Solving Community Needs: Neighborhood Watch

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by Judy Bushy
We love the beauty of creation all around Happy Camp and our Klamath Neighbors. Sometimes we think that Happy Camp is the best possible place in the world to live. It really shocked us when Dan’s retina specialist down in the city said that he’d never live there. Well, my first thought was that I’d hate to live in the city, even though I grew up in Minneapolis, MN, not a small town at all. But no place is perfect, or perfect for everyone.

It has been mentioned by various voices of the community that Happy Camp has problems. These problems are also found in other places, larger places, with much more in terms of resources than the little town of Happy Camp can offer to solve them.We have a much more important resource, our Klamath Neighbors who can accomplish great things when they work together! While we have only a handful of “homeless” people and families, we also have no homeless shelters or Gospel Missions that offer a bed for the night or a good meal to the hungry. While we have persons with mental health issues, we have inadequate mental health services to provide them with aid, at least within 75 miles and a two hour drive.

A number of years ago burglary increased to about one a night. A Neighborhood Watch was formed, and that eliminated 98% of the problem all along the River, within the first month. When the patrolling and communications were discontinued, however the problems have risen again. We have some people with alcohol and other drug problems who need to finance their addictions and use crime to do so. We greatly appreciate all of the law enforcement agencies in our community, but they aren’t always in our community and the opportunistic element who wants to evade detection when they rob homes or steal gas, knows when they aren’t available.

The Neighborhood Watch is working with law enforcement and the community volunteers to curtail the crime and get help for the perpetrators. They would appreciate your suggestions at the next meeting, March 7th, 2016 at the Karuk Housing Conference Room, and most of all your volunteer time and effort!

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