Pubdate: Sat, 12 Jan 2002
Source: Athens Banner-Herald (GA)
Copyright: 2002 Athens Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.onlineathens.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1535
Author: Joan Stroer

BUYERS SHOW INTEREST IN CONFISCATED HOME

One widow's tragedy is another person's treasure, it seems. Police phones 
rang Friday with prospective home-buyers expressing interest in a $20,000 
Athens house drug officers confiscated Thursday from Fannie Gresham, an 
82-year-old widow accused of allowing illegal drug sales there. Barring 
court reversals, the state now owns ''Ma's House,'' a tiny home on Julius 
Drive with a well-tended patch of collard greens in the backyard. Proceeds 
from a sale will be shared by police and the Western Circuit District 
Attorney, but Athens-Clarke Police Chief Jack Lumpkin said the rare step of 
home forfeiture was not taken for money. A neighborhood watch group pushed 
for the government seizure after Gresham, known to neighbors as ''Ma,'' 
turned a deaf ear to warnings from friends, neighbors and police, Lumpkin 
said. Police predict more such seizures as they go after the drug trade in 
some of Athens' troubled neighborhoods. ''Miss Gresham has been warned 
numerous times,'' Lumpkin said Friday. ''The issue is for the neighbors to 
have some peace of mind, and a crime and drug-free neighborhood, where 
they're not threatened by drugs.'' Some 29 incidents of drug activity were 
noted by police at her property since 1992, and authorities say drug 
dealers were caught numerous times fetching drugs from the house for street 
sales. Based on that, and police claims that the elder Gresham was helping 
her son's alleged operation, visiting Superior Court Judge Stephen Boswell 
issued a court order in December allowing the seizure. Gresham's son, 
50-year-old Tommie Gresham, was arrested Thursday during the raid on a 
charge of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Boswell gave 
Fannie Gresham 14 days to move her belongings out of the small house, which 
she and her husband, Tom, built in the 1950s. Tom Gresham died in June. A 
hearing to delve into the facts of the case is scheduled for February in 
Clarke Superior Court. Jim Smith, an attorney for both Greshams, said he 
plans to appeal the forfeiture of Gresham's home to the Georgia Court of 
Appeals, and he claims her son is innocent of Thursday's drug charge. The 
elder Gresham was away during the seizure, and is now staying with 
relatives. Smith described her as ''frail,'' and ''upset'' over the loss of 
her home. ''They're taking property without any factual basis whatsoever,'' 
he said. ''That's all she owned.''
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart