Pubdate: Mon, 01 Apr 2002
Source: Hartford Courant (CT)
Copyright: 2002 The Hartford Courant
Contact:  http://www.ctnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/183
Author: Rick Green
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?1043 (Christianity)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues)

CAMPERS BRING HOPE TO STREETS

After two nights sleeping in a tent pitched near the corner of Mather and 
Brooks streets, Hartford activists said Sunday they will soon return to 
other drug-infested city neighborhoods.

"We are going to make sure the criminal element in this city gets the 
message," said the Rev. Cornell Lewis, who, along with leaders from the 
Hartford chapter of the NAACP and others, spent Friday and Saturday nights 
camping along sidewalks. "People are not going to roll over and play dead."

The group had an eventful weekend, Lewis said. During their nights on the 
street, campers shined powerful spotlights on suspected drug dealers and 
their customers, held a 7 a.m. Easter worship service and received 
unexpected visitors - such as interim City Manager Albert G. Ilg and a 
woman who brought muffins and coffee.

The activists were joined during the nights by a city council member, 
representatives from the American Friends Service Committee, and Thirman 
Milner, former mayor and Hartford NAACP president.

"It was a great experience on a lot of different levels," said city 
Councilman John Kennelly, who estimated he slept about an hour on the 
corner Saturday night. A police chase down Brooks Street in the middle of 
the night added to the drama, he said.

"People who live in these neighborhoods, they are challenged every day by 
the crime around them," said Kennelly. "It was a beautiful way to start 
Easter Sunday."

The urban camping will be expanded to other North End street corners during 
the coming months, said Lewis, who is working with the Rev. Michael 
Williams and others to arrange future campouts.

The idea was to both scare off drug dealers and inspire local residents to 
retake their street corners and neighborhoods from criminals, he said.

Already, Lewis said, drug dealers are upset, having sent word one evening 
to the campers that their presence was driving off customers. "Progress has 
been made. For a few days we pacified that area," Lewis said.
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