We were disturbed after getting off the phone with Captain James Avens of the Weldon Police Department Monday.

An effort to have the Community House at 209 Ransome Circle declared a nuisance has hit a critical snag — no one in the community is willing to attest to the problems they have seen over the nearly past two years we have been reporting on this matter.

We believe it is time for folks in the community to sign up and speak up because that’s what it will take to get the nuisance abatement proceedings to a proper forum in court.

We certainly believe, despite the children’s playground equipment in the backyard and the fact meals are cooked at this house, that it is nothing more than a haven for drug sales, repeat offenders and other nefarious activity.

We have been there, escorted of course, several times now and have seen nothing to indicate this is a place to bring the kids for a day of wholesome family fun.

We have watched its patrons have to lick dirt as they are searched by cops and seen drug agents count drug money on a kitchen table. We have been cussed out and mocked.

Our stake in this, however, is not what has been said to us, it’s about the honest people who live in Scoco Park. Obviously, people have been talking because cops are receiving tips.

Now, we believe, it’s time for some brave souls in the community to speak on the record so this matter can have its day in civil court and a judge can determine whether this house is a nuisance. If it is considered a nuisance then a judge can determine what happens to it and that includes tearing it down.

We realize this is not an easy step for people to take. It is, however, a necessary step if folks want to rid the community of what we consider a nuisance.

The Weldon Police Department has put in many hours on this process with the help of state Alcohol Law Enforcement. For this process to end with a whimper and fizzle out like a bad firecracker would not only be a disappointment to the police department but certainly a bigger disappointment and create more danger for the citizens who live in the park in years to come.

We’ve heard many success stories of people taking a stand to take back their communities and the Scoco Park story could be one of them if one brave person would defy the owners of this house who are letting the drugs be sold, who are letting characters with guns come on the property and who are letting it affect the reputation of an overall honest community.

It was once said silence is golden. In the case of the Community House, we’re not so sure that silence couldn’t be deadly one day if the occupants of this house continually give the middle finger to law enforcement and the good citizens of Scoco Park fail to speak up.

We certainly believe the good consequences will outweigh the bad if only someone would sign up and speak up that they don’t want this menace in their neighborhood to continue to flourish — Editor