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Woman’s Club meeting: page 3 Hopewell boys basketball win: page 7 Koutnik’s Classics – 30 years ago: page 5 Governer Kaine’s budget cuts; page 12 Local Church listings: page 6

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©2005 American Profile Hometown Content Service

The Hopewell News YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER IN HOPEWELL, PRINCE GEORGE AND ENON SINCE 1925

www.hopewellnews.com

Neighbors Helping neighbors cut crime

OBAMA INAUGURATED

75 CENTS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2009 — WEEKEND EDITION

u By ELLIOTT ROBINSON

Curtis Harris: ‘I did not expect this to happen in my lifetime’

STAFF PHOTO

The Rev. Curtis Harris Sr. stands across from his church wearing Barack Obama clothing. He traveled to Washington, D.C. Tuesday to witness Obama’s inauguration.

Civil rights leader, councilor witnessed the event firsthand u By ELLIOTT ROBINSON

Forty-four years ago, the Rev. Curtis Harris Sr. helped make history as he marched along U.S. Route 80 with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. between Selma and Montgomery, Ala. On Tuesday, he sat on the frigid National Mall, witnessing

history as Barack Obama was sworn in as the nation's first minority president. "It was a historic experience and I was thrilled, despite the cold weather — I was wrapped up well — I was able to observe the swearing in of the president and the vice president," Harris, ward 2 councilor and national vice

chairman of the board of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, said. Harris set out to Washington, D.C., Monday afternoon after participating in a breakfast in honor of King in Chesterfield County. As he looked back at his experience with King and his battles for equality in the Tri-

Cities, the inauguration held a special significance to him. "I was excited about this matter, and I did not expect this to happen in my lifetime but it happened, and I'm thrilled." Throughout his lifetime as a civil rights leader, Harris endured the violent attacks on peaceful protests in the

1960s, threats on his life and an unsuccessful bombing of his home in Hopewell. Harris, 84, was born in Surry County and has lived in the city for 80 years. He has been a member of City Council since 1986 and has the longest tenure of any other councilor. Like many of the millions

Volunteer police seek out members u By ELLIOTT ROBINSON

Anyone in Hopewell most likely has seen the Police Volunteers. They are out at funeral escorts, help direct traffic, patrol the city and set up the city's command center. "We support the mission of the police department," said Susan Temple, secretary of the Police Volunteers. They also need more volunteers. The four-year-old program hopes to expand its manpower to better serve the city and give some relief to police officers. "This is an investment and we free up the police force to do what they need to do," said Vanessa Justice, former mayor of Hopewell. The Police Volunteer

program began in 2005 as an idea of Rex Marks, the former chief of police. Dot Carter, who was instrumental in setting up the program, took it upon herself to go door-to-door in several neighborhoods to garner the initial batch of volunteers. "We didn't have anything like that round here," Carter said. Before heading out into the field, volunteers undergo training, said Officer Kevin Johnson, who is the supervising officer for the volunteers. "We're not training people to be police," he said. "We just want them to do things as safely as possible." Duties include providing up to four cars for funeral escorts for all of the funeral homes in the city. If that duty

was left solely to Hopewell Police, only one car would be available for the escort, Johnson said. "They can do an escort way better than we can," he said. The Police Volunteers also direct traffic for parades and other events, patrol the streets for noncompliant vehicles. bring McGruff to schools and they even patrolled Hopewell High School for two weeks after December's bomb threat. "Officers have remarked on their willingness to work and the professionalism they've shown," Johnson said in a press release. "These uniformed volunteers provide a real presence and some muchneeded eyes and ears as they go about their duties throughout the city." Additionally, they hold

Statistics can be deceiving, said Hopewell Police Chief Steven Martin during his monthly citywide neighborhood watch meeting. Overall, the city saw a 2 percent drop in crime in 2008 but a change in how breaking and entering is recorded drove those numbers significantly higher. In what may have come to a surprise to some in the city, Martin said that most of the instances of breaking and entering occurred in broad daylight between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when most people are working and not at home. As not all people on a particular street are guaranteed to be at work during those hours, having neighbors looking out for each other's houses is particularly important, said Capt. Gabriel Costanzo. "If you see someone walking down the street with a TV in the middle of the day, call us," Costanzo said. Recently, some arrests in the city had been made thanks to the watchful eye of some residents who alerted police. One burglary suspect was apprehended when a neighbor noticed a strange man unscrewing a light bulb at a house. "Encourage [neighbors] to call us up," he said during a slideshow of significant arrests. "If you get a lot of people involved, you'll see a lot more people put up here being arrested," Costanzo said. Also at the meeting, Martin said, a helpful thing to do is fill out a inventory sheet that lists a description and serial number of every bigticket item in a home. Once an object is reported stolen, the serial number goes into a

PHOTO BY ELLIOTT ROBINSON

Capt. Gabriel Costanzo, left, and Chief Steven Martin discuss police incidents in Hopewell during the citywide Neighborhood Watch meeting Thursday evening.

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