One-Stop Neighborhood Watch

Outlaw lines up the packages in the middle of the room and with a marker rewrites the addresses in large letters so his neighbors can more easily recognize what's theirs.

Many houses in the vicinity have changed hands eight or nine times since Outlaw began living there, he said. Names he's not so good on, but faces he doesn't forget. Still, to keep everything straight, he maintains a list in a maroon plastic folder with addresses and contact numbers for each of the residents who direct deliveries to his home.

"They just moved in," he said, looking at one card in the folder. "I don't know them, but I told them to give me their address and phone number."

He glanced at another address in the folder. The person living there moved in a year ago.

Punching the number into the telephone, he was greeted by voice mail. "You've got a package today," he said into the phone. "Come pick it up when you have time."

When he saw Martha Brant coming out her front door, Outlaw picked up a large box by the coffee table.

"Good morning, gorgeous," Outlaw called out while crossing the street with the box cradled in his arms.

"Mr. Outlaw, you're not supposed to come over," Brant objected, hugging him as he handed her the package. "I was coming to pick it up now."

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service said letter carriers will leave packages at another location if the homeowner writes a permission letter that is kept on file. UPS also allows deliveries to be left at neighboring addresses as long as the original recipient authorizes it, a spokeswoman said.

Neighbors say Outlaw saves them time and grief.

"One day, I was complaining that I had to go downtown to pick up a package," recalled Virginia Smith, 79. "Mr. Outlaw told me that I should do like the other neighbors do and have my packages delivered to his house."

Accepting packages isn't Outlaw's only contribution. Besides sweeping leaves from the sidewalk, he keeps an eye on the neighborhood. Whenever he crosses paths with neighbors, he always calls out "Hello, young man," or "Hello, gorgeous," no matter what their age or how they might look that day.

"He's the neighborhood watch," said Mike Soderman, a building contractor who moved to the block four years ago. "He brings a lot of the neighbors together that I don't think would otherwise converse together. He's basically an institution on the block."

In 2005, several neighbors wrote to the Stanton Park Neighborhood Association to nominate Outlaw as "Neighbor of the Year."

Outlaw sets an "outstanding example of what a good neighbor should be," the association wrote in giving him the award. "His unflagging commitment made the neighborhood a better place to live."