In a twist of events to the drug clean-up effort spearheaded by a Hamilton Parish neighbourhood, plans are now afoot to set up a halfway house in the area to counsel drug addicts.

Cottage Hill resident Leroy Bean said in order to ensure that drug activity in the area was extinguished, offenders needed to be counselled in an environment familiar to them, because they were also members of the neighbourhood.

"We're looking at a location in the area,'' he said. "There are residents in this community who have a drug problem and they are crying out for help.'' Mr.

Bean, a drug counsellor himself, said it was imperative that the halfway house be a community effort. He said that once the facility was built, there would be volunteers along with himself to assist in helping drug addicts.

He noted there was a "serious need'' for the unit and pointed out that his job was never ending as he was often approached by drug sufferers in the community.

"There is no denying that there is a problem,'' he said. "They come knocking to my door in the midnight hour asking for food, looking for help, saying they're tired.

"This has got to be a community effort. We need to make the Bermuda public aware, instead of just chucking them away.'' And he believed the pioneering effort of having a facility such as this in the community's "backyard,'' would not face opposition from the residents.

"We're working with residents in the neighbourhood,'' he explained. "It has to go in their backyard, because they (drug addicts) are from the residence.

"This is not a Focus effort, or a Harbour Light effort, or a National Drug Commission effort, but a community effort.'' Last Saturday, the Cottage Hill neighbourhood rallied together to tear down trees and clean up debris from a wooded area that was being used for drug activity.

Residents finally took a stand when a woman, who lived in the area, had her house broken into over the Christmas holiday. The thief made off with her Christmas presents as well as valuable jewellery.

Mr. Bean maintained that the thefts were not "one-off occurrences'' and some victims of these crimes had children committing the offences.

He contended the halfway house was a preservation effort for the neighbourhood, saying it was important to stop the cycle of crime the addicts were in and "assist them to be more productive members of society''.

"It's more than just cutting down trees and being done with it,'' he said.

"We're not just going to tolerate the crime. We have to provide help of some other kind.'' He continued: "Some of these guys are masons, waiters and carpenters. People have to realise that we have to do something and stop living in denial.''