Pubdate: Wed, 01 Oct 2003
Source: Courier, The (LA)
Copyright: 2003 Houma Today
Contact:  http://www.houmatoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1477
Author: Mike George, The Courier

ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM HOPES TO EXPAND TO WEST HOUMA

HOUMA -- Terrebonne Parish officials hope to expand a crime-prevention 
program to west Houma, but they'll need federal approval first. The Parish 
Council passed a resolution last week that gives Parish President Bobby 
Bergeron the go-ahead to ask the U.S. Justice Department for permission to 
expand the Weed and Seed Program, which now operates in the Mechanicville 
neighborhood of east Houma.

If approved, the program would be expanded into an area from Goode Street 
to St. Charles Street and from McKinley Street to Morrison Avenue. "Weed 
and Seed is a comprehensive strategy for making these communities safer 
places to live," said Houma Police Chief Pat Boudreaux. The first stage -- 
"weeding" -- aims to run off violent criminals and drug traffickers from 
the area. The second phase -- the "seeding" -- includes job training, job 
opportunities and neighborhood-restoration initiatives as well as 
substance-abuse prevention programs. In 2001, the program was brought to 
Mechanicville. Councilman Wayne Thibodeaux, who first learned about the 
program while working as a public-housing official in 1993, said the parish 
planned to bring the program to his district for years but decided to see 
how the program would work in Mechanicville first.

"We wanted to bring this program to the west side of Houma because the 
problems that existed in the east side of Houma exist in this part of 
town," Thibodeaux said.

Thibodeaux commended Councilman Alvin Tillman for his work with the program 
in Mechanicville and said the program has been successful in east Houma.

"These neighborhoods tend to decline quickly if you don't do something," 
Thibodeaux said. "This program weeds out the stuff that erodes the quality 
of life and seeds things that help the communities." Boudreaux said a 
variety of programs have been brought to the Mechanicville area, including 
education programs that have helped nursing aides graduate and get jobs, 
tutoring programs for young students, summer camps and Neighborhood Watch 
associations. Boudreaux said the expansion, and accompanying grant money, 
still has to win approval from the Justice Department.

"It's competitive," Boudreaux said. "There are plenty of applicants and 
only so much money. You have to have a strategy in place. You have to set 
goals and objectives."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager