CITIZEN ACTION Resident works to run drug dealer out of town

The police have several ongoing undercover investigations in the city.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A west side woman says she's fed up with a drug dealer living on her street and she's posted signs urging people to report the activity.
Signs pepper lawns and telephone poles on Taylor Street advising passers-by to report drug activity along with vehicle license plate numbers of the suspected offenders to the Youngstown office of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. The signs also list the telephone number.
Yvonne Richards, 41, a homemaker, whose tidy front lawn boasts a miniature windmill, posted the signs with neighbors' cooperation.
She's lived there for eight years and says she's tired of the drug dealer who lives down the street.
Richards said that for the past two years, she's videotaped cars coming and going and kept lists of license plates but says authorities haven't shut the place down.
"We've done what we can to get him busted, but it's not working," Richards said.
Is she afraid?
"I think I'm too crazy to be," she said.
Starting a trend
Richards said she hopes to start a trend with residents of other streets following her lead and posting their own signs.
"Hopefully, it will go from here to Dickey, Iowa, Nevada [avenues]," she said.
Doug Franklin, safety-service director, said the police department has several ongoing undercover drug investigations in the city.
He declined to comment about whether any of those investigations is ongoing in Richards' neighborhood.
"We continue to do what we can until we can make a case and take those houses back," Franklin said.
He said he and Mayor Michael J. O'Brien met earlier this week with residents of another neighborhood with similar concerns.
Franklin said the city is willing to work with residents to try to address their concerns.
"I'm not surprised that the residents are expressing frustration," he said.