By John Schaffner

editor@reporternewspapers.net

The High Point Civic Association heard a report from Sandy Springs police Lt. Steve Rose on crime in the southeast area of the city and a discussion from Senior Officer Larry Jacobs of the benefits of the city’s Neighborhood Watch program in helping to fight crime.

According to association President Alan Powell, the annual meeting April 21 was “quiet” and mainly centered on the “state of affairs in the community,” which encompasses the Sandy Springs neighborhoods south of I-285 and east of Roswell Road.

Powell said the association is trying to encourage all the neighborhoods to get involved in Neighborhood Watch. But because it is a civic association and not a homeowners association, he said, those living in the various neighborhoods cannot be forced to participate in such programs.

Powell said the High Point Civic Association “is certainly one of the largest organized associations in Sandy Springs.”

He said meeting attendees discussed plans by the Church of Scientology to renovate the interior of a building members have owned for a few years to provide a new home for the church, now in Dunwoody. The building, Powell said, is as former real estate office building at the corner of Glenridge and Roswell roads, adjacent to the post office.

Powell said his organization has no issues with the church but does have questions about the maintenance and uses of the building. He said the building has not been well cared for during the three years church members have owned it.

As for the planned use of the building for meetings of 200 or more people, Powell said his association members question where people attending those meetings are going to park and how traffic at that intersection will be handled.

He said some in his association have studied reports of experiences with Scientologists in other states to determine whether there have been any problems with neighborhoods where they have conducted business.

But Powell was quick to say that his association does not know enough about the church’s plans to formulate an official position.