The steering committee of the Weed and Seed group in Lehigh decided it would look into having its own website up on the Internet as soon as possible and thanked Lehighacreslive.com for hosting the website for the last several months.

Stan Nelson, the liaison member of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, said a grant deadline for money to help turn around certain parts of Lehigh that have been called targeted crime areas has been extended to December from November. The meeting was held a few days ago at Veterans Park Community Center.

“That gives us some breathing room in preparing for our application grant,” Nelson said.

Bo Turbeville, chairman of the Weed and Seed Steering Committee, applauded groups that have gone out into neighborhoods and worked with residents in cleanup projects.

Damon Shelor, who heads one of the sub committees, said during a recent cleanup, some 78 people tuned out and collected enough trash to fill three solid waste containers.

“We need to have more dumpsters at some of our sites,” he said.

He also praised employees of Best Buy who showed up to help clean up the area. He said several Best Buy employees spent four hours as a community service project. The nearest Best Buy retail store is inside the Forum shopping complex, just outside Lehigh on Colonial Blvd.

He said the collection of trash was successful and also said there was a neighborhood cook-out where many of the neighbors met each other for the first time.

Weed and Seed is a program that involves community activists, working with local law enforcement, in an effort to clean up areas and to instill positive “seeding” to change an area that may be overrun with crime. Certain areas in Lehigh have been targeted as Weed and Seed areas and a grant from the federal government over a long term will go toward making changes in neighborhoods to reclaim them for residents, Weed and Seed proponents say.