POVERTY, CRIME PLAGUE NEIGHBORHOOD

In the northeast corner of Oklahoma City's northeast side, in an area known
as Green Pastures, a black Labrador retriever mix wagged his tail Thursday
and wiggled. He spent most of the day in the yard of a house that was
torched by an arsonist.

His owner was gunned down, killed in the doorway only a few days before the
fire. After the shooting that also left a woman in critical condition,
someone came to the house, but not for the dog. Wednesday night's fire
charred furniture and walls inside the house.

Thursday, outside the damaged house, the dog drank from a pan offered by a
passer-by. The dog drank as if it had been days since he'd had water.

"This is a poor area of the northeast part of Oklahoma County. There's no
growth. No economic development," said the Rev. W.B. Parker, pastor of St.
James Baptist Church.

Green Pastures has been home to poverty, and it has struggled with
unemployment and crime, particularly what Parker calls crack houses.

The latest victim

Monday night, someone shot and killed Stanley Johnson, 48, at his home,
4205 N Lennox Ave. Beverly Meadows, 33, was shot in the head and found in
the front yard. She remained in critical condition Thursday.

Someone set the house on fire about 8:35 p.m. Wednesday, fire officials said.

On Thursday, Johnson's dog was north of the house, sitting in the yard of
the Greater Coats Temple Church of God in Christ. He still greeted visitors.

Johnson had told his sister, Gloria Pollard, that the dog had wandered up
to him one day. The only name he gave him was "dog," she said.

The dog is a lot like his late owner, said Charles Pollard, Johnson's
brother-in-law.

"Stanley was like that. Dogs would always come by and he would take care of
them," Gloria Pollard said.

"Stanley was very friendly. He was easygoing, quiet and passive. And he was
intelligent, he was a brain," Charles Pollard said.

Johnson was an honor student at Dunjee High School. He once worked for
Texas Instruments and later owned his own computer analyst business in
Texas before moving back to Oklahoma. He was always happy to help people
with their computer problems, the Pollards said.

"Stanley could get along with anyone," Charles Pollard said.

On March 11, Rudolph Taylor, 36, was fatally shot after leaving Johnson's
home. John-son was a witness in the killing, police said.

Pastures not so green

Parker said Green Pastures has a lot of low-income people.

"Green Pastures is not as flourishing as it was even 10 years ago," Parker
said.

Houses appear shoddy, but not all the properties are dilapidated. Near an
abandoned house on the northwest corner of Washington Boulevard and NE 50,
where five women were killed in 1992, is a well-built modern brick home.
Other signs of new construction can be found on streets in the Green
Pastures area.

Still, residents say their property and auto insurance rates are higher
than for those who live elsewhere, because of crime and other factors.

The Rev. Gerald Cunningham, pastor of Metropolitan Church, 12200 NE 52, has
lived in Green Pastures since 1968.

"We have a lot of crack houses, and nobody wants to do anything about it.
That's what all of these killings are about. We have a high rate of crack.
We are all in prison and the crackheads rule the streets," Cunningham said.

Cunningham was helping remodel the Mount Gilead Baptist Church, 11412 NE
50. He stepped outside to point to the house with windows boarded up across
the street. In the house at 11315 NE 50, five women were stabbed to death
in 1992. Danny Keith Hooks was later sentenced to death for the murders
inside the known crack house.

Police presence

Hugh Robinson is frustrated after 30 years in Green Pastures. He complains
of a lack of regular Oklahoma City police patrols in a semi- rural area.

"As long as you don't have police driving up and down the streets like in
other areas, it's not going to stop. It's not fair to pay taxes and never
see a police car," Robinson said.

He said he has confronted people who play loud music or create disturbances
in his neighborhood. He's not too popular for taking a stand.

"I've been called a dirty old man. There are times I've had to strap a
pistol on, 'cause I just don't take this from anyone," Robinson said.

Police Maj. Ed Hill said calls from Green Pastures are not as frequent as
in other parts of the city. Green Pastures, bordered by NE 63, NE 36, and
Post and Anderson roads, is a semi-rural area where it is harder to be as
visible in a patrol car because houses are spread out, he said.

The city has one or two police officers patrolling Green Pastures on every
shift, he said.

"We have cars assigned to patrol Green Pastures every shift. It is easier
to be visible when there are more houses, but there are not as many houses
in that rural of an area, and there is no way we can drive every street
every day," Hill said.

He said the most common calls are complaints about thefts, burglaries and
stolen vehicle recoveries.

Hill said if residents complain about a possible drug house, extra patrols
are dispatched. Officers were watching the house where Johnson was killed a
week before the fatal shooting, he said.

Parker said unemployment is a problem among some of the younger people who
may spend time gathered around a car broken down in a front yard. Residents
say they don't get cable TV service, and sewer service has been an issue.
Transportation has been better since bus routes came in, but a lot of
people won't ride the bus, Parker said.

Parker said he thinks businesses need to move in to provide jobs.

"If we just had some kind of small grocery stores or some kind of business,
it would help," Parker said.

"We have a lot of people in this low-income area who apply for money so
their food and utilities will be paid. We have an avalanche of that. My
church tries to take care of our own, but if there is anything left, we try
to have some outreach. It's an economically depressed area."