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By Sam Hosler
Mayor, Town of Kearny
Wonderful things have been happening in Kearny these last two weeks. The Journey for a Clean Kearny was successful beyond my expectation, then this past weekend the Vaches’ NAPA Store teamed up with the Copper Basin Chamber of Commerce to celebrate their grand opening with an incredible car show on Alden Road. It was wonderfully promoted and managed, and the number of cars, the quality of the show, and number of visitors were all great.
But let me take a different direction in this column. I have a concern that our streets are too dark.
About three weeks ago a flurry of break-ins took place in town, and there were also reports of some vandalism. These things do happen from time to time, but I wondered how best to respond. I know our police department has good leads now, and I figure there will be an accounting. But how can we be more proactive about our town’s safety?
With all this on my mind, I went to bed but woke up at 2:30 a.m. with my mind racing. I got dressed, stepped outdoors, and checked on a old motion sensor light I installed a few years back. It had a new bulb, but the sensor had quit working. Still awake, I decided to drive around town, starting with my own 400 block of Jamestown. It was dark. Really dark. The streetlights were on, but they were not enough. I drove down the street and started counting: 28 homes were totally dark, with not so much as a 60 watt bulb at the front door, much less lighting on the sides or in the back.
I continued on. I went down the 400 blocks of Kearny, down the 500 blocks, up to all the “uptown” homes across the highway, then down the 300 block. I would have gone on to count the whole town, but at 4:30 a.m. I was getting sleepy so I headed home. I wish I had visited the 200 and 100 blocks and the area across the railroad tracks. The commercial district is well lighted (with a couple of exceptions) but our town is really dark! Twenty-eight homes on the 400 block of Jamestown were dark, and the results were similar on all the streets.
The streetlights were all in good order. But a criminal could easily hide from anyone on any of our streets, simply by going into the dark yards.
I think all of us should leave one or more lights on at night, and that we should explore motion-sensor lights or dusk-to-dawn lights for our side and back yards. The statistics from insurance companies support this. And did you know that many home insurance companies will reduce your rates if you install such lights?
Yes, the fixtures and the cost of the electricity figure into all this. But good lighting will accomplish more and cost less than any insurance… and we all will be able to walk down the streets at night without tripping.
There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.
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