CROSBY – To know what needs to be done and to know what is going on in ones community is an asset to every citizen.
Last week at the Community Awareness program a series of speakers tackled a number of topics related to making local neighborhoods less attractive to crime.
A dozen Precinct 3 Deputies including the Constable and his Executive Staff, three Harris County Sheriffs Deputies, Dan Webb, the new NPOAN President and head of the Newport Neighborhood Watch, and Velma Ellison described the developmental changes on-going in Crosby. All these speakers and more under the direction of the Chamber Chairperson Larry Koslovsky.
Kidneys and minds are terrible things to waste
Christy Graves, Director of Medical Services for HCESD#5, the EMS service of Crosby during her speech, talked of the one frequently seen drug in Crosby, synthetic cannabinoids.
People think it is okay because it was once called legal marijuana or synthetic marijuana but now illegally sold under the colloquial Kush, Spice, K-2 but it is a very dangerous substance. It is easily obtainable under the counter at convenience stores or at smoke shops or by mail. There are few that cannot get their hands on this drug. Users are not street people or homeless folks but our kids and our neighbors and grandkids. When we first saw this drug about two years ago in Crosby we would encounter maybe two a month overdoes. Now we respond to six to eighteen a month.
The drug is very volatile. You can smoke it one time and do fine, you can smoke it over several months and do fine but it is like playing Russian Roulette. You could smoke it just once and it can kill you. The users have no ability to understand the molecular dynamics of this drug. The drug is very unstable in its chemical makeup. It is not excreted from the body.
Synthetic cannabinoids is the leading drug issue requiring emergent intervention for the EMS locally. It has become the drug of choice for many because it is not detected in urine screening and is easy and cheap to obtain. Manufacturers are constantly changing its chemical ingredients because of federal bans of certain chemicals used in the making so they can keep selling it.
What we usually see are unconsciousness, seizures, respiratory and cardiac disfunction as well as kidney damage.
Crosby and Huffman have a Police Department
Constable Sherman Eagleton had been in office for 82 days when he spoke at the meeting. In that time he has restructured the department and put 31 officers on the street to better serve the community without costing the tax payers any additional money. During his introduction we learned that Constable Eagleton grew up dreaming of being Constable and as Constable providing our community the service it deserves. Eagleton wanted to implement a more community oriented policing strategy for the areas of northeast Harris County. Two important numbers were released for the public to know, anonymous tip line is (832) 927-8477 to report criminal activity and (713) 453-6959 for suspicious persons and possible criminal activity and 911 for directly seen criminal activity and emergency response. In the plans are programs for youth activities and a host of nontraditional programs.
I heard my good friend Mr. Spearman say that Crosby and Huffman don’t have a police department, that you can’t afford it and have no town. Well, I was born in Barrett Station and thank you to God for electing me Constable for the next four years and I am here to tell you that Crosby and Huffman have a police department. We are here for you.
If you see something, say something. were the watch words of the night from deputies.
Organizing neighborhood watches were the topic from Dan Webb and Sheriffs Deputies.