Neighborhood Watch

African-American community leaders and the American Civil Liberties Union are protesting an Annapolis alderman's proposal to curb loitering related to drug activity, saying such a law could prompt police officers to target and search all blacks standing on street corners.Alderman Herbert H. McMillan, a Ward 5 Republican, is expected to introduce a bill at tonight's city council meeting to tighten loitering laws by redefining public spaces to include public housing property and areas such as parking lots and playgrounds that may be privately owned but are open to the public.

In Annapolis, residents toted lawn chairs to City Dock for a jazz concert at sunset to celebrate National Night Out. In Maryland City, residents paraded through their streets, greeting each other and saying goodbye to crime.National Night Out, an annual event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch, local police and communities, brought out an estimated 30 million people last week in 9,000 communities nationwide to block parties, raffles, parades and dozens of other events.Since 1984, the event has grown from demure porch light protests against crime to gala and unusual events to encourage a neighborly spirit.

Residents of two Anne Arundel neighborhoods who have organized to push drug dealers from their streets are looking forward to the help of nearly $192,800 in state crime-fighting grants.The money is aimed at Orchards on the Severn on Pioneer Drive and at Eastport Terrace in Annapolis.Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend toured Eastport Terrace and met with community leaders at Orchards on the Severn yesterday after she announced $10.5 million over three years in Maryland HotSpot Community grants.

Residents in about 25 neighborhoods countywide gathered last night at block parties and picnics to mark the 10th Howard County National Night Out Against Crime.Neighbors munched on hot dogs, coleslaw and watermelon, met new residents and got reacquainted with old ones.At parties in North Laurel and Long Reach village in Columbia, residents said the crimes committed in their neighborhoods were minor and that they hope a close-knit community will keep it that way."This is an excuse to get together," said Will Geckle, a seven-year resident of the Kendall Ridge neighborhood in Long Reach.

Turn on the porch light and get to know your neighbor.Those are some simple basics of crime prevention organizers of National Night Out in Crofton want residents to grasp tonight.Residents are encouraged to turn on the lights outside their home and come to the back yard of Crofton Town Hall between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. for crime and drug prevention tips and activities.More than 8,800 communities are expected to participate in National Night Out in the United States, Canada and on military bases abroad, according to the National Association of Town Watch, which organized the first event in 1984.

A string of as many as 16 related residential burglaries since March 25 has driven residents of two sections of Crofton to form Neighborhood Watch groups.The two sections join six areas of Crofton that have Neighborhood Watch programs, said Crofton Police Chief Deborah Bogush.Bogush said she can't prove a connection, but she noted that the sections that had the crime prevention programs were not struck by thieves."I would like to think it was a deterrent," she said.Residents' calls to police about suspicious people in their neighborhoods have increased since the burglaries have been publicized, she said.

Sobered by a surge in drug crimes, assault and malicious destruction last year, Taneytown residents are looking to forge tighter links with city police and have begun exploring the possibility of an organized neighborhood watch program.Although serious crime remains relatively rare in the community of about 5,000, the annual crime statistics issued late last month confirm a significant rise in several categories, among them:* Narcotics violations, which rose to 70 cases from 30 the year before, an increase of 133 percent.

At worst, Taneytown's war on drugs and juvenile crime has become a mild skirmish -- and Dee Wilson and Ron Bostic want to keep it that way.Their concern has grown into a citizens' anti-crime group bent on preventing drug dealers and gangs from gaining a foothold in Taneytown.One recent incident that alarmed residents was the arrest of two young adults and three 16-year-old boys on marijuana charges after a scuffle at the Taneytown Shopping Center parking lot.The as-yet-unnamed anti-crime group -- about 20 met informally earlier this month -- has scheduled an organizational meeting at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22 at Taneytown Fire Hall.

In Ida L. Hilditch's younger days, neighbor watched out for neighbor, looked after one another's property and reported unruly children to parents without fear or hesitation.The memory of those days pushed Mrs. Hilditch into action last November.She'd seen young adults congregating on the corner near her home.Empty beer bottles and drug syringes littered the ground.Neighbors were installing security bars and alarm systems.At first, she thought the problems were limited to her neighborhood.

Some homeowners living in the west end of New Windsor complain that the Resident Trooper Program and the town's Neighborhood Watch are not enough to curb lawlessness in their neighborhood, which they say is considered "the wrong side of tracks" by town officials.The residents say the town needs a full-time police officer to deal with trouble caused by outsiders, rowdies and people renting apartments in the west end from businessman John Connell Sr."I've been here 35 years, and it's never been like this," said Shawn C. Parry, 35, a bricklayer who lives in the house where he was reared, on Main Street west of High Street.