Pubdate: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 Source: Casa Grande Dispatch (AZ) Copyright: 2008 Casa Grande Valley Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1817&Nav_Sec=11627 Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4820 Author: Joe Meahl Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin