The Turn Around New Cassel/Westbury Drug Fighters will celebrate two years of involvement in the war against drugs, crime, and gang activities in their community. A day of festivities has been planned for the Oct. 9 anniversary celebration, including a continental breakfast, a parade, and the dedication of a plaque inscribed with the organizations' motto, "A century ahead, a century behind, 'we the people' working together to make this century drug, gang and crime free."

The celebration will include other community groups in Nassau County who are fighting for similar causes, such as the Locust Valley Neighborhood Watch Association. Additionally, Ella Stevens, coordinator of Centennial Year events for Nassau County, will be on hand to participate. Stevens anticipates that County Executive Thomas Gulotta will also make an appearance in honor of the Drug Fighters' Second Anniversary and Nassau County's Centennial Year.

The Turn Around New Cassel/Westbury Drug Fighters came together in October 1997 in an effort to take back their neighborhood from the drug dealers, and to improve residents' quality of life in general. They use the Wrice Process, a targeted confrontation, mobilization and education process developed by Dr. Herman Wrice in response to the drug problem in his own Philadelphia neighborhood.

The Wrice Process is being implemented in communities nationwide, and in three foreign countries. It involves many components, including a close partnership between law enforcement officials and the community. The Drug Fighters meet weekly with officers from the 3rd Precinct at the New Cassel American Legion. Together, they attempt to isolate the "hot spots" of criminal activity in the neighborhood.

Every Friday night in communities across the nation, participants in the Wrice Process take to the streets to actively promote their anti-drug message. The New Cassel/Westbury Drug Fighters are no exception. Each and every Friday a group of six to eight concerned residents is escorted through the neighborhood by 3rd Precinct police officers. Sometimes they wear their Drug Fighter t-shirts and sing anti-drug songs. Other times they stand for hours in front of purported drug houses, thereby forcing the dealers to temporarily close-up shop.

Lieutenant Matthew Simeone of the Nassau County Police Department's 3rd Precinct has worked closely with the Turn Around New Cassel/Westbury Drug Fighters since their inception. He attests to the Drug Fighter's success using this Wrice Process method. "Two years ago, when the Drug Fighters hit the street, dealers closed their stores up. There were people at suspected drug locations who would actually pull down the gates in front of the store when they saw us coming. Since then," he said, "those particular stores have closed down for good."

Margaret Miller-Scott, founder of the Drug Fighters, and New Cassel resident for 39 years, remembers a time when, coming home from a long day at work, she would not be able to go down the block leading to her house until the drug dealers had finished their deals. "We have made a lot of progress," Miller-Scott said. But she believes there is still work to be done.

Miller-Scott's primary goal is to make Nassau County residents aware that drugs are not a "New Cassel problem," but a "people problem." She explained, "There are cars from other neighborhoods coming here--from all neighborhoods throughout Nassau and parts of Suffolk, and even some from upstate. They are coming to this area, to Brooklyn Avenue, to buy drugs, to bring them back to their own communities. We know who they are and just where they are coming from because of their license plate numbers."

"We've got to stop sweeping it under the rug and saying it's not our problem," she added.

Lieutenant Simeone credited the Drug Fighters for taking a stand, and for cooperating whole-heartedly with the police. He said, "When a police officer goes to a corner where there are a lot of people hanging out and he is trying to clear the corner, it is a lot easier for him to do his job knowing there are people in the community who support what he is doing, who want to clean up their neighborhood." He continued, "Then it is not just the police against this guy standing on the corner dealing drugs--it's the whole community. The Drug Fighters are making it easier for the police to do their job in the New Cassel/Westbury area."

Miller-Scott and the Drug Fighters request the support and participation of businesses, organizations, churches and individuals in the New Cassel and Westbury areas, and in all of Nassau County, as well. Volunteers are sorely needed. Advertisements and boosters are being sold for the Turn Around New Cassel/Westbury Drug Fighters and the Nassau County 100th Anniversary Commemorative Journal.

The kick-off for the New Cassel/Westbury Celebration of Nassau County's 100th Anniversary will be Oct. 8, at 5:00 p.m., at the American Legion on 887 Prospect Ave., New Cassel.

The Drug Fighters' Second Anniversary Celebration will be Oct. 9 at 7:00 a.m. at the Westbury Community Church, 700 Prospect Ave. in Westbury.

For more information, call Margaret Miller-Scott at 997-0408.