Editor's Note: This is the third column in a three-part series reporting on problems with bar and club activity in Houston's neighborhoods. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

More than 20 years ago, Stacie and Mark Fairchild met in a Midtown bar and started their lives together in the Rice Military neighborhood off Washington Avenue near Memorial Drive.

It was an enticing community with a mix of residential and commercial real estate. There were only a handful of bars and clubs in the area then. Occasionally, things got a little noisy and rowdy. That was about it.

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As more bars and clubs opened, more problems arose with noise, trash, illegal parking, break-ins and other crimes. In 2018, the problem showed up in the Houston couple's driveway during an area club pub crawl.

Stacie Fairchild said party-goers were fighting, screaming and yelling in their driveway. That night, she slept with a gun under her pillow while her husband was away.

ANGER INTO ACTION: Third Ward residents are fed up with ‘turn-ups’ and street takeovers. The city needs a plan now.

Since then, the Houston couple has been leading the fight against bar noise and nuisances along Washington Avenue.

With no city zoning, conflicts like these are inevitable in Houston. But the Fairchilds, who lead two civic groups, have rallied their neighbors and formed a........

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