But while the city board puts some of its attention towardapproving the construction of an extended care facility in themiddle of downtown Brookhaven, less than 100 feet away from thesite an armed robbery occurred Friday morning.

An earlier one at the Blue Sky convenience store on BrookwayBoulevard preceded the armed robbery of Chester Foster’s Chevronstation. The two events sent a cold chill down the back of thecommunity on a hot July morning.

Intermingled among those two dangerous events was amulti-jurisdictional drug bust that started even earlier in themorning. That joint effort by the Lincoln County Sheriff’sDepartment, the Brookhaven Police Department and area lawenforcement authorities resulted in the arrest of 28 localindividuals for drug related charges.

That effort helped city police to quickly make an arrest in one ofthe morning-armed robberies. By early Friday morning theBrookhaven/Lincoln County area was a bit safer than a few hoursbefore.

Of course the community is still trembling from the armed robberyand shooting of Eva Pullen in downtown Brookhaven in April, and thequestionable release of one of the suspects in that shooting.Friday’s events on top of others in recent weeks add to the handwringing.

While the city crime continues to increase, the red warning flagsare flying that some immediate attention needs to be given to thesafety of citizens. But as of last Tuesday’s board meeting, cityleaders again have failed to address the recent crime situation intheir board discussions, instead some continue putting theirattention on more mundane political issues.