Town hall meetings planned on rural crime, livability

Aug. 25—The Jackson County Sheriff's Office, District Attorney's Office and Code Enforcement plan to join forces on a series of five town hall meetings in rural areas of the county starting Sept. 1.

Residents will have a chance to talk about crime and livability issues with a panel that includes representatives from the DA's Office, the patrol and jail divisions of the sheriff's office, a sex crimes detective and code enforcement officials. The panel will have a Spanish-speaking representative.

Jackson County Sheriff Nathan Sickler said community members are welcome to ask questions and provide input on a wide variety of issues.

"Each person might have an issue that's important to them. We don't want to assume," he said.

Sickler said people can bring up anything they're concerned about.

"Illegal marijuana grows, water use and problems with the black market will always be at the forefront in rural communities. But people might also be concerned about the direction of the criminal justice system, our ability to deal with offenders, jail space or specific crimes. There might be a house or some locations that are causing problems that we're not aware of and we could address," he said.

Sickler said traffic enforcement is a perennial issue that comes up whenever the sheriff's office does surveys.

"People are concerned about speeders and people racing in their area, and they want traffic enforcement. Then there's the Catch-22 that you might also catch people who live in the area. Traffic is an area where people would like additional effort and for issues to be resolved. That usually does come up," he said.

Sickler said federal community policing grants give the sheriff's office the ability to spend more time in rural communities working on issues.

"We want to continue to build relationships and make them stronger," he said.

There will be a QR code at each meeting that people can scan with their smartphones to send questions anonymously to the panel.

The meetings will be 6-9 p.m. every other Thursday starting in September. The dates and locations are:

* Sept. 1: The Ruch and Applegate area, Jackson County Fire District 9, 1095 Upper Applegate Road

* Sept. 15: The Wimer and Rogue River area, Rogue River High School, 1898 E. Evans Creek Road

* Oct. 6: The Sams Valley and Gold Hill area, Sams Valley Elementary School, 14235 Table Rock Road

* Oct. 20: The Prospect area, Prospect Community Club, 305 Red Blanket Road

* Nov. 3: The White City Area, Jackson County Auditorium, 7520 Table Rock Road

Reach Mail Tribune reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or valdous@rosebudmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @VickieAldous.