The Alaska State Troopers have responded to sexual assaults, fights, gunfire, reckless driving and teenage drinking, said Sgt. Jim Hibpshman of the Homer post.
"We knew things weren't good out there, and we pulled our necks in and stayed home," said Sarah Clemson, a leader in an Anchor Point citizens group formed to address the yearly problem of crime and general incivility.
"We're not going to do that this year," she said.
Clemson and other seniors from the Anchor Point Senior Center, Dress, Hibpshman, representatives from the Alaska State Parks and other concerned citizens are working to make Memorial Day a positive, family-oriented event. Clemson said the group has held meetings over the past few months, with another meeting scheduled at 2 p.m. April 6 at the Anchor Point Senior Center.
The group of about a dozen volunteers plans a weekend of games, music and food lots of food, said Clemson. Dress said the VFW traditionally holds barbecues, a horseshoe tournament and other events at the post, with guests coming from all over Alaska. On Memorial Day, the VFW also holds three cemetery ceremonies in Anchor Point, Ninilchik and Homer. Dress said the back lot of the VFW could be used for a wider weekend celebration.
"There are lot of concerned people in the area," Dress said. "The attempt this year is to organize activities, a positive step most people in our community would support."
Hibpshman said every year troopers have responded to more and more criminal complaints in Anchor Point and other lower peninsula recreation areas.
"They shouldn't have to put up with the fights, the guns, the drinking," he said. "We will enforce when we get guns pulled on people, sexual assaults, fights with rocks, thefts, DUIs. We will be responding."
Dress said in the 15 years he's been at the Memorial Day weekend in Anchor Point the situation has been getting worse and worse. He said he has seen parents drop off high school age kids for the weekend and pick them up three or four days later.
"If it were just Anchor Point folks involved, it would be one-tenth the problem," Dress said. "It's not just an Anchor Point problem."
Along with more activities to involve teenagers and young adults, Clemson said the group plans to have a "24-hour adult presence just a presence," she said.
Volunteers in pairs or small groups will walk the Anchor River and beach recreation areas to be on the lookout for problems, she said. Hibpshman said a community patrol is a good idea, and that they can help troopers by reporting problems.
"We've got to have a lot of people around," Clemson said. "We want our presence to be there."
Clemson said they're looking for any help they can get. They've been talking to the Anchor Point and Homer schools for ideas, suggestions and help. She said a lot of senior citizens have been working on the ad hoc committee.
"More of us have the time," Clemson said.
Hibpshman said solving the problem means changing the mindset from Memorial Day weekend in Anchor Point as a three-to-four day drunken party to a three-to-four day family affair.
"What does the community want this to be?" he said. "In the end, that's just what it will be. I'll do anything I can do to support them."
Anyone interested in helping out can call her at 235-7786 at the Anchor Point Senior Center, Clemson said.
"We hope to get a large enough number to pull this off," she said. "It's going to be quite a production."
Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.
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