go.

"It's been a long time in coming," West said. "That house has been a
problem for 20 of my 22 years here.

"This is going to help us open up this whole area here," he said. "We
are going to clear it off and use it as a staging area for officers
who are patrolling in this zone. They will be able to see everything
that is going on from this corner here.

"The one thing we won't see anymore is the drug deals that used to
take place here," West said.

The city paid $8,500 to King Trucking of Haines City to knock down the
two buildings that were owned by Patricia Anthony.

Michael King, owner of the company and the man operating the front end
loader, had most of the two buildings knocked down by 10 a.m.

The heavy metal bucket whacked away at the wooden frame buildings
effortlessly, taking out entire sections of walls.

King also used the bucket to pull up the chain link fence that had
surrounded the buildings.

Kelly Callihan, the city's parks and recreation director, said it
would take about three days to haul away all the debris and clear off
the lot.

Police Sgt. Mervin Stewart, who heads up the department's Street
Crimes Unit, said in the past year his unit had served three search
warrants at the house at 1102 Ave. G and had arrested 16 people.

"Prior to me taking over the unit, Lt. (Michael) Green had served
three or four search warrants on these buildings, and each time they
served one, they got six or seven arrests out of it," Stewart said.

"I'm excited to see them go down," he said. "It is going to reduce the
number of drug sales on this corner to almost nothing."

Alvin Jackson, a lifelong resident of the Northeast neighborhood where
the known drug house and rooming house were located, said he
understood why the city was tearing the buildings down.

He hoped it would improve the neighborhood.

"I used to play in that house as a kid," Jackson, 66, said. "All this
around here used to be houses and we'd run all up and through here.

"I think it's a wonderful thing," Jackson said of Friday's demolition.
"I think it will help the area."

West, who got behind the wheel of the demolition equipment for a
minute, said he hopes the destruction of the two houses will serve as
a warning to other residents who allow illegal activity at their houses.

"We're not playing," he said. "If they are selling drugs out of their
houses or letting them be sold, we are going to arrest them and then
we are going to take their house.

"We have a zero tolerance policy on this," he said.

The city has already seized three other houses due to excessive
illegal activity. Two of the houses burned to the ground before they
could be demolished.

City commissioners have said repeatedly in commission meetings that
they whole-heartedly support the seizing and demolition of drug houses.

City Manager Ann Toney-Deal was on hand to watch the buildings torn
down Friday morning.

She passed on her chance to get behind the wheel of the front-end
loader.