Pubdate: Wed, 23 Jul 2003
Source: News & Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2003 The News and Observer Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.news-observer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304
Author: Aisling Swift And Vicki Cheng

HOT SPOT FOR CRIME MAY BE COOLING OFF

DURHAM -- Before the sun sets each day on what used to be the Cheek
Road Apartments, Hilton Green pulls out her bullhorn and tries to
shout crime away. She has come to preach on the hill overlooking the
100-unit brick-and-siding complex since July 1, when her youngest
child, 15-year-old Karsheem "Kaka" Green , was shot and killed outside
U Save Food Mart across the street. She jots down the license plate
numbers of suspicious cars.

A Decade Of Violence

August 1990: Four Cheek Road teens are hit by shotgun blasts during a
rivalry with teens at other apartments.

August 1992: Rupert Valentine, 23, dies after being
shot.

August 1994: Shamele Moore is shot and staggers across the street into
O'Neal's Quickie Mart.

June 1995: Michael Antonio McRae is shot in the abdomen and
hand.

October 1998: James Webb is shot in the shoulder in a drive-by
shooting. t.

November 1998: LaKeisha Bracey is shot in the stomach near the
complex.

January 1999: Police swarm the complex to arrest Joseph Jahdan
Christmas on weapon and drug charges.

September 1999: Joseph B. Frazier, 16, is shot and killed on a
footpath behi Rd.the complex.

February 2002: A raid involving 100 officers and two helicopters ends
in 35 arrests that are later thrown out.

July 2003: Karsheem Gr ene, 15, is shot and killed across the
street.

"My son wanted to leave here so bad," said Green, an assistant pastor
at Deliverance Temple Holy Church. "He didn't like the people here."

The privately owned, low-income apartments at 1835 Cheek Road in East
Durham and large complexes nearby have been a hot spot for crime for
years. In June, a 22-year-old woman was raped down the street at
Naples Terrace Apartments. This month, a 27-year-old woman was almost
stabbed to death at nearby Sherwood Park.

Since January 2001, police wrote reports on 37 assaults, 24 burglaries
and 21 drug-related incidents at the Cheek Road complex. A major raid
on Feb. 15 and 16, 2002, called The Aggressive Police Strategy,
resulted in 35 arrests. But after complaints about overly aggressive
tactics, a judge ruled the raid unconstitutional, and prosecutors
dropped the charges.

Now, some hope the community will change. New owners have taken over
the complex, renaming it Oakley Square, where 99 out of 100 apartments
are rented to residents receiving federal rent subsidies. The owners
have invested more than $4 million to renovate the 34-year-old
apartments. They plan to offer residents educational seminars and add
a computer room, said Rhonda Sheppard, executive property manager with
WAJ Management of Raleigh.

Still, Green and others are skeptical. She praised the management for
removing "riffraff," changing the name and renovating apartments, but
she wonders whether it will be a long-term fix.

Part of the problem, some say, is the antagonism residents feel toward
police. Many remain angry about the raid last year, when more than 100
officers stormed the complex, some wearing masks. Police broke down
doors and pointed guns at children, including Karsheem, residents said.

William Thomas, who heads Partners Against Crime in District 1, which
includes Cheek Road, says residents should let police do their jobs.
"When they go in and try to eliminate the problem and do their police
work, for you to start out crying about it and trying to make it look
like they did all these bad, terrible things -- I'm not into that," he
said.

As a member of Durham's Crime Area Target Team, officer Charles
Barkley mingles with residents, criminals and informants in District 1
to gain information and heighten police visibility. He shines his
spotlight into the faces of dozens of prostitutes every night. He's
used to preteens packing guns.

Before the raid, he and other officers hid in the woods, watching the
open-air drug dealing. A confidential informant bought drugs to
bolster evidence.

"It was so bad that if you pulled your car in here, they would run to
you," he said. "They'd say, 'Buy from me, buy from me, buy from me.'
They even tried to sell to the management."

Still, Barkley is often challenged because he's aggressive. Barkley
said people such as Green are only angry when their relatives are arrested.

Green shot back, "We want police who understand the community and
don't treat them like dogs."

The old apartment management company was part of the problem, Barkley
said. A former employee was allegedly fired for taking bribes to allow
undesirable tenants to rent there, he said, and a maintenance man was
fired for tipping off drug dealers when management called police.

Now, new owners are replacing roofs, building front porches, adding
new vinyl siding, floors, central air conditioning, and putting in
playground equipment. Work should be completed in the fall.

Sheppard said WAJ is evicting residents involved in crime. If a
resident allows a guest to peddle drugs, "you've now done a lease
violation," she said. New applicants include teachers and nurses.
Rents range from $532 a month for a one-bedroom unit to $755 for four.

Managers plan to start a community watch program. Green already has
begun her own.

The changes seem to be working, Barkley said last week, as children
rode by on scooters and bicycles and teens talked on a stoop. People
now know they can't come to Oakley Square and sell drugs.

Michelle Freeman, who has worked with children from Cheek Road
Apartments for three years through Liberty Baptist Church on Guess
Road, isn't sure whethe f the aesthetic improvements will make a
lasting change.

"I think it's nice to do that and give it a nice face-lift," she said.
"... But unless there's a heart and mind and attitude change, it
doesn't matter what is going on."

Many want to get as far from Cheek Road as possible. Nakia Hodges said
crime and concern for her baby, Johnessia, now 2, drove her out after
10 years.

Unlike some residents, she praised the raid. "It was good, but after
it happened, you couldn't tell the difference. They started right back
up again. It didn't scare them. I go over there to visit my friends,
and it's still the same. I don't ever take my baby over there anymore."

For those left behind, renovations haven't completely erased reminders
of crime. The red door of 4B is riddled with pellet shot. Someone
inscribed Karsheem's initials on a gas tank outside U Save Food Mart:
"RIP-KAG."

Green believes her bullhorn preaching is making the complex safer, not
changes by police and management.

"Before the death of my son, this place was filled with narcotics, and
the children could not play," she said, her eyes welling with tears.
"[Drug dealers] call me and they say, 'We're tired of you shooting
your mouth.' You can't shut me up. You can't stop me. I'm dead
already. They took what meant something to me." 
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin