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HIGH POINT - After a local restaurant owner was nearly beaten to death during a food delivery, Margaret and Roger Bannister began knocking on doors at Raintree Apartments on Northpoint Avenue.

Residents expecting pizza delivery men opened their doors to find the middle-aged couple handing out fliers that described the beating of 40-year-old Wang Xing, who lay in critical condition at High Point Regional Hospital.

"One of our neighbors has been hurt," Margaret Bannister said to one young woman who opened her door. "If there's anything you can do to help find the people responsible, please call the anonymous tip line."

It went on that way for hours, dozens of residents and police officers canvassing the complex where the crime took place and nearby neighborhoods for leads.

People in High Point had had enough.

Xing's brutal beating capped a month of uncommon violence in the city last summer. Days earlier someone shot a man to death in his car on Oberlin Drive and police found a 16-year-old boy beaten to death, face down in a ditch off Hines Street.

As Xing fought for his life in the hospital, neighbors and police called a meeting. They printed fliers, knocked on doors and got the word out.

Two days later, police arrested two young men and charged them with the crime.

Police called the canvassing invaluable. It drummed up information and put the criminals on notice: They weren't just facing cops, they were facing an entire community.

"These arrests get made because residents work with police to make them happen," said police Chief Jim Fealy. "This is a job we can't do alone. We need the people in the neighborhoods to be our eyes and our ears and our helping hands. And they're willing to do that. This is a community full of people who want to help."

A community united

Wang Xing's beating July 27 was shocking, but the community's response wasn't. For 10 years people in the city's neighborhoods have worked with police as the High Point Community Against Violence.

It's a loose, racially diverse confederation of neighborhood watch groups, community activists, teenagers and concerned parents, social workers and retirees.

They are drawn together by one ugly truth. They once lived in a small, middle-class factory town wedged between larger, more violent cities where robberies and homicides were common. But High Point is changing.

They see it in their neighborhoods. Blocks once filled with families now give birth to crack houses. They feel it when they drive past long-closed factories tagged with gang graffiti. They know it and they want it to change.

"We work with every part of the city," said Gretta Bush, president of the group. "We talk to people from the city council and we meet with the police, we have members who do community watch groups and who are business owners. The idea is that if we can get all of those parts to work together, then we're going to make progress."

They hold community meetings. They volunteer to paint over graffiti. They tip off police and work to get teens out of gangs and into jobs. Their work may seem small in scale but the results can be enormous.

Helping a neighbor

Margaret and Roger Bannister remember how neighborhoods used to be. If they saw a kid out late, running with the wrong crowd, they'd call his parents to let them know. If someone got robbed, the entire block felt violated. Suspicious characters set off alarms in neighborhoods where everyone said good morning, greeting each other by name.

That's not the way it is these days. A series of burglaries caused the couple to move out of their last apartment. No matter how many people were hit, no matter what they lost, no one would admit to seeing anything.

"It's gotten so most people don't even know their neighbors," said Roger, 56. "Even when they see something wrong - people selling drugs, prostitution, even when they witness a real crime - people just say, 'I don't want to get involved.'"

In their own Five Points neighborhood, the Bannisters said they've watched the decay for years. The economy declined when furniture and textiles moved overseas. Home owners moved away, their houses split up and converted into rentals. Some lay abandoned and were taken over by drug dealers.

Margaret, 54, said she and her husband joined the community group because they felt they had to do something.

"It's maybe true we can't bring back the economy or bring back jobs to High Point," Margaret said. "But what we can do is help our own neighbors and take pride in our neighborhoods. Drugs and robberies and murders - people shouldn't get the idea that we're going to put up with that in this city."

Walking the streets

Working with neighbors is nothing new to Mike Pugh. The Ward 3 councilman has a network of concerned families, senior citizens and neighborhood groups on speed dial.

On a recent drive through one neighborhood in his troubled ward, he parked his car on a street with nearly as many houses shuttered as not.

At one house he stopped a moment, taking in the sickly sweet, burnt-rubber stink of crack cocaine. An old woman down the block had called Pugh about the house repeatedly. Crack dealers had been chased out, but new ones moved right in to replace them.

In a pressed shirt and tie, Pugh waved at the two large men who appeared on the stoop. Then, with the same defiant smile his father used confronting evil as a Pentecostal minister, he walked over and introduced himself.

"Hey there," Pugh said, shaking hands and giving the men his business card. "I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know you'll see me around here plenty. This is a good neighborhood with a good community watch so if there are any problems, the police will get out here right away. Anyway - good to meet you. Welcome to the neighborhood!"

The men tried to look tough, but were clearly stunned.

"We've got a good police force, but they can only do so much," Pugh said. "The City Council, the police - we depend on people on the ground and in the neighborhoods to let us know about these things."

As Pugh continued to drive, he pointed out gang tags on broken-down cars and dozens of abandoned houses. He said such conditions create an aura of lawlessness and disorder, draws more drug dealers and gang bangers.

Pugh parked near a house at 302 Ennis St. Neighbors have been calling him - their children are afraid to play near it. It's not hard to see why. More than 20 dogs barked and growled from behind the twisted metal of a broken fence. A few were loose, pushing through holes without leashes or collars. Piles of feces and garbage littered every corner.

"Can you think of any reason that should happen?" Pugh asked. "Can you imagine this would be allowed in some other neighborhoods?"

So why does it continue? Pugh asked a neighbor, but she didn't want to get involved.

Coming together

Wang Xing's restaurant, Dragon City, sat dark and empty for months while he recuperated. Friends and customers came by almost daily hoping to see the lights on, hoping to find Xing behind the counter. Most went away disappointed. But Cheryl Dobbins Nocera got inspired.

"I just felt like this awful thing had happened to this man who came to this country looking to contribute something, to become a business owner and have a better life," said Nocera, "I thought that as a community we could show him that not everyone was like this, that some people want to help."

Nocera organized a community fundraiser in August. By November the people and businesses of High Point had given more than $12,000.

The lights came on at Dragon City a few weeks ago as Xing, his wife and two small daughters gathered with a few dozen well-wishers to accept a check from Nocera.

Xing seemed nervous and thin, a scar showing beneath his close-cropped hair. Surrounded by friends and neighbors he smiled and, through a translator, told the crowd what the city's support had meant to him and his family.

"I am profoundly touched and thank you all for your help," Xing said. "There are criminals, but there are far more good people in the community."

Xing said he felt honored that so many people he didn't even know had stepped up to help him - from working with police to catch his attackers to donating money to help his family with medical expenses.

"I want to re-open the restaurant in January," Xing said. "We want to contribute to this community and if we ever have the opportunity to help someone else the way that we have been helped, we would be honored to do so."

When asked if he and his family had considered leaving High Point because of the attack, he smiled and shook his head.

"This is our community and we will not leave," Xing said. "We will stay here with the people who helped us."

Contact Joe Killian at 883-4422, Ext. 228, or joe.killian@news-record.com