GROUP TO FIGHT DRUG PROBLEM

Some Irontonians are trying to reclaim the city before the drug
problem gets out of hand.

On Monday, 25 people met in the conference room of the Ironton Fire
Department to discuss ways to deal with the problem. The group, so
far unofficially called the Neighborhood Safety Awareness Committee,
is made up of church leaders, city leaders, and concerned citizens.

"Our main purpose and objectives are to serve," said Hugh Scott, the
chairman of the group. "We want the community to know we are
stepping out and there is a need for concern, that we have problems
and we are here to hopefully mitigate the problem if not to stop it."

The group got its beginning in September when Scott along with the
Rev. Richard Carter of Triedstone Baptist Church presented to
Ironton City Council a petition signed by 236 people who expressed
their concerns about vacant houses, people loitering, drinking
alcohol and dealing drugs in an area of the city between Seventh and
10th streets and Quincy and Jefferson streets.

Now they say the issues affect the city and the whole county.

"We want to be a community-wide service," Scott said. "And maybe not
be just one organization but a whole group of organizations."

The committee has six objectives: to collaborate in the creation of
community based development organizations; to provide educational
and technical assistance to the organization; to have forums about
neighborhood problems in Ironton; to initiate community development
programs; to assist in securing financial resources for the
organizations to have activities to benefit the public; and to
provide training to enable collaboration and change to improve Ironton.

"We have a drug problem; we have other problems and we are tired of
it, but we are not going to be vigilantes," Scott said. "We are
going to work through the city, through the police department."

Rick Jansen, of the Friends of Ironton, has volunteered to be a
recorder for the group for the time being.

"The drug problem is an epidemic that we have to address," he said.
"We have to put as many barriers and as much pressure on these
people as we can. We also have to help those who get caught up in
drug use. It's a multiple-step process."

Scott said he has been in contact with a similar group in Huntington
that has had success in their goals.

They are looking for more people in churches to participate.

"We are asking that the churches will come together, to meet and
pray," Carter said. "You can get a lot of information out through a
church family."

Scott said he hopes that many will join the group.

"I hope it will be that people see there are concerned people and
they will come out and affiliate themselves with something positive," he said.

There will a second meeting of the Neighborhood Safety Awareness
Committee on Jan. 9 but a location hasn't been determined yet.

If anyone is aware of drug dealing, they can call the Lawrence
County Sheriff's Office drug tip hotline at (740) 534-5830 where
information can be left anonymously.