DRUG WAR FARES POORLY IN CAPITAL

WASHINGTON - Margaret Rice hopes her community is not on the verge of
losing its war against terror.

Not the terrorism of some network of America haters planning to bomb public
places.

Rice, 63, fears the terror in her own building on Central Avenue in Dayton.
She worries about the scourge that once was a priority in the highest
levels of government and was covered often in the media, and that now seems
like an afterthought:

The drug and crime problem in public housing.

The Bush administration this year put the Public Housing Drug Elimination
Program on the chopping block. The Dayton Metropolitan Housing Authority
director, Roland Turpin, says his agency got a $164,000 infusion - a
$791,500 reduction from last year, a more than 80 percent reduction - to
make up for the cut. The money for the program is likely to run out in
September. This comes atop a 25 percent reduction in capital funds and an
11 percent drop in operating funds overall.

Gone may be the dwindling number of police officers assigned specially to
public housing in Dayton. Already gone is the security officer who used to
monitor Rice's building at night. She and other senior volunteers fill in
by logging in visitors and patrolling their all- senior building, at least
as long as they can manage to stay awake.

President George H. Bush started the drug elimination program in 1989. In
Dayton public housing, arrests went up. Crime dropped. The community seemed
to be beating back the monster.

Now that program is being phased out. President George W. Bush said the
drug program had "limited impact" and that tools such as eviction have more
effect on drug activity in public housing. Faith-based groups would fill
the gaps, he proposed.

The Dayton housing authority and others nationwide want to get the money
restored. They are lobbying legislators, begging for a reprieve. Meanwhile,
Dayton plans to cut janitorial staff and other services so it can keep some
security presence.

It will have a tough time.

In Washington these days, any extras that don't have to do with preventing
or preparing for a terrorist attack or reigning in corporate greed are a
hard sell. The government is already spending more than it has. For
example, the Department of Transportation secretary testified last week
that he needs more funding to upgrade security at airports nationwide.

With endless needs and limited resources, something had to give. The drug
elimination program was one of the victims.

Rice understands the need for national security, but she said: "We have so
much crime going on here, we don't have to worry about terrorism. By the
time it gets us, we'll be ashes anyway."

The mother, grandmother and great-grandmother is more concerned about
preventing drug traffic next to her building from creeping into her home.

"I am not going be traveling," she said. "I am not going the airport to
take a plane. I just am going to go to the laundry room."

She wants to feel safe there, too.