JUSTICE MAY PLOW 'WEED AND SEED' CRIME FUNDS INTO UPSTATE COMMUNITY

There's a neighborhood in south Spartanburg where children and street-level
drug dealers cut through yards on the same, worn paths, according to an
assessment compiled to launch a federal "Weed and Seed" improvement program
there.

To combat crime in the south-side community and improve the Arkwright area
in the county, community leaders have taken the initial steps to compete
for federal funding.

Such programs across the nation concentrate law enforcement and prosecutors
in small, high-crime neighborhoods to "weed" out violent crime and drug
abuse. Simultaneously, agencies "seed" the area with projects such as
cleaning up condemned properties, boosting after-school programs and
improving access to health care.

So far, the U.S. Department of Justice has designated a 3.1-square-mile
area that encompasses a south-side Spartanburg neighborhood and part of the
Arkwright community as a Weed and Seed site. The designation will be
formally presented Tuesday.

It enables community leaders to apply in April for federal grants, said
Joyce Lipscomb, an operations analyst with the Spartanburg Public Safety
Department.

The weed and seed steering committee plans to seek $225,000, she said.

Sixty percent of the designated area lies in the city and 40 percent in the
county, she said.

The area accounts for about 6.25 percent of the city's area - yet was the
scene of 14 percent of the city's murders in fiscal year 2001 and 44
percent the year before.

In the same area, nearly 200 incident reports for domestic violence were
taken in fiscal year 2000, or 35 percent of the total for the city of
Spartanburg.

Unemployment and poverty rates are higher than they are elsewhere in the
county. Immunization rates are below average.

The area encompasses the vacant IMC Fertilizer plant, two abandoned dumps,
the abandoned Arkwright Textile Mill, according to the assessment.

Programs to combat crime while boosting quality of life are at the heart of
the weed and seed proposal, said Lipscomb, who coordinated the steering
committee of leaders from city and county agencies and the neighborhood.

Whatever funding the program wins will be made public months later,
Lipscomb said.

It is the first time Spartanburg leaders have applied for the program, she said.