THREAT CLOSES DOWN DRUG-FIGHTERS' OFFICE

A grassroots group working to stop drug dealing on one of Cincinnati's most
crime-ridden streets temporarily closed its office Monday after a threat of
a drive-by shooting.

The Avondale Public Safety Task Force shut its Burnet Avenue office after
an elderly staff me mber was warned by a relative about persistent rumors
in the neighborhood of an impending shooting there.

Tom Jones, the task force's chairman, sent the group's staff home as a
precaution but pla ns on reopening today or Wednesday at an undisclosed
location.

Once security is tightened, the task force will move back into its Burnet
Avenue office, he a dded.

"This is not going to stop us. We're going to do everything we can to clean
up that street," Jones said.

"I can't take a chance that the whole thing is a hoax," he said. "There's a
lot of thi ngs that go down in Avondale, a lot of acting out."

A report was filed with the Cincinnati police department, which is
investigating.

Anthony Bailey, 67, had the threat relayed to him by a relative. Bailey is
one of five senior citizen workers at the task force who answers telephones
and takes tips about drug 3/4dealing and other criminal activi ty in the
neighborhood.

Bailey rarely sees the relative who passed along the warning, but the man
was worried enough about rumors circulating about a drive-by shooting into
the office's windows that he felt compelled to pass them along.

"I was more angry about the threat than anything else," Bailey said. "If I
would shoot bac k, it would create a violation of law on my part and I
would go to jail."

Bailey will return to work today, but is unsettled and hasn't made a
decision yet about con tinuing.

Under Jones's leadership, Avondale formed a special citizens task force
that works with pol ice to try to combat crime, most notably through a
privately funded hotline that gets 80 to 100 calls daily.

The Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office donated $10,000 to the group, from
a drug confiscat ion fund, which paid for its phone bank.

Also, the group works with merchants and apartment managers to devise legal
strategies for de aling with loitering by drug dealers.

Most recently, the task force has worked to get the liquor license revoked
for Uncle Milt's Cocktail Lounge on Burnet Avenue bar.

Since its previous owner died, the bar has had frequent problems with drug
dealing and assaul ts. Police arrested four people in May for selling drugs
out of the tavern.

In the past year, police received 857 calls for service to the three-block
area around Uncle Milt's. Calls included a robbery and felonious assault
inside the bar and shootings and fights outside.

The legal battle has placed the task force and hospitals at odds with the
Avondale Community Council, which wants to keep the bar open and help
convert it into a restaurant.