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Biggest UGA raid
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By STEVE ONEY
On the night of June 3, 1974,
Reed, Milledge and Payne
dormitories were the scene of
the largest single drug raid in
the history of the University.
Seventeen law enforcement of
ficers representing the Univer
sity police, Athens Police and
Clarke County Sheriff's office
participated, making 11 arrests.
The operation was military
in conception, with three-man
teams serving warrants on
occupants of dorm rooms who
had been under investigation
for over a month.
Neither The Red and Black
nor WUOG reported the raid,
as both campus medias had
suspended services for spring
quarter exams.
The raid resulted in what one
University drug officer called
“a potentially explosive situa
tion " For as the uniformed
and plain clothed police fanned
through the dormitories,
crowds of as many as 60 male
students followed Jammed in
to the narrow halls on a hot,
early summer night, the stu
dents taunted the police with
jeers and threats. Eggs splat
tered against walls. Rumors
about informers living in the
dorm travelled like wildfire.
One junior I who for his own
safety will be called Thom
Hunter) became the scapegoat
for the raid in the minds of
many Reed community resi
dents. His name was cursed,
and he was called "fink" and
“narc.”
Graffiti on bathroom walls
threatened him bodily harm.
An ax was driven into his dorm
room door. Fearing for his
safety, he moved to another
floor in Reed for the remainder
of exam period. He had been
involved in a hashish deal
which was known by the Uni
versity police, and he was
afraid to go to them for
protection.
In the early morning after
the raid, Dempsey Dumpsters
outside of the Reed Community
were set afire. And for the next
few days, many firecrackers
and cherry bombs were dump
ed out of the windows in the
Reed Community dorms.
Today, four months later,
Thom Hunter still fears reper
cussions. And among students
who knew that it happened, the
drug raid itself is still a great
controversy. These students
blame police officers not only
for enforcing laws which the
students do not believe in, but
for interrupting exam study
schedules and for planning the
raid at a time when no campus
media could report it.
Tim Watson (again a pseu
donym ), a short guy with curly
black hair, is sitting in the
middle of a black vinyl couch
with his legs crossed Indian
style. A tobacco cigarette dan
gles from his mouth Last
year, he lived in Reed Hall,
and he was heavily involved in
intra-dorm drug traffic. Now,
living off campus, his drug
connections have become va
guer. But he still remembers
the night of what he calls “the
big bust.”
He takes a long drag from
the cigarette and leLs the
smoke out in spiralling puffs
“Most everyone in Reed Hall
knew there were a lot of drugs
in the dorm," he says. "But no
one was expecting that big raid
time.
“I think it’s safe to say that
80 percent of Reed community
right in the middle of exam
residents at least smoked mari
juana. And after the raid, for
two days everyone in the town
was so paranoid that they had
a real hard time studying for
exams," he continued.
Three corrugated metal trail
ers, so conspicuous that they
are inconspicuous, stand in the
back of the Stegeman parking
lot midway between the San
ford Bridge and Clark Howell
These trailers are the head
quarters for the University
police detective division. And
of the three trailers, the one
closest to Clark Howell con
tains the detective drug divi
sion.
Detective Sergeant Jim
Payne, who at the time of the
drug raid was assistant Univer
sity Drug Squad chief, readily
says that the June raid had no
connection with the campus
media being out of publication.
“We had been receiving in
formation about drug activity,”
says Payne, "in the Reed area
from a number of sources for
well over a month. Fortunately
or unfortunately, by June 3, we
had enough information to
receive search warrants from
the magistrate judge, and we
had to act.
“If we hadn't acted, all of
those students would have gone
home for summer quarter and
all of our work would have
resulted in nothing,” he said.
Payne says that no single
informer supplied the informa
tion leading to the raid He
says that he had heard ot
Thom Hunter, but he says that
Hunter had not supplied infor
mation about Reed community
drug users.
“Through the grape vine,"
says Payne, “we heard there
was quite a drug problem in
Reed, Milledge and Payne
R.A.’s and G.R.'s and some
students complained of open
and overt use of drugs in the
community ”
However, Tom Dixon (ano
ther pseudonym and a Reed
Hall resident who was arrested
for posession of marijuana and
paraphanalia) believes that
Thom Hunter was the source
for police. “I’m 99 percent sure
that Hunter finked, and some
day I'm going to go to where
he works and leave a penny
with a hole drilled right
through Abe Lincoln's head
That ought to make him do
some thinking.
Hunter himself says that he
provided University police with
no information. According to
Hunter, pressure was wielded
by University police on him to
provide information.
“You see," says Hunter,
"me and this other guy went in
on a hash deal and the deal fell
through Well. I lost $175 on it,
and this guy who I went in with
on the deal said he would get it
back to me in two weeks Well,
he didn't get me my money
back, so me and another guy
who had lost some money went
to his room and stole some
guitar equipment.”
Hunter, obviously nervous,
paused for a second. “It turned
out," he said, “that the guitar
stuff belonged to the guy's
roommate and the roommate
went to the police and told
them that drugs were involved,
and he pressed theft charges.
“The police called me in and
questioned me. They really
pressured me — showing me
lists of names. They had me in
this little room and one of the
stood in front of me and
another stood behind me and
they just pounded me with
questions The one in front of
me sat with his knees pushed
up against mine, and he kept
jabbing a finger into my knee
and saying, ‘You're on the hot
seat now buster.'”
“I was scared and they
threatened me about going to
my ROTC commander, and
they kept showing me this list
of names and asking me if I
knew if the guys on the list
used drugs," Hunter continued.
"I didn’t know what to say.
But I didn't rat on anyone. I
mean, those guys were my
friends. I lived in Reed Hall for
two years, and I had smoked
dope with a lot of the guys who
got busted,” he said.
Hunter says that the fellow
whose guitar equipment was
stolen dropped the theft char
ges ‘But everybody knew I
had been charged with theft,
and when the charges were
dropped they were all sure I
had ratted," he says.
"I didn't tell though I know
that in my heart When the
police started showing me
names, I went to the guys who
I knew and told them to clear
their drugs out of their rooms
Now. those guys think that I
ratted and had a change of
heart afterward, and that's
why I asked them to clear the
stuff out of their rooms. I
didn't though, but my reputa
tion is ruined here now, and I
know that a lot of the guys who
got busted are out to get me,”
he continued
Plust: help prevent forest fires.
Skip Merriam, present head
of the University Drug Squad
said that Hunter's story sound
ed plausible, but that he had
not heard it before.
Merriam and Jim Payne
both worked as undercover
agents before the raid, buying
drugs from suspect students
with money provided by the
Metro Drug Squad.
The Metro Drug Squad con
sists of two officers from the
Athens Police Dept , two offi
cers from the Clarke County
Sheriff’s Office and two Uni
versity policemen.
The Metro Drug Squad is
trying to decrease drug traffic
in Clarke County, which ac
cording to Payne is among the
state’s highest volume per
county because of the Univer
sity.
“However,” says Payne,
"the raid on Reed was insti
tuted completely by the Uni
versity Police. We did all the
investigating, and just got help
from outside for the raid itself
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