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Speeding motorists continue to be the top problem facing the community of Shadow Mountain Village.

The Moffat County Sheriff's Department held its second meeting with residents of Shadow Mountain Village, which is located west of Craig on County Road 7, to discuss issues of concern for the community Wednesday night.

Shadow Mountain has the most calls for the sheriff's department than any other neighborhood in the county's jurisdiction.

Sheriff Buddy Grinstead and Undersheriff Jerry Hoberg talked about what has been done in the last month to deal with speeding in Shadow Mountain.

An increased presence in the neighborhood has yielded seven speeding tickets since the last meeting between the sheriff's department and the community on June 3, which Hoberg and Grinstead said was "very high."

"I think that the slowest was 41 mph in a 25 (mph zone)," Hoberg said. "The others (tickets) were above that."

Shadow Mountain Village is outside of the city limits of Craig. The majority of residents at the meeting agreed that progress had been made in deterring speeders, but not all of them agreed.

Jane Stout has been a resident of Shadow Mountain Village since 1994. She says that she has seen the problem of speeding get much worse since she first began living in the community.

"I don't know if it can get better," Stout said, "We need a deputy stationed here."

Streetlights are another concern for Stout who believes that more streetlights will help out safety problems in Shadow Mountain. Stout and seven other families pay almost $90 to have one street light.

"The county won't pay for it," Stout said, "I guess it is just the extra money (it would cost to put street lights around the Shadow Mountain community)."

Within four houses around her home Stout said that about ten kids live and they play in the street all of the time.

"It (the speeding problem) hasn't gotten better on Sequoia (since the sheriff's department started posting more patrols in the neighborhood)," Stout said of the street she lives on.

The appearance of the community is also a problem for Stout.

"It needs a clean-up," Stout said. "People need to take more pride in their community. There are very few rentals here, it is mainly people who own their homes."

Doug Schneider Sr. and Ed Coverston, both residents of Shadow Mountain Village agree with Stout in the opinion that speeding is the main problem for the community.

Putting up more speed limit signs was discussed as a way to possibly reduce speeding in the neighborhood. But Schneider said that putting up more signs is "stupid," because there are enough signs.

Ticketing people on the first stop is what both Coverston and Schneider think will do the most toward eliminating the problem of speeding.

"If you write enough tickets, the word will get out that there is police there and speeding will go away," said Schneider. "They (the speeders) don't care if they run over you."

"I just don't want the children to get hurt," Coverston said.

But Coverston and Schneider disagree when considering whether the sheriff's department increased presence has had an effect on speeding.

"I've seen a little slow down," Coverston said.

"I haven't seen a difference, not really as far as speeding," Schneider countered.

The meeting ended with Grinstead proposing that another meeting be held in the end of September or the end of October to revisit issues concerning Shadow Mountain.

"We don't need a fatality to open people's eyes," said Coverston of why stopping speeding is such a problem.

Liz King is an intern with the Craig Daily Press. She can be reached at 824-7031 or eking@craigdailypress.com.