Indian Wells

Watch Signs

If you are a member of a neighborhood watch in our area you can buy a sign for your yard from The Neighborhood Association. Contact Mary @ 370 3306

By Mary Marshall

Signs

There are still signs available!

By Mary

Article from Indiana




This story ran on nwitimes.com on Monday, July 14, 2003 12:00 AM CDT



City works on giving tennis shoes the boot

BY SHARON PORTA Times Correspondent
HAMMOND -- With the city's advanced graffiti removal equipment, gangs have been using something other than spray paint to mark their territory -- tennis shoes.

Around some sections of the city, particularly on Walter, Claude, Alice and Beale streets, shoes are tied together and thrown over utility lines and into trees to mark gang territories.

At a recent meeting with the Police Department, residents asked the city for help.

''The tennis shoe things started about five years ago,'' said Jake Jacobs of Save Our Neighborhoods, a community group that works to create crime awareness. ''We wanted those tennis shoes down, but we could never get anything done about it. They are in the trees, the phone lines, the utility lines, and everyone wants someone else to take the responsibility for their removal. The judge moves to get the graffiti off buildings, but no one gets rid of the tennis shoes.''

After the meeting, police informed the Hammond Park Department, which started making the rounds and removed tennis shoes from trees throughout the city.

Jacobs estimates that some trees had 15 to 20 pairs of shoes hanging from them.

''The tennis shoes have different meanings in different places,'' said Cpl. Pete Moore. ''The tennis shoes can be used to mark gang activity or a drug house. We can't mess with the NIPSCO lines, but it's important to get those shoes out. People don't want that kind of thing in their neighborhood, it's inviting trouble.''

Police Chief John Cory made the request to have the shoes removed at a recent public works meeting.

''It's important to take care of the shoe problem as quickly as possible,'' Cory said. ''This might seem like a trivial issue but it's not.''

Community groups say they have contacted NIPSCO about removing the shoes from the lines, but the process is slow.

''I agree with Chief Cory's comments that as you improve your neighborhood there's less likelihood of crime,'' said Dave Ryan, Northern Indiana Public Service Co. spokesman. ''Regarding this issue of tennis shoes in trees and utility lines, we ask the neighbors and neighborhood groups to report such incidents to NIPSCO, but by all means not to attempt to remove things laying across utility lines.''



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By OTANA

DRUG HOUSE

There is defintely some kind of problems going on at 1630 South 11th.

By Watchdog