Mayor Petillo and Councilman Francis.... a sincere Thank you! Reading this combined with Chief Brennan's recent statement has given me great hope that the drug issue is and will continue to be addressed. It's a wonderful start, maybe more will now open their eyes. Thank you all and God Bless!

Revitalize the town, whats your plan for that, Hopatcong hasnt looked any better since the early 70's - You get your first hand look at what to expect when you enter Hopatcong, broken down tractor trailers and a big dirt lot, sidewalks on lakeside blvd. which are never cleaned, lower river styx has been abandoned, empty rotting buildings sit and havent heard a word on new business ventures - Good luck on cleaning up the drug problems in town, town image is a big part of this - Clean up the town image already!

I hinestly thing the crack down is what we need. We also need to have a Police Officer at the park afrter school and weekends. There are always kids there, my son included, and i seriously think that if there is a Police person there the kids would think twice and it would form a bond with the Police and the teens. Lets face it they are the ones who will be the next in trouble possibly. My son is at the park all the time and part of me doesnt want him there ever bc I have heard of drugs there. We need to protect and teach our children not hide them in the house.

Sorry but I am not clear on the function of this new Health Committee. Is it to replace the already in existence Board of Health? If so, why not just shift the Board’s responsibilities to conform to today’s needs? Or, is it going to be a voluntary thing? Either way, I hope that its responsibilities towards the drug problem are to assist the police and not to remove the police responsibility from the drug scene. Although drug addiction may be a medical problem, it creates criminal problems that must be addressed by the police. Not only sale, use and possession but all the collateral crimes that come of it. For every theft done by an addict, there are who knows how many others that the addict got away with. I certainly do agree with any move that will contribute to the elimination, or at least the control, of our drug problem but the term “Health Committee” does indicate concentration on the health issues raised more than crime prevention. If this is a volunteer thing I would be very interested in being part of the committee. Citizen involvement is always a good thing. Specially in a small community like ours. But then, I might be all wet, I still don’t understand the whole thing.

Education is always a positive, but every living sole knows that drugs are bad for you from the time they get into grammar school. The hard answer to a drug problem is what is called quality of life enforcement. This involves enforcement of minor infractions on the books, for Police interaction. The downside is that a small percentage of summons will be issued to juveniles and young adults who will complain that they are getting picked on. These interactions also lead to arrests for substantial violations of law, in which the person can be used for an informant to arrest drug dealers. Their is an epidemic of burglary's caused by those who need money for their next fix. Difficult problems can only be solved with tough choices.

I read the title of this article, "More Officials Say Hopatcong Has Drug Problem" the 1st thing that came to mind was, "No REALLY!?" DOESNT TAKE A SCHOLAR TO REALIZE THAT.

Wait let me make sure I have this right, "More Officials Say Hopatcong Has Drug Problem" I am with Jennifer, Uh Duh, this town has always had issues with either drugs or drunks it was a party town for decades, now well not so much party but drugs, pfft... and more of you officials are just now noticing it? What town have you been living in? Did you not see the hand offs by quick chek both the old one and now the newer one. Do you not see the cars parked by Modick Park at night? Young people around the park at night in the freezing cold? Does this not make you sit up and say hmmmmm... Do you not see cars parked on side streets late at night? and believe me they are not doing the nasty in the car like back when I was a kid.... Do you not see the cars late at night cruising around near 3 n 1 or the post office? If not, you need to get out more often. Perhaps the police need some assistance, maybe more bodies out on the streets at night? I for one would be glad to hit the streets on weekend nights, I drove a cab up here part time every weekend night for nearly 10 years so being up and out until the early morning hours is no stranger to me.... maybe we all need to kick in and take back this town we live in instead of expecting the "officials" to do it. Call it "Vigilante" if you want but its worked in plenty of cities and towns throughout the US already so why not here too?
They just noticed... that scares me on so many levels....

I'm with Jennifer and Billl...Have they have blinders on and realize there was a problem with drugs? I think we need more residents to volunteer to help out in this town...Maybe implement a Neighborhood Watch...I know back in the day when I was a kid we had one...It did help some...We all know what's going on in this town..I would be interested in helping out...Is this something we can suggest to the board? If this is done on a volunteer basis it won't cost this town any money...We need to help and save our kids!