Pubdate: Sat, 26 Dec 2009
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Contact: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/letters/sendletter.html
Website: http://www.ajc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28
Author: Andria Simmons

DRUG WAR HITS HOME FOR GWINNETT RESIDENTS

If metro Atlanta is a battleground in the war against  drug
trafficking in the United States, then Gwinnett  County is on the
front lines.

That's no secret to police or the residents who live  there. A
bountiful supply of rental homes and the  state's largest Latino
population have made the county  a magnet for Mexican drug cartel
operatives looking to  blend into their surroundings.

Federal prosecutors say the county is the epicenter of  the Southeast
region's drug trafficking activity.  Gwinnett is also designated as a
high intensity drug  trafficking area (HIDTA) by the Office of
National Drug  Control Policy, along with 19 other counties in metro
Atlanta and central North Carolina. Jack Killorin, the  director of
the Atlanta HIDTA, says investigations into  cartel activity typically
have a tie in Gwinnett.

"Within our designated counties, Gwinnett is the center  of their
operations," Killorin said.

This influx of drugs has had an impact on more than  just the
peddlers, dopers and the police.

It has punctured the peacefulness of Buckingham Place,  a Duluth
street where two homes served as bases of  operation for drug cartel
operatives.

It has blighted the business for shopkeepers at a  Lawrenceville strip
mall where a grocery store was a  front for a brisk street-level
narcotics trade.

And it has created a steady stream of clients for a  substance abuse
treatment facility in Lawrenceville  that is fighting to pull addicts
back from the brink.

These are their stories:

Buckingham Place

Buckingham Place is a residential street that lies  about halfway as
the crow flies between I-85 and Buford  Highway in Duluth.

Take a drive along it and you'll see a lane dotted with  mature trees,
wood-frame houses and hand-painted  mailboxes.

What you won't see - what few residents even noticed  until recently -
is the drug activity going on behind  closed doors and curtained windows.

Seven months ago at a cream-colored ranch home at 4238  Buckingham
Place, authorities hauled in the largest  methamphetamine seizure east
of the Mississippi River.

Several houses down and across the street at 4299  Buckingham Place is
a blue split-level home that was  the location of an unrelated drug
rip-off in May that  left one man dead and three others injured.

"You don't know where or when you can find a drug  dealer right here
in this neighborhood," said Jesus  Hernandez, a seven-year resident of
Buckingham Place.  "Right now, you can find a drug dealer right next
to  your house."

Part of the problem may be "for sale" and "for rent"  signs that have
cropped up like so many weeds along the  street. Foreclosures and
unsold, vacant homes are an  open invitation for criminals to come
inside.

A Buckingham Place resident, who asked not to be  identified because
he was a witness to the quadruple  shooting, said the presence of the
drug smugglers went  unnoticed because "they kept to themselves and
nobody  knew what was happening."

Shortly after the drug bust and shooting, about 30  residents held an
impromptu street corner meeting to  discuss improving neighborhood
security. They toyed  with the idea of installing cameras at the
entrances to  the neighborhood, but the effort stalled when some
people complained it would violate their privacy,  Hernandez said.

Hernandez plans to move as soon as the real estate  market
improves.

Other neighbors, such as Connie Pruitt, have no  intention of leaving.
The 39-year-old mother, who lives  on Buckingham Place with her
husband, said she was  "freaked out" when the drug activity came to
light.  Especially since so many children - including Pruitt's  two
elementary-school-age daughters and several of  their playmates - live
on the street. But Pruitt said  the recent troubles haven't spooked
her badly enough to  want to move.

"I have lived here 15 years. It is an older,  established
neighborhood, and the school system is  good," Pruitt said. "I've
never felt threatened or  afraid."

199 E. Crogan St. shopping center

The Ramirez family has been serving authentic Mexican  food at
Tortacos restaurant for eight years. Situated  on the corner of a
shopping strip at 199 E. Crogan St.  in Lawrenceville, the eatery
doesn't court a party  crowd. It doesn't even serve liquor. Families
are the  target customer, said the owner's son, Jose Ramirez.

Families have been increasingly difficult to attract  since October,
when police arrested eight people and  seized 7 pounds of cocaine and
other illegal drugs at  an adjacent grocery store. Police said El
Parral  Carniceria y Fruteria was a front for street-level  narcotics
sales.

El Parral may be gone, but darkened storefronts and  criminal activity
continue to plague the only three  tenants still operating: Tortacos,
a tax preparation  company and a barber shop.

"We still see a lot of cars drive up to the store, get  out and walk
around," Ramirez said. "These are people  that we know normally
wouldn't be there unless they  were looking for drugs."

Several shopkeepers have fallen victim to a spate of  robberies and
burglaries. Tortacos was burglarized on  Monday. Someone smashed a
window and stole about $100.  The restaurant was held up twice around
Christmas last  year.

Jorge Castano, who owns the tax preparation company  Latin Georgia
Services 2, said the grocery store was  burglarized at least four
times before the police shut  it down. The owners never reported the
burglaries  because they were trying to conceal their illicit  trade,
Castano said.

Tenants say the shopping center has fallen into  disrepair. No lights
come on after dark, and about half  the storefront windows are boarded
up or empty.

Mercedes Ramirez, who primarily runs Tortacos, took a  second job at a
doctor's office and cut the restaurant  staff from four employees to
two to offset declining  profits.

"We're right now in a situation that has not allowed us  to move," she
said, since the restaurant is bound by a  lease. "I don't know what's
going to happen."

Property records show the shopping center went into  foreclosure in
August. A Florida mortgage finance  company, Bayview Loan Servicing,
purchased it. Brian  Bomstein, the attorney representing the company,
said  Bayview is still locked in litigation over the  property.
Bomstein said the company does not have  possession of the shopping
center, and he declined to  comment about the state of affairs there.

Castano said many of the people who used to frequent  the shopping
center were illegal immigrants. Customers  are now staying away
because they believe police are  still watching the place.

"People are nervous," Castano said.

Purple Inc.

Drugs can rob a man of many things: a home, children,  marriage, job,
reputation and health.

But Joel and Brett Bagley have made a business of  restoring lives at
Purple Inc., a drug and alcohol  treatment center for men in
Lawrenceville.

The father-son team of certified addiction counselors  bought a
100-year-old farmhouse off  Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road in 2003 and
turned into a  place of healing. The serene 8-acre tract boasts a
volleyball court, fire pit, and an oddball assortment  of goats,
chickens and guinea hens. With its relaxed  atmosphere and the
camaraderie of up to 23 clients,  Purple Inc. is designed to immerse
addicts in "recovery  as a way of life," Brett Bagley said.

"We give them a new life, is what we do," Bagley said.

Bagley, who became addicted to drugs in his junior year  of high
school, understands what clients are going  through. In-patient
treatment worked for him, as he  hopes it will for those who come to
stay at Purple. The  program also treats the families of addicts. His
father, Joel, learned the importance of including  families in the
healing process in the wake of Brett's  addiction.

Counselors at Purple say addicts will always find  something to numb
them from problems - be it alcohol,  prescription pills or illegal
narcotics. But the more  widely available a drug is, the more socially
  acceptable it starts to become, Brett Bagley said.

The easy availability, increased potency and lower  price of narcotics
is a concern for counselors at  Purple. Ashley Kilpatrick, an
addiction counselor since  1985, said the drug problem in metro
Atlanta seemed to  reach a crisis point around 2005.

"I have known more kids under age 20 that have  overdosed on narcotics
in the last four years than the  previous 20 years put together,"
Kilpatrick said.

Yet there is also plenty of cause for hope. The  counselors at Purple
point out that the Atlanta area  has a huge recovery movement. There
are nearly 30  narcotics recovery meetings held each week in various
locations in Gwinnett County. The meetings have an  average attendance
of 30 people who are fighting to  take back control of their lives,
according to the  Georgia Regional Service Committee of Narcotics
Anonymous.

Among them are many people, such as the Bagley family  and the
counselors at Purple, who are willing to lead  broken people along the
path of sobriety.

"We live what it is we ask them to do," Brett Bagley  said. "We create
opportunities for recovery to happen." 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D