Bennett Honors 20 Americans for Work in Fighting Substance Abuse and Pushers : Drugs: People ‘on the true front lines’ are singled out for grass-roots efforts in their communities.

Drug policy director William J. Bennett cited 20 people “on the true front lines” of the war on drugs for their grass-roots efforts, saying: “It is possible to fight back--even to win.”

“These people are not angels,” Bennett said in a statement released Monday. “They are not saints. They are men and women who have seen their communities ravaged by drugs and they have decided to act.

“These Americans have figured out what armchair critics have not: It is possible to fight back--even to win.”

Bennett said he met those cited during his travels to three dozen cities throughout the country since the drug control strategy he developed was presented to the nation by President Bush on Sept. 5.

The 20, with background from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, are:

--Robert Armstrong, director of the Omaha Housing Authority, who “implemented no-nonsense eviction policies and went after known pushers.”

--Alvin Brooks, founder of the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime in Kansas City, also helped start Black Men Together, whose members walk some drug-infested streets, using bullhorns to warn drug dealers to leave.

--Jack Candelaria, president of the South San Jose Neighborhood Assn. in Albuquerque, which won establishment of a police sub-station in the neighborhood. Today, Police Chief Sam Baca said, “months will go by when the police don’t receive calls about drug pushing in the neighborhood.”

--The Rev. George Clements, pastor of Holy Angels Church and School in Chicago, who led a boycott of stores on Chicago’s South Side that sold drug paraphernalia after he found that all of his parishioners had relatives who were either hooked on drugs or had died because of them.

--Dorothy Davis, organizer of STOP Crime Watch in Dallas, and Assistant Police Chief Sam Gonzales. Davis started STOP Crime Watch after a 12-year-old girl was killed by drug violence in 1988. The organization has helped police and other city agencies in Operation CLEAN, Community and Law Enforcement Against Narcotics, an effort to root out drug offenders from targeted neighborhoods.

--Edward Johnson, organizer of the Fairlawn Coalition in Washington, which patrols the streets of the tough Anacostia section. Members wear bright orange baseball caps, carry radios, video cameras and binoculars and confront drug dealers and users with stares instead of verbal or physical confrontation.

--Ray Leary and Tony Hopson, directors of Self Enhancement Inc., in Portland, Ore., a program designed to provide young people with alternatives to gang and drug involvement.

--The Rev. Michael Lewis of Faith House Inc., in Tampa, Fla., one of the first black child placement agencies in that state to deal exclusively with cocaine and AIDS babies. “We took a crack house and turned it into a faith house,” Lewis said.

--The Rev. C. Jay Matthews and the Rev. Tony Minor, who helped begin the Wings of Hope program in Cleveland. It is a national church-based anti-drug program begun earlier this year in Atlanta by the Rev. Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

--Jeffrey Miller, principal of W. R. Thomas Junior High School in Miami, who implemented an aggressive drug education program and drug policies for the school, which was once labeled “Cocaine Alley” by a local newspaper.

--Frank Parks, athletic director of Springarn High School in Washington, which was certified “drug-free” by the U.S. Education Department in May. Parks enlisted students in his efforts to create a peer counseling group called SAND, Student Activities, Not Drugs.

--Erma Scales, chairman of the Acres Homes War on Drugs Committee in Houston. Neighbors wrote down license plate numbers of drivers buying drugs, told police of alleged drug dealers and tore down abandoned buildings that were used as crack houses.

--Margaret Toomey, manager of the Homes of Oakridge in Des Moines, which a year ago was surrounded by drug dealers. She organized tenants and has evicted about 60 families since 1988 because of drug problems.

--Ruth Varnado and Queen Hyler, organizers of Milwaukee’s Stop the Violence Movement, who acted after a 9-year-old boy was killed when playing in his back yard. With police cooperation, Milwaukee citizens last July 9 took to the streets to confront drug dealers and express their outrage. The movement encourages residents to report license plate numbers to police, and it has worked to remove drug paraphernalia from stores.

--Jean Veldwyk and Norm Chamberlain, leaders of the South Seattle Crime Prevention Council in Seattle. The council runs a hotline for reports of drug dealing and works with police to target drug “hot spots.”