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July 16, 2008

Residents seek help with drugs

By MaryAlice Meli

Two Ellwood City residents asked borough council Monday night to do something about drug dealing in their neighborhood.

Fred Smith and Daniel Honneffer live in the 1100 block of Center Avenue in the West End area of Ellwood, a close-knit community where neighbors know each other, their families, their cars.

Honneffer said he and his son were outside Saturday when his son asked, “Whose blue car is in front of our house?”

Honneffer said he saw “two guys in the alley; one had a roll of bills and the other was shoving a baggy in his pocket.”

He said he stared them down as they left but, because of his son, kept his mouth shut.

“The guy’s a known drug dealer; everyone knows him,” Honneffer said. “Why can’t they send someone to make a buy?”

Smith said the neighborhood is disgusted.

“We see a lot of drug dealers after dark; that’s when the rats come out and it seems nothing is being done.”

“Three houses are up for sale,” Smith said, adding he is afraid the activity will push other residents to move. “They’re nice, decent people there and we’d like to see them stay.”

Neither man has contacted the Ellwood police to report drug activities they’ve witnessed.

When asked why he didn’t report the drug buy to police, Honneffer said, “You know, with drugs come guns. They know what you’re doing and they’re going to come after you.”

“We don’t want you to confront them; that’s a recipe for disaster,” Mayor Don Clyde said, “but get the color and make of the car. I can attest the officers are out there.”

Richard McDonald, police chief of operations, said the 11-member force is limited in what it is able to accomplish and needs the cooperation of citizens for information.

“If the police had been alerted, we could have identified the car and the occupants,” he said of the Center Avenue incident.

Honneffer said the entire incident was over within two minutes.

Sometimes, McDonald said, a patrol unit is just two minutes away from criminal activity. Nearby patrols have responded to burglaries in progress, robberies, assaults and other incidents and officers have made arrests.

“We have made significant arrests but we have to be constantly updated,” McDonald said. “We have several narcotics investigations going on.”

Later, McDonald said his officers know those in the drug community but the dealers also know the local police who cannot work undercover for that reason. Calling on someone from another department or agency doesn’t work either, he added, because strangers are suspect.

However, the department is working with several other agencies to track the source of the drugs to attack the problem from that end. He declined to name the agencies to protect the ongoing investigations.

He said the department has worked for more than a year to clean up the 400 block of Loop Street that had been plagued for years with drug activity and violence. He said arrests plus evictions by the Lawrence County Housing Authority have significantly resolved the problems.

Councilman Ralph Chiappetta said the two best tools citizens can use to help police are, “a phone and a camera. Get a photo of the car and the license plate.”

Councilman John Todorich suggested a citizens group organize to walk neighborhoods to help police. “You need more eyes and ears out there.”

McDonald said such groups may help if they provide police with information but he cautioned against encouraging vigilantes.

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