Moundsville Residents Talk Crime Issues At Town Hall
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MOUNDSVILLE - City of Moundsville residents expressed concern about people who appear to be high on drugs trespassing and fighting in their yards, motorists speeding and thefts of bicycles during a town hall meeting Wednesday evening.
The meeting, organized by Moundsville City Manager Rick Healy at the Strand Theatre, was meant to allow residents to express their concerns to a panel of city officials and law enforcement. Healy described the event as a "listening session," saying the officials were not likely to be able to address everyone's issues that same evening. The information, however, would be discussed and reviewed in depth in the new year, he added.
In addition to Healy, also on hand were Mayor Sara Wood-Shaw, Vice Mayor David Wood, Councilmen Randy Chamberlain and Eugene Saunders, Councilwoman Judy Hunt, Moundsville Police Department Chief Thomas Mitchell, Marshall County Sheriff Bill Helms, Marshall County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Ralph Taylor, Municipal Court Judges John Artemiz and Jeff Miller, Building Inspectors Buddy Smith, Joe Richmond and Danielle Harmon, and City Prosecutor Brent Clyburn.
"The idea of this meeting came about after hearing numerous complaints about certain nuisance issues throughout the city," Healy said.
Healy said he receives complaints weekly and sometimes daily about issues that he said "are not drastic, but are still a menace to the city." Healy conceded the issues are disrupting the lives of some residents in some areas of the city, but overall the city is still a safe place to live.
Resident Seth McIntyre, who lives on Elm Avenue, said he and his family have noticed a big change in about the last year.
"Some of the things we've experienced ... needles in the alley beside our house; we live on a corner lot," McIntyre said.
"People - we call them homeless but we don't really know if they are or not but that's what we've termed them - walking through yards, ours and everyone else's, at all hours of the day or night."
He added the trespassers do not care if their grandchildren or other children from the neighborhood are playing in the yard.
"Loud music at all hours of the day coming from their phones, playing filthy music where children are playing, and at night when the temps are nice and we want to open our windows," he said.
"It is a constant stream of people walking past the house and through the yards, day and night. We have cameras that pick up all of them, all around the house."
McIntyre said vehicles have also been "keyed" or scratched.
"People slowing down as they come by to look in the parked cars. The danger and the aggravation and the fear that comes up when we're driving, at night particularly; these people are walking in the street, in the middle of the road in dark clothes," he said.
"Sometimes it's all you can do to miss them. The constant flow of traffic is to this particular house at the end of an alley near our house."
McIntyre said there was one night this past summer that there were so many people at that house that tents were pitched outside to accommodate them.
On another summer day, two women began fighting and ended up in his yard where children were playing.
"My wife (Michelle McIntyre) had to go out and physically push them out of the yard," he said.
McIntyre said a man stole a child's bike from his yard. He had it on video and the police were able to recover it a couple months later.
He noted his wife has started asking people idling their vehicles on the street what they are doing there as a means to get them to move along.
"A lot of these people you never see again if you ask them what they're doing here or ask them to get out of the yard," McIntyre said. "But others take their places. They're not university students; something's in the backpacks."
McIntyre said they call the police often.
"We've been encouraged to call the police. We've called the police repeatedly. Sometimes they come, sometimes they don't," he said. "Sometimes we're on the phone so long being grilled by whoever answers the phone, that we know it's too late for them to find anybody by the time they get there.
"Usually there's a time lag anyway and whoever is part of the problem is long gone."
McIntyre encouraged officials to start making it "inconvenient" for the alleged drug users to do what they're doing. He believes the police need to be more present and to start asking people what's in their backpacks.
"I know it's not easy and I know it's not fun, but there are things you can do," he said. "Have the courage to do the right thing, guys, ladies and gentlemen. And the courage to defend doing the right things."
Judy Meyers of Thorn Avenue said people have gotten into and stolen from her outside trash cans before. She has cameras up and recordings show people around her property at all hours of the night.
"Something's got to be done. We don't feel safe in our own homes," she said.
Resident Robin Meyers, who is Judy Meyers' daughter, said she is concerned about her mother.
"I moved back into town a year ago. I had no idea what I was coming into when I moved to Moundsville," she said. "There are days because of her being fearful that I wish I had stayed in Indiana and I had taken her with me.
"She shouldn't have to deal with any of this. I shouldn't get calls from my mom late at night saying there are people in my yard."
Michelle McIntyre said the drug users who do get arrested often get released from jail within hours. She believes they need to be kept much longer or receive help for their addictions immediately.
"You're letting them out around my children and my grandchildren," she said. "If they need help they don't need let back out around my grandchildren."
Following the meeting, Mitchell said his officers have increased patrols in problem areas in the past and the drug task force has also worked in such areas as well. He noted, however, that there is only so much the police can do by law. He said there has to be a balance between enforcing laws and people's rights.
Mitchell said people should use their porch lights at night and, if possible, fence in their yards and get a camera system. He said people can even use Ring doorbell cameras. Residents should also remember to lock their home, garage and vehicle doors. Valuable items, such as bicycles, should be taken inside at night.
Some people also complained about dilapidated properties contributing to the city's problems. Healy said the city is working on razing such properties and has sought grant money to do more. He anticipates another 22 blighted properties would be razed in the coming months because of new grant funding.