Dann would revive program to close down drug houses

More than 150 drug houses were closed under the program in the early 1990s.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Marc Dann, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, will announce Monday that if elected he would restart and expand a defunct program that shuts down known drug houses.
Also attending the event in Youngstown City Council's conference room will be Mayor Jay Williams.
Dann, a state senator from Liberty, will discuss his plan to restart and expand "Operation Crackdown," a program created by Lee Fisher when he served as attorney general between 1991 and 1994. Fisher is the Democratic Party's lieutenant governor candidate.
Under Fisher, the program led to the closing of more than 150 drug houses in Ohio cities between those years, Dann said.
The program had the attorney general's office use Ohio's nuisance abatement law to obtain court orders that allowed it to board up known drug houses for up to one year.
After being closed, most of the houses were either sold by landlords to drug-free families or community groups, or were rehabilitated by the owner in exchange for having the injunction removed, Dann said.
Dann said he would use the law to shut down methamphetamine laboratories, in particular, and reduce the number of abandoned homes available for use by drug dealers.
Williams' support
Williams said if the program is properly implemented, which would require funding from the state and other entities to improve the houses, he favors it.
But the mayor said his support of the program shouldn't be considered an endorsement for Dann in his attorney general bid.
Williams, a registered Democrat who successfully ran for mayor last year as an independent, said Dann hasn't asked for his endorsement. Dann will face Auditor Betty Montgomery, a Republican and former attorney general, in the Nov. 7 general election.
skolnick@vindy.com