Group asks for county’s help

A group of Potts Camp residents appeared before the Marshall County Board of Supervisors to appeal for help in deterring drug-related crimes.

The neighborhood watch group, led by Cary Mayer and others, said they have urged the Potts Camp Board of Aldermen to do something about drug houses after a woman was shot and killed in her front yard on Labor Day.

Casey Mayer, son of Cary Mayer, said the board of aldermen has ignored their requests to enforce codes that could thwart this type of drug-related activity.

“Most of you are aware of the incident in Potts Camp where a lady lost her life,” he said.

He said citizens know the house where she was staying was being rented to people dealing in drugs.

Casey Mayer said the watch group decided “if we sat on our hands” nothing would be done about the crime wave in the town.

“We went to the board of aldermen and felt it fell on deaf ears,” Mayer said.

After hearing the voice of the murder victim screaming and moaning on a video tape recording taken from the house across the street, the neighborhood watch group sought for answers.

“The owner of this property is aware of this situation,” Mayer said. “We asked the city (town) if they had any nuisance ordinance.”

He said after the town attorney spoke with the neighborhood watch group, a raid was made on the house December 1.

“Since that time the traffic has gotten less,” Mayer said.

“My son saw it from across the street. It’s something I can never erase out of my mind. Can homeowners be made responsible because they were aware of this problem? I know it’s in the city (town) but the city is in the county. We’re just begging for help.”

Michael Brown, a member of the watch group, said Potts Camp children don’t want to go outside because of the drug problem.

Former Potts Camp alderman Ronnie Joe Bennett, now District 5 supervisor, insisted there are laws on the books he was aware of during his tenure, that could address the problem.

“The problem is it’s not being enforced,” he said. “Here for the last few years, they don’t enforce anything like we did when I was on the board.”

He noted there are places where lots of cars park and people are hanging out.

Mayer said part-time police chief Jason Mills tries to address the problem but he’s only part-time.

Cary Mayer said the neighborhood watch group, now about 20 strong, is putting up neighborhood watch signs to try to get citizens to pay attention to what is going on on their streets.

Bennett continued. “I know it’s bad,” he said. “Y’all are paying for it to get it done. You have to tell the board `you have to do something or you won’t be reelected.’ “ Bennett said the county cannot help unless the town requests help from the sheriff’s department. “Mr. Kenny (Dickerson) can’t go in there and override the city,” he said. Sheriff Dickerson stood to explain a way the problem with drugs could be quelled. “The question is why don’t

you have at least three police officers working?” he asked. “This board funds my budget as best it can. A presence of a marked car is a good deterrent.”

Cary Mayer replied the town has two police cars but one of the cars does not have operable headlights.

“Have they identified this house as a drug house?” asked District 4 supervisor George Zinn III.

“The county was there last week,” Casey Mayer said.

“There’s murder all over Marshall County,” Zinn said.

“Not just in Marshall County, all over the country,” the sheriff said.

Zinn said the feds (federal agents) should be put in the area.

“I think it’s bigger than you,” he said. “There has been murder after murder all over Marshall County.” “You see a girl laying on her back dead, it hurts,” Brown said.

Bennett said with 15 to 20 cars hanging out in the town in one place, “We know what they are doing. We can tell them.”

Board attorney Amanda Smith advised the town and county could sign an inter-local agreement so the county could become more involved.

“But the town has to ask for that assistance for the county to be more involved,” she said.

Brown interjected, “I was talking with Mr. Chuck (Thomas). If they can’t get it cleaned up, I’ll pay for it out of my pocket.”

Cary Mayer said when the watch group went to the board of aldermen the first time, they were told it was not a problem.

Since that first meeting the group has attended the last two board meetings, he said.

Brown said aldermen said they would look into it. But there is still no action.

Keith Taylor, District 3 supervisor, said, “They are their own government. A lot of time the system is not broken. It’s the people who are running it (the system). It may be something is not being enforced. Public safety should be No. 1.”

Dickerson explained the larger picture.

“You have a broken court system,” he said. “They have to let them out on bond. The guys are smart. One guy broke into 12 houses and stayed in the penitentiary seven or eight months. We just have a broken system. We have a backlog of cases in the court system.

“We have about 20 people in jail now on murder charges. And with COVID, that puts a backlog. You wouldn’t believe what it takes getting people in jail and out. It’s not just Marshall County and Potts Camp. It’s all over the country.

“Times are hard and money is tight. I could use twice as much help. We’ve got more people in jail than the court system can handle. We have people in authority who don’t believe in punishment. It appears to me you ought to have enough money in Potts Camp to have two on patrol.”

Casey Mayer asked if the county suggests the citizens go back to the town board of aldermen.

“We’ll do whatever we can, but the town has to ask for help,” Bennett said again. “There are things down there not being done. They can do something. They don’t want to go to court and spend money.”

“Well, we’ve got an election coming up,” Cary Mayer said.