CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : EAST PALO ALTO : Anti-Drug Activist Wounded by Shots

A woman who has battled drug dealers in her East Palo Alto neighborhood for years was wounded when her home was sprayed with automatic weapons fire, authorities said. C. W. Roddy, 60, suffered a flesh wound in the stomach and was treated and released from a hospital. It is “only speculation” that the shooting was a scare tactic against the anti-drug activist, said Police Cmdr. Frank Churchill, adding that bullets hitting houses at random are not an uncommon occurrence in the rough neighborhoods of the city. “On New Year’s Eve, there were bullets sprayed into other homes and residences,” Churchill said. But neighborhood residents said the attack is at least the third on anti-drug neighbors, including a group that organized a block club to combat street-corner drug sales. Last fall, when she asked one dealer to move his truck away from her house, he punched her in the face, Roddy said.