Posted on 09/18/2007 4:19:56 PM PDT by Momaw Nadon
SALEM - Police believe a Web site promoting Salem Willows Park as a meeting place for illicit gay activity has led to an increase in trespassing in the Fort Lee area.
The Web site offers directions to the area, advice on where to park and suggests a "cruisy parking lot and nearby woods near Dead Horse Beach."
After hearing complaints from neighbors, police have been targeting the area in recent weeks and have made several trespassing arrests over the summer. The wooded area, also known as Cannon Hills, is near the entrance to Salem Willows Park.
"The people that frequent that area were parking on the Fort Avenue side near (the water treatment plant), using it as a rendezvous location, then going into the woods to perform illicit acts," said Salem police Sgt. Harry Rocheville. "The neighbors were concerned about it, especially because there are little kids in the area."
The area had already been brought under the spotlight. Last week, while the Police Department's newly formed Community Impact Unit was investigating the area, officers found the body of a 51-year-old man. Police believe the man, who lived in a Salem rooming house, died of natural causes but don't know why he was in the woods.
The Web site listing the Fort Lee area also has a city-by-city directory where users can post popular meeting places, from wooded areas to public bathrooms, and warns other users of undercover police activity in the area.
Neighbors, however, don't need an Internet connection to know the Fort Lee area has been heavily frequented. They say they've always known the woods near their homes was a hot spot for illicit activity and they typically avoid the area.
"It's a playground for gay guys," said neighbor Jack Melin. "I've been here for 30 years. I can't even walk alone up there because I'm afraid it'll look like I'm trolling for guys."
Melin said he caught a 50-year-old man walking through his backyard in his underwear in the middle of the night this past winter. Another time, while walking his dog, he was approached by a man hiding behind a bush.
"How would you like to be in the neighborhood where they all meet?" Melin asked. "Salem's supposed to be famous for its willow trees, not as an infamous meeting place."
Brush provides cover
The area is overrun with thick vegetation, creating a hiding place where trespassers can't be seen from the street, police said.
"The real problem is the area is so overgrown that these people were going in the woods and felt secure in their environment," said Rocheville. "You couldn't see much, so they felt concealed."
Police, however, hope to change the area's reputation. Two months old, the department's Community Impact Unit has already targeted the area and patrols will be intensified, Rocheville said. A 10-man work crew from the Essex County Sheriff's Department cleared out brush this week.
Neighboring South Essex Sewerage District, which owns some of the property, has posted new "No Trespassing" signs and plans to remove overgrown brush and trees.
"The patrol guys were actually seeing men coming out of the woods and traveling right through the area where there are posted 'No Trespassing' signs," Rocheville said. "They were subsequently arrested."
Neighbor Bob McCarthy said he hopes to form a Friends of Fort Lee group to remove overgrown brush this spring.
"Any cleanup is going to help," McCarthy said. "It would be great to clean the trails so people can walk up there."
Homeless camping out
Police efforts over the past few months seem to have cracked down on another neighborhood nuisance near Fort Lee - homeless encampments.
Tom Cote, a longtime resident of the area, said some neighbors could smell the smoke from campfires at night. From three to five encampments were found in the woods, with bedding and random clothing scattered about.
Since then, police say about a half-dozen homeless individuals are now receiving treatment at Bridgewater State Hospital and the complaints have subsided.
Ward 1 Councilor Lucy Corchado said neighbors jogging or walking their dogs had also been finding the remnants of beer parties in the woods.
Another neighbor said smaller kids were riding their bikes, making jumps and building forts in the area.
Cleaning up Fort Lee remains a work in progress, but police are optimistic their renewed focus will drive out those heading into the woods for the wrong reasons.
"Once we're finished with the project and once the brush is cleared back, you'll be able to see the area," Rocheville said. "Everything that's going on up there will be exposed."
Kids used to play there.
People used to walk their pets there.
“The Web site listing the Fort Lee area also has a city-by-city directory where users can post popular meeting places, from wooded areas to public bathrooms, and warns other users of undercover police activity in the area.
So the police could create a phony login, and warn about a police crackdown in the most affected areas.
That sounds like less work than actually going out and arresting a lot of guys.
This guy obviously has no respect for the culture of people who crawl through bushes in their underwear in the dead of winter. He needs some mandatory diversity training, no doubt widely available in Massachusetts.
The Harringtons are responsible, Salem is a real sucky town.
I agree. Obviously he is nothing but a right wing homophobe anti-muslim/anti-wicca bigot.
Next thing you know, he will want police to arrest undocumented Americans or Homelessly Challanged for going to the bathroom on the sidewalk.
I am an avid mtn biker. My (very hetero) friends and I ride, day and night, the trails of Memorial Park (the second biggest metropolitan park, after NY's Central Park). The trolling gays are a health hazard, not only in the obvious sense, but also because we'll ride around the corner on a remote trail and near-miss a gay who is lurking/cruising the forest searching for a willing anus.
One night I even had a crack-head lookin' dude offer me oral sex. I said no thank you and moved on.
I thought I had left that world behind when I moved from San Francisco, but I was mistaken.
Indeed, it used to be a family place, with a picnic area, a boardwalk and Arcades. Long before ejaculation became the Higher Power. We went to a horrid “trendy” sea food place for my Mother’s b’day. The Wiccans must be 25% of the population. I wonder if there’s a connection?
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