Pubdate: Mon, 06 Dec 2004
Source: Birmingham News, The (AL)
Copyright: 2004 The Birmingham News
Contact:  http://al.com/birminghamnews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/45
Author: Liz Ellaby, News staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

COUPLE TO LEAVE HOUSE CITED FOR DRUGS

A Graysville couple agreed in court Friday to move out of a house that city 
police said was a center of drug activity.

Without admitting any wrongdoing, Tina Michelle Landrum, 40, and her 
live-in boyfriend, Chris Lee Allen Crump, 44, agreed to leave the house at 
630 Eighth Ave. Northeast, which they share with Landrum's elderly aunt, 
Blanche Tumlin. The consent decree ended a lawsuit to evict the two filed 
by Graysville in October.

The couple have until Dec. 31 to leave. Landrum may continue to visit her 
aunt during daytime hours, but only with permission of property owners 
George and Sula Tumlin of Adamsville.

Crump agreed never to return.

The agreement was reached in Jefferson County Circuit Judge Scott Vowell's 
court following a judge's conference with attorneys and later in hallway 
negotiations, where Landrum could be heard sobbing.

"This is exactly what we wanted," Graysville Police Chief R. W. Carter told 
attorney Jeremy Given, who represented the city with other Sirote and 
Permutt lawyers.

The lawsuit marked the first time Graysville used the state's Drug Nuisance 
Abatement Law to pressure tenants out of a city residence. Carter said it 
will not be the last time the city uses a civil strategy against suspected 
drug dealers.

The 1996 law was passed to let police or individuals enlist a court's help 
in cleaning up residences suspected of sheltering drug activity. Judges 
finding a nuisance exists may order a range of remedies from repairs and 
security measures to eviction, even if the tenants haven't been arrested or 
convicted on drug charges.

Lawsuits have typically been used in big cities to force landlords to clean 
up rental properties.

Graysville, a rural small city of 2,300, claimed the couple were involved 
in the manufacture of methamphetamine, endangering the neighborhood and 
especially Blanche Tumlin. Blanche's son, George, and his wife, Sula, sided 
with the city.

The couple's attorney, Kathy Johnson, said neither of her clients is facing 
a drug charge. Crump has served prison time for a 1990s marijuana 
trafficking conviction but Landrum has no drug record, she said.

Landrum and Crump left the courthouse arm in arm. They declined comment on 
the settlement.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager