Pubdate: Sun, 07 Sep 2003
Source: Bluefield Daily Telegraph (WV)
Copyright: 2003 Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Contact:  http://www.bdtonline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1483
Author: Tammie Toler, news editor of the Daily Telegraph

NEIGHBORHOOD DRUG SOLUTIONS WILL REQUIRE A STRONG DETERMINATION TO WIN

I often wonder about old classmates and bygone acquaintances - those people 
who have ceased to be part of my daily life but somehow hang on in my mind 
or heart, their memories sporadically triggered by an experience or 
fleeting moment. I never anticipated the tragedy or trouble that would 
touch some of them. Recently, I was shaken to discover two of those 
acquaintances in Daily Telegraph stories of disaster. One was brutally 
killed in her Bluefield, Va., home, and the other is facing more than four 
years behind bars for allegedly distributing crack cocaine.

In very different ways, they were swept up in a disease that's infecting 
Four Seasons Country and is powerful enough to tear families apart at the 
seams and leave local homes in devastated ruins. It attacks children and 
adults with equal zeal, and medicine is likely to only worsen the effects.

Drug abuse is storming the region, and the epidemic doesn't discriminate. 
It is reaching across geographic and economic borders to neighborhoods of 
all races, religions and income brackets. No one is immune, and the problem 
is touching all of us in one way or another. The robbery, domestic 
violence, counterfeiting and killing that are often the result of initial 
drug problems are much more far-reaching than the corner dealer most of us 
have witnessed.

Brandy Hatfield was 14 the last time I can remember her. I recall her long, 
brown hair, and, in my memories, she's always wearing a yellow T-shirt. In 
my mind, I can see her standing in the cafeteria of what is now Princeton 
Middle School, both of us struggling with the awkward angst of adolescence.

Brandy changed schools, became the mother of four and lived through the 
death of a child before I would hear of her again from an anonymous caller 
reporting her death. Her slaying is still under investigation, and 
officials have not linked the death to drugs. But the crime has shined a 
spotlight on the illicit business that surrounded her home and worried her 
family even before Brandy died.

Her grief-stricken mother shared with the Daily Telegraph recently that 
drugs and the violence they spawn were so bad near Brandy's home that she 
was afraid to let her children play on the sidewalk outside her apartment. 
Days before the stabbing, Sue Lockhart said she had begged her daughter not 
to return home because of the ever-increasing criminal activity in the area.

Lamar Baxter played football in junior high, and he preferred to use the 
name Diara. We had a health class together, and the teacher dubbed him "D" 
after discovering the name he went by was difficult to pronounce. Sometime 
between then and now, the quiet young man I knew modified that nickname to 
"Heavy D" and started a Princeton business that was based on crack. He was 
sentenced to four years and nine months in a federal prison last week as a 
result of a bust on a drug ring federal agents dubbed "the Untouchables." 
Nine other defendants have also been sentenced so far in that operation.

The drug problems and destruction they leave behind don't stop in 
Bluefield, Va., or Princeton. In the last week, the Daily Telegraph has 
been bombarded with letters - mostly unsigned - from other worried parents, 
frustrated homeowners and concerned citizens detailing the dangers they 
face on a daily basis in all corners of Four Seasons Country. Their 
aggravation is only compounded by their beliefs that local authorities are 
either unable or unwilling to protect the people they're paid to serve. 
Some of the writers point fingers at other counties, saying the drugs came 
from there, while others are hoping to save enough money to move and leave 
the crime behind.

But the blame game doesn't solve anything, and leaving gives the criminals 
free reign. Only with communication and constant vigilance can we take our 
neighborhoods back.

Crimes must be reported. There are law enforcement authorities who do care, 
but they can't be expected to know everything at all times in all parts of 
their jurisdiction. City and town councils, county commissions, local 
legislators and the media need to be aware of the problems. Building a 
network of information can highlight the issues and help create support to 
fight them.

Drug dealers and suppliers operate in a shroud of dark power built on fear 
and apathy. They might make their sales in open daylight, but they do it 
with a confidence that a scared society won't stop them.

It's up to those concerned citizens to take action and prove them wrong.

The futures of today's children and the classmates they'll wonder about 
tomorrow depend on it.

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Tammie Toler is news editor of the Daily Telegraph.
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