Post by: Antigen on August 01, 2001, 11:05:34 PM
That's exactly the sort of thing I need for the archive! It's going in. I was wondering if ya'll would help me out with a little research on another article?
The following story, and photo-op for block monitoring that it tels about, both look like a minor rework of any of a number of such media stunts put together by a tightly knit, unimaginably well funded, carefully camaflaged conspiracy to normalize fascism; the DFAF.
I'm looking for anything, past or present, hard print or vague memory, relating to every individual, organization and project mentioned in this article. I'm going to stuff them into a database and add a search box to the search results. That way, we can wander through the x-references just by copying and pasting words from the article to see what we've got.
If this flies, I think I might do the same for different geographic locations. So please forward this out to anyone who might be interested no matter where they are?
Thanks,
Ginger
>X-Return-Path:
>From: mapnews@mapinc.org (http://mailto:mapnews@mapinc.org)
>Subject: MN: US FL: East Tampa Residents Seek Help In Drug War
>Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (http://mailto:owner-mapnews@mapinc.org)
>Organization: Media Awareness Project
>
>Newshawk: JohnC, The November Coalition
>Website:
>Author: Laura Kinsler of The Tampa Tribune
>
>EAST TAMPA RESIDENTS SEEK HELP IN DRUG WAR
>
>TAMPA - From the back seat of a sport utility vehicle, Vivian Heyward gives
>directions to the driver.
>
>``Turn left here,'' she says, and the driver pulls onto 38th Street.
>
>Heyward has a list of sites to see today, but this is no usual tour of her
>east Tampa neighborhood. The driver is a Tampa narcotics officer, and she
>wants to make sure he knows where to find the dealers and hookers.
>
>``See, there's no streetlights,'' she says. ``They sell drugs here all
>night because it's so dark.''
>
>The drive past a Caribbean restaurant. ``See that, in the alley behind the
>restaurant,'' she says. ``They congregate there, especially on the first of
>the month. They've got everything, from crack to quaaludes.''
>
>vacant lot. ``That's just a throw off,'' Heyward says. ``They're not having
>a barbecue. They're selling drugs.''
>
>A community activist, Heyward and her neighbors have declared war on the
>crime that is so pervasive around their homes. They organize drug marches.
>They hold crime watch meetings. They pleaded with the Tampa City Council
>for help.
>
>Earlier this month they even asked the governor to send in the state police.
>
>Queen Miller, who lives on 25th Street, wants her neighborhood back. The
>users and sellers take over the street, especially at the beginning of the
>month.
>
>``I can't even sit on my front porch,'' Miller says. ``I feel like a hostage.''
>
>The dealers sell dope at package stores, in front of houses, even across
>the street from schools and churches, Miller says.
>
>The complaints are nothing new to the police department's QUAD squad, which
>stands for Quick Uniform Attack on Drugs. QUAD commander, Capt. Mike
>George, said the undercover units were formed to attack street- level drug
>dealing.
>
>``We're doing a tremendous amount of work in this area,'' George says.
>
>Every day the QUAD team works, the officers spend a portion of their day on
>22nd Street or at Lake Avenue and 29th Street. In the three months from
>February through April, Tampa police made 81 drug-related arrests in east
>Tampa. Police seized 13 vehicles, 922.5 grams of marijuana and 118.4 grams
>of cocaine. On one weekend in April, police arrested 32 suspects in an
>sweep termed ``Operation Nexus.''
>
>And they don't just go after the dealers. Undercover officers pose as
>sellers in reverse sting operations.
>
>``We arrest the buyers,'' George says. ``And we can seize their car. You
>can't attack the supply without also going after the demand.''
>
>The SUV makes its way down 22nd Street, past the empty lot where College
>Hill public housing used to be. The apartments may be gone, but the
>prostitutes and dealers still work the area, says Toni Watts, who works
>with an east Tampa community development corporation.
>
>``People aren't living here anymore, but there's still kids standing out
>there,'' Watts says.
>
>George understands their frustration. The city's three QUAD Squads made
>more than 2,000 arrests last year, and Chief Bennie Holder has asked for
>funding next year to add a fourth squad. But the problem is vast.
>
>``Drug dealers are different from every other type of crime,'' he says.
>``What they do affects everybody in the neighborhood. And we arrest them,
>but they make bail. It takes a year, sometimes a year and a half before
>they go to trial, and we may arrest them five or six times before they
>plead out.''
>
>He promises to keep trying. Two days after the tour, QUAD officers arrested
>a suspected dealer at the corner of 22nd Street and 29th Avenue.
>__________________________________________________________________________
>receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
>---
>MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
>
>
If there's a worse idea going than locking kids up for victimless crimes, it's probably locking them in close proximity to some tyrannical altruist bent on helping them whether they need it or not.