THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605070118
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Businessman Randolph Barlow says he thinks Isle of Wight County needs to change for the better.
He says that that county streets need to be swept clean of drug dealers.
He says that residents in Smithfield's Jersey Park need to report drive-by shootings and other crimes, instead of ignoring crime. He says that teenagers need to respect authority as well as themselves.
Barlow, president of Farmer's Service in Smithfield, became concerned about his community last summer after his business was burglarized. A few months later, an employee who had worked for him for four years was implicated in an internal theft.
``Both were related,'' Barlow said. ``And both were drug-related. I found out later that this employee was involved with crack cocaine.''
Although Barlow offered to help the man, if he cooperated with police, the offer was rejected, Barlow said.
``He was so scared of the drug dealers that he chose to suffer the consequences in court,'' he said.
Now Barlow is trying to help his community.
Last October, he contacted Paul D. Camp Community College for assistance in forming a Community Action Network that would bring people and organizations together to identify and solve local concerns.
The college also has assisted Franklin in forming a similar network.
``We are still in the process of gathering support to create the network,'' Barlow said. ``That has to be done before we identify what we want to spend our energies on.''
Smithfield Chief of Police Mark A. Marshall says he believes the group could benefit the community.
``Anytime you get a group of people together who are interested in benefiting the community by coming up with solutions for problems, it's a great idea,'' Marshall said.
Barlow said school administrators also support the network.
So far, the Isle of Wight group has met only twice since November.
``We're struggling to get this group going,'' Barlow said. ``We need help from people and organizations.''
Paul D. Camp Community College president Jerry Friga said starting a local network is always slow.
``It takes a lot of time and patience to get people to enter into coordinated action,'' Friga said. ``And it takes a focused energy to get something accomplished. An intense pace needs to be set to make things happen.''
In Franklin, where a network has been established for about a year, the community identified the sale of drugs as a problem that needed to be eliminated.
``After that problem was identified, the group focused on the issue of public safety and youth,'' Friga said. ``We've had success with neighborhood watch programs.''
But efforts to help youth in Franklin have been harder to accomplish, Friga said.
``We have so many individuals and organizations who do good in the community for youth, but we haven't been able to get those people to join forces to accomplish something for the youth,'' Friga said. ``The one good thing that has come out of all this is that it's brought the white and black community together.''
For more information, call 357-5214. by CNB