Drug problem threatening community safety
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Graham County Sheriff Joseph Jones (left) and Chief Deputy Chuck Stewart address a group of concerned citizens gathered inside the courthouse during a community safety meeting on Sept. 17. Photo by Art Miller/amiller@grahamstar.com
Robbinsville – Every initiative has to start somewhere.
A group of more than 40 concerned local residents invited members of the Graham County Sheriff’s Office to the courthouse on Sept. 17 to discuss community safety. The increased presence of intoxicated and/or heavily medicated civilians around the county has forced a certain level of uneasinesses, with reports of people roaming through yards, standing in the middle of busy roads and even breaking into homes just a sample of the many discretions publicized during the 90-minute forum.
“We’re here to back you, and we want to know what we can do as citizens,” one attendee said. “What’s going to happen is, we’re going to lose some of our senior citizens and our widow-women that are too old and can’t protect themselves, while we’re shuffling this deal around.
“It’s time that the county takes back over. We’re here to back you 100 percent, because I know from experience that you’re doing all you can do. But the county is tired of it; these widow-women and older folks are getting robbed, because they know it’s like taking candy from a baby.”
Residents were quick to point out that the frustration is not with the sheriff’s office. Rather, they want to do all they can to clean up the area, an idea Sheriff Joseph Jones backed by pointing out that community watches can be formed for any road and would work to report incidents more heavily to dispatch.
“We’ll be glad to work with anybody. It takes community involvement, 150 percent,” Jones said.
Chief Deputy Chuck Stewart read off a heavy list of numbers at the beginning of the meeting. Included was the number of patrolling officers (eight) that have to cover the entire county – only two work at night – and the cramped jail, which only houses 20 beds. The facility averages about 23 inmates, but state laws say only eight at a time can be held, forcing many to be released.
“Getting somewhere to hold these people is becoming a problem,” Stewart said. “A lot of times, we pick up these people in the community that’s doing all this stuff and we can’t get anybody to hold them. They (other jails) charge us $40 a day to hold them, and it’s not worth it to them.”
From this, much was discussed about why a new jail has not been constructed and why the Town of Robbinsville dissolved its police department, both factors in the lack of control in the county. Stewart added that 30 percent of the calls received come from inside the city limits.
However, Stewart did note that the office received 13 new vehicles this year, and county commissioners helped purchase updated equipment for tasks such as surveillance.
“We’re eight months in (to Jones’ administration), and we hope to make it better,” Stewart said of the numbers. “We’ve had to do a lot of updates on different stuff.
“The vehicles we had stayed in the shop more than they did on the road. We’ve got to be prepared to spend some money if we’re going to start cleaning this up.”
Jones later added that Graham County is running even with Atlanta in terms of of drug users per capita, a statistic that drove home just how big a battle the community is facing.
Citizens started suggesting ideas about improving patrol, but some theories were split. While one citizen proposed focusing more efforts on in-town patrol, others pointed out that the problem has extended into areas such as Snowbird and Dry Creek.
“We may get a call at the 2000 block of Snowbird, then we may get a call on Dry Creek or Ledbetter,” Jones said. “We can’t stay in one place as much as we’d like and, believe me, we’ve tried.”
Other ideas included a countywide curfew, getting on the next respective agenda to discuss budgetary constraints with both county commissioners and Robbinsville and opening a rehabilitation center here to help those struggling with substance abuse.
The general consensus at the end of the meeting was that another forum needed to be held, this time with people like District Attorney Ashley Welch, county commissioners and town alderman present. A date for that will have to be determined.
“We’re willing to fix it any way we can and help you any way we can,” Stewart said.