Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jun 2005
Source: Herald-Dispatch, The (Huntington, WV)
Copyright: 2005 The Herald-Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.hdonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1454
Author: Scott Wartman

WARNINGS OF DRUG USE

City council rep Brandi Jacobs-Jones welcomes community members to the A. 
D. Lewis Center Thursday, June 23, 2005 to the Warning Signs Forum, 
co-sponsored by The Herald-Dispatch, WSAZ and the city of Huntington.

HUNTINGTON -- In the coming weeks and days, Alesia Brydie will get to know 
her neighbors more closely and watch for suspicious activity.

Like many other Huntington residents, the recent violence has concerned 
Brydie, who lives in the Southside neighborhood. The shooting in the early 
morning hours of May 22 on Charleston Avenue, which took the lives of four 
teenagers, disturbed her and made her concerned for the safety of her two 
children, ages 18 and 22.

That concern brought her to a forum Thursday at the A.D. Lewis Center, 
where law enforcement and community leaders educated the public on how to 
spot drug addiction and activity.

Community members receive informational pamphlets at the A. D. Lewis Center 
Thursday, June 23, 2005 while attending the Warning Signs Forum, 
co-sponsored by The Herald-Dispatch, WSAZ and the city of Huntington.

She left the forum Thursday armed with a large collection of informative 
papers and a mission to understand her neighborhood.

"I am very concerned. You are overwhelmed," Brydie said. "You want to do 
all you can as a resident and parent. You never want to see violence happen 
again. I want to take back what I learn to share with residents and be more 
aware of my surroundings."

Law enforcement, community leaders and residents at the forum in downtown 
Huntington all expressed a desire to unite as a community and get involved 
in spotting drug activity to curb the violent crime that has shocked the 
area recently. Web Extra

The panelists at the forum included police officers, city leaders, drug 
counselors, correctional officers and reporters. The Fairfield West 
Improvement Council sponsored the Warning Signs forum along with the City 
of Huntington, The Herald-Dispatch and WSAZ Newschannel 3. The panelists 
spoke to a crowd of about 100 people who crowded the A.D. Lewis Community 
Center in the Fairfield West neighborhood.

Law enforcement who spoke at the forum urged parents to take an active role 
in their children's lives.

Lt. Hank Dial with the Huntington Police Department said parents need to 
keep close tabs on their children.

"Your kid doesn't wake up one day and start being a crack user," Dial said. 
"If the kids are out in the evening, they should know that when they get 
home, they will have a conversation with an adult. Parents should have a 
fairly close conversation with their kids and see if their eyes are glassy."

Parents have to overcome the tendency to gloss over any bad traits their 
children might have, said Gary Brydie, one of the forum's panelists who 
works with the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Kentucky. Parents or friends 
must have courage to intervene if they see a loved one with a drug problem, 
he said.

"Sometimes we as parents and friends have a sense of denial," Gary Brydie 
said. "We may see things when they come in and can sense they have money 
they shouldn't have. As parents, we get a gut feeling there is something 
wrong, but we have a fear of challenging them and let it go. I would rather 
confront them now rather than having to visit the mortuary."

Parents can turn to the school for help in determining whether their child 
has a problem, said Lt. Mike Davis, one of the forum's panelists with the 
Huntington Police Department. School Resource officers patrol the high 
schools and can help parents deal with issues of drug abuse, he said. 
School administrators can also search lockers and desks if a parent calls 
and suspects his or her child is on drugs, Davis said.

"If you think your child has a problem, the school is a good location to 
start with," Davis said.

The community also offers a variety of programs at places such as Prestera 
Center in Huntington that help teenagers and adults deal with addiction.

Many parents in attendance at the forum said they want to take an active 
role in protecting their children and the community.

Virgil Johnson lives in the Fairfield West neighborhood and said his son 
knew the victims of the May 22 shooting. Johnson came to the forum in hopes 
of learning how the community can come together to fight crime and keep 
each other's children safe.

"My son knew the kids that had been involved in the shooting," Johnson 
said. "What if he had been out that night? He could have been dead. We need 
to learn all we can learn to make the community safe."

Panelists warned that drug dealers target young children and defenseless 
people to sell their drugs. Herald-Dispatch reporter and forum panelist 
Bryan Chambers related a story on Thursday police told him about two 
Columbus men who had bought a local man soda and potato chips in exchange 
for using his apartment in the 300 block of 5th Avenue to sell drugs. The 
two men were arrested in August 2004 on drug trafficking charges.

"They do prey on the weak," Chambers said.

Many of the drug runners send lieutenants to areas like Huntington, where 
they target middle school students to sell the drugs on the street, said 
Randy Yohe, a WSAZ reporter who visited Detroit recently to research the 
drug problem there.

"They are your kids," Yohe said. "They target them, flash money in front of 
them and rope them in."

Many in the audience said they want to be able to help the police spot 
crime and drive out-of-town drug dealers away.

Neighborhoods need to come together to support each other and watch for 
crime, many of the panelists said.

Many people in communities like Fairfield West say they want the community 
to grow closer together, Chambers said. People feel neighbors have turned 
into strangers as the community grows apart, he said.

"The people in Fairfield West said they feel there has been a loss of 
family," Chambers said. "Neighbors just don't talk with each other anymore. 
There are no more block parties."

Many of the panelists and those in attendance said children should be given 
activities such as baseball leagues to keep them from turning to drugs and 
crime.

Neighbors should take the time to get to know others in their neighborhood, 
said Gerard Rush, one of the panelists who works in Prestera Center, a 
Huntington center that offers drug rehabilitation.

The community should look out for each other's children and learn when 
their neighbors are home, Rush said. A more extensive knowledge of the 
community will make spotting suspicious activity easier, Rush said. Keeping 
children off of drugs takes time, he said.

"I compel and ask each individual , are you willing to make the sacrifice?" 
Rush told the crowd at the center Thursday. "Are you willing to do that? We 
have too many lives with potential to let go to waste."

Addiction warning signs

Drug addicts will often have drug paraphernalia around and exhibit physical 
signs of addiction. Gerard Rush, outreach supervisor for Prestera Center in 
Huntington, Lt. Mike Davis and Cpl. Darin Dempsey, both of the Huntington 
Police Department, discussed on Thursday how to identify someone with a 
drug habit:

Drug tools: Many common household items can be used by addicts to get high, 
Dempsey said. Any hollow metal tube like an antennae from a car can be 
converted into a crack pipe. Copper scouring pads are often used as a 
filter. Spoons with blackened, burnt bottoms indicate they were used to 
heat drugs, he said. Any of these items found on children may indicate drug 
use, Dempsey said.

Rapid change: Any sudden change in a child's friends and behavior might 
indicate a drug problem, Davis said.

Missing money or items: Police say children will often steal from their 
parents to feed their habit

Health problems: Muscle spasms, insomnia where someone stays up for days, 
constant scratching and other serious health effects may indicate a drug 
problem, health officials said.

Drug Houses

Huntington Police Department officers Lt. Hank Dial and Lt. Mike Davis gave 
some tips at the Warning Signs forum on spotting drug activity in homes:

Heavy traffic: A sharp increase in traffic to a house can signal drug 
dealing. Many times these houses have cars with out-of-state plates pulling up.

Window shopping: Many drug houses have people going to the windows to buy 
drugs.

Cameras: Drug houses often can have many cameras surrounding the property. 
If the house has more cameras than furniture, there is probably some drug 
dealing going on, Dial said.

Nice cars: If you see really nice cars. Many out-of-town drug dealers rent 
cars so they won't have to forfeit property when arrested, Davis said.

Drug Task Force Presentation

The drug task force from Kanawha County will give a two-hour presentation 
in Huntington next week on street gangs and the drug mentality. The 
presentation will be on Tuesday, June 28th in the City Hall Auditorium.

When you spot drug activity

People who spot drug activity in their neighborhoods should take caution 
and not act too hastily. The police gave advice at Thursday's forum on how 
to react when you suspect or see drug activity in your neighborhood:

No confrontation: Drug dealers are violent and dangerous. Call the police 
instead of confronting the drug dealers or addicts.

Note taking: Make detailed notes, getting complete descriptions of the 
people or license plates. Don't approach the people or cars.

Street names: Listen for "street names" often used by drug dealers and 
relay that information to authorities.

Hotline: People wishing to make tips to the police but remain anonymous can 
call the tip hotline at (304) 696-4444. Police say leave a message on the 
answering machine of the hotline.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom