LIVING IN FEAR OF CRACK TRADE

Some families don't go outside

GULFPORT - One customer stands out to once notorious crack cocaine dealer
Willie Smith, who is now a Harrison County prisoner serving a sentence for
burglary and awaiting court proceedings on a charge of possession with
intent to distribute the drug.

"I had a guy show up at my house at 3 o'clock in the morning," said Smith,
who started selling crack at 14, earning the nickname "Big Timer" over the
years in the Magnolia Grove community off Hewes Avenue.

"The guy said, 'Man, I'm geeking (a word that he says crack addicts often
use to describe their need for more of the drug).' I said, Well, you got any
money?"

The man didn't, but promptly offered his new Ford F-150 truck that was paid
for. He signed over the title to Smith, now 21, and left with half a cookie
of crack cocaine, valued at $2,000 on the streets.

Smith sold the truck. He had no reason to keep it, he said, because he
already had several other vehicles he'd gotten from other junkies.

"I was always getting new cars from junkies," he said. "They'd give up
anything they had. They'd sell their body. I've seen them steal stereos.
I've seen them steal (car) rims, whatever it took to get the dope."

Smith said the same junkie who gave up his truck once lived in a $50,000
home with his wife and kids and had a good job.

"He lost his family, his job, everything, because of the crack," Smith said.
"He was on the street. You feel bad, but you know if you didn't give it
(crack cocaine) to him, he'd get it somewhere else."

Cleaning up the neighborhood

The Rev. Eddie Hartwell Sr. of St. James Baptist Church off Hewes Avenue on
25th Street knows all too well the ramifications of crack use in his
community.

He preached to Smith as a boy and turned him in to police for selling the
drug when he was a young man.

"I talked to him for a while almost on a daily basis to get him to see that
the way he was going was going to take him down the wrong road," Hartwell
said. "Because he wouldn't do anything, I was the one who put the police on
him."

Smith said he got into the business after his father left his mother,
leaving her to support him and his 11 brothers and sisters. He was the
oldest and started selling crack because he saw dealers making good money,
wearing fancy clothes and riding around in sporty cars.

Being the oldest, he didn't want to see his brothers and sisters do without.

Like most crack dealers, Smith didn't use because he knows it's addictive
and leads to a life of ruin.

He liked the business, though, bringing home as much as $8,000 a week or
more from his sales.

Smith's story is all too familiar to Hartwell, who often runs into other
youths who have chosen a similar path.

Residents in the Magnolia Grove community try to prevent their children from
getting mixed up in the drug world. Mostly, they keep their children inside
day and night and talk to them about the dangers of drugs.

Many residents feel like prisoners of the drug trade, but Hartwell said he
and others like him are doing what they can to fight back.

Fighting back, he said, includes offering treatment options for addicts.

A social disease

Hartwell said South Mississippi residents will continue to suffer the
ramifications of crack use until it is treated as more than just a crime.

"Until we in America recognize it (crack use) as a social disease and stop
treating it simply as a criminal offense, even though it is a crime, we will
never win this war," Hartwell said. "This is a plague in the community. Law
enforcement is not going to cure it. They can't lock up enough people,
enough dealers.

"Every time they lock up one, there is another one in line to take his post.
This is a medical problem, a social disease."

The drug dealers aren't hard to spot. They hang out on street corners and at
their homes, waiting on junkies to pull up and get their next fix.

"We can't afford to let the criminals force us out of our communities,"
Hartwell said. "We can't let the criminals poison our children. Educating
our children is the key. Parents are the anti-drug. They must tell their
children about crack and other drugs. They need to know where their children
are and who they are with at all times.

"One of the best things you can do is to tell them to stay away from it."

Residents in the community say they are doing just that, but still live in
fear of retribution from the drug dealers who surround them.

Living in fear

One woman, who asked not to be identified, said she's scared to death all
the time.

The mother of two said she'd taken a walk along Gulf Avenue, a few blocks
west of the church, when a drug dealer in a van pulled in front of her,
blocking her path.

"Every time I moved, he moved in front of me," she said. "He was asking me
if I wanted a ride. I think he thought I wanted drugs or I was a prostitute.
I didn't know what to do. I was so scared. My heart was beating so fast. He
kept asking me if I wanted a ride. I just started screaming. I haven't
walked since."

She didn't let her children play outside during the summer and only recently
started letting them play in her back yard.

She said she and her husband also are often stopped in their vehicles by
drug dealers who want to make a sale. "They just walk right up to your car."

Like other parents in the community, she tries to keep her children
educated.

Smith said he now faces the same fear about drugs that other parents do,
probably more because he knows what goes on when no one is watching.

"I've seen people shot," he said. "I've seen 16- and 17-year-olds giving
their bodies to drug dealers.

"I have two children now. I tell my children about drugs. I talk to them
about it. They see what it's done for me. The money, yeah, it's good but
it's not worth it. You either end up in prison or dead. This drug thing, it
will never stop. You've got to keep your children informed."

Hard lessons learned

Smith said he's seen some parents go a step further to let their children
know just how bad life can get as an addict.

"I've seen people who take their kids up to the hospital when someone's been
shot or something," he said. "They tell their kids this is what drugs do to
you. I admire these people. You can't actually keep your kids away from
drugs, but you need to talk to them. They're going to see it. Maybe rent a
movie about drugs. Watch it together."

Hartwell said most residents in communities such as his know the dealers
standing on the street corners because they grew up in the neighborhood. He
said he often confronts them, telling them to get off the streets or he'll
call the police.

Most residents say they stay inside. They look to school and church
functions for their children to attend and focus on the importance of
education and extracurricular activities at school to help entertain their
children.

"My oldest son left," one Magnolia Grove parent said. "He knew some of the
(dealers) from school. They wouldn't leave him alone. My youngest son is on
the honor roll. I drive him to his friend's house on the other side of town.
He doesn't go outside."