Community show of strength
shuts down drug dealers

By Terri Krueger
One night each week the Rev. Karen S. Boehk of Smithville dons a neon green T-shirt and white hard hat. She then hits the streets with other members of the community in an effort to rid Smithville of people dealing illegal drugs.
After moving to Smithville in June 2003, Boehk, pastor of First UMC, soon learned that the city, like most communities, had a drug problem.

Church in community
When a member of her congregation and his girlfriend (then a senior in Smithville High School) approached Boehk about the possibility of the community doing something about the drug problem, she began to consider what being the church in the community means.
A new high school had opened the previous year, and the street closest to the school property was an area of high drug trafficking.
The two young United Methodists were aware that several of their friends had become drug users, and they were very concerned.
After receiving the blessing of the First UMC administrative council, Boehk, chair of the Smithville Ministerial Alliance, took the concern to other pastors. The alliance was eager to address the drug problem.
The next step was to get the city of Smithville and the local police department on board.
Having accomplished that, it was time to schedule the training from “Turn Around America,” a movement to eliminate illegal drugs from neighborhoods.
The movement began in founder Herman Wrice’s West Philadelphia neighborhood of Mantua and was originally known as “Mantua Against Drugs.”
Co-founder Andy Garr of St. Petersburg, Fla., and others spread the effort to cities in Georgia, Florida, Texas and New Mexico.
Because the approach affected much more than drugs when applied in Taylor, Texas, it became known as “Turn Around Taylor.”
Training in Smithville took place March 10 through 12 at First UMC under Garr’s leadership.

Marches begin
Since the training, people of Smithville have marched every week but two: Holy Week and the week of high school graduation. The marches usually begin at 8 p.m. and end around 10:30 p.m. However, the group has been out past midnight on several occasions.
As many as 43 people have boarded two low-boy trailers to be transported from one area to another. In addition, the group is always accompanied by one or two police officers in patrol cars.
The good news is that the effort works. There has already been evidence of that in Smithville.
The nonviolent process shuts down drug activity because the very presence of the community interrupts business. When business cannot be conducted, drug dealers either stop selling or move to another location.
Should drug dealers move from Smithville to other communities, people from Smithville intend to support turn-around efforts there.
In addition to addressing the illegal-drug problem, the effort has brought the community together in a new way. It has built a supportive relationship between the police department and the citizens of Smithville, and it has brought the faith community together as well.
Meetings are at various churches, and each march begins in the parking lot of one of the churches.
Before boarding trailers destined for the march area, group members stand in a circle, hold hands and pray for safety and success. People from Taylor and Elgin have come to Smithville to support the effort.
The people in neon green T-shirts and white hard hats chanting slogans like “Up with hope! Down with dope!”; “Save the children! Save the babies!”; and “If you keep selling crack, we will be back!” are becoming a positive influence on the children of our neighborhoods.
One evening the group met at a local park for a picnic. Participants cooked hot dogs and hamburgers and invited children playing in the park to join the meal. Everyone had a great time, and drug trafficking was obviously interrupted.

Called to take stand
“It is also our prayer that we might become a positive influence on those who are selling drugs to our young people—ruining their minds and lives—and that they might be open to the better way” that leads to true happiness, Boehk said.
“We are mindful that Christ calls us to love even the drug dealers of the world,” she said. “However, we are also mindful that Christ calls us to take a stand against such behavior just as he stood up to those who were abusing the temple and turning it into anything but a house of prayer.”
How long will the people of Smith-ville be involved in these weekly anti-drug marches? For as long as it takes, because they are “Up with hope! Down with dope!”