The neighbors were tired of the stream of traffic that had become the norm in a 2-square-mile stretch of Sullivan County's Hamilton Township.

They were angered by thieves who stole a motorcycle out of a barn and another who stole the neighbor's shiny red Hyundai.

"We'd never had this problem," said Beth Davis, who lives in Hamilton Township about two miles south of Shelburn.

It used to be a neighborhood where residents felt safe enough to leave their houses or cars unlocked.

But that was before methamphetamine infiltrated the rural area Davis has called home for 18 years.

A year ago, her husband and son stumbled across a meth lab about a quarter-mile from their house. The two, who were riding dirt bikes, returned home to phone police.

Before long, it was clear the problem had spread to their own neighborhood.

An odor of ether-based starting fluid - a tell-tale sign of meth manufacturing - lingered in the air "all hours of the day and night," said Maxine Moore, who lives near Davis.

People were walking along the rural roads at 3 and 4 a.m. Cars streamed by - most with license plates from outside the county - turning around in driveways.

The neighbors even joked about the suspected drug activity at two area homes, which they believe drew the traffic from miles away.

"We would laugh and say, 'the drug store's open'," Davis recalled.

But one matter was no joke: "They were going to take over," she said of her worries. "There were a lot of sleepless nights."

Months earlier, the neighbors had banded together to take on a noisy race track near their homes. This time, they took on the problem of meth, starting a neighborhood watch organization in July.

It didn't take long to attract members. Forty-four people signed up within days, paying a $1 fee to help cover the costs of incorporation, said Ruthanna Davis, president of the neighborhood watch group and Beth Davis' mother-in-law.

Members also bought bright blue, 112-foot high signs bearing the words "Neighborhood Watch" and a sheriff's star with the number "7-02," representing the month and year the group was formed. Before long, the signs dotted most of the front yards.

"We didn't want to just put [up] a few signs," Ruthanna Davis said. "We wanted to be seen."

Soon, neighbors began patrols over an 11-mile route day and night. With magnetic signs adhered to their vehicles, volunteers set out in 45-minute to hour-long shifts. They jotted down descriptions and license plates of cars they didn't recognize and looked for signs of meth lab production alongside the rural roads. They looked for everything from gas grill tanks (used to collect anhydrous ammonia) to trash bags containing the remnants of labs - empty decongestant blister packs and coffee filters.

When warranted, members of the neighborhood reported their finds to police.

And arrests soon followed - between six and eight as a result of the group's tips, Sullivan County Prosecutor Bob Springer estimated.

"It's been very helpful," he said. For the meth cooks in that neighborhood, "It's not just the cops they've got to worry about."

Before long, one family suspected in the drug activity lost its house in a fire. The cause was never determined, although arson was ruled out, a fire official said. The other family, at least one member of whom was arrested, was evicted in October.

"We've got our neighborhood back," Beth Davis said.

But the patrols haven't ended.

"I think if we stop, it will get out of control again," she said.

Life, she realizes, never will be quite the same.

"If you run over to the neighbor's house, you lock your house."