Pubdate: Sat, 29 Jul 2000
Source: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2000 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact:  http://www.sun-sentinel.com/services/letters_editor.htm
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Forum: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/interact1.htm
Author: Thomas Monnay

CONTROVERSIAL ANTI-DRUG GROUP CLAIMS SUCCESS

DANIA BEACH -- A hair stylist at Sophia Steele's Age of Aquarius hair salon
interrupted her in the middle of a conversation.

Gov. Jeb Bush's office was on the phone. A staff member wished to relay
congratulations on the success of a recent anti-drug rally, when Bush
marched with residents.

A short time later, the hair stylist interrupted Steele again. It was Rita
Smelcer, executive director of the local housing authority, calling to
remind Steele about an important meeting.

Between curling hair and answering phone calls, Steele, 60, is working hard
to prove to critics that Turn Around Dania Beach, the anti-drug group she
leads, will survive.

"It's about saving children and saving the babies," she said.

Steele and supporters vow the group will thrive despite the fact that Herman
Wrice, the anti-drug activist who started it two years ago, cannot be with
them.

Wrice, who had been the main force behind the group, came to Dania Beach two
years ago. He had a plan: Conduct vigils and anti-drug marches, and drug
dealers would scamper out of town.

His controversial, confrontational strategy earned him popularity among many
residents but drew criticism from some local politicians and activists, who
spread rumors he was campaigning for a city commission seat.

But in March, the drug-fighting movement was dealt a blow. Wrice, of
Philadelphia, succumbed in his sleep to a heart attack in the Fort
Lauderdale home where he was staying. The founder of Turn Around America had
been on one of his many trips to town to coordinate drug-fighting
strategies.

Wrice's death came about a month after he complained to city commissioners
about activist Arlon Kennedy, whom the city had hired to provide social
services in the Modello Park area. Kennedy had written in a grant
application that Turn Around America's efforts needed to be coordinated.

Kennedy, who was fired as a result of Wrice's complaint, said he supports
Wrice's drug-fighting concept, but he insists the anti-drug marches need to
occur more often if the group is to drive out drug dealers.

Steele and supporters contend they are proving everybody wrong.

"We were trained and taught by him that he was a teacher and not a leader,
and that he wouldn't be here all the time," Steele said. "This is what he
did all over the country."

Steele said residents' support of the group, which has about 100 active
members who march regularly, is stronger than ever. She said the group has
thousands of supporters citywide, although they don't necessarily
participate in marches.

The anti-drug marches that target drug-infested neighborhoods and suspected
drug houses have been taking place about twice a month as usual, Steele
said. Vigils, where group members stand for hours in front of targeted
locations and take pictures, are organized twice a week, she said.

Bush's participation in the recent march is a sign that things are going
well for Turn Around Dania Beach, according to Steele.

"It's important to provide support to people who are working to take their
community back from drug dealers," Bush said during the June 19 march.

The group will be host to Turn Around America's national drug-fighters'
convention Aug. 4-6 at the Sheraton Hotel and Florida Atlantic University's
SeaTeach campus.

Group members and city officials see the drug-fighting reunion as a pivotal
event that will put the city on the crime-fighting map and send a strong
message of intolerance to drug dealers.

City officials' optimism about the event is the latest in a string of moral
and financial support from commissioners, though one commissioner was not
totally supportive of the group in the beginning.

The city is contributing $15,000 to help fund the convention, which is
expected to draw about 400 participants from such states as Florida, Texas
and New Mexico. The contribution is on top of the $35,000 commissioners
awarded Turn Around America this year to help fight drugs in the city.

To ensure it is equipped to carry on Wrice's legacy, the national
organization provides Turn Around Dania Beach with technical assistance.

Ronda Peoples, who used to travel with Herman Wrice, assists with training
and marketing strategies.

Tony Wrice, son of the late anti-drug activist, recently came to Dania Beach
from Philadelphia to motivate, train and march with group members. He said
he plans to visit regularly.

"The Wrice Process is more than fighting drugs. It's about empowerment,
educating the community and dealing with social problems," Tony Wrice said.
"My father lived and died for that. He's an American hero. People need to
know that."

Some Turn Around Dania Beach supporters such as Deborah McDonough, who works
closely with Steele, said the group might have foundered had Steele not
taken over.

Steele refuses to take all the credit. She praises the work of such
activists as Merita Mitchell, Beulah Lair, Robert Chunn and Commissioner Bob
Mikes.

Commissioner Jim Cali introduced Steele to Turn Around America two years
ago, when Cali brought Herman Wrice to Dania Beach to help clean up the
city.

Steele, who used to head a crime watch group in her southeast neighborhood,
participated in one march. She said she was so impressed by the
drug-fighting strategy, she pushed for her group to join what would become
Turn Around Dania Beach.

"Instead of watching crime, we went after crime," Steele said.

Steele has turned her hair salon, which she operates 12 hours a day, six
days a week, into a headquarters from which she calls people and motivates
them to join the drug-fighting effort.

Over the past two years, she said, she has spent about $20,000 on such
things as T-shirts for group members, signs for marches, batteries for
microphones and lunches for children.

"I can spend $1,000 in a minute at McDonald's," said Steele, showing $40
worth of gift certificates, which she bought to take children to lunch.

McDonough and Steele said Wrice's confrontational strategy got supporters
hooked on the drug-fighting cause.

During marches, the drug-fighters stop in front of suspected drug houses and
sing such slogans over bullhorns as: "Up with hope, down with dope," and
"Heidi, heidi, ho. Drug dealers you've got to go."

Sheriff's deputies always escort the marchers.

Commissioner Bob Mikes said he had doubts about the group's confrontational
style at first. But after participating in one march, Mikes said, he was
impressed and became a believer.

"It was unconventional," Mikes said. "I just wasn't sure what we were going
to get."

Mikes said the group has made it difficult for drug dealers who don't want
their business exposed. He said the group has pressured deputies to be more
active in arresting drug dealers and commissioners to be more proactive in
addressing the drug issue.

Smelcer, of the Dania Housing Authority, said she is thankful for a seminar
that Turn Around Dania Beach and deputies conducted this year to train
landlords on how to identify drug activities in rental properties and evict
drug dealers.

Smelcer said the group helped evict four drug dealers from public housing
and Section 8, a housing subsidy program the federal government sponsors.

Steele said the group also taught children who live in Dania Beach public
housing drug prevention techniques and how to start their own business.

"The message is, you don't have to sell drugs to make money," Steele said.

"Drugs aren't white, drugs aren't black," she said. "They just kill."
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