By Howard Ballou - bio | email | twitter
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - It's hard to keep a business going when it is continually burglarized.
That's what a Jackson businessman on Upton Drive says he is experiencing.
He says he's now looking for a new place to do business and, he says, if the city doesn't take back this neighborhood, others will follow.
There is a "for sale" sign on the front of 118 Upton Drive.
Ron Williams has built specialty engines here at Speed Parts and Machine since 1979, but he says enough is enough.
"Approximately $20,000 worth of tools and a truck stolen," Williams said. "And in the end of July this year, we had between $30,000 to $50,000 worth of my own and customers high dollar racing parts stolen."
Williams says the burglaries started five years ago and haven't stopped since.
"It's more than frustrating because we pay an awful lot of money out in property taxes here and we simply have no police protection," Williams said. "Every one of these buildings, just about, on this street has been hit over and over and over and sometimes it takes policemen 45 minutes to an hour to show up when they get a call."
Williams says surveillance video, from a camera mounted on a security business across the street, shows a vehicle, in the middle of the night, pulling up to his shop, shining a light inside.
Police arrive some 20 minutes later.
Williams says he knows who ripped him off.
"The same individual took approximately $10,000 dollars worth of different customers' cylinder heads in; trying to fence them, sell them and so on, and to date, as of last week, according to the booking office at JPD, he had not been picked up yet or questioned."
Williams says it will cost a small fortune to move and start over:
"But yes, I am trying to because you cannot make a living in this environment," Williams said.
Asked would he would say to the mayor and police chief, Williams replied, "Eventually, there's not going to be a tax base here in Jackson and who's going to make their paychecks then?"
Other businesses along the Upton Drive area report some improvement in police patrolling in the area.
Let us know how we can help you Take Back Your Neighborhood.
If you've already turned your community around, we want to know how you did it.
Just send an email to hballou@wlbt.com.
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