Drugs Stink, Group Says, and So Do Parks (With Good Reason) : Activism: An Anaheim group’s bid to drive out dealers by spreading manure where users congregate in parks is catching on. Now more citizens are lining up for the dung, smelling the kill.

A citizens’ group that dumped cow manure in a park last month, hoping the stench would drive out drug dealers, gave away 15,000 pounds of manure Saturday to dozens of other city activists who immediately started a similar anti-drug crusade.

“We want to take back our streets and our parks and let the drug dealers and addicts know what we think of them,” said Harald Martin, a 38-year-old resident who organized the event.

Martin, a member of a community group called Somebody, said the manure drops were “mainly symbolic gestures” aimed at “drawing attention to the drug problem in the city.”

The group garnered national attention Feb. 14 when it spread 1,750 pounds of dung in La Palma Park, in an area where drug dealers plied their wares. The group’s name, organizers said, stems from the common lament: “The police can’t solve all of our problems, but somebody’s got to do something.”

After the initial manure spreading, residents and community groups from throughout the city contacted Martin and asked if he would help them do the same thing in their neighborhoods. To help matters, a representative of Bandini Corp.--suppliers of the odoriferous fertilizer--offered to donate all the manure he would need.

Thus, “Operation Steer Clear” was born Saturday when residents lined up in the street near the site of the first drop to load their cars and trucks with 50-pound bags of manure and grass seed.

They set off to dump manure at Pearson Park and six other problem areas in Anaheim. Many were armed with shovels, rakes or a good pair of gloves, while others carried placards protesting drug activity.

Jules Bergeron, 76, held a sign in one hand and his dog’s leash in the other.

“Enough is enough,” he said. “We’re going to get the attention of all these drug dealers, pushers and bums and let them know we’re not going to stand for it.

“I hate to see beautiful parks like ours go down the shoot,” Bergeron said. “We’ve got to do something.”

Nearby, 38-year-old Deborah Jones, who was waiting for her bag of manure, added: “We’re going to keep on doing this until they get the message. Our parks are for our kids, not drug dealers.”

Helping load the manure into vehicles were residents of a local drug and alcohol rehabilitation house, who said they benefited from the first manure drop.

“This is helping everyone,” said Len Taylor, director of Victor House. “It’s difficult on our men who are recovering from drug and alcohol addictions when they can’t even walk across to the park and go to the store without someone trying to sell them drugs.”

Despite the enthusiasm of the residents, Martin, a police officer who grew up in the city, said he and most of his cohorts realize that spreading manure “is not going to solve the problem of drugs.”

But, he said, the effort is binding the residents in a common cause.

“We’re telling the bad guys that they not only to have to worry about the police, but they also have us to worry about,” Martin said.

Nonetheless, he said, it does work, at least in the short run. “The drug dealers haven’t been back to the park since we first spread the manure,” Martin said. “They may have gone somewhere nearby, but they are not there anymore.”

Who can blame them, Martin said. “This stuff smells.”