Battalion/Pags
February 21, IS
Blue Angels may help rescue Houston
United Press International
HOUSTON — Earnest Smith
stands on the doorstep of the
vacant building he is using for a
command post and sadly sur
veys the battlefield into which he
daily sends his young “Blue
Angels.”
The battlefield is his neigh
borhood, the Fifth Ward, one of
Houston’s predominantly black
ghettos. Smith, 44, a former cot
ton picker from Opelousas, La.,
is trying to take the neighbor
hood back from the vandals and
the thugs.
Smith’s outpost is near the
corner of Lyons Avenue and
Gregg Street, heart of the Fifth
Ward. Buildings are decaying,
trash litters the area and around
the liquor store next door sad-
looking, poorly dressed old men
sit on the sidewalk.
“Like it is, the neighborhood
is deteriorating,” Smith said.
“It’s dying fast. What I really
want to do is restore life to the
Fifth Ward.”
Smith, who has spent some
time as pastor of a small church,
takes his orders from the highest
level, and even his wife, Betty,
takes a backseat to his “com
mander.”
“The Lord told me I want you
to wear a uniform,” Smith said.
“He said put a badge on and
your uniform on. He said, ‘I’m
going to send you some people. I
don’t want no guns, no clubs, no
nothing. I’m going to use you.’
“The Lord said, ‘I want you to
go and rescue the old senior
citizens out of the hands of the
smalltime gangsters and hood
lums. I want you to rescue chil
dren from drugs.’”
Smith has gathered 21 young
black men to patrol the area.
The Blue Angels are similar to
the Guardian Angels founded
by Curtis Sliwa in New York —
but there are major differences.
“Guardian Angels know ka
rate,” Chauncy Diggins, 21, one
of Smith’s Blue Angels said. “We
only know what we know in our
heads, what we picked up (on
the street). This is the only thing
I see that’s worthwhile on this
avenue.
Guardian Angels wear T-
shirts and dashing red berets.
Smith’s men wear second-hand
security company uniforms if he
can find them.
The work is dangerous. The
patrols walk on foot and are sup
posed to carry no weapons. If
trouble breaks, they are sup
posed to call police. Police tradi
tionally do not approve of vigi
lante groups, but they tolerate
Smith.
“It is a legitimate group
trying to do some good,” police
spokeswoman Phymeon Jack-
son said. “They are trying to im
prove their neighborhood.
“I think if anything hap
pened they would be calling
police to handle what crime they
saw. They’re a community ser-
law
vice group and not
forcement group.”
Another difference between
Smith’s group and the Guardian
Angels is Smith has a broader
purpose than the strictly secur
ity oriented Guardian Angels.
He wants to lead young peo
ple toward wholesome living by
offering food and parties on Fri
days and Saturdays.
But he has little money. He
works (sometimes) as a carpen
ter, and he said he puts much of
what he makes into his program.
He takes donations — his head
quarters is in donated space —
but money has been slow in
coming.
“I’m looking for some mil
lionaire somewhere with a yacht
out there in the ocean to come
and donate us some money so
we can fund these guys,” Smith
said. “Not paid, just funded.
They’re working lor free right
now.”
Smith buttonholes passers-
by, selling his brand of righteous
neighborhood boosterism. One
target was Barbara Price.
“I feel like it is a great thing to
have someone interested in our
young people today,” Price said.
“Certainly, if they start out with
them small, give them the train
ing, this will eliminate the crime
rate.”
Smith has fans, although
some admit a lot of people in the
Fifth Ward do not take Smith
seriously. Raymond Jackson,
who works in Ralston
Liquor Store next door,isi
the fans.
“I see a lot of improvei
Jackson said. “Not too
guys hang around on the
any more. I think they
Angels) got a lot to do wit
they (loiterers) don’t move,i
call the HPD (police) on tie
Shirley Hatton, clerki
self-serve gas station dow
st reel, said the Angels haves
ped hoodlums from robbiiij
vending machines right ini
of her eyes.
“Ever since thoseBlueAi
have been there, we'vetm
to keep the soda watersinp
and to keep them from roll
the machines," Hatton said.
THE MSC PRESENTS
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27, 1983. Applications will be due on February 23 by 5:00 p.m. to the
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