DATE: Friday, August 1, 1997                TAG: 9708010736

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   89 lines

NEIGHBORS, POLICE SNUFF OUT CRACK HOUSES CHILDREN CAN PLAY IN STREETS ONCE KNOWN FOR DRIVE-THRU DRUG DEALS.

A cute little house on Bank Street is no longer a hornets nest of crack cocaine addicts, thanks to a neighborhood power move backed by police.

``That house used to have a yard full of people all the time making loud noise,'' said neighbor Evelyn King, who has lived in the area of the city called Sawyertown for about 10 years. ``There was drug dealing and who knows what else going on. Every night and every day. But now it's quiet.''

Jessica Adams and her five children moved into the house after the landlord booted his former tenants, put on new siding, replaced the broken windows and fence, and reseeded the grass.

``We want to do our part to make things nice,'' Adams said. She has planted flowers where there used to be a bed of broken wine bottles. When she leaves her house in the morning she always gets a greeting from her neighbors across the street.

``It's like it used to be here in Sawyertown,'' said Betty Johnson, who lives just down the street.

The cleanup there is part of an aggressive effort by Police Chief Michael Lloyd and the six-month old Community-Police Leadership Group to hold landlords responsible for keeping up their property and carefully choosing who they take as tenants. A new federal program called Crime Free Housing allows landlords to do background checks.

``If a renter can choose not to rent to people who smoke or who have pets, then it's certainly legal not to rent to convicted criminals,'' Lloyd said.

Efforts like this are working already in 400 cities across the United States and Canada, Lloyd said.

Residents and police also have teamed with city building inspectors to condemn some of the crack houses.

A dilapidated house on the corner of Bell and Grady streets, long used as a crack convenience store, will close down Aug. 21. City inspectors and police officers found dozens of violations one afternoon in early July including the rental of seven different rooms by the owner.

That will rid the Sawyertown area of another popular and easily accessible crack house. Until recently, drug customers could swing onto Bell Street off U.S. 17 and drive slowly by the house to signal a desire to purchase crack. The seller stepped inside to get a ``rock'' while the buyer circled the block.

``It's curb-side service with a good product just like a fast-food outlet,'' Lloyd said. ``It only takes about 10 seconds.''

Well-known crack houses are on Third Street, Harney Street, West Fearing Street and South Road Street, said Sgt. J.D. Young of the Elizabeth City Police Department. He could name a half dozen others, but declined because they are under investigation, he said.

Police can raid these hot spots only when they know they'll find dope. It can take two or three hours to get a search warrant and by then the deal may be done and the evidence gone, Young said.

``To make an arrest, you've got to know they are doing it,'' Young said while riding through Sawyertown in his patrol car. ``You have to have an informant. There are a million and one laws about searches and any one of them can throw out a case. Just because I'm 99 percent sure they've got drugs, I can't just jump out and run these guys in.''

Before the community group formed, police had resigned themselves to making an occasional sting without hope of closing the crack houses that have ruined neighborhoods.

``A lot of us at one point had just given up,'' Young said. ``We said, `OK, they're there, let's just keep them there.' ''

Sawyertown still has four active crack houses and at least one house that serves as a bordello.

Vacant houses are also havens for crack users. A house on Bell Street has no tenants and is in bad repair but there is plenty of activity in it.

While on patrol recently, Young stepped through the broken back door, passed through the filthy living room and into one of the bedrooms. The stench was overwhelming. Hundreds of matches scattered the floor, each one representing a crack high. Pipes made from car antennas or beer cans were plentiful.

Users cut car antennas about 3 inches long, stuff one end with a hunk of scouring pad for a filter, and inhale the smoke of the burning crack from the other end.

``They'll use one room for sleeping and another room for a bathroom,'' Young said. ``There are at least 10 houses like this around Elizabeth City that need to come down.''

Shutting down or fixing up just one crack house can make a huge difference, Young said. The renovated house on Bank Street has become a success story for neighbors and police alike.

``It cut down our calls considerably,'' Young said.

Marion Ames, a 30-year resident of Bank Street, can work in her flower garden any time of the day now.

``I used to come out only in the early morning when the drug addicts were sleeping,'' Ames said while standing on her front porch one night recently. The once infamous house across the street was quiet and peaceful looking. Several children rode their bicycles by her house.

``See? Children can even ride their bikes after dark now.''

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