Alan Sorensen Havre Daily News asorensen@havredailynews.com
Residents interested in helping keep their neighborhoods safe are invited to a block party in downtown Havre Tuesday evening. The Downtown Neighborhood Watch Committee is sponsoring a National Night Out Neighborhood Barbecue beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the 400 block of Third Avenue. The committee has city permission to block off both ends of the block. The Downtown Neighborhood Watch Program covers an area west of Fifth Avenue from Third to Seventh streets and is the only such program operating in the city. “We’re using National Night Out to make a statement and celebrate the success of our Neighborhood Watch Program, while having a fun gathering to meet and recruit additional neighbors for the cause,” organizer Christy Keto said in a news release. “Law enforcement, a drug dog and city officials have been invited and local businesses are donating to help defray the cost of the meat, buns, water, etc. “We’re also trying to line up a band,” Keto said. Keto said anyone interested in helping to prevent crime in Havre is encouraged to attend. “We are trying to set an example for other neighborhoods to do their own,” Keto said Thursday. “That’s actually one of our goals; not only to make our neighborhood safer but to help the whole community. We can give them advice on how we started our program.” Tammy Nelson, who is co-chair of the Downtown Neighborhood Watch Committee, said Neighborhood Watch is intended to make residents of the area familiar with each other and their surroundings. “We’d also like to encourage the people living in our neighborhood to come and learn what neighborhood watch is all about and get to know our neighborhood better,” Nelson said. She said the program is intended, among other things, to make criminal activity inconvenient. The group organized after the neighborhood was struck by a spree of vandalism during the Great Northern Fair a year ago. Structures were spray painted and items were stolen, she said. She suggested that people are encourAged to call the police if they see problems in the neighborhood rather than not doing anything at all. “It’s more just to keep the neighborhood safe.” Nelson offered a few pointers that discourage criminal activity. “Keep your doors locked and don’t let bikes lay out in the middle of the yard,” she said. “Don’t make it convenient. Turn your light on. If you have some dark areas around your house put in some motion detectors lights. “We live in a small community, you don’t think much about people breaking in, people leave their vehicles unlocked,” she added. The barbecue is primarily intended for residents in the Neighborhood Watch area, but is open to others as well, Nelson said. “Anyone in the community who is interested in learning about Neighborhood Watch is encouraged to come, because I think, too, sometimes, people need an invitation to learn about things, even though in the back of their mind they’ve thought about it.”
