Individuals in Boone County neighborhood commit to lighting up streets

Several streetlights in one Boone County neighborhood could go dark on Monday night, but several residents have added monthly fees to their bill to keep many of them on.

“You know this light here is about to be turned off?” Kenny Freeman said to one of his neighbors in the Fairway Meadows neighborhood off of Clark Lane. “Kids will be out here catching a bus in the dark (if the streetlight goes out).”

Since last week, Freeman said he’s been knocking on doors in the area to ask people to pay about $9 a month to fund a streetlight.

Following the dissolution of the local neighborhood association, funding ran out for the lights. Three dozen lights were included in change, according to a Boone County Electric Cooperative spokesperson.

The spokesperson said that eleven lights remained without funding as of Monday afternoon. Any unfunded lights will go out this week.

Freeman and Jessie Davis, also a Fairway Meadows resident, said that children playing or walking home at night would face greater risk if the lights went unfunded.

“They need to keep the lights on,” Davis said. “There are kids walking up and down the streets at night and there’s people driving up and down like they’re on the highway. It would be dangerous if they cut the lights off.”

Freeman said a new neighborhood association should organize to pay for the lights as well as other neighborhood projects.

“I’ve heard all kinds of issues that demand to be addressed, but there is no voice to address it,” Freeman said.

Editor’s Note: This article has been edited to reflect that eleven lights were subject to turn off instead of nine.