Had a great weekend. Left Saturday to drive north to the farm of my wife's relatives. Kids had a great time playing in the barn, jumping in the hay, climbing the silo's, shooting pellet guns. Went fishing every day. Beautiful full moon nights with cool temps so it was very comfortable to sleep, and quiet. This is about 75 miles from Mackinaw bridge, northern Michigan. Beautiful. Clean. Serene. Friendly. Relaxing.

Came home late yesterday afternoon. Neighbor tells me I just missed the fistfight at the house just around the corner where the convicted woman bank robber had lived. Now it's home to a family with a few hip hop gang banger daughters. Started (again) between two females, then proceeded to involve most of the rest of the 8-10 males and females. They loaded into cars and took off just before the police arrived. This is a weekly occurance. Three weeks ago one of the girls tried to get another to exit the car she was in to fight. When the second girl refused she jumped up and kicked in the side window of the car. Well, that didn't sit too well with the car owner, so they got it on.

The "new" drug house down the street is increasing their market share. They are apparently direct competition, or a joint venture, with the house next to them which has been serving the public for about three years. Police have been supplied with information, license plates, and daily activity lists to no avail. One time their were about 8 in front of the house rolling joints from a platter. Officer drove by, slowed and said something to them, then drove off. Or the homey who monthly showed up with a large back pack, which magically turned into 5-6 backbacks which the other homies left with in different directions an hour later in SUV's most of us couldn't afford. As I was doing yardwork this morning I saw a 400 pound repeat customer park two houses away from the "drug store", waddle up to the front door, and leave within 30 seconds. I told him he should suggest a drive up window on the alley. Don't think he got it. If they ever wise up and get on the NYSE I may buy some stock for my retirement.

Two weeks ago a full swat unit and crime lab showed up to raid the house across the street, which was vacated two days before by the mid-forties couple who got into fights at least every three to four days, which required police intervention. Maybe 15 times in the previous month and a half. Sometimes it was somewhat comical. Like the time he chased her around the car for a few minutes before climbing on top, jumping off and tackling her. Last time when the guy tried to run her over in the front yard, hit her but not fatally, we assumed he would be in jail. They were back living together within two days. They've now moved their show to a new neighborhood. Don't know what the swat raid hoped to find. Maybe they were operating a fight club in their basement. Puzzling.

Sad thing is I'm not making any of this up.

Really sad thing is this particular street would not be bad if not for the rentals, or one house purchased no doubt with drug money to expand their franchise. This isn't Detroit here. The rest of my neighbors are really great, take care of their homes and yards, and are just as weary of the emboldened vermin around here as me. I believe the Police just don't have the manpower or money to really attack this problem. I also believe it's going to continue to expand and few neighborhoods in cities will be safe to live in within another ten years, or less. Under better circumstances we would be north with the hard working, but less stressed farm folk in a heartbeat. We all need goals, right?

So how was your weekend?

If it's any comfort Don, my call out tonight was to roust an SRO crowd of bums out of a buildings ground level entryway. It had been raining like Hell for 24 hours off and on. The city had holiday events at the other end of downtown, so naturally everywhere else received the overflow of "regulars". The residential tenants in one half of the building got sick of running the gauntlet of rock/meth heads at the entry door. Not sick enough of it of course to call the police themselves though mind you? Good night tonight, no one had O/D'd or tried to stab one another by the time I got there. I think they were still working out the place card arrangements (to quote Lee Marvin) when I got there. So the only excitement then, was the woman who spontaneously aborted...

It helps to have the good neighbors on the same page. We watch the problem areas, call the good guys when things get out of hand, and generally try and keep things steady. We have the aforementioned blight who to this point have kept to themselves and practiced their assault techniques on each other, and the occasional COPS episode, although those episodes occur in other areas of town as well. I have taken a few neighbors to the range, and even helped another decide which handgun to buy. So, I know a few of us are well represented with hardware, and hope to never need it for anything other than target practice. Still, it bothers me that before they go to bed my kids worry if I haven't locked and bolted the door. That's just not right.

It's not just me then? Very sad, but well written. You never see this sort of **** included in statistics, such as unemployment, health insurance, social security,etc. These people don't work, won't work, pay into the system, or contribute anything to the well being of the rest of society. Those that survive this madness become a huge drain on the rest of us that do contribute to society. Fortunately, a lot of them don't survive, but they do hang around long enough to waste precious resources. Sorry for being so PC.

Yeah I know how you feel. My neighborhood has been steadily going downhill as well. We have a lot of public assistance houseing in the center of our small town and the cancer is speading out to engulf us all. I dont even step out on my front porch without being armed anymore.

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Stay safe people!

It still beats caves.

Not to be a wise guy but...
Why do you guys stay in a place where your safety and happiness are both in short supply.

... don't step out on my front porch without being armed.

... kids worry if the door isn't locked and bolted.

... exit the car she was in to fight.

It seems like the problems that are near your homes are not isolated incidents or going to go away soon.
Everyplace has crime but not everyplace is that bad.

I don't know your situations but again, why do you stay?

GF

GF,

I won't presume to speak for the OP, but have some friends and family stuck in areas they would dearly love to get out of. The tanked real estate market, caring for, or living with an elderly parent, tied to a job that requires residence in a certain area, waiting for the kids to finish the last year or two of high school, are just some of the reasons I've heard. There is a blight spreading into once nice neighborhoods; from my viewpoint once too many house's become rental rather than owner occupied, and once the section 8 (or whatever public assistance vouchers are called now) housing takes hold, the crime rate increases and property values go down. I see once nice nighborhoods/suburbs, in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area, going downhill so rapidly, and I believe its happening across the country. I count myself lucky I moved to a rural area in the '90's, I just wish I could of convinved my sister, and some friends, to sell and get out earlier.

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William H. Smith

I worked in automotive until end of last year. That coupled with the tanked real estate market, 50% loss on 401K, etc., etc. Believe me, first opportunity that presents itself we are getting out. I guess I could have done a better job of making my point but it seems that the only areas without this type of crime on a daily, or even weekly basis are rural farming areas. The drug crime factions have spread into areas that I never would have believed possible just a few short years ago. They have unlimited funds and no regard for the rest of society. Just working to get their next set of $4000 rims for their delivery vehicles.

When did this society shift so dramatically from hard working law abiding citizens having rights to clean safe neighborhoods to what we are seeing now? At what point did the ultra liberal, don't deny the criminal their right to practice their craft uninhibited mentality become the norm? When do the decent people regain the upper hand? Or don't we?

In one of the previous postings someone mentioned how the law enforcement wasn't doing a whole lot other than drive by and tell them to stop and then drive on. You are totally right, I am a police officer and thats pretty much what I do on a routine basis! Do I agree with it, absolutely not in a million years. So you ask why do I do it then?? Here is why: When you work for a department that does not back its officers when they get complaints or have to resort to a use of force situation it pretty much breaks the officer. To give you an idea, I have 3 complaints that have been pending for over a year now. Both complaints are very petty in nature (for instance someone gets upset because they are black and get a traffic ticket) but these complaints really put a burden on you. When you have a "pending investigation" it makes it extremely hard to transfer to another unit, when you are asked about being under investigation in court it makes you look bad because you don't get the chance to explain what you are under investigation for, you just have to say, "yes, I'm currently under investigation" while on the stand. Unless its a life or death situation, I avoid all negative confrotation by all means. Look at it from my view here....ok, so I go and shake down a few crack heads and arrest them for some petty drug charge, they are out on the street selling again and guess what, if they want to complain they can, and usually do and when you're department puts more stock in a criminals word than an officer the only one who ends up getting shafted is the officer. I have seen officers get suspended for 5-10 days for "rudeness" which is really subjective, but guess what, it still happens. So why would I do something that would take food out of my family's mouth or keep me from bettering myself in my career?? and if you think I am really jaded, I might be but unfortunately this is the view of a lot of officers.....

Not sure I would agree, hit a woman on the head with a club, drag her into the cave, eat a dinasaur steak, not a bad day.

1964.........

now that you mention it...

+1.................

Good question, why do I stay? Well my family has been in this house since 1899 and I am not about to have a bunch of dirtbags run me off!

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Stay safe people!

Neighborhoods change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Mine got significantly better 4 years ago when Roy, the neighbor went to the big house. While it left a vacant house next to me, vacant is better than occupied by trash. Now the house has sold. I have great fear it'll be rehabbed and then rented. The normal flow is to rent to a Section 8 person. Those are almost all trash (or maybe not, and the good ones if they exist, just blend into the neighborhood.) What we can say with certainty is most of the Section 8 people we see cause trouble and only last a short while.

Where I live, Section 8 isn't code for black. We have so many hillbillies who are trash that the few black folks sometimes are better. Well, except for the one I got next to me, but he's gone I hope.

Every neighborhood has them. If they don't, they'll have one soon. Moving from a place you're familiar with, one with a great view, and easy access to almost everything doesn't make sense to me. I've only been here for about 35+ years. Its actually changing for the better. But the things I like somehow attract trash, too.

For amusement, I go to the neighborhood association meetings and the block watch meeting. You get the inside scoop on all the local dirt. Some you'd never guess! But its really nothing new.

In my illspent youth, we lived in a postwar development. Supposed to be nice, and I guess it was. I had nothing to judge it against. Probably better than the family farm, if only because there wasn't nearly as much work to do. But there were local scandals 50 years ago, too.

We had a local cop that hated kids. We returned the feeling. But in the 1950s, almost no one had A/C and spent the summer with the windows open. You could hear a car engine running a block away. The cop we hated took to visiting a neighbor woman when he was running the night shift. Her husband worked nights, when he'd stop for a few hours of entertainment, so to speak.

Folks back then were less tolerant. So one night old Jack Leech came a calling. He parked in the drive as he always did, and went inside. I guess things got busy and they turned out the lights. Another neighbor with less of a sense of humor had enough. He went over, turned on the gumball, and went home. It didn't take long for someone else to notice (or maybe he did it) and call the county. They handled dispatch for all the tiny towns. They called, he didn't answer (radios in cars were even new back then.) Soon the county sent a couple of cruisers to see what was going on. They couldn't find him, so they called for more help. The two nearby towns sent their finest in, also. Eventually, someone started beating on the door. Yep, he answered the door, nearly nekkid, and blearly eyed if satisfied. Jack went to day shift. All the town's teens felt he should have been fired.

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Dick Burg

I guess I'm fortunate enough to live in a neighborhood where I'm the one all the neighbors talk about.

Actually, I've got great neighbors. The "rental" on the block simply doesn't mow often enough. It helps that we've got a police car parked in the driveway at one end of the block, and another around the next corner. I can't imagine living in an area with drug trafficking and LE that ignored it.

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Insert short witty words here

A neighborhood that is fed up with trashy people has a lot more power to make a change than the local LE, I assure you this is the truth.

I learned long ago that big city living wasn't for me. My nearest neighbor is 1/2 mile away. All of the others are at least a mile away. Yet I got my Permit to Carry earlier this year. I have found ephinedrine packages along the road left by traveling meth labs. My son and I found a portable meth lab cooking in a duffel bag while out turkey hunting. I have called a found stolen vehicle in to the PD that was parked down the road from a tweeker house a couple miles down the road. My neighbor two miles down the road the other way had their house broken into in the middle of the day.

Anyone pulling into my yard meets my two barking, growling dogs and me with my hand on my 642.

You can run but you can't hide.

And I am Minnesota nice..........................

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Fats

Minnesota. Another state I would love to visit. My mom is originally from N. Dakota, so I kind of feel a calling back to the belt buckle of the US. And maybe I could find a house a few miles outside Lake Wobegon. Never heard of any crime there. That would be real livin'.

Hope Mr. Keillor has a rapid and complete recovery from his stroke. I love listening to his show.

Sorry for dropping off the radar after that post. I took 2 sick days at the most remote peninsula beach front cabin I could find after calling in "sick" (actually meaning I was too "well" to put up with anymore of that feces for a while). Was born and raised in the city, and have seen just about as heinous a collection of sociopath like behavior as anyone not wearing a badge. But now, approaching my so called "golden years", my B.S. meter just hit the full mark on that last one?
Man! Was I missing people who bathed regularly and who's vices were limited to Marlboro's and a 12 pack of Old Milwaukee's!

Sometimes you just need to get away from the zoo and get a breath of fresh air to clear out the lungs. Even though in my case it was a dairy farm 75 feet from one of the cow barns. Even so, I can deal with contained animals in a controlled setting like that. But I know the predictable behavior of the animals I see every day also. Just last night, 3 young "gentlemen" walking by, in the street (they stopped using sidewalks years ago), one was eating a Little Ceasars pizza out of the box. By the way he was carrying it I knew he was down to his last piece. I watched to make sure the empty didn't get tossed into my yard. As they crossed the street and turned to go up the next block he slowly slid the box down until just letting go and walking on. I knew it was going to happen, just wanted to see how far he walked before proving me right.

S&W needs to accelerate production of some type of particle beam disintegrator weapon that can be used to clean up the streets. And I don't mean the pizza boxes.