Cindy Pollock’s recent commentary in the paper (“It’s time to look drug users in the eyes,” Dec. 12)made me remember my own experience several years ago of living in very close proximity to a meth lab on Cove Walk. In order to go to and from our house, we had to walk by this place where clusters of unfriendly, very wasted people lounged on the lawn with a group of pit bulls.

Our neighborhood was peopled with eccentric, sometimes cantankerous folks, but we were generally tolerant and friendly toward one another. We said hello as we passed each other and chatted about the weather.

This was different. The people who hung out around the meth lab returned our hellos with hostile stares. They wanted to be left alone so we stopped our hellos and hurried by. I felt increasingly uneasy, especially at night. And when we discovered our dog-friendly cat hanging out with the pit bulls, we started keeping him inside. One of our neighbors talked to the police, and they said they were aware of the meth lab but couldn’t do anything about it, so we resigned ourselves and muttered complaints to each other.

Looking back, I think we were fearful of doing anything to antagonize such close neighbors, especially during the winter months when very few people lived on Cove Walk and we were so vulnerable.

Animal control eventually got a foot in the door and made it possible for the police to close down the lab when one of the pit bulls ran though the open door of a neighborhood house and killed a cat. Seeing the yellow police tape and the “Danger: Do Not Enter” sign on the house was a shocking message about the danger we had endured for so many months.

— Sharon Shaver