Southside Neighborhood Association
The Derrick
(As reported in The Derrick)
By MICHAEL MOLITORIS
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
OC South Side residents take aim on crime
The communitys first neighborhood watch meeting will be held tonight.
Plainly put, several South Side
residents are tired of living in fear and dealing with the trouble they
say illegal drugs have wrought in their Oil City community.
The newly formed South Side
Neighborhood Watch will hold its first meeting at 6:30 p.m. today in
the Free Methodist Church on Wilson Avenue.
The groups initial focus stopping violence and crime.
Nearly a dozen organizers and crime
victims gathered earlier this week to outline what has led them to the
point of forming a neighborhood watch.
They've watched South Side streets
become places many are afraid to walk for fear of violence and
intimidation. Problems, they say, stem from absent parents, a lack of
constructive activities for youth in Oil City, theft, substance abuse
and alleged illegal drug dealers making South Side rental properties
their ports of call.
Anecdotal evidence of problems could be characterized as staggering.
A sampling of stories involved
residential break-ins, a 9-year-old girl allegedly found passed out
from alcohol consumption on an East End resident's front porch,
suspected prostitution and hypodermic needles found in front yards.
The last straw involved two separate
acts of violence a mugging and an assault in East End streets for
some residents to finally stand up and start to confront the problems
head-on.
Those incidents involved a 62-year-old
woman who was assaulted earlier this month as she was trying to park
her car. A verbal altercation led to the woman being pushed to the
ground and striking her head. The woman's assailant reportedly told her
she deserved the roughing-up she received.
I'm afraid to walk out here, the woman said. My son wants me to move.
In the other, a group of juveniles allegedly assaulted a 45-year-old man in May after he refused to give money to the group.
It's just like enough is enough, said
South Side Neighborhood Watch organizer Judy Snow. (The woman) and I
had been friends for years and years. When I saw her laying there so
helpless and frightened, it was like enough is enough.
We've been talking about something like this for years, but this was the catalyst said another woman.
There's been a long-standing fear of
stepping up and trying to take back the city's South Side, residents
said. Older people, especially, who have either been victims of crime
or have witnessed illegal activity, are often unlikely to file reports.
They'll say I don't want to get
involved, one person said. Everybody's afraid to stand up. Older
people are afraid to call. They'll come and get me,they say.
Many said this week that and
undercurrent of personal fear is penetrating tonight's opening step.
One woman said she can't sleep at night. For all, however, they agree
they have no choice but to take actions to reclaim their turf.
Several have taken steps and others
have inundated the city's police department with reports of suspicious
behavior throughout the South Side. Some people have had their car
tires flattened and parking has become problematic because of suspected
drug activity.
People described an OK relationship
with the police department, but many feel like they're treated rudely
or as nuisances when they call to report neighborhood problems.
Police Chief Robert Wenner plans to
attend tonight's meeting and residents hope a more overt user-friendly
dialogue and procedural system can be established between the
department and residents.
Routine activity has involved residents
keeping watch on suspected drug dealers. Some have had long-standing
habits of jotting down license plate numbers of vehicles that don't
belong there and reporting them to the police department.
Since flyer's started going up earlier
this month to publicize the new Neighborhood Watch and its first
meeting, organizers say they've become the ones being watched.
I'm being followed, said Tami Brock. They haven't done anything yet. Just following.
She emphatically shot down the notion of moving from the troubled neighborhood to a more friendly part of town.
Absolutely not. We have a constitution
that says we have the right to enjoy our property, and why can't we
enjoy what's ours? If you have your rights, you stand your ground and
don't back down, Brock said.
Tonight's agenda is loose, organizers
said, but they expect to have more of an organized approach after the
meeting. Right now, there's a lot of emotional and social unpacking
that residents believe they need to do.
One of our goals is to let the dealers
that are here know that we're not going to let it go on anymore, said
East End resident Julie Snow.
Members of the city's North Side
Association plan to attend the meeting and offer guidance and support.
The meeting is open to any South Side resident.
Southside Neighborhood
Association
We Watch Out For Each Other