Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jan 2006
Source: Sanford Herald, The (NC)
Copyright: The Sanford Herald 2006
Contact:  http://www.sanfordherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1577
Author: Gordon Anderson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

MARCHING TO HIS OWN DRUM

LEMON SPRINGS - Jimmy Fraley has spent nearly two years making noise 
about drugs and crime.

Fraley, who helped found the grassroots anti-crime group Citizens 
Against Drugs (CAD) in February 2004, has made public clashes with 
community and law enforcement leaders a part of his confrontational 
style. In part because his efforts have been aimed at cleaning up 
drug-related crime across the county, Fraley has been named the 
Citizen of the Year for 2005 by The Herald's editorial board.

"I feel like I've brought a lot of awareness to people," Fraley said. 
"It's been nothing but a fight since Day One. I feel like it should 
have never been a fight." Fraley's efforts began in 2004 when, in 
response to rising crime around Lemon Springs, he teamed up with 
others in the area and called a community meeting at Greenwood 
Elementary School. Hundreds showed up, angry their rural community 
was literally infested with drugs, property crimes and prostitution. 
The group quickly coalesced into CAD and Fraley was elected 
president. More meetings throughout the county ensued, with guest 
speakers of varying stripes explaining to interested citizens how 
they could protect themselves and each other from the crime that CAD 
leaders so loudly bemoaned. Many rallied to Fraley's cause, but the 
group's relationship with law enforcement itself - and government in 
general - quickly deteriorated. In what was probably Fraley and CAD's 
most visible spat with local leadership, Fraley butted heads in the 
spring with then-Sanford Mayor Winston Hester and the city's 
administrative leadership. Fraley - who stressed from the start that 
he was interested in helping solve the crime problem in all parts of 
Lee County, not just Lemon Springs - had asked the Sanford City 
Council if he could appear before them to discuss crime. He said he 
was told during a meeting with Hester and other city leaders to 
provide the city leadership with a map of known drug houses, so 
something could be done about it.

Weeks later, Fraley did just that. He returned to City Hall with a 
map of the Sanford city limits, mounted on cardboard and marked with 
red thumbtacks indicating supposed locations where drugs could be bought.

Hester and Police Chief Ronnie Yarborough said they couldn't do 
anything about the map, however, because the tacks only indicated 
neighborhoods and not specific addresses.

In fact, city leaders pointed out that one thumbtack would represent 
nearly an entire city block on Fraley's map.

At the time, Yarborough also pointed to the numerous busts by the 
City/County Drug Unit as evidence that both the Sanford Police 
Department and the Lee County Sheriff's Office were working to combat 
drugs in the area. Shortly thereafter, Fraley was essentially banned 
from appearing before the council. One reason for the reduced amount 
of crime Fraley said he's seen is a yearlong drug investigation by 
the Sanford-Lee County Drug Unit which culminated with seven arrests 
in April 2005. The bust, which was conducted with the help of federal 
agents, included undercover operations in which agents bought more 
than 160 grams of cocaine worth $32,060. The suspects were all given 
lengthy sentences.

It's hard to say, however, if CAD's demands had anything to do with 
the law enforcement operation in the area. While CAD got off the 
ground in early 2004, the law enforcement investigation began about 
the same time. Scott Yow, Fraley's pastor at Beaver Creek Baptist 
Church and a member of CAD, said Fraley's approach at times may have 
been wrongheaded, but his intentions have always been right.

"Jimmy is a remarkable fellow.

Sometimes, he has that abrasive approach and they take him wrong.

But I've never seen anyone with more heart to make a difference in 
the community than Jimmy, particularly with drugs and crime," Yow 
said. "At times, there may been approaches (by Fraley) of the bull in 
the China shop." For his part, Fraley has said his goal was never to 
smear law enforcement and in fact has praised local officials for 
making moves that he felt were correct, including numerous drug busts 
and the creation of a two-officer "target team" by the sheriff's office.

But Fraley doesn't understand why he's encountered what he sees as 
"resistance" - a failure from leaders of some local agencies to work 
productively with CAD.

"I don't like the resistance we've gotten from law enforcement," he 
said, explaining that officers of the law "bring a lot of good things 
to this county. But I can say that if I was the sheriff of this 
county, I'd be honored to have a group of people like us offering 
everything we can to help." At times, Fraley has pursued his goals 
with CAD to his own detriment.

Other than alienating some local leaders, the time he's put into the 
group has taken him for long stretches away from his business, 
Fraley's Cycle Repair Shop. "There was a time when I wasn't working 
at all," he said. Does Fraley plan to stop working for social change?

The answer is a clear 'no,' evidenced by the stack of voter 
registration forms piled on the desk at his shop on Nicholson Road.

"The way you change this stuff is at the polls," Fraley said. "When 
election time comes around, I'll be out working." Many of the people 
Fraley has run up against - Chief Deputy Kevin Bryant of the Lee 
County Sheriff's Office and Yarborough - declined to comment for this story.

Hester was taken aback when informed about Fraley's distinction. "He 
was named what?" Hester asked, before declining to say anything else. 
For Yow, who in the course of his work says he's seen sides of Fraley 
"that others haven't," the quality that makes Fraley remarkable is 
his passion and his love for the community.

"Jimmy is a man of deep faith and conviction," Yow said. "He loves 
this community and he loves his county.

That's one reason I stood so closely by him." Fraley admits that he 
hasn't been perfect, but stressed that he only wants to see the best 
things happen to Lee County.

"I ain't no angel, I've been on the other side of the fence," he 
said. "But the future of this county is up to the people.

Are we going to let it go, or are we going to change it?"
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman