By Amanda O’Rourke
SUNBURY — A program planned for Nov. 5 aims to let residents know what services are available to them in the city to help improve their quality of life.
The community awareness and preparedness for crime event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Shikellamy High School gymnasium.
Organizer city police Chief Stephen Mazzeo said the meeting will go beyond preparing people for crime and will include information from the Sunbury Police Department, Sunbury Crime Watch, Sunbury Fire Department, Shikellamy School District, Northumberland County Human Services and CareerLink.
CareerLink was included, Mazzeo said, because access to employment information affects quality of life.
“Our purpose is to let people know what’s there to improve their lives,” he said. “What we’re hoping is the community will draw together a little bit better.”
Also present will be representatives from city community groups, including the Hill Neighborhood, Old Towne Sunbury and Friends of Fort Augusta.
The program comes a month after an attempted rape in the 800 block of North Awl Street. Police still are searching for a suspect in the Oct. 5 attack. Attempts to produce a picture of the assailant using computer enhancement technologies failed.
Mazzeo said he had planned to organize such an event even before the attempted rape.
“We’ve been working on some community policing initiatives,” he said. “What’s hampered us is our summertime (workload) usually absorbs all of our resources. This is something I looked at doing close to the wintertime anyway.”
Noll Jones, of Northumberland County Human Services, will be at the event to talk about gang presence in the Central Susquehanna Valley. He has traveled throughout the Valley making presentations on the issue to churches, schools and community organizations.
“As we’ve been blanketing the community, we’re looking to reduce any denial with citizens,” Jones said, “and once that’s out of the way, they’re more ready to act.”
