of young men who hang out near the St. Augustine Church property sell drugs out in the open and make a lot of noise.

Several neighbours have voiced and written their concerns to PLP MP Mr.

Stanley Morton.

In a letter to the Editor of The Royal Gazette one man said: "Groups of about a dozen or so young males congregate on the church wall. They are doing their business transactions, drinking and smoking and causing a disturbance to the neighbours.'' "...all we are asking is that the area is regularly patrolled...something has to be done before it gets too late.'' The St. Augustine Church is located in Mr. Morton's Pembroke East Central constituency.

Mr. Morton said he will set up a meeting with the young men, but he wanted to discuss the issue at the PLP caucus meeting on Thursday.

However, the young men who call themselves the "White Wall Crew,'' denied ever selling drugs or making noise, and vowed to continue to hang out on the property.

"We guys don't make noise,'' Vincent Darrell, 18, said. "They did not build this wall so they can't tell us where we can hang.

"They say we sell drugs but we don't. Guys come through here looking for drugs and we tell them to go away. We are all drug free though we drink a few now and then.'' Mr. Darrell said that Government should build a youth centre in the area so they could stay out of trouble.

Another man who refused to give his name, said that Government was ignoring the area on purpose so that it would become run down.

"Do you think they really care about this area? It's not Fairylands or Tucker's Town and we are all the wrong colour.

"We try to go to people around here and ask them for tools so we can fix up the road but they just say no.

"Instead of criticising us Government should fix up the roads. They have been talking about fixing up the (Pembroke) dump for years but they haven't done a thing.'' Yesterday, Mr. Morton said he was familiar with the problem and had met with many of the young men a few months earlier.

He said that since that meeting many had fallen into the same behaviour.

"I have spoken to the Police and they assure me that they are aware of the problem. I don't know how often they pass by but it does not appear to be working.'' Mr. Morton said he was going to try to meet directly with senior Police officers to see if patrols could be more regular, but his initial strategy would be to met with the young men again.

At that meeting Mr. Morton said he was going to read them a letter he received last Monday from a neighbour.

"I'm going to attempt to get them to empathise with the concerns in the letter,'' he said.

Mr. Morton added that many Middletown families did not have the luxury of air conditioners and large back yards so young people had to go out to the road side.

"Policing alone is not enough,'' he continued. "A lot of these kids need jobs and counselling and since not as many of them play cricket in summer as play soccer in winter, they have more energy and less places to spend it.

"There are a mountain of problems here and that's no fiction, it's reality. A lot of them feel that with a piece of cloth on their head and baggy pants around their waist, that they get recognition.

"But while this area does have its problems, there are many good people here too.

"They are in control of their lives, and they have a sense of family values and personal pride.''