During the guest participation portion of the Middlesboro City Council meeting, a concerned citizen addressed the council of an alleged ongoing issue her family and neighborhood has been having with drug-related crime and activity.

The speaker, Susan Dunn, explained that she lives in the East End area.

“About four years ago, we started noticing a lot of drug activity. We reached out to the police department, and they were actually pretty passive about it,” said Dunn.

Dunn went on to highlight various instances of her and her family reporting drug and criminal activity. According to her statements, nothing has been done to address her concerns.

“About a year ago, we’ve been seeing a lot more crazy activity,” stated Dunn.

Among the instances Dunn highlighted, she noted blatant drug use, fires and non-street legal vehicles such as ATVs speeding past motorists on the road. She also claimed that her family had reported seven houses in her neighborhood with suspected drug activity.

“We need to figure out what we need to do. Not just me and my family, but what the people of my community need to do to actually be safe,” she said.

“I appreciate you coming to the council to make us aware of all this. We’ll follow up with the police about all of this. This is serious,” said council member Bo Green.

Councilman Phillip Ball asked Dunn to wait after the meeting to discuss the issue further.