NEIGHBORHOOD DRUG SOLUTIONS WILL REQUIRE A STRONG DETERMINATION TO WIN

I often wonder about old classmates and bygone acquaintances - those people
who have ceased to be part of my daily life but somehow hang on in my mind
or heart, their memories sporadically triggered by an experience or
fleeting moment. I never anticipated the tragedy or trouble that would
touch some of them. Recently, I was shaken to discover two of those
acquaintances in Daily Telegraph stories of disaster. One was brutally
killed in her Bluefield, Va., home, and the other is facing more than four
years behind bars for allegedly distributing crack cocaine.

In very different ways, they were swept up in a disease that's infecting
Four Seasons Country and is powerful enough to tear families apart at the
seams and leave local homes in devastated ruins. It attacks children and
adults with equal zeal, and medicine is likely to only worsen the effects.

Drug abuse is storming the region, and the epidemic doesn't discriminate.
It is reaching across geographic and economic borders to neighborhoods of
all races, religions and income brackets. No one is immune, and the problem
is touching all of us in one way or another. The robbery, domestic
violence, counterfeiting and killing that are often the result of initial
drug problems are much more far-reaching than the corner dealer most of us
have witnessed.

Brandy Hatfield was 14 the last time I can remember her. I recall her long,
brown hair, and, in my memories, she's always wearing a yellow T-shirt. In
my mind, I can see her standing in the cafeteria of what is now Princeton
Middle School, both of us struggling with the awkward angst of adolescence.

Brandy changed schools, became the mother of four and lived through the
death of a child before I would hear of her again from an anonymous caller
reporting her death. Her slaying is still under investigation, and
officials have not linked the death to drugs. But the crime has shined a
spotlight on the illicit business that surrounded her home and worried her
family even before Brandy died.

Her grief-stricken mother shared with the Daily Telegraph recently that
drugs and the violence they spawn were so bad near Brandy's home that she
was afraid to let her children play on the sidewalk outside her apartment.
Days before the stabbing, Sue Lockhart said she had begged her daughter not
to return home because of the ever-increasing criminal activity in the area.

Lamar Baxter played football in junior high, and he preferred to use the
name Diara. We had a health class together, and the teacher dubbed him "D"
after discovering the name he went by was difficult to pronounce. Sometime
between then and now, the quiet young man I knew modified that nickname to
"Heavy D" and started a Princeton business that was based on crack. He was
sentenced to four years and nine months in a federal prison last week as a
result of a bust on a drug ring federal agents dubbed "the Untouchables."
Nine other defendants have also been sentenced so far in that operation.

The drug problems and destruction they leave behind don't stop in
Bluefield, Va., or Princeton. In the last week, the Daily Telegraph has
been bombarded with letters - mostly unsigned - from other worried parents,
frustrated homeowners and concerned citizens detailing the dangers they
face on a daily basis in all corners of Four Seasons Country. Their
aggravation is only compounded by their beliefs that local authorities are
either unable or unwilling to protect the people they're paid to serve.
Some of the writers point fingers at other counties, saying the drugs came
from there, while others are hoping to save enough money to move and leave
the crime behind.

But the blame game doesn't solve anything, and leaving gives the criminals
free reign. Only with communication and constant vigilance can we take our
neighborhoods back.

Crimes must be reported. There are law enforcement authorities who do care,
but they can't be expected to know everything at all times in all parts of
their jurisdiction. City and town councils, county commissions, local
legislators and the media need to be aware of the problems. Building a
network of information can highlight the issues and help create support to
fight them.

Drug dealers and suppliers operate in a shroud of dark power built on fear
and apathy. They might make their sales in open daylight, but they do it
with a confidence that a scared society won't stop them.

It's up to those concerned citizens to take action and prove them wrong.

The futures of today's children and the classmates they'll wonder about
tomorrow depend on it.

Tammie Toler is news editor of the Daily Telegraph.