1/95  By now, I've moved from the east side duplex back into the lower flat across the street - the one in which my mother lived from 1950 ~ 1991 and in which I lived at ages 7 to 17 1/2, 25, 26, 29 and, most recently, 44 through 46.  Each time I had worked on and made improvements to that home while transitioning to more permanent and independent accomodations.  Buying, rehabilitating and living in the duplex across the street from 1990 to 1995 was the most recent such transition.

2/8/95  Recycling & garbage collection in the Inner City; complaints regarding letter sent to the Mayor and all 17 Aldermen.  It took a half-day to prepare.  1998 update:  While there are still no recreational activities organized for our neighborhood, the garbage and recycling collections have improved and are more consistently predictable.  So far, in 1998, after the major dysfunctional families have moved out, a couple dozen kids, mostly, apparently from the most densely populated block one block east, have been playing tag football on the empty lots a half-block block south.  That's the first time in the past 10 years that that many 10 ~ 15 year olds have been able to play together, without adult supervision - without a major conflict amongst them or from other older teens coming to break-up their 'fun'.  I had nothing to do with it all - meaning that this neighborhood may finally be returning to some semblance of normal decency where both kids and their families can thrive and stabilize with the help of positive peer group pressure.

4/10/95  The car borrower, his two younger sisters and their two cousins accompany me to help hide eggs for the Annual Easter Egg Hunt at the local park 6 blocks from us.  Later, they participate in the finding process and attend the magic show following it.  Our Congressman is there and the oldest girls get to shake his hand.  (Their eldest brother, a well liked bicyclist known throughout the neighborhood, isn't able to attend.)

4/11/95  The well liked bicyclist got into some trouble the week before.  His grandmother, not his mother, requested my help.  I got a former police commissioner to appear with me on his behalf.  He's not been known to have gotten in 'official' trouble since then.  (Could write a book about him, too, but that's another rainy year project.)

4/25/95  Buster hammered at the concrete rail, wooden steps and concrete slab of the front porch of the house two doors south of his.  Just 2 days prior to this he threw a rock through a side window of the lower flat of this same house.  That tenant, one of the best 'publicly' child-attentive, role modeling moms moved out of the neighborhood because her former live-in boyfriend had become an abusive stalker after getting kicked out for raping her in front of her four 3 ~ 6 year old children the previous October.  She gave me a copy of the restraining order on him after I helped secure her house against his return.

Spring/Summer '95 - This was when a cousin of a previous neighbor and her teenage daughters moved in across the street.  Her husband, an ex-gang banger still in touch, was a 'property manager' for the owner.  She and her husband being gone most of the time, the front porch became a gathering place for teen boys making moves on the girls.

Buster's older brothers/cousins/???  constantly used the front lawns instead of sidewalks to go back and forth between the two houses - trespassing my property in the process.  Police don't write a lot of tickets unless 'they' actually witness the transgression - trespass being one of them.  But many times, even when police were in the neighborhood responding to other matters, and various dysfunctional children rode their bikes up and across nicely kept front lawns not theirs, a fact pointed out to the officer, tickets weren't written then, either.  (Police also don't like writing tickets when someone's still alive, apparently.)

Better to let these kids spend their childhoods breaking every law on the books so they learn to disrepect rather than respect the law.  Then, when they become adults, they're much easier to arrest and incarcerate in order to keep the judicial system chugging along in its insanely organized network of jails, courts, prisons, half-way houses, ankle bracelets, appeals, probation hearings, lawyers, judges, guards, clerks, police officers and rehabilitation support services.  Just think how difficult it all would be if youth, especially those Black kids detested/disrespected by the White majority running this system, learned respect for the law at an early age!

And, as further evidence of the insanity of the professionals involved in this system, they're now making rationalizations as to how children are really adults when it comes to understanding right from wrong and the consequences of their actions.  Duh!  If those same professionals aren't enforcing any consequences for minor crimes and misdemeanors by children, NOW, just where are they supposed to be learning them!?  Are these morons trying to say that it no longer takes 18 years to raise a child.  Are we to let kids start voting, smoking, drinking alcohol, going off to war, getting married, having pre-marital sex as young as 7 years old (pedophiles will love that), because too many professionals in the justice system don't have the slighest regard for or idea about raising children in our more violently modern world?!

Buster's mother was asked to keep them off my front lawn, but even she did the same when she thought I wasn't watching.  She visited the tenants of the upper flat, themselves parents of three equally disrespecting children.  A few times, the boys even thumbed their noses at me sitting on my steps across the street as they trespassed across my rental property.  At night, when the street was dark, they would yell out taunts from their front porch.  Given that nothing short of violence would stop it, I decided to spend less time 'visibly outside' in order to be able to concentrate my mental energies on the extensive, intensive computer reprogramming then in progress almost 18 hours a day.  (This was the beginning of the period when our block was pretty much out of control.)  

5/3/95  My overhead garage door along with many others throughout the two alleys were freshly   with fancy GD signs.  Our neighborhood is Gangster Disciple - as opposed to Latin Kings or Vice Lords.  We had at least a half dozen gang households on our two blocks at this time - all having moved in almost simultaneously without much notice since January.  Apparently, when they're all moved in and feel powerful enough to withstand 'presumed' confrontation, their presence is made known with fresh gang signs.

7/17?/95  The 14 year old living across the alley, a cat and a female teenager resident of a lower flat on our block were shot by a rapid fire, automatic weapon sprayed across the front yard of the house next door to Buster's.  The 17 ~ 19 year old teens doing the shooting may have been the boyfriends of the girls living in a lower flat diagonally one house over across the street.  It was retaliation for one or more of the girls being disrepected.  (More likely, it was also associated with rival drug dealing to the various local buyers on our two streets by sellers in both households.)

I heard the very loud, sharp and close shots/retorts, but thought they came from the opposite direction.  This being the Summer of my Great Depression, I did nothing about it and only found out what happened from the neighborhood kids over the next few days.

Given the 14 year old's disrepsectful demeaner and utter stupidity, I had been predicting that if anyone was shot in this neighborhood, he was making sure to be first in line.  I don't know whether he was the one doing the 'dissing' this time, but his family did move out of the neighborhood by the end of the year.  When they did, they left a pile of clothes and garbage in the alley across from me - instead of in the unused, empty garbage carts.  It froze.  I cleaned it up when it thawed in the Spring.

7/25/95  Police were called about two pre-schoolers breaking glass, throwing rocks in the alley and tearing the garage roof shingles off of one youth's garage.  Although one mom's boyfriend responded respectfully to my notice of what 'her' son did and came out in the alley to sweep the broken glass, the other's mom and male presence argued with and threatened me, instead - ergo the police contact.

1998 update:  The cooperative mom's boyfriend was the adult burglar who subsequently broke into my garage two days later.  He was replaced by another boyfriend in 1996, who was replaced by another in 1997; the last being the pseudo-gang leader, probably in his late 20's, who supervised the terrorism the other dozen or so 12 to 19 year olds perpetrated on our neighborhood during 1997.  She was eventually evicted by the Sheriff in November 1997.  Her landlord managed to recover about $1000 of his $6000 loss before she declared bankruptcy, which voided the wage garnishment process he was using.  It's pretty easy to see how even the most caring property owner is forced to become a slumlord when the government supports the actions of families like these more than those of us trying to prevent them.  If my properties can't be sold before becoming such a slumlord myself, they'll have to be abandoned - a process that thousands of others have done before me, probably for the same reasons.)

The police were called to begin establishing a 'written' trail regarding the uncooperative youth's irresponsible parents, so he could eventually get some help.  (He may be a foster child.)  Needless to say, the police response was entirely cursory, inadequate and probably never written up - another child going without help even when concerned citizens try to get involved.

7/25/95  A little after one squad responded to the 'pre-schooler' problem, several more came in response to a 'presumably' live man found in the trunk of a 'presumably' abandoned, stolen car in one of the three enclosed garage spaces of the 'dissed' girls involved in the shooting incident a week earlier.  One mom seemed to be going ballistic about her son not being involved, and I thought not much about it until now.  Given that he may have been the primary car borrower in the hood, she may have felt that he was being blamed for this theft, too.  One she knew he didn't do - meaning she's long known about the others.

There have been dozens of stolen cars abandoned in this neighborhood over the past 6 years or so.  He may have been one among many 8 ~ 12 year olds in the neighborhood learning to drive that way.  (7/4/96 comments).  A stolen van was dumped in our alley on Nov. 21, 1991.  The owner is seen walking near the garage.  He said that the seats inside weren't the originals.  Apparently, the van was stolen for his new seats - meaning that some other van now has them -- probably one owned by someone living within the immediate two blocks.

7/26/95  The two out-of-control pre-schoolers both aged 4 or 5, were caught trashing the alley behind my house, once again.  As usual, the uncooperative parents refused to accept responsibility for the actions of their child and disrespected me, instead.  Two pictures were taken and developed showing one on top of the just broken plastic pieces - laughing at having his picture taken.  The other's back is shown in the picture.

7/27/95   Wednesday, Buster helped an adult and two other youth burglarize my garage.  They stole tools, new motor oil, weed whackers, flashlight, hammer, 12 speed bicycle, nails, a $70 green beeper I'd found on the street that had a digital clock and various other stuff.  The items were stored/staged in the garage 60 feet north where the adult burglar lived in the lower flat with the previously cooperative mom of one pre-schooler. (Three 11 year old boys rang my doorbell around 4:00 pm to tell me what had happened.  Three girls, two cousins of one boy and the sister of another, also witnessed what happened.  Although the police came and recovered some of the items Buster had taken, interviewed a half-dozen witnesses and took my statement, they didn't care about the details I'd written down nor did they apparently file a written report once leaving the neighborhood.

It should be noted that during the past ten years, regardless of the crime, including numerous people murdered from (!BUT NOT IN!) this neighborhood, no one has ever come around to interview me about anything - even though my name is listed as the official Block Captain.  In fact, when we do get officers to come to our neighborhood, they do such a slipshod job of investigation that we know why 'nothing ever gets solved'.  And, since I've only seen one officer responding twice to calls in this neighborhood, it's easier for them to claim they "know nothing about this neighborhood and can't do much about that which they're ignorant".  The officers actually speak those or similar words when requested to become involved in solutions to the problems of our neighborhood.  In other words, the de facto policy of MPD seems to be to keep officers as ignorant as possible about neighborhood conditions by making sure they don't spend too much time in any one given neighborhood so that the excuse of ignorance can be used to NOT DO ANYTHING.  Hey, can us citizens use 'ignorance' to break laws we don't like?!
8/4/95  FIT HITS THE SHAN letter sent to Mayor and Aldermen.  It took a week to prepare.  Needless to say, when the local police station couldn't find any evidence in writing regarding this burglary, including, apparently, the officers notes, things got "curiousor" for a while.

Around 3:30 pm on September 26th, the two officers who had been on the scene came around to tell me how much they appreciated concerned citizens such as myself, who took the time to write letters.  At 6:10 pm, two Sergeants came by for 30 minutes to discover what had happened.  They didn't much care about what I'd written down but took another statement from me.

Subsequently on October 21st, I received a letter from the Captain of the local police station, dated the 13th, which explained how the burglary I reported "on September 26, 1995" was duly recorded by the police.  Of course, no mention was made of the burglary report that wasn't 'duly recorded' on July 27th, the date it actually occurred two months earlier.  But, that captain's no longer there - one small step for mankind.

1998 update:  The always suspicious delay in reporting the burglary to me while it was occurring and the subsequent discovery that almost every renter in the neighborhood knew that the adult burglar lived two doors away at the time indicates that the three boys reporting the crime were also involved in its execution - with Buster being made the designated fall guy.  After all, as subsequent police inaction actually proved, it's not like anything was going to happen to anyone!  The police didn't even question the adults who rented the garage where the stolen goods were temporarily stored or get their names - one being the adult male who led the younger kids in the burglary!

Jul/95  This is the first year the girls across the alley helped me participate in the annual   paint-out.  Fortunately, my just burglarized, graffitied garage door is the first beneficiary of our efforts.  We also painted the facade of the   a block south of us.  Last year, these same girls had helped plant the Butterfly vegetation at the then newly renamed   on Meinecke between 37th and 38th streets.

I had spent $5,000.00 of my own money back in 1992 attempting to convert that 150,000 square foot building into a local recreation based, teen and young adult job training center but couldn't get much help from government, non-profit or local adults.  There were plenty of people willing to attend meetings to decide how the "millions" of dollars anticipated were going to be spent - especially if they themselves were going to be beneficiaries - but very few willing to actually roll up their shirt sleeves and do some work.  One of the last official acts of our former, now deceased Congressman Moody was to help us 'fast-track' our 501(c)(3) non-profit organization application through the IRS.  We got it and were ready to proceed until it became apparent that I was going to be the only person doing any actual work on the project.  It would have been impossible to accomplish much of anything under those circumstances, so we turned the corporation and bank account over to another group that was already helping young adults find jobs.

In our city, with more non-profit groups than most states, it seems most of them are really more concerned about providing paychecks to administrators than solving problems relating to their stated objectives.  Readers should be aware that almost every non-profit group incorporated under IRS tax laws indicates "YOUTH" as one of their primary categories.  From the dire shape youth are in throughout our country, that has to be an utter falsehood.

There are people doing great things for youth in their own neighborhoods, but they don't have the time and resources to incorporate and go through the application process to become 501(c)(3) organizations.  And, since the billions of dollars other foundations MUST DISPERSE to avoid having to pay taxes themselves, must go to 501(c)(3) organizations, most of those who are actually eliminating poverty and guiding kids toward skilled decency are getting no meaningful help at all.  Other laws require these 501(c)(3) organizations to hire accountants, fund raisers and administrators until they're forced to spend most of the money on administration rather than toward the problems they're supposed to resolve.  Or, they become so big and disconnected from the real needs of the communities they serve that monies spent are wasted on ill-conceived programs which tend to expand rather than resolve the problems at hand.

The solution, of course, is to allow some of those billions of dollars to be given to private citizens, with appropriate withholding taxes pending proof by the recipient via their personal tax return that the vast majority of such "GIFTS" received were not spent on personal expenses.  With the number of billionaires created over the past decade and the death of each usually resulting in another, umpteenth new philanthropic foundation required BY IRS LAW to spend it's annual income or pay taxes thereon, it shouldn't make a dent in what is already being given away each year.  In other words, with so much money having to be given away each year, who cares if a small fraction of the extra amounts given away each succeeding year might get into the hands of a non-501(c)(3) individual who may not really spend in on what was intended.  A whole lot more is already being wasted now with 501(c)(3)'s, so what's the harm is trying some additional alternatives?!  Besides, the more disparate individuals or organizations involved in tackling problems so emmense, the more likely some of those problems are actually going to be resolved.

9/25/95   A red rock was thrown through the lower front porch storm door screen of my tenant's upper flat across the street - probably by the pre-schooler living next door.  The tenant's father was in town and on the front porch at the time but "didn't see nothin'".
10/95  The pre-schooler's duplex was boarded-up after smoke & fire damage caused from a cigarette left unattended while his male presence slept on the couch.  I was hoping the damage would cause the building to be torn down, so one of us neighbors could buy the lot, fence it and eliminate that continual uncaring absentee landlord rental problem from the block.  Too bad.  They fixed it and now we have drug dealers and kid/burglars there.  (The fire department damaged my locked side yard gate and probably would have destroyed the fence had I not noticed them in time to run over and unlock it.  They never volunteered to repair the damages nor apologized.  I fixed it the best I could, but it still looks a little awkward.)

2005 update: 
[ The new owner was told that the fire damage to the upper flat was caused by a child instead of what I had presumed had been the step-father falling asleep with a lit cigarette - the child scenario more likely when considered against the out-of-control, wildly acting out behavior of the child (the pre-schooler, above) in question at the time.

2003 update:  The latest absentee owner may have abandoned the property - more drug dealers appear to be moving in to take advantage of the situation.

1998 update:  A new absentee landlord owner is in the process of fixing the duplex.  It's been painted, porch repairs made, a new chain link fence matching that next door installed and hand rails placed where there had been none for nearly 50 years.  This owner seems much more caring than the last.   [ 2009 update: All those fix-ups were subsequently destroyed with a few years. ]

11/4/95   The 11 and 14 year old across the alley were sling shotting round glass and soft soap pieces at my garage and house from their attic window.  After going over to talk to 'responsible' adults in the flat and getting more argument and confrontation, the Police were called and action was taken.  They subsequently moved to begin destroying another property on the commercial strip two blocks away.
The 14 year old had been caught after an attempted armed robbery of the mother residing in an upper flat two houses from mine.  He showed me what he called a 'Dillinger' the previous Summer.  I told him it was a Derringer and continued about my business - having already given up trying to get help for him.  Our senior Senator's meeting at my high school alma mater on 3/31/94 was the last time I told someone about his various crimes and his need for help - that was to a former Aldermanic candidate.  None of the police officers visiting the neighborhood for other 'calls' want to hear about anything but what they're there for - not especially about the time he ran up to a school bus full of little kids and their parents and smashed a brick through the glass - injuring a mom who didn't want "to get involved" by having to subsequently testify against this retaliatory individual.)
11/9/95  Began finding more pieces of the old green shingles from the front porch roof of my rental across the street.  The pieces have been found on the yard and sidewalk in front of that house and on my front, side and rear yards and steps across the street.  Whoever was doing it wanted me to know it was being done.  (I began collecting extra damages from the tenants involved during the next rental cycle begun on 12/1/96.)  • badRoleModel  • blockShooting  • breakingGlass  • brokenConcrete  • caughtInTheAct
BURGLARY:   • designatedFallGuy  • garage  • knownPerpetrator  • didn'tSeeNothin'  • dillinger  • disrespect  • fireByCigarette  • FitHitShanLetter  • gangSigns  • garageBurglary  • graffiti  • graffitiPaintOut  • manInTrunk  • moreShingles  • policeExcuses  • policeKnowNothing  • pseudoGangLeader  • recreationCenter  • redRockThrown  • roleModelingCenter  • slingShots  • stolenVan  • toldYouSo  • trainingCenter |hood

Website link/location/URL: http://www.KidsRiot.com/kids95.htm or http://www.KidsRiot.com/kids95.htm or http://www.Jamrent.com/ic/kids95.htm