ARRESTS DON'T CURTAIL DRUG PROBLEM

Supply And Demand Remain In Halifax County

HALIFAX - Halifax County's drug officers know their work is cut out
for them.

"We've just got a lot of drug activity in Halifax," said Major R.S.B.
Pulliam, the Sheriff's Department's chief deputy and coordinator of
the seven-member Halifax/South Boston Regional Narcotic Enforcement
Task Force.

"We just take on as much as we can," Pulliam said. "We take on
everything from the street sellers to the major operators. We don't
want to go in there and stop it for a couple of days. We want to end
it."

The drug problem in rural America is nothing new; the open space and
fewer officers to deal with are attractive for dealers, Pulliam said.

In Halifax communities such as Cody and Sinai, the drug problem is
well known. Local officials have been taking the bigger dealers and
drug rings to federal court, where convictions tend to carry more
time, but the drug trade seems to proceed unabated.

"We're constantly making arrests in those areas," Pulliam said. "We're
prosecuting people federally and they are getting 10 years to life and
I can put you in my car and take you over there and they are selling
drugs now."

While the drug problem is obvious in many areas, sometimes it comes as
a surprise.

Last month, a bedridden 51-year-old man was arrested at his home in
the rural Alton community of southwestern Halifax County, near the
North Carolina line, and charged with six counts of distribution of
crack cocaine and methadone.

"He's bedridden and all he did was sell dope," Pulliam said. "It was a
flow of traffic similar to what you'd see at a McDonald's."

Pulliam said the task force's biggest catch was the recent arrest of
Leo Hinson, 60, whose alleged multistate cocaine, marijuana and
methamphetamine distribution ring was the largest local authorities
had ever seen.

The arrest of Hinson, who moved to Halifax from North Carolina in the
mid-1990s, was the result of a four-year investigation by local, state
and federal officials.

Investigators said Hinson operated "a multifaceted, tiered
organization involving murder, money laundering, drug distribution and
alleged corruption involving public officials and law enforcement officers."

Hinson was indicted by a federal grand jury on eight charges,
including conspiring to have people working with the investigation
against him killed and aiding and abetting in the attempted murder of
a federal witness. Investigators said additional charges are expected.

Investigators have already won a conviction against a man they
describe as a lieutenant in Hinson's organization.

Phillip Henry Barfield, 44, who also moved to Halifax from North
Carolina, pleaded guilty in January to multiple charges, including
distribution of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana and operating a
drug conspiracy since January 1990.

Barfield faces a maximum of four life terms plus 30 years when he is
sentenced in mid-April in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, N.C.

Despite the task force's successes, Pulliam said the continuing
problem is one of supply and demand. There continues to be a supply of
drugs, and demand for them.

"As many as we arrest, there are just that many more out there," he
said.