By TIM PRESTON — The Independent
Greenup — With little progress to show for their efforts to date, members of a Greenup Community Watch group Monday decided to renew their efforts to be watchful for suspicious activity and get more city officials and police officers involved with their task.
More than a dozen people gathered at Greenup Christian Church Monday, thrilling organizers who reported only four people were at last month’s meeting. Those present reported outstanding cooperation from local officials and law enforcement, although they admitted communication about the meetings has failed to get the word out and many local residents have assumed the neighborhood watch group had disbanded.
A lack of volunteers willing to serve as block captains has also contributed to the group’s decline, according to organizer Chuck Clark.
Clark and others at the meeting agreed the city’s volunteer crime-watch group could benefit from the installation of approximately 10 signs warning people they are entering a community watch area. A source for such signs, however, seemed a mystery.
"Those signs make a big difference,” said a man in the crowd. “They make people think.”
All in attendance agreed “there’s more that we can do,” including constant surveillance of neighboring properties.
“You would be surprised at how many people do not know their neighbors,” Clark observed, later adding keeping an eye on a neighbor’s property “is a courtesy — it really is.”
In response to a proposal that the citizens’ group begin their efforts anew, Rosemary Kunges volunteered to increase her participation.
“I will be a block captain. I’ll start this off,” she said, later adding, “We can rely on each other.”
Before the meeting was adjourned, local residents said their concerns about crime in their neighborhoods has been spurred primarily by thefts and residential break-ins. The city’s proximity between two bridges also makes it a likely target for those who would break the law, they agreed.
The Greenup Community Watch group’s next meeting will be held at 6 p.m., March 8 at Greenup Christian Church.
