NEIGHBORS TRY TO RETAKE AREA FROM DRUG DEALERS

Cleveland Avenue Effort Starts With Festivities

Sunny skies provided a bright backdrop yesterday for a neighborhood's
celebration of the New Hope Initiative, a program aimed at reclaiming the
streets of Cleveland Avenue Homes from drug dealers.

The Winston-Salem Police Department, churches and other agencies are
working together to try to stop open-air drug dealing and reduce crime in
the neighborhood.

Community Day drew a crowd of 400 to 500 people. Parents came with babes in
arms. Teenage boys and girls congregated in clumps. Old folks sat in chairs
and basked in the sun. They munched on hot dogs and fried flounder,
hamburgers and chips. They grooved to music, visited with neighbors and
checked out displays set up by government and nonprofit agencies.

Some were residents. Some had once lived there. Some came just to see what
was going on.

Eugene Lyde, 55, has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years.
During the bad times, he always got by because he minded his own business,
he said.

"If you mind your own business, most people will leave you alone." These
days, though, he wants to see his community become drug-free. "I would call
the police," he said.

The rhythmic sounds of the Boss Drummers from the Winston Lake YMCA drew
Mattie Dent and her son, Mark Mickens, out to her porch, where they
listened to the festivities from a distance. "I don't feel up to par
today," said Dent, who clutched her bathrobe against the breeze. She and
Mickens agreed that the initiative was a good thing.

"I think it's beautiful," said Dent, 62. "I like it."

"It's the best thing they can do over here," said Mickens, 42. "There's so
many children here. They have to think about them."

James Perrin, 38, sat on a stoop with a plate of food.

"A lot of things are happening around here," he said. "It's good that
someone is showing love to the community like this." He wants to see drug
dealers kept off the streets so that the children who live there can play
safely. The other day, he heard gunshots as he was coming home from work.
He thought about his son, 6-year-old James.

"It could have been my kid," he said.

Ricky Cunningham, 14, and Michael Massey, 15, added their handprints to a
sheet covered with prints and signatures at a table sponsored by the local
chapter of the Million Moms March. The group works to prevent gun violence.
Next to the sheet, signs told participants that hands should be used in
ways that are helpful, not harmful, and that they should not touch guns.
Both boys are youth counselors.

"I wanted to help keep people off the streets," Massey said. "It just
seemed right to come," Cunningham said.

Terrell Eldridge, who has lived in the neighborhood for five years, brought
her four children, Keiandra, 2; Kevon, 4; Kevin, 8; and Katisha, 11; to the
celebration. She said that she was happy to see steps being taken to
improve the area.

"It's about time," she said. "It took too long." She has already seen a change.

"It's peaceful now," she said.