Alvin Whitfield watches from an overturned recliner as City of Waynesboro crews raze two of the dilapidated buildings that comprise "The Hole" on Cherry Street. City officials have been trying to get the structures demolished for nearly a decade, and this week's work marked off numbers two and three of the four buildings in the collective hang-out. According to administrator Jerry Coalson, the city is one signature away from taking down the fourth and final house. Since the 1990s, The Hole has been a haven for drug activity, gambling and violent crimes, and police were dispatched there more than 100 times last year alone. Over the years, three murders and numerous shootings and stabbings have occurred there. Just last month, Whitfield was slashed in the face outside one of the buildings that was quickly reduced to a pile of rubble Wednesday. Police hope the demolition will translate into less calls, less gunfire and fewer crimes. "It's a welcome sight to everybody in the community, including us," Police Chief Karl E. Allen said. "Any time any place like that is torn down it benefits the entire area." More...