Anti-Crime Group Fires Up Barbecue To Raise Funds And Raise Awareness

Last Saturday afternoon they gathered in the back yard of a mobile home off Barker Road to eat hot dogs, burgers and chips.

“I’ve got dental floss if anybody needs it,” said Ann Borgman, president of SCOPE East Valley. Too busy munching and chatting, no one seemed to hear.

The SCOPE EV members were trying to raise money by hosting a barbecue. For $2, anyone could get all the chow and Kool-Aid they wanted. If they wanted to really advance the cause, green SCOPE T-shirts and sweat shirts were on sale, too.

Just as important as raising revenue, though, was the experience. Organizers said to build a community identity, folks just have to get to know one another. And to that end, a little barbecue sauce goes a long way.

“Come and get it!” yelled Tom Borgman, Ann’s husband and EV SCOPE’s vice president. That, they heard. All heads turned toward the grill.

The number of parked cars grew, and more neighbors took their places at the six large picnic tables. Most of them, anyway. A group of helmeted kids on in-line skates kept playing roller hockey in the driveway.

The adults were now knee-deep in conversation.

Wanda Akers, a SCOPE volunteer, was telling a pretty good story. From behind her white paper plate, she told of her night out riding with a sheriff’s deputy on patrol. People might be fooled by her grandmotherly appearance, but the flicker of excitement that passed behind her eyes gave her away. She has a bit of the vice cop in her.

“We heard some shots, and boy he turned that car around in a hurry, and the next thing you know we were on the sidewalk,” she said. After that, she said, they heard there was a hold-up at a grocery store. “They don’t observe curbs,” she said of the deputy. “And boy, we got there quick. I was praying for that little feller.”

Clyde Starr watched the whole affair with a grin. After all, this was his back yard. He has lived in this mobile home for 21 of his 77 years. When he first moved here, he owned the only mobile home on Mountain View Road. Instead of being surrounded by neighbors, he was flanked by cow pastures.

But, Starr said, his neighborhood is growing and so is the area’s crime problem.

So Starr has become a big-time crime fighter. He’s active in Blockwatch and the Washington Crime Prevention Association. And besides being an EV SCOPE board member, he was such a help to those starting the SCOPE University substation that they dedicated their building to him.

The community policing idea is so dear to him he had a long-sleeved, button-up SCOPE shirt custommade for him.

“I don’t like the pullovers,” he said.

All his affiliations give him plenty to do. Like the barbecue, for instance. When organizers found they needed more picnic tables before the event, no one had to buy any. Starr went out and built four.

That’s OK with him. The more he can do, the better.

“Keeping busy is what it’s all about. When you get older, time just goes by so fast,” he said, as a future Wayne Gretsky sent a hockey puck whizzing through the air. “When you’re young, it seems like Christmas will never come. When you’re older, years just fly by.”

, DataTimes