8/2/97  Called drug abatement regarding the drug 'supermarket' already established on the next block north of us from Thursday through Sunday each week.  The same has been attempted at least twice on our block in the past 2 years.  It has failed to gain a foothold here, so far.

Removed the old and installed the first coat of new plaster on the ceiling of the bathroom at the lower rental across the street.  Also opened the triple hung storm and inside window with pin stops to minimize future steam build-ups.  Later that evening, the tenant informed me that Buster's older brothers and some other youths, in gang formation, confronted her 16 year old son and his two friends.  She's very upset.  I told her to call the Alderman's office and relate the incident to him.  It seems Buster's family is harrassing both of my tenants next door to them AND me.  Hadn't heard anything from the tenant in my upper flat about being harrassed.  During a conversation with her later, she stated that she has been washing 'footprints' off her new car frequently.  

8/4/97 10:10 pm  Noticed an incendiary device (a Miller recycling bag full of highly flammible trash) at the corner of the garage where the previous arson fire was ignited.  Also noticed two recent garbage cart fires behind a house in the middle of the next block.  This and the fact that there was a blue 'Roy Rogers' type double mattress leaning up against the same spot in the morning and noticing one and then two local teens walking away from the garage in separate instances after 10:00 pm, I figured that the garage was becoming set-up for another arson fire this evening.  The teens, as usual, were congregating in the kitchen of the lower flat where the out-of-control first grader lived.  The same house has an old picnic table in the rear yard on which they congregate to HIT ON the girls at the group home next door.  The lower flat residents seem to encourage rather than discourage such activity.  The out-of-control first grader's 16 year old brother is probably in charge when his mom is away and allows his friends and others to abuse his yard.  The front lawn has been destroyed at least twice.  Called the non-profit group about the presumed arson staging.  NOBODY CALLED BACK!

8/4/97:  Paid $12.00 to four of the youths across the street to cut both my lawns with 'their' power mower.  It took more than 3 hours for them to finish - having to stop for oil, gas and more gas several times.

8/5/97  Around 8:00 pm, while working on the wooden front steps of my home, I heard the mother residing in the upper flat above the out-of-control first grader begin yelling at Buster and the out-of-control nephew about them bothering her small children.  A couple weeks ago, they had apparently jumped her 5 year old son for a quarter he had; she said he had 'knots' on his head.  Tonight, they apparently hassled another of her kids.  I wrote down and gave her the out-of-control nephew's address and phone number, along with his mother's name.

She's the fifth adult (the Director, the concerned home owning neighbor, my lower flat tenant, she and me) who has threatened Buster with physical violence in exasperation over the non-response by his family and the police.  The siblings of the threatened child have always been respectful to me.  The girls were the big and little trowel ladies earning sodas when my front steps across the street were re-built.  She also stated that she was the one who replanted the front lawn last year only to see it destroyed again by the various teen and younger visitors hanging around downstairs - some smoking 'weed' on the porch at the same time.  I told her to tell her landlord I had pictures of the out-of-control first grader and Buster on his garage roof tearing the new shingles.

8/8/97  Another neighbor is talking to people to have a meeting regarding the youth in the area and getting our Alderman or someone else to do something about their rampant distruction, vandalism and delinquency.  The meeting can be held in my yard.  The newcomer in the upper flat across the street may chair the meeting.  I'll make photocopies, provide computer support and contact some people on the two adjoining blocks to re-start the Big 3 Block Club we used to have when my mother was still living here and taking charge.

Discovered that the out-of-control first grader has a 16 year old brother. That explains the kids hanging around his flat.  The older male presence, obviously complicit in the gang-like activities, hangs around with the 16 year olds as though he were one of them.  He's in his mid- to late-twenties.

Also spotted the car borrower & Buster throwing rocks at the 4 ~ 8 year olds playing in their rear yard.  The car borrower & Buster were hiding behind the garbage carts and telephone pole in the rear yard across the alley.  They stopped and went away after seeing me witness their behavior.

8/9/97  Finished sealing and painting the deck and previously painted and re-caulked sections of the other surfaces of my upper rear porch. The underside still needs more scraping before it can be painted.  Also replaced 1 1/2 front steps and kickboard of my front steps with freshly painted, pressurized, treated wood.  Lag bolts and stainless steel screws were used to allow subsequent access for under step cleaning and maintenance of the handrail supporting bolts.  All the old, rusted handrail bolts were also replaced with new stainless steel ones.

8/13/97  Spent a couple hours at noon placing a 2nd barrier fence at the southern front lot line of the rental across the street.  A tall, ex-basketball player passing by asked for work to earn $5.00 for lunch.  He helped for about an hour.  Paid him $7.00.  He wanted $10.  Told him $7 was $10 after taxes were taken out.  He laughed and went on his way.  Now, both sides of the front yards of both of my duplexes are protected by barriers.  Those I put up are 'recycled' from some torn down in the neighborhood.  Rather than buried, permanent posts, the ones across the street are securing by 'recycled' metal stakes pounded into the ground.

The newcomer told me she and her husband were leaving the state because of all the problems they encountered in this neighborhood.  The lower flat tenants had been breaking into their side of the basement to 'use' their hot water.  They illegally entered their upper flat from the rear porch and pantry window to take 'things' - many of which were subsequently spotted laying in the rear yard.  Once, the footprints in the newly placed anti-roach boric acid in the upper rear hallway indicated that the youngest children had been up to their rear kitchen door.  These are the same lower flat tenants accused of burglarizing my upper flat tenants next door.

She was to have been the person to 'chair' the Block Club meeting.  So, the Block Club startup is again on hiatus until someone is found with the courage to chair it.  I can't, because then the "you're just kissing up to those White people" becomes the oftentimes successful tactic used by the drug dealers to minimize participation by 'renters' they hope to make customers.

8/14/97  Spent the afternoon rebuilding the water rotted wood at the lower section of the southest corner of the garage at the rental across the street.  The demolition crew working across the alley apparently finished with the large bulldozer and loaded it on the flatbed to by mid-afternoon.  My garage door was open while I was at the job site.  Two separate groups of juveniles 'cased' the contents at least 3 times each.  One larger group of five came by once and reversed direction upon seeing me.  (Maybe they were just innocent travelers or maybe the 'leader' thought I was too big to handle for just the five of them.)

7:00 ~ 7:45 pm  The out-of-control nephew and Buster were playing "rocks" - a game where they threw rocks, bottles, toys and any other object laying around at each other.

8/15/978:30 am  Noticed that a couple panels in my automated garage door were loose; one to a point where it could be pushed in without much effort or attention getting "noise".  Placed plywood panels on the inside to harden the door against this easy type of burglary.  The intercoms left on in the garage and my house 24 hours a day, since the last burglary in 1995, let me know when someone is banging on the door or otherwise making excessive noise in the alley.  The noise is what makes me go to the window to discover so much of what's happening EVERY SINGLE DAY.

8/16/97  8:30 am  Began cementing the cracks, holes and depressions left by the roots of the two trees cut down near the garage when the duplex across the street was purchased back in 1990.  Water damage was beginning to destroy the entire rear garbage cart cement platform and surrounding fence post supporting wall.  During this process, around 10:30 am or so, I saw several kids at the front, next door.  The out-of-control first grader was charging into the newly installed barrier fence.  The oldest youth (10~12), upon seeing me observing it, said to the out-of-control first grader, "Watch out."  Meaning he, being the oldest responsible child present, approved of the behavior UNTIL I WAS SEEN WITNESSING IT.  After seeing them again hanging on the fence - one has to step off the sidewalk onto the grass to get close to the fence - I shouted and began the process of confronting them about 'messing with my property.'  One youth had cut my lawn 2 weeks ago and was with the oldest, the out-of-control first grader and another I recognized.

After inquiring whether there was an adult around supervising them (the eldest was obviously irresponsible) and aware that Wisconsin's 'Good Samaritan' law makes responsible those who do nothing about a possibly dangerous situation and finding three more tots under the age of 5 who said there was no adult inside, I said I'd call the police.  That still not getting the desired objective of bringing an adult in the household to the scene, I went back to secure my 'cementing' workplace, walked back across the street and telephoned 911 to get the police.  The other numbers either do not work or don't result in one getting through to anyone, so 911 is the only one left.  It rang more than eight times before an operator came on.  A half hour later, the mother and another woman came up the alley with some of the other children from inside the household and I told them about what happened and why I called the police.  Of course, they both started making excuses and arguing with me and asking why I looked inside one of their bedroom windows from my side yard the day before.

I'd actually gone up to see if the yellow handled steel hammer holding the window open was mine.  I didn't think mine was missing but what with all the burglaries associated with the residents of that flat, aside from their drug sales for the past 8 months, it looked very much like mine with the yellow B.E.N. label placed on all my tools - some of which had been loaned to neighbors in need of same in the past.  

The older, more beligerant woman, the eldest "irresponsible" youth's mother, said she was in the back bedroom all the time - meaning that when I first yelled at the kids about staying off the fence when standing directly next to that rear bedroom, she ignored it and stayed inside.  In addition, she apparently instructed the toddlers to lie about her being in the house - even when the threat of the police being called was made.  She also stated that she'd heard I "raped little kids."  I asked her if she knew what slander was, and whether she had a TV or anything else of value I could sue her for.  She asked why I didn't knock on the window.  I told her I did, just like the 'drug buyers' do.  She mentioned something about drugs and calling the police.  I told her I did.  Later, she and a young male were witnessed moving white plastic shopping bags through her back yard and the unfenced yard across the alley.  Maybe the drug operations on our block were moving to the next block east.  1998 update:  Drug selling activity seems to have fallen off precipitously since all these families left our neighborhood.

The two plain clothes officers who eventually came said they'd pass the drug information along to the vice squad.  I told them I'd reported the drug house at a public meeting to the new police Chief, the new local station Captain and our local Alderman and called the police again twice, but the drug sales were still ongoing.  The male officer indicated that they were there in response to the call about 'home alone' kids and weren't really interested in anything else.  Hey, is ours a great police force or what!?  I guess we'll need 50 different squads to respond to 50 different crimes ongoing, even when the same individuals are the perpetrators in all cases!  I told these officers that they were the 157th & 158th unique officers I'd met responding to calls to our neighborhood over the past 10 years.  The figure is probably higher than that, but the point is that no one in charge knows, or obviously cares to know, that the same few households are responsible for most of the problems.  Many times it makes no difference who's residing in those duplexes - almost every tenant in certain flats brings one or another criminal activity with them.

Then, about 3:15 or so, I heard some loud obnoxious male voice yelling expletives to someone.  I'd seen a woman get out of a red car parked in front of the group home for girls next door and just now noticed the male driver at the wheel.  He was yelling at someone.  Eventually, the woman and her daughter came out of the group home and got into the car - the daughter in the back.  All this time the male was provoking the daughter about "show me some fingers" and how he was going to break her neck.  After about a minute of verbal confrontation, he got out and opened the driver's side rear door, got the bag she'd just put inside and threw it on the street.  Screaming began, with the daughter saying she didn't want him 'touching' her again and that if her mother wanted to live with him that was her problem.  He drove off and both a squad and a paddy wagon came to the group home.  (I guess strangers in our neighborhood deserve a better response than us mere residents!)

8/17/97  A neighbor's garage door is graffitied with "Bicth" and another, misspelled word.  His teen daughter or two others living in the upper flat across the alley may have been the object of this vandalism.  The writing style is similar to that of other   in these two alleys over the past several years.

8/21/97  Called the Health Department regarding the dumping of garbage in the open by residents in the nuisance house across the alley from me.  Yesterday, a short, thin woman dropped a black bag on the concrete instead of in one of the four empty garbage carts.  Now, it's spread all over the alley.  Other carts in the alley and in their side yard are already overflowing - collection was just two days ago.  (I just went out and moved one of two newer carts over to where 'they won't have to walk so far' to drop it in.  Just about every tenant renting this nuisance property has a problem finding the empty carts.)

9/4/97 8:30 am  An inhaler was found by the tree stump near my rear side yard door - the yard being padlocked, this is evidence of trespassing or someone throwing it there.  Many kids have them.  (Extra cash benefits are provided to families with children having asthma or other problems.  Many do.  The dust from dead cockroach carcasses causes a lot of breathing problems for everyone in roach infested flats.)

9/12/97 10:00 am  A burglary in progress at my rental flat, with police officers on the scene, was brought to my attention - again via a telephone call from my best tenant in the upper flat above me.  I went across the street and discovered the rear bedroom window entry point and the fact that the burglar was still on the scene.  Knowing that the tenant's 16 year old son had recently been denied access to the house on his own, the officers were informed that the person involved may be the son of the tenant and isn't known to be violent or dangerous.  It's his bedroom window that's was broken into.  They immediately toned down their normal 'ready to shoot on site' confrontational mode by shouting the word along to each other that it may be an unarmed tenant involved.

Almost immediately thereafter, officers in the basement found the 13 year old out-of-control nephew from the next block west.  I go down and identify him to them at once.  His eyes are glazed over as if on some depressive drug. He gives them a false name and is very subdued and quiet the whole time he's sitting, handcuffed in one of the squad cars.

During the investigation, the car borrower came to the scene.  Both, of course, should have been in school.  Being the only other similarly aged, truant youth, coming to the scene of the crime, he immediately and obviously made himself the suspected 2nd burglar.  He was most likely the one staying outside on watch, who gave a boost to the other through the window. They were witnessed by a neighbor across the alley who immediately called 911.  I witnessed the same behavior a couple years before at the house across the alley from me.

(It proves the inadequacy of the existing juvenile justice system to promote consequences which would diminish delinquent behavior that perpetrators of the crime often return to the scene to find out what the police officers are doing.  They know nothing's going to happen to them!)

After having him sit on the front concrete steps while checking into his obvious truancy, they discover he was also involved in the attic pellet gun shooting of the prior month.  His mother, grandfather and sisters eventually come by, too.  (Nobody in that family was in school that day!)

10/2/97  The landlord comes up from Illinois to check the flat and secure the property.  He also moves the furniture and other items place on the sidewalk to the normal large item pick-up spot in the alley.  I introduce myself and help him rehabilitate his 6 foot high alley fence and gate - providing spare parts I had on hand.  Evicted gang kids from two other households, along with the out-of-control nephew still residing across the alley continued to use that yard as a public thoroughfare - EVEN WITH THE REAR GATE PADLOCKED!  They busted both the six foot fence and the gate a couple times climbing over them.

While we were working, the car borrower comes down to accuse me of breaking into his 'garage clubhouse' to steal his TV.  His constant shouting and refusal to leave us to our work motivates me to go in and complain to the police about having to put up with the antics of a 14 year old on a Thursday school day - a youth who obviously has no qualms about making a spectacle of himself because he knows there are no consequences to his truancy.  Don't know what happens, but he goes back into his house.  (Their garage had been broken into overnight but not by me.  It was probably done by youths from the other side of the commercial strip a few blocks away, who were using the unsecured garage and disabled, unsecured cars next door for illicit sex and illegal drug activity.  The missing panel hasn't been repaired since - leaving another open garage for wild cats and kids to find safe haven - even though this is now a group home supported by city, county and state government authorizations.  I guess no one ever goes out to inspect these group homes!)

10/7/97  Someone breaks into the Illinois landord's duplex through the basement window and the lower flat through the rear hallway kitchen door.  Two officers came to take the complaint and stayed until the basement window and common rear doorway were boarded-up; again, not wanting to get involved in anything regarding the problems in our neighborhood.  They knew that the out-of-control nephew, who casually walked by and was mistakenly thought to have been the one inside the house as his "run-a-way home", was wanted on a "fugitive, felony warrant" for walking away from the group home in which he was placed since burglarizing my lower flat across the street on 9/12/97.

While leaving the scene to arrest him, the individual who had broken-in walked out the rear door.  He was apparently one of the 15-16 year olds who'd been using the flat as a hang-out while truant from school.  The car borrower later confronted me about being involved in cooperating with the police.  He apparently thought his grandmother's threat to me had worked.  I told him I had and always do and asked if he was going to "get back at me".  Overnight, my garage door has new   with, "BEN IS A HOE", (not in the pictures) in thin black marking pencil.  Trying to teach these kids that a hoe is a garden implement and not a hooker has been a lost cause.  The graffiti is cleaned-off or painted over immediately.

11/6/97 3:45 pm  Found a cheap 9mm handgun laying in the bushes at the front of my rental duplex.  It was fully loaded and may have misfired due to a sliver of aluminum caught in the slide.  All three 'red' indicators were popped out.  Cleaned and repaired it.  It's worth at least $50.00 at the next gun buyback session.

11/97  The car borrower's family moved out of their upper flat immediately south of the nuisance duplex across the alley from me.  That was a voluntary removal by the family itself after a six month notice from the new owner that the duplex was going to become another ILLEGAL group home in our hood.

?12?/97  One or both of the families residing in the upper and lower flats across the alley are evicted with their furniture moved onto the street.  This, presumably, also was initiated by the absentee owner via the BUREAUCRATICALLY INSANE EVICTION PROCESS.

Buster's family was evicted from their flat, without the need of the Sheriff apparently, after HUD repossessed the duplex.  They did leave a safe in the flat which was confiscated by the tactical squad responding to a gunshot heard inside several weeks after the flat became empty.

Website link/location/URL: http://www.KidsRiot.com/kids978~.htm or http://www.Jamrent.com/ic/kids978~.htm