Fay Beal's war

It took courage for Fay Beal to stand up publicly to her bad neighbors last week.

Beal, a member of the Neighborhood Watch group on South Hanover Street in Cape Girardeau, and other residents who asked to remain anonymous talked to our reporter about troublemakers who block the street, curse other residents, deal drugs, hold pit-bull fights and play loud music.

Police say some of the troublemakers come to town just to party in the neighborhood. A recent weekend of police patrols in the Hanover area resulted in nine citations.

Police give South Hanover Street extra attention on weekends, and brighter street lights have been installed. Community police officer Aaron Brown used to patrol regularly but has been reassigned because the police are short on staff. Some officers have been working overtime to patrol the area, but the police department has exhausted its overtime fund for the year.

Beal said she'd move elsewhere but doubts anyone would buy the South Hanover Street house she has lived in since 1993. She wishes she knew the troublemakers' mothers so she could tell them how their children are acting.

God bless Fay Beal. To recognize her courage, the Southeast Missourian newspaper will donate $750 to the Cape Girardeau Police Department to pay for enforcement activity in and around the 400 block of South Hanover Street. The money will be used for overtime pay.

Once it kicks in this fall, the city's new quarter-cent fire sales tax should give the police department more ability to keep the peace and enforce the law in the city's neighborhoods. Until then, we're glad to help good neighbors like Fay Beal.