MESSAGE TO LANDLORDS: TAKE ON DRUG DEALERS

Donny Gusler wants landlords to take on drug dealers to make rental
property safer for tenants.

"I challenge them to get involved," Gusler said. "It's up to
landlords to make their property safe for their tenants. Decent
people want a safe place for their kids to play."

Gusler, assistant manager of the Richwood and Glen Ridge apartment
complex south of Martinsville, said there was a drug problem at
Richwood when he started working in the maintenance department
nearly three years ago.

"It was like Dodge City when I first came there," he said, with gun
fights and rowdy behavior commonplace.

At the time, Gusler was just looking for a job. He had worked at
Fieldcrest for 18 years when the company closed.

"When the lady interviewing me found out I had a black belt in
karate, I wondered why that was such a big issue," Gusler said.

He soon found out, and realized he was destined for a different sort
of maintenance work.

"I don't mind getting up in a drug dealer's face and I'm not one to
buckle down to people getting up in my face," Gusler said, and he
decided to turn the tables.

"My goal was to do away with, not just cut down, the drug activity"
at the apartment complex, he said.

To do that, Gusler enlisted the help of some old friends at the
Henry County Sheriff's Office.

"Richwood, like some other apartment complexes, ended up having
problems (with people) hanging around there .... congregating or
associating in the parking lot" and other areas, said sheriff's
Major Kimmy Nester. "We answered quite a few calls there."

But unlike many other apartment managers, Gusler wanted to do
something about his problem, said Sheriff Frank Cassell.

"He realizes that there's a problem and he cooperates," said
Cassell. "He calls us and gives us information. A lot of managers
don't want to admit they have a problem and don't want to get
involved and he wants very much to get involved."

That helps police do their job, he said.

"It works a lot better when you've got a manager who is working to
keep a complex cleaned up," Cassell said.

However, "it's not something you change overnight," Nester said.

Working with vice officers and other investigators, Gusler came up
with a plan to put extra patrols in the area. Vice officers also
offered other tips on tools to help combat the problem.

For instance, surveillance cameras were a boon to the effort, Gusler said.

"Some of the cameras are visible, some are not," he said, recalling
that installing the cameras meant first convincing the property's
owners in Winston-Salem, N.C., Landura Investment, that it was a good idea.

Shirley Hunt, head property manager at the complex, oversaw the
camera installation, Gusler said.

The results were positive.

"The cameras helped tremendously. Nobody wants to be on camera," Gusler said.

Since the parking lot and nearby areas were visible from the road in
either direction, officers occasionally would stake out the area on
foot. Undesirables in the area wouldn't see the patrol cars or have
an opportunity to disperse before officers could make an arrest, Gusler said.

Such efforts are ongoing. The reason for them, to Gusler, is summed
up in a new sign recently erected at the entrance of the apartment complex.

The sign reads: "Give Our Kids A Chance," he said.

Gusler paid for the sign out of his own pocket.

"It's like in the military when you raise the American flag for an
area after you take it," he said of the sign's significance.

Now, Gusler would like other property owners with similar problems
to join the fight.

Giving residents a safe place to live and children a safe place to
play while taking a bite out of drugs is challenging but also
rewarding, Gusler said.

And the more involvement, the better, both Gusler and Nester said.

"It's really a form of community policing. We all live within
society," Nester said. Combining efforts towards a common goal
results in "the most positive response" and the most positive outcome.