Pubdate: Fri, 15 Dec 2006
Source: Ironton Tribune (OH)
Copyright: 2006 Ironton Tribune
Contact:  http://www.irontontribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3547
Author: Mark Shaffer, The Ironton Tribune

GROUP TO FIGHT DRUG PROBLEM

Some Irontonians are trying to reclaim the city before  the drug 
problem gets out of hand.

On Monday, 25 people met in the conference room of the  Ironton Fire 
Department to discuss ways to deal with  the problem. The group, so 
far unofficially called the  Neighborhood Safety Awareness Committee, 
is made up of  church leaders, city leaders, and concerned citizens.

"Our main purpose and objectives are to serve," said  Hugh Scott, the 
chairman of the group. "We want the  community to know we are 
stepping out and there is a  need for concern, that we have problems 
and we are here  to hopefully mitigate the problem if not to stop it."

The group got its beginning in September when Scott  along with the 
Rev. Richard Carter of Triedstone  Baptist Church presented to 
Ironton City Council a  petition signed by 236 people who expressed 
their concerns about vacant houses, people loitering,  drinking 
alcohol and dealing drugs in an area of the  city between Seventh and 
10th streets and Quincy and  Jefferson streets.

Now they say the issues affect the city and the whole county.

"We want to be a community-wide service," Scott said.  "And maybe not 
be just one organization but a whole  group of organizations."

The committee has six objectives: to collaborate in the  creation of 
community based development organizations;  to provide educational 
and technical assistance to the  organization; to have forums about 
neighborhood  problems in Ironton; to initiate community development 
programs; to assist in securing financial resources for  the 
organizations to have activities to benefit the  public; and to 
provide training to enable collaboration  and change to improve Ironton.

"We have a drug problem; we have other problems and we  are tired of 
it, but we are not going to be  vigilantes," Scott said. "We are 
going to work through  the city, through the police department."

Rick Jansen, of the Friends of Ironton, has volunteered  to be a 
recorder for the group for the time being.

"The drug problem is an epidemic that we have to  address," he said. 
"We have to put as many barriers and  as much pressure on these 
people as we can. We also  have to help those who get caught up in 
drug use. It's  a multiple-step process."

Scott said he has been in contact with a similar group  in Huntington 
that has had success in their goals.

They are looking for more people in churches to  participate.

"We are asking that the churches will come together, to  meet and 
pray," Carter said. "You can get a lot of  information out through a 
church family."

Scott said he hopes that many will join the group.

"I hope it will be that people see there are concerned  people and 
they will come out and affiliate themselves  with something positive," he said.

There will a second meeting of the Neighborhood Safety  Awareness 
Committee on Jan. 9 but a location hasn't  been determined yet.

If anyone is aware of drug dealing, they can call the  Lawrence 
County Sheriff's Office drug tip hotline at  (740) 534-5830 where 
information can be left  anonymously.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine