RESIDENTS TAKING ON CRIME

Communities and law enforcement work together against rural criminals

MILTON -- When Robert and Mary Ellen Ball returned one afternoon in March
2003 to their Milton home, they found their door wide open and belongings
tossed all across their home.

From left Peggy Brooks, Katrina Nelson, and her 4-yea-old daughter Kiley
Nelson stand beside a "Community Watch" sign posted near their homes at the
corner of Florence Ct. and Pinehurst Lane in Spring Valley Friday afternoon.
Brooks and Nelson started a neighborhood watch program earlier this year and
have noticed a marked difference in the amount of crime and strange vehicles
in the area. The burglars took only a small amount, but the Balls memory of
that day is still fresh.

Since that March afternoon, more people in the Milton area have fallen
victim to burglars with the number of break-ins in the first seven months of
2004 equaling the total number of burglaries in all of 2003. The
unincorporated areas of the county have also seen more thefts and
burglaries.

As crime and drug use migrates to rural areas in the Tri-State, residents
and law enforcement have responded with neighborhood watches and marches
against crime.

Law enforcement officials usually point to the increase in methamphetamine
use in the area as causing the increase in crime and the need for residents
to get involved in fighting it.

Milton will hold its second march against crime tonight in an effort by the
city's police department to drum up support for a neighborhood watch
program.

Efforts like these encourage victims of crime such as the Balls. No longer
can you leave your door unlocked while you run a quick errand, Mary Ellen
Ball said.

"I think it is a concern to everyone," she said. "When I drive down
(Interstate) 64, I wonder is there somebody on my bumper on drugs. You
wonder about things like that anymore. Who is moving next door?"

The meth factor

The Milton area has particularly been affected by the meth problem with four
labs found in the area in the last month, including one last Wednesday on
Balls Gap Road. This year has marked meth's insurgence into West Virginia,
with more than 10 meth manufacturing labs found in Cabell County and more
than 160 labs found statewide by the end of July. Authorities in Cabell
County have found at least six meth labs since the end of July.

Authorities blame the arrival of meth for causing more crime in rural areas.

The amount of burglaries in the county and in Milton are up this year.
According to statistics from the Cabell County Sheriff's Department, as of
Sept. 1, there have been 117 burglaries in the county, already surpassing
the 92 burglaries in 2002 and 97 in 2001. Statistics for 2003 were not
available.

Finding the manpower to address the recent surge in crime has proven
difficult, said Chief Deputy Jim Scheidler.

Even though more people are moving out into the county, the size of the
sheriff's force has remained the same over the past 30 years, Scheidler
said.

In 1974, there were 41 deputies in Cabell County, he said. Today there are
40 with 23 deputies assigned to duties other than road patrols. This means
at any one time, at most four deputies are patrolling the whole county, he
said.

As a result, the sheriff's office has had to prioritize and focus mainly on
the growing numbers of thefts and violent crimes, he said. This means the
deputies are not able to spend as much time investigating crimes such as
vandalism that they could as recently as one year ago.

"Three years ago, you could drive to someone's home because someone had
vandalized their home and tore their mailbox out. Now, it is calling up and
telephoning victims. This gives us time to concentrate on crimes of a more
serious nature," Scheidler said. "It makes it hard to get that deputy a
face-to-face solution with the victim."

Vigilant citizens needed

Law enforcement now is looking to the public for help. Residents and/or law
enforcement are attempting to start neighborhood watches in Milton and
Barboursville.

Those who have started a neighborhood watch program said they find them
effective.

Residents in a Spring Valley neighborhood credit a neighborhood watch
started this spring for driving crime from their streets.

After the Pinehurst Subdivision off of Spring Valley Drive fell victim to a
series of burglaries and break-ins last year and early this year, residents
Peggy Brooks and Katrina Nelson decided to fight back.

The two neighbors rallied support from most of the subdivision's 41 houses
this spring and now have residents constantly keeping an eye on their
streets. Signs warning potential crooks of the neighborhood watch and no
outlet signs were posted.

Brooks and Nelson also publish a monthly newsletter updating them on the
neighborhood watch and of upcoming neighborhood events designed to develop
closer bonds of friendship among the residents.

The tactic worked. There have been no burglaries, vandalism or any other
crime in the neighborhood since it began, Brooks said. In fact, only one
suspicious car has passed through since it started in April, a marked
difference to the constant drive-through traffic they saw before the watch,
Brooks said.

That one suspicious car, a speeder who turned his lights off while driving
through in the evening and almost hit some children, left the neighborhood
without incident and never came back, Brooks said.

"It is a lot calmer. There is not near the traffic," Brooks said. "There
hasn't been the people driving through that there was before, unless there
is a rummage sale."

The Milton Police Department hopes to capture some of this calm through a
neighborhood watch program and numerous police and citizen marches against
crime.

Residents in Milton said they would welcome a neighborhood watch program.

For the 27 years Deborah and Mark Finley have lived on Virginia Avenue, very
little crime has taken place in the neighborhood.

That made the discovery of a meth lab in August in a home down the street
all the more shocking.

"I had no idea about that," Deborah Finley said. "Every once in awhile,
there would be people driving too fast, and years ago there was a report of
a peeping tom, but nothing like that."

Another meth lab was found on the nearby street of Balls Gap Road last
Wednesday.

Deborah Finley said while she still feels safe in her neighborhood, she
believes Milton would benefit from a citywide neighborhood watch program to
make people aware of the spreading crime.

"We should just keep an eye out," Finley said.

While many residents in Milton want the neighborhood watch to succeed,
finding a resident to take charge of the program has proven difficult, said
Police Chief Gregg Mullins. Mullins said he hopes the march against crime in
August and the one tonight will spur more interest.

"The whole key is prevention," Mullins said. "That is why you have the walks
and make people aware of what is going on."

The police started noticing a distinct increase in thefts and burglaries
around April, Mullins said. Where the year before they would have one or two
burglaries of homes in a month, they began seeing two or three in some
weeks, Mullins said.

Meth users and cooks have surfaced more around the Milton area because of
its rural nature, said Matt Hoke, the Cabell County Violent Crime and Drug
Task Force coordinator. The manufactures conceal the pungent, chemical aroma
of meth by hiding the labs in isolated areas, he said.

Where meth travels, an increase in burglaries and thefts from people trying
to fuel their habit usually follows, Hoke said.

"If you are addicted to meth, you are going to beg, borrow and steal to get
it," Hoke said.

Even areas in the county not seeing a rise in crime are trying to start
neighborhood watches to prevent crime from coming into the area.

Residents at the Wyngate Community in Barboursville hope to start a
neighborhood watch soon to get people looking out for crime. Richard
Hensley, a member of the Wyngate Subdivision, said they haven't had a
problem with crime and want to keep it that way.

"We think it is something good for the community as a way of watching out
for each other," Hensley said. "Prevent crime before it happens."