West Salem Residents Need to Beware of Hypodermic Needles

Hypodermic needles recovered last Halloween in the same West Salem Neighborhood Photo By: Tim King

(Salem) - 75 hypodermic needles found in a West Salem neighborhood early Saturday afternoon have alarmed fire officials in Salem who are asking residents to use extreme caution, even if they simply take a walk down the sidewalk.

Unfortunately, it isn't a new story in this neighborhood, a six-block area between 6th Street NW and Franklin Avenue NW.

On Halloween day, October 31st 2005, this same neighborhood was littered with hypodermic needles that mysteriously appeared all over sidewalks and areas where children play, many in the weeds with the needle pointing up. Residents say they don't understand what kind of malicious

Salem Fire Fighters and Salem Police collected all the syringes they could find in the Firefighters doing the dirty work say it appeared that someone went around and just threw the needles all around this area.

Salem Fire Fighters want to remind everyone if you ever find a needle, do not touch it and report it to the Fire Department or Police Department. Families in the area need to be extra careful of your children playing in this area and children should be reminded to never touch needles.

In October, city of Salem Police officials did allow people to retrieve the needles from the same neighborhood. Some neighbors believed city officials were not responsive, and that their only choice was to do the cleanup. Salem Police Lt. Dave Okada explained at the time that officers could be dispatched to pick them up, but that if residents already knew where they were, they would speed the process by donning gloves and appropriate gear for needle collection.

There are resources through the Marion County Health Department that allow disposal of the collected needles and other medical waste.