SUMMERDALE - The Summerdale Police Department cleared a local residence of trespassers on Monday, June 8. The property, located around County Road 28 and County Road 32, has been described by residents in the area as a “problem property,” and a “nuisance property for a number of years.”

“There’s been a lot of drug activity,” said one homeowner who lives near the residence. “They basically have a junkyard out there, they burn fires constantly, you can hear them screaming and hollering, loud vehicles, and they have huge gatherings with 30 or 40 kids out there, and when I say kids I’m talking about teenage to maybe 20.”

Neighbors testified to the Summerdale council and police that people on the property would shoot guns throughout the night, abuse animals, and steal items from neighboring sheds.

After one neighbor called Mayor David Wilson on Sunday, June 7, describing the events taking place on the property, Wilson contacted Police Chief Kevin Brock. On Monday, Brock and his officers were able to enter upon the property to handle the situation. The homeowners cooperated and worked with the police to get the situation under control.

“The problem we had in this from the get-go was one of the residents at the property had permission to be on the property,” said Brock. “When you have permission to be on the property that’s when an eviction process is needed, which is handled by the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department. During our investigation Monday we found out that resident is no longer there and hasn’t been there for some time, and that opened our window because everybody else on that property was now trespassing, meaning we were able to go onto the property and trespass all those individuals. Now if any of them come onto that property we can arrest them on sight.”

Police put tape across the property entrance, and anyone who crosses will be charged for crossing a police barrier. A search of the property yielded no weapons or drugs, but a large stash of fireworks was found on the premises. Three individuals were present when police arrived on Monday.

“Everything fell into place that the police could take action,” Wilson said. “If there’s ever anything that the citizens need from our police or our Public Works, we’re here for our people and we’ll do our very best. We don’t get bullied here in Summerdale, we’re able to stand up to whatever comes along. Our citizens know what kind of fortitude that we stand for, and we also have a high moral standard that we try to attain here in this town.”

Brock stated the information given to him and Wilson by the citizens was crucial in allowing the department to move forward with trespassing the individuals on the property.