LANDLORDS FORM ASSOCIATION

For landlords, renting properties to people involved in drugs is a
lose-lose situation, according to Rhonda Wheeler of Van Buren.

"They do pay rent, because they don't want trouble with the police coming
out, or, say, me as a homeowner going out and going to their house," said
Wheeler, who owns Wheeler Investments Inc.

"But they end up usually tearing it up and trashing it, and it's not worth
that amount of rent that they pay for your property being destroyed."

Wheeler and other landlords will gather at the Van Buren Community Center
at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday for a meeting of the Van Buren Landlord Association, a
newly formed group that will seek to protect the rights of rental property
owners from tenants who use drugs or commit other crimes.

The association grew out of a series of informational meetings held by the
Van Buren Police Department to inform landlords of their rights under state
and local law.

"What we're trying to do is inform them and educate them on how to protect
their investment, also to get them to help us when we have a problem (with
a tenant) in there, to get them evicted, get them outside and get them away
from the city of Van Buren -- or get arrests done," Van Buren police
officer Wesley Sandlin said.

At the most recent meeting, held July 6, the landlords decided to form an
organization that will work to defend those rights. Items of business the
group is expected to tackle Tuesday include electing officers and deciding
how often to meet.

Representatives of the Police Department will continue to attend the
meetings if the landlords want them to, according to Sandlin.

"They're going to go over the names (of tenants) that they've had problems
with, and then if we have problems we'll sit down and talk to them about
the problems we're having at the houses," he said.

The association hopes to set up a Web site that will list the names of
tenants who have been evicted, have vandalized properties, have been
arrested on drug charges or have skipped out without paying their rent.

By coming together to share information in this way, the landlords hope to
end the cycle of "repeat offenders who go from property to property,"
Wheeler said.

Among the tenants that landlords and police are most eager to root out are
the operators of methamphetamine labs.

Wheeler said that when a meth lab is found in a rental property, the
cleanup cost typically ranges from $40,000 to $80,000.

"Usually if they (tenants) have a meth lab going, they're not going to be
able to pay restitution and they're not going to be able to have it cleaned
up," so the landlord pays the cost, Wheeler said.

Police and city officials support the association because they and the
landlords have a common goal, according to Sandlin.

"What we want to do is clean up the neighborhoods. We want to make a safe
environment for people to live," he said.