ANOTHER STREET, WITH THE SAME WAR TO FIGHT

Some residents say crime has been pushed from Chapman to Marshall, but a
police officer said Marshall has always had its share of crime.

Just blocks away from Chapman Avenue, there's a street waging a war of its
own.

Some residents on Marshall Avenue say they, too, are fed up with the crime,
drugs and prostitution - which they say have gotten worse since police began
working in the Chapman Avenue neighborhood last year.

"Every night, something's happening on the street," said Cheryl Farias, who
has lived in the street's 800 block since September. "You can't even sit on
your porch without someone offering you drugs or hearing gunshots."

Farias said she's found hypodermic needles on the ground, and often watches
cars driving up and down the street, picking up prostitutes. Gunfire is a
common sound. And one Thursday night, residents watched while a woman beat
her boyfriend's car with a baseball bat.

Her neighbor, Micy Lynch, said cars have slowed down to check her out when
she sits on her front porch. Other cars speed down the street, ignoring the
signs that should alert them to Lynch's deaf 8-year-old son. She's been
offered drugs while talking a walk.

"There's people riding around on BMX bikes, selling drugs, and everyone
knows," said Lynch, 26, who is trying to start a 4-H program in the
neighborhood. "It's getting worse, and the police don't do anything."

But relief for Marshall Avenue may be on the way. It's next on the Roanoke
City Police Department's list for a community policing project, similar to
efforts on Chapman Avenue.

Despite some residents' claims that crime has been pushed from Chapman to
Marshall, Lt. Rick Arrington, head of the police department's Community
Oriented Policing Effort, said he hasn't seen it. Marshall, in Old
Southwest, has always had its share of crime, he said.

"Marshall was pretty much the pit from the start," Arrington said.

But the COPE unit and other officers assigned to the area will soon be
working in the neighborhood. As of Thursday, things were starting to happen,
when code enforcement officials condemned a dilapidated house at Sixth
Street and Marshall, with orders it had to come down within 30 days.

Arrington said residents should soon see much more of a police presence in
the area.

"We're aware of some things going on over there," added Officer Jay Michael,
who has been working in the Chapman Avenue neighborhood since last summer.

For Farias, more police action can't come soon enough. On March 27, she was
attacked through her open car window. While she was pausing at a stop sign
at Seventh Street and Marshall about 10 p.m., someone hit her on the side of
her head with a heavy, blunt object.

With blood dripping down her face, the 41-year-old managed to drive around
the block and pull up to her house. She crawled up the steps and collapsed
against the door, sending her son to call 911.

A trip to the hospital revealed a fractured jaw and cheekbone and a
concussion. She was told that a blood clot under her left eye needed to be
removed because her sight was affected.

"Am I such a nobody that I can just get the s--- knocked out of me on my own
street?" she said angrily. "What are we supposed to do?"

Members of the Mountain View Neighborhood Watch, which formed in the Chapman
Avenue area in October, said they realize some of their crime has moved and
say they sympathize with the Marshall residents.

"My suggestion? Form a neighborhood watch," said Scott Butler, a member of
the Chapman group.

Marshall Avenue residents said they'll take any help they can get.

"There's a lot of good people who live here," Lynch said. "There's a lot of
people who don't want this to happen. This could be a really good
neighborhood. We just need some help."