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A-C Police Seize Home In Drug Raid (of 82 year old widow)
Athens Banner-Herald (GA) ^ | January 11, 2002 | Joan Stroer

Posted on 01/12/2002 8:17:18 PM PST by NC_Libertarian

Police have long had the right under state and federal law to seize property if they can show it's linked to the illegal drug trade. Athens-Clarke police have rarely moved to commandeer a house.

Thursday, they seized a west Athens house owned by an 82-year-old widow neighbors call ''Ma,'' claiming she was knowingly letting her son use the property as a staging site for drug sales. Police predicted more home forfeitures, as they look for fresh ways to end open drug dealing that still troubles some Athens neighborhoods.

''This community is why we're here today -- it's part of our problem-solving approach to policing the community,'' said Mike Hunsinger of the Athens-Clarke Police Drug and Vice Squad. ''I think we're going to see more of it.''

Fannie Gresham's attorney, Jim Smith, likened the police action to the widespread illegal theft of African-American real estate that tarnishes America's past. ''What they're doing is taking property from black folks,'' he said. ''They don't attack white folks.''

Under the watchful eyes of neighbors, officers entered the tiny Julius Drive home of Gresham and changed the locks. Police on Thursday also arrested Gresham's son, Tommie ''Top Dollar'' Gresham, 50, on a cocaine possession charge after he allegedly dropped several rocks of crack cocaine and fled the scene, returning later while police were still there.

His mother was at the hospital visiting a sick relative during the police operation, according to her attorney, who accused police of confiscating the home of an innocent old woman. Neighbors described her as a kindly lady who walked to a nearby church every Sunday for services.

''Right here is a good example of the state taking property'' without evidence, Smith said, videotaping the operation from the street. ''There's not any drugs in this house. They have never seized any drugs in this house. This lady is not accused of a single thing.'' The police complaint alleged the senior Gresham facilitated her son's alleged operation by allowing the house to become a hub of drug activity. Some 29 incidents of drug activity have been noted at the address there since 1992, records show.

Police were armed with a court order issued by Superior Court Judge Stephen Boswell, who heard evidence in December of alleged drug activity at the property. Police say drug dealers were caught numerous times by police fetching drugs from the house for street-side sales, and running after cars to sell drugs to motorists.

Boswell gave Gresham 14 days to move her belongings. A hearing on the seizure is scheduled for February in Clarke Superior Court. Boswell signed the order as a visiting judge after the Western Judicial Circuit's three Superior Court judges recused themselves in the case. Seized by the state government was a Jim Walter home that Gresham and her husband erected in the 1950s, paying for it partly with money from a job she held at a local poultry plant. Her husband Tom died in June. The sudden lockdown at the address surprised at least one visitor, dropping off a package for Gresham, who she described as a lovely person and a good customer. The visitor found only an empty locked house.

''All I know is what I bring them,'' Mary Brake said.''It's prescription drugs.''


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: donutwatch; wodlist
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To: NC_Libertarian
Man, if we're this brutal to elderly widows, imagine what we must be doing to the king pins.

Selling them pardons?

21 posted on 01/13/2002 3:21:42 AM PST by sneakypete
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To: bjcintennessee
Several years back there was a report of a man soliciting a prostitute from his vehicle. He was arrested, and because he was using his vehicle to perpetrate a crime, his vehicle was confiscated.

I remember this story well. It was one of the few asset seizure stories that got widely reported. It had nothing to do with drugs,though. A man had been arrested for "solicitation of prostitution" in a "John sting",and the police seized his car for resale based on that. His wife sued to get the car back,stating it was in her name too,and this amounted to a "unfair taking". Not surprisingly (the courts get a cut of asset seizure sales,too),the judge ruled against her,and ordered the criminal car sold.

BTW,Jay Leno and a few others got a LITTLE mileage out of this story from the jokes they told,but nobody really seemed to care. The story dissapeared after a couple of days.

22 posted on 01/13/2002 3:29:31 AM PST by sneakypete
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To: stimulate
crime kills freedom, not government.

ROFLMAO! Are you sure YOU'RE not on crack?

23 posted on 01/13/2002 3:30:46 AM PST by sneakypete
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To: NC_Libertarian
Here is a more recent article(I wonder why you didn't use this article, the reason IMHO will be in bold)

Buyers show interest in confiscated home

By Joan Stroer jstroer@onlineathens.com

One widow's tragedy is another person's treasure, it seems.

Police phones rang Friday with prospective home-buyers expressing interest in a $20,00 Athens house drug officers confiscated Thursday from Fannie Gresham, an 82-year-old widow accused of allowing illegal drug sales there.

Barring court reversals, the state now owns ''Ma's House,'' a tiny home on Julius Drive with a well-tended patch of collard greens in the backyard. Proceeds from a sale will be shared by police and the Western Circuit District Attorney, but Athens-Clarke Police Chief Jack Lumpkin said the rare step of home forfeiture was not taken for money.

A neighborhood watch group pushed for the government seizure after Gresham, known to neighbors as ''Ma,'' turned a deaf ear to warnings from friends, neighbors and police, Lumpkin said. Police predict more such seizures as they go after the drug trade in some of Athens' troubled neighborhoods.

''Miss Gresham has been warned numerous times,'' Lumpkin said Friday. ''The issue is for the neighbors to have some peace of mind, and a crime and drug-free neighborhood, where they're not threatened by drugs.''

Some 29 incidents of drug activity were noted by police at her property since 1992, and authorities say drug dealers were caught numerous times fetching drugs from the house for street sales.

Based on that, and police claims that the elder Gresham was helping her son's alleged operation, visiting Superior Court Judge Stephen Boswell issued a court order in December allowing the seizure. Gresham's son, 50-year-old Tommie Gresham, was arrested Thursday during the raid on a charge of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Boswell gave Fannie Gresham 14 days to move her belongings out of the small house, which she and her husband, Tom, built in the 1950s. Tom Gresham died in June. A hearing to delve into the facts of the case is scheduled for February in Clarke Superior Court.

Jim Smith, an attorney for both Greshams, said he plans to appeal the forfeiture of Gresham's home to the Georgia Court of Appeals, and he claims her son is innocent of Thursday's drug charge. The elder Gresham was away during the seizure, and is now staying with relatives. Smith described her as ''frail,'' and ''upset'' over the loss of her home.

''They're taking property without any factual basis whatsoever,'' he said. ''That's all she owned.''

LINK

GASP

How dare those Nazi neighbors for wanting a drug free neighborhood. /sarcasm

Anyway before I get out of the way of this circlejerk of a thread for the Libertarian/ACLU crowd on FR, I will ask you all one question.

Would you like to have this lady and her son as your next door neighbors?

24 posted on 01/13/2002 3:36:51 AM PST by Dane
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To: Dane
Would you like to have this lady and her son as your next door neighbors?
Better them than you Dane. Blackbird.
25 posted on 01/13/2002 3:52:22 AM PST by BlackbirdSST
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To: Dane
An average of three times a year for 9 straight years, there was drug activity. That is definitely a huge problem in the neighborhood. Next they will take houses based on loud drunken parties, or excessive firework shows. How many people stay up late 3 times a year to make noise? New Years Day, Independence Day, and a birthday would make them as dangerous as this old lady was.
26 posted on 01/13/2002 4:12:27 AM PST by jeremiah
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To: stimulate
and crime kills freedom, not government

You might want to see a doctor about that bump on your head.

27 posted on 01/13/2002 4:19:43 AM PST by another1
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To: BlackbirdSST
Better them than you Dane. Blackbird.

Amen.

28 posted on 01/13/2002 4:21:43 AM PST by another1
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To: AMMON-CENTRIST
Laws circumscribing the distribution of drugs to minors are valid, don't you think?

Agreed. Lets start with ritalin. I don't even think minors should drink coffee. I have a real problem with a society that teaches "drugs are bad" then proceeds to drug children. And don't think for a minute the incongruity is lost on our children.

29 posted on 01/13/2002 4:23:37 AM PST by £inuxgruven
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To: Dane
Would you like to have this lady and her son as your next door neighbors?

Better them than you. You and your type are clearly more dangerous to society.

30 posted on 01/13/2002 4:29:09 AM PST by £inuxgruven
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To: NC_Libertarian
Her attorney, James C. Linger of Tulsa, said the land in nearby Bixby consists of 25 or 30 acres. He said he thinks the appraised value is about $30,000.

This guy isn't exactly as sharp as a tack. Hopefully he didn't take this non exact approach in arguing the case.

These land takings are bogus. It has turned into trophy collecting for some law enforcement agencies. Seizure laws need to be reversed in their application. Meaning that reasonable doubt should be the threshold for the landowner to retain property and that the trial should occur prior to the taking.

31 posted on 01/13/2002 5:04:22 AM PST by RGSpincich
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To: Dane
The article you post and the article re: rural land present different problems. In the city, the activity is detremental to the community and the activity generated by that house is dangerous to the neighborhood. The widow should have been given the option to secure a TRO to keep the drug dealer son away. After a hearing the TRO could have become permanent. Something did have to be done immediately. From personal experience I can say that if the drug activity at the house was not shut down by the authorities, the neighbors may have encountered legal problems by taking the law into their own hands.

However, the rural property that was confiscated did not seem like a danger was present to the community. This was an example of lazy law enforcement expecting law abiding citizens to do their job.

32 posted on 01/13/2002 5:25:24 AM PST by RGSpincich
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To: Dane
WIDOW WILL LOSE RURAL ACREAGE

by Robert E Boczkiewicz

Oklahoma

DENVER -- A 68-year-old Tulsa widow who bought a rural acreage with benefits she received as the spouse of a man listed as missing in action in Vietnam will lose it because she allegedly allowed her son to grow marijuana there, a divided appeals court ruled Thursday. The federal government will be allowed to take Ozella Scott's land under a drug enforcement law, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1.

Her attorney, James C. Linger of Tulsa, said the land in nearby Bixby consists of 25 or 30 acres. He said he thinks the appraised value is about $30,000.

Scott was not charged with any crime. She put up a legal fight to stop the forfeiture of her property, arguing she was the innocent owner of the land.

A federal Bureau of Indian Affairs agent and an Oklahoma Air National Guard pilot were killed Aug. 28, 1995, when their helicopter crashed while they were conducting drug surveillance over the land.

Scott's son, Mark, was arrested later that day for marijuana crimes on the property where he lived in a trailer.

The two appellate judges who decided Scott should lose ownership of her land concluded she had turned a blind eye to her son's illegal activities on her property.

"Congress has placed strict duties upon landowners to rid their property of drug activity," they wrote in an 11-page decision. "The fact that the occupant was Ms. Scott's son does not relieve her of her duties as a landowner to take all reasonable steps to keep her property free of illegal activities."

She denied she had allowed him to engage in marijuana growing and cited her efforts against his illegal activities.

The other judge, who wrote a seven-page dissent, said the lower court judge should have allowed a jury to determine whether evidence proved that Scott was "willfully blind" to her son's criminal conduct. She did not live on the property.

The lower court judge, James Ellison of U.S. District Court in Tulsa, granted a summary judgment in favor of the federal government, concluding there was no need for a jury trial.

Scott's husband, who was shot down over Vietnam, was declared dead after several years listed as missing in action, Linger said. Scott received government benefits as the surviving widow and used the money to buy the land.

Mark Allen was convicted of several crimes connected to his marijuana- growing activities on the land. Police caught him with five marijuana plants, 1.4 pounds of marijuana and items allegedly used in drug activity.

He testified he tried to conceal his criminal activity from his mother.

The U.S. attorney in Tulsa initiated the forfeiture proceedings against her. The law allows a judge to give the government ownership of property "used, or intended to be used . . . to commit, or to facilitate" a drug crime.

> He testified he tried to conceal his criminal activity from his mother.

Maybe the guberment should buy everyone a four wheel drive quad, so this old lady could patrol the land
Also a uniform would be nice --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

33 posted on 01/13/2002 5:37:42 AM PST by Boner1
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To: Boner1
"Congress has placed strict duties upon landowners to rid their property of drug activity," they wrote in an 11-page decision. "The fact that the occupant was Ms. Scott's son does not relieve her of her duties as a landowner to take all reasonable steps to keep her property free of illegal activities."

Show me the Article, Section or Amendment that requires landowners to be law enforcement officers. Show me, I'm waiting ... Ahh, I see. There really isn't any, but the Constitution is a "living document", open to interpretation as is politically fitting.

Stalin would be proud ...

34 posted on 01/13/2002 6:18:39 AM PST by bassmaner
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To: NC_Libertarian
Ive already seen this article Im against all drug laws they are a foolish waste of taxpayer money doesn't the government have terrorist to go after?
35 posted on 01/13/2002 8:24:39 AM PST by weikel
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To: jeremiah
Ridiculous.You obviously have no conception about how destrutive one or more crack houses can be to a neighbohood.It's not just about a bunch of individuals wanting to get "high".Iam talking about quality of life issues, like drive by shootings,robbery's,burglary,rape,et.al.
36 posted on 01/13/2002 10:02:22 AM PST by stimulate
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To: NC_Libertarian
Kingpins can buy justice. Damn these looting bastards.
37 posted on 01/13/2002 12:01:25 PM PST by steve50
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To: NC_Libertarian
Seizure of property. It's only a matter of time before the Feds will find an excuse to take your property, too.
38 posted on 01/13/2002 1:06:45 PM PST by Rocky
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To: NC_Libertarian
The telephone number for the attorney representing the little ole lady in Athens, Jim Smith, is (706)353-3300. I am still trying to find out exactly where in Athens this Julius Drive is located.

With the UGA constantly expanding, businesses wanting more parking (parking is the major problem in Athens) the key is location..location...location!

A lot of the older houses are along the Oconee River which the city wants for "greenspace".

The husband of a girl in my office works for a newspaper. I'll see what I can find out tomorrow.

39 posted on 01/13/2002 3:31:51 PM PST by CFW
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To: razorback-bert; donut watch
To donut watch police issues list.

To find all articles tagged or indexed using above index words

Go here: OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

and then click the topic to initiate the search! !

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

40 posted on 01/14/2002 5:48:56 AM PST by harpseal
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