BYLAW WOULD HOLD HOTEL OWNERS RESPONSIBLE

WALPOLE -- Crooks won't be the only ones getting busted after motel
drug raids if the town's Board of Selectmen has anything to say about it.

The board -- at the request of Police Chief Richard Stillman -- last
night put new bylaws on the fall Town Meeting warrant which would
hold motel owners accountable for recurrent crime and drug dealing in
their rooms and parking lots.

The bylaws would let the town license hotels, and yank their right to
operate if they consistently fail to stop criminal activity.

"If you have a permit, you can suspend it," said Selectman Catherine Winston.

There's no regulatory system or fine-levying process on the books in
Walpole, and that has made rampant drug problems at the Boston View
Motel on Rte. 1 a chronic headache for law enforcement, the chief said.

Stillman said the bylaw stems in part from a July bust at the Boston
View Motel during which police found a record 1.3 ounces of heroin
and 2.8 ounces of cocaine -- worth at least $25,000 -- hidden inside a vehicle.

"There have been a fair number of activities at Boston View. It's
been a problem for a long time, and it's something we need to
address," he said last night. "(The hotel) is not doing enough. I
would like to see a bylaw where the town would have some teeth in
issuing permits to hotels in town."

Stillman said the hotel is a hotspot for transient customers, with
lots of traffic in and out of the rooms. He said he would like to see
the hotel be more vigilant about calling police and discouraging
criminal activity on the site.

"There are issues they have to be aware of. You have to know what's
going on there. It doesn't take an idiot to figure that out," he said.

Walpole's proposed bylaws would be modeled after those in West
Boylston, which lies just outside Worcester. The bylaws will go
before residents at fall Town Meeting, slated for Monday, Oct. 16, in
Walpole High School.

"This is just one way we could do this. I don't want people to think
all these problems are caused by poor management at the Boston View
Motel, (though) they could do more. They're not very proactive (in
calling police)," Stillman said. "This has been an ongoing problem
for many years. I'm not going to say it'll fix everything. This is
just one tool."