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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend February 15, 2006 Mike Teters checks out piles of trash dumped alongside Savage Creek Road outside of Rogue River. Teters and other residents are forming a neighborhood watch to fight a growing incidence of crime in their neighborhood. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Rural neighborhood watch As meth-related crime increases, homeowners keep an eye out for suspicious activity; ‘We feel a little bit invaded’ By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune ROGUE RIVER — As a growing methamphetamine epidemic spurs more burglaries, mailbox raids and equipment thefts in rural areas, fed-up residents are fighting back. A group on Savage Creek Road is forming a neighborhood watch to fight crime and keep tabs on suspicious activity. Members plan to explore such possible solutions as posting warning signs, mounting video cameras and taking down license plate numbers of anyone deemed suspicious. "We’re serious about this. It’s our community and we want to take it back for the people who are living here peacefully," said Savage Creek resident Mike Teters, who lost $5,000 to $8,000 in goods when his house was burglarized in October. "We’re not vigilantes," he said. "We’re not sitting out here with shotguns, waiting for them — because they stole my shotgun." At least 100 people live in this scenic canyon south of the Rogue River between the city of Rogue River and Grants Pass. A narrow corridor of homesites along Savage Creek Road is surrounded on both sides by public and private timberlands. After about three miles, the road turns to gravel and connects with other logging roads, some of which go as far as the Foots Creek area. Advertisement Savage Creek residents say they are tired of people dumping trash on timberland, of kids racing motorcycles and of partyers scattering beer bottles and starting bonfires — even at the height of fire season. They plan to hold a meeting with Jackson County sheriff’s deputies on Thursday to learn what can be done to stop crimes on their road. Jackson County sheriff’s deputy Ed Temple said residents can post a big, personalized sign warning that "we don’t tolerate crime and we will report any suspicious activity." Temple said that rural roads, particularly those along the upper stretches of creeks, are crime magnets. They are "off the beaten path, secluded, there’s lots of equipment out in the open, there’s a long response time and wrongdoers know it — and there’s lots of mail taken for ID theft by meth addicts," he said. Savage Creek resident Clint Hennings said motorcycles, chainsaws and all-terrain vehicles have been stolen along the road in the past year. A Grants Pass man led officers on a gunshot-punctuated chase on Savage Creek in December, ending in his suicide. In October, a Grants Pass couple burglarizing a home held a mother and her children at gunpoint before fleeing. They were arrested later that day. Last February, a man who commandeered a log skidder to flee police was shot and wounded on Savage Creek Road. "We feel a little bit invaded and want a safe environment up here," said Savage Creek resident Asa Hanson. "The signs (with warnings about videotaping) aren’t going to hurt and should give people the idea that we’re alert and if there are strangers around, we’re going to want to know why." As an example, Hanson asked a salesman who knocked on his door recently for his business card and called to check that he actually represented the firm. "We don’t want people around the neighborhood, casing it for a burglary," he said. Neighborhood-watch organizers say they may set up video surveillance to catch those dumping trash or committing other crimes. "It’s legal, as long as it’s not pointed into someone’s yard or home," Temple said. Temple said the majority of crimes today are related to meth addiction and are committed mostly by males ages 14 to 35. But theft committed by females is on the rise, he said. Savage Creek residents say they are working with Bureau of Land Management officials on putting up a gate where motorists enter forestlands in an attempt to stop dumping and partying. But they said that many who use forestlands for recreation and hunting oppose installing a gate. A quicker solution, they said, would be to make the county landfill part of the taxbase, rather than reliant on user fees. "It would be nice if it were in the tax base and free for everyone to use," said Hanson. "A lot of people can’t afford the landfill fees, so they run it up the back road and dump it. There are batteries and other things you know are bad for the environment." Back-road dumping is "not rampant," said Temple, but "everyone wants the government to do more funding and that is a real problem." Many rural garbage dumpers "aren’t rocket scientists" and leave bills or other identifying documents in their trash, said Temple, enabling them to be easily tracked down. The neighborhood watch movement has had an unexpected side benefit, Hennings said. Neighbors now get together for weekly pinochle parties, are banding to order a high-speed Internet connection and have set up a phone tree to alert residents not only of suspicious activity but also in the event of storms, wildfire and lost pets or children. "It’s about watching your neighbor’s backside and he watches yours," Hennings said. "We’re getting a handle on it." John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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