After all, he'd previously been a neighbor of the Capitol Motel, a similarly run-down establishment down the road. His biggest hassle there was shooing away a prostitute who'd occasionally drop by, offering her services.
Now, one year later, Sisson is utterly confounded by the Highlander's bustling open-air drug market. He often starts his days by sweeping up beer cans, dirty needles, discarded crack pipes and used condoms from his parking lot. Throughout the day, Sisson watches the dealers serve addicts as quickly as they come, sometimes four or five cars at a time.
On June 20, Dane County's drug taskforce executed search warrants on two rooms at the Highlander and seized large quantities of cocaine base, the active ingredient in crack. A raid nearby that same night uncovered more of the drug and a firearm.
The Highlander is one of several low-budget motels dotting the West Beltline corridor that have over the years become magnets for drugs, prostitution and crime. Three of them - the Highlander, Expo Inn and Kings Inn - have in the last 18 months generated more than police calls. And each is on pace to exceed last year's totals. Most of the calls involve noise complaints, but police incident reports also detail attempted suicides, drug crimes, car thefts, property damage, robberies, fights, sexual assaults and weapons offenses.
Last summer, a year-old man was stabbed and beaten to death at the Kings Inn. The killing remains unsolved. South-side Ald. Tim Bruer, who for years has implored the city to take action against these properties, thinks the problem is worse than the call log reflects. Many incidents go underreported, he says, and police often uncover other crimes when called to the scene.
