RUBBING OUT DRUG ELEMENT

When the community steps to the fore, bad things happen to the criminal
element. And for most of us, we couldn't be happier.

So it is with great civic pride that we are encouraged that residents are
putting their apprehension of law enforcement aside for the betterment of
the community.

Because as illegal drugs continue to be a major source of our problems, it
is going to take the average Joe and Josephine to provide answers. As we
see it, change begins to formulate from within.

This week, an anonymous telephone call to Crime Stoppers netted the arrest
of three Greenville men suspected of trafficking in crack cocaine.

With the community support, the Greenville Police Department was able to
take off the streets vermin who ply the poison that plagues our communities.

On Monday, local authorities announced the arrests of three Greenville men,
Eric Rancifer, 25, Daron Haggan, 30, and Zachery Flowers, 25, on crack
cocaine trafficking charges.

"This dope belongs to one of the major dealers," said Sgt. Susan Graziosi
of the Greenville Police Department. "Someone is probably not happy right now."

But the community should be jubilant over the fact that one less source of
illegal drugs will be available. Nonetheless, we should not bask too long
in this victory, because replacements will be on the scene in short order.

The seizure of the crack cocaine cache, valued on the street at about
$20,000, is believed to be the biggest drug bust in the city.

While we are alarmed by the harm the illegal drug incursion can create in a
community, we are heartened that law enforcement is making a significant
response.

Although illegal drugs are being taken off the streets, so much more needs
to be done by Delta law enforcement, because once the light is switched
off, like cockroaches, these unscrupulous vermin will reappear again.

To keep the pressure on will take every citizen stepping up to seize an
opportunity to rid the community of this scourge. Because law enforcement
cannot do it alone