On Territory Road across from The ORF Meadow

Some years ago — more than twenty, actually — shortly after John Didion had been elected Pacific County Sheriff for the first time, Nyel and I hosted him at an informal meeting at our house here in Oysterville.  We asked if he would talk to interested Oysterville residents about neighborhood safety.

As I recall, it was a period of time during which there was concern about “squatters — possibly druggies” in one or two of the unoccupied second homes in the village.  Sheriff Didion was accompanied by one of his Deputies, Ray Harrison, who lived in Surside and who was to become a familiar presence in Oysterville.  At that meeting, Ray said he would increase his “drive-throughs” in the village and, indeed, he proved as good as his word.  We all felt well looked after as long as Ray was on the job.

Also, at that meeting, John and Ray talked about Neighborhood Watch programs and encouraged us to consider forming such a group.  They promised to help get us started and to support us in any way that they could.  Unfortunately, that idea never got beyond the talking stages here, but I think that maybe Surfside residents did organize a community safety group of some kind.  Perhaps it is still functioning.

Homeward Bound

I’m pretty sure we passed around a “sign-in sheet” at that meeting.  I don’t find  it here; I imagine that we gave it to John at the meeting’s conclusion.  Neither Nyel ‘nor I have a clear memory of exactly who was here, but my lasting impression is that most of our neighbors in “greater downtown Oysterville” attended.

Imagine our surprise yesterday when it was one of those very same “neighbors” whose picture showed up on the photos taken by Dan Driscoll’s surveillance camera!  It never, in all these years, would have occurred to me that a “Neigborhood Watch” endeavor might reveal the mischief of one of our own near neighbors, Michael Parker.  It puts a whole new spin on the concept of “Neighborhood Watch” doncha think?