It takes a village to protect a town

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It’s 3 a.m. and I’m awake with chronic insomnia again. I walk around the house, get a drink of water, look out the window to see if the stray cats l’m feeding have stopped by, look up and down the street and all is quiet like it should be. 

Good! Maybe I’ll play with my dog in the garage for a while or read a book until I’m tired again

It reminds me of another night not too long ago.

It was 12:30 a.m. when I awoke to the sound of a rumbling engine just outside my window. So I went to my living room bay window to look out. There was a truck or SUV parked just across the street with its engine running. Then I saw a person, I think it was a young girl in shorts,  running across a yard to the vehicle. It was dark out except for one porch light that was on in the neighborhood – mine. It looked like she wasn’t carrying anything. Maybe they’d been checking to see if the neighbor’s garage door was locked? As soon as she jumped into the vehicle, it sped away. It was just too dark for me to identify the vehicle since only my light was on and not the neighbors’. I wondered if I had just witnessed a failed attempt of burglary?

My vehicles are parked in the driveway but are kept locked and so is my house. But I always leave my front and back porch lights on every night. And if someone walks near my cars, a motion-sensored flood light will come on. The cars are outside because my dog lives in the garage. He will bark and wake me up if he hears anything out of the ordinary. I believe keeping my residence well-lit will dissuade criminals; and if it doesn’t, at least I will be able to give the police a good description of the intruders.

Because of my insomnia, I’m often up at all hours of the night; and I’m retired with no set schedule, so I’m home a lot. Being friends with my neighbors, I’m more aware of their comings and goings and schedules. So you might say I’m the Neighborhood Watch but I’m only one person.

It is very sad that there have been so many burglaries in town now. Once it was safe to leave your car and house unlocked, but no more. The police have diligently warned residents to lock their cars and doors at all times.

I want to go one step further. Please turn your porch lights on at night. That’s what porch lights are for.

With the energy-saving light bulbs we have now, it’s not going to cost a lot for the electricity, so that is not an excuse.

Please help me light up the neighborhood! Light up Brookings so if something terrible were to happen, such as a burglary, an accident, or a rape, someone would be more apt to witness it and help police if all the neighborhoods left their porch lights on.

Sometimes one person can make a difference, but in this situation I need everyone to help out. Let’s protect our town from criminals and light up our neighborhoods. Here are a few catchy reminders:

 Switch it on – thieves are gone

 Light the way – vandals go away

 Lock the door – crooks no more