IT COULD BE YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Casa Grande Woman Watches Helplessly

Living in a neighborhood that has what are called "drug houses" is not
fun, according to "Jane," whose life is affected by other people's
drug addiction. Jane lives in a northside Casa Grande neighborhood
where most people care about their houses and yards.

"The neighborhood is not stagnant nor run down," she said. People of
all ages including children live there.

She said the neighborhood was peaceful until the last year or so when
new people moved into two homes.

Police have been successful in closing down some such houses in Casa
Grande, but investigation and arrests are time consuming, they say.
Kent Horn, Casa Grande Police's Criminal Investigations commander,
said such investigations have been done all over town.

In one such case, police in 2006 received numerous complaints about a
house in the 700 block of East Melrose Drive before a raid produced
drugs, weapons and cash - and arrests were made.

Apparently, any investigation of Jane's neighborhood has not yet
resulted in any arrests.

Jane and some of her neighbors believe drug abusers live in one of the
homes and drug sellers in the second one.

The suspected drug sellers, Jane said, are much worse because
neighbors believe methamphetamine is being brewed, leaving the area
with a foul odor - some liken it to the smell of cat urine. Meth labs
are extremely toxic.

Because of recent complaints from neighbors, the house where meth may
be cooking now has "blacked out" windows so activities can't be seen
from the street.

A man who lives near the suspected meth house said the odor was coming
from his air conditioner, so he spent time cleaning it. Unfortunately
for him, the foul odor remains, Jane said.

She said hard feelings and problems are escalating because of criminal
activity associated with drug abuse. Some neighbors have found their
vehicles had been broken into and goods or change stolen.

"People coming to buy drugs steal change or a GPS [or other electronic
devices] from vehicles to pay for drugs," she said. Anything of value
may be taken.

One day Jane saw what she believes was a drug abuser walking to a
grocery store with a bag of change. She wondered whether the coins
were stolen from neighborhood cars.

Jane believes drug abusers are easy to distinguish because they tend
to be young adults, have visible tattoos and are tough-looking, in
addition to being strangers.

"One man has lived in our neighborhood for 35 years and now for the
first time he is worried his home or car will be broken into," she
said.

Neighbors not only worry about property, there are safety concerns,
especially with children in the area.

"So far there have been no incidents involving kids but they see what
is going on," Jane said.

Another sign of escalation is that some neighbors are the targets of
verbal abuse.

"You might be sitting on your front porch when a guy walks by and asks
'what the f--- are you looking at?'" Jane said.

Adding to fears, some neighbors saw somebody running through the area
with a gun.

"It's changed the way we live," Jane said.

Over five weeks ago the neighbors decided to form a Neighborhood Watch
with the help of the Police Department.

Jane feels some good things are occurring.

"We do anything we can think of to help," she said, such as
identifying problems, thinking about solutions, setting goals and
getting to know each other better.

"Police are helpful and they have taught us how to make good calls [to
police dispatchers] and to take photographs [of suspect criminal
activity]," Jane said.

"The drug abusers know we watch them as they watch us. We've sent
letters to property owners and drug abusers," Jane said, but nothing
has changed.

To cut down on thefts, neighbors are leaving outdoor lights on at
night and have set up a Web site to help with communications.

"We know people's schedules and when they go on vacation," she said.
Some neighbors now videotape their street and carport. Already a car
burglary was captured on tape.

The Neighborhood Watch has sent letters to city officials asking for
help.

Jane has no complaint against police. "They do what they
can."

Meanwhile members of the watch know they are not vigilantes.

"The Neighborhood Watch will not solve the problems, only the property
owners of these homes can do that," she said.

Property owners have created the problem and neighbors are suffering
from it.

"We've invited the property owners to our meetings but they have not
responded to us. They don't live here and don't think about the
problems. We think about it every day," Jane said.

"We're frustrated we can't get them [the suspected drug abusers and
sellers] out of our neighborhood," Jane concluded.

EDITOR'S NOTE

A woman recently talked to Dispatch reporter Joe Meahl about how it
feels to live near what she believes are homes where illegal drugs are
sold and used. Her name and address are being withheld.