AGENCY SUES MICH. OVER DRUG HOUSES

DETROIT -- The county prosecutor is suing the state for allegedly failing
to control drug houses it seized because of unpaid taxes.

Twenty houses seized by the state were later involved in drug raids, Wayne
County Prosecutor Michael Duggan said. He has filed lawsuits trying to get
the houses under control or demolished.

"If we don't get the state to shut down its drug houses, in another six
months you are going to have all the drug dealing done out of state-owned
houses," said Duggan, who has made seizing or tearing down houses where
drugs were bought, sold and used a top priority.

State officials say they want to put an end to drug houses as well. But in
a hearing Friday in Wayne County Circuit Court about one of the houses, a
lawyer with the Michigan Attorney General's Office said the state has
sovereign immunity from such suits.

"Litigation is not the proper remedy for this very complex social and
economic problem," said Assistant Attorney General Diane M. Smith.

As many as 10,000 Detroit homes are owned by the state.