Neighbors of the Year

And the 2009 Neighbors of the Year Award goes to.... Mike and Terri Valentine! I want this couple to live near me, no matter where I decide to buy a home. The career criminal who went on a killing spree in and around Gaffney, SC might still be taking lives if the Valentines hadn't intervened. You can give detectives credit for giving the pulic a description of Patrick Burris and for determining that his gun was the weapon used in five murders. The big break in the case can be credited to the concerned neighbors who called the cops when they spotted a suspicious SUV at house across the street (http://www.wsoctv.com/news/19972995/detail.html).

Concerned neighbors are sometimes just nosey people, but mostly they are people who have a vested interest in keeping your family and property safe. After all, if there's a robber, rapist or killer on the loose and he/she is ransacking the house next door, you home could be next.

I am the product of concerned neighbors. There were the Morris' who kept an eye out for my high school boyfriend, Kevin, when my mom was at work. Packages delivered while I was away have been scooped up by neighbors and cheerfully handed over when I returned. A neighbor rang the bell a few months ago when she spotted a dog that looked like Henri running down the street (http://www.thepuppypreschool.com/Year_Book.html).

Looking out for kids and stray animals, reporting suspicious cars and burned out street lights (http://www.duke-energy.com/north-carolina/outages/streetlight.asp) are the things that qualify you for a Neighbor of the Year Award. It's not a popularity contest. A neighbor doesn't have to be your BFF to make your corner of the world a little safer. My name is Ramona Holloway and I am campaigning for Neighbor of the Year. Maybe the suspicious car I spotted casing my neighborhood did belong to the newspaper carrier. Maybe my neighbor's door was open late one night to let the dog out. I haven't cracked a case yet, but the Valentines have proven that it sure is comforting to have concerned neighbors on Anystreet USA.