Band of Mothers

Last night we had a Neighborhood Watch meeting in our Teen Center. I was so glad that neighbors came-even our Pakistani neighbors who usually try to avoid calling the police. We had 3 police officers come and talk about the goings on around here. They were very positive and they are seeing good things happen all of the time.

There are 4 of us who have formed what I call 'The Band of Mothers'. We are the ones who have been concerned about the state our street was in for about 9 months or so. You see we just got rid of a crack, pimp and prostitution house (all rolled into one) that was 4 houses down from mine.

It all started when a bunch of people moved into a rental house. The people would hang out on the porch and talk to their friends and such. We would walk by and say 'Hi' and they seemed friendly enough. Then, we started realizing that the women who lived there were always on the lookout for drivers going by and then one of the ladies waved at my husband. That was her mistake.

My husband, being the kind and forthright man that he is, went to talk to the guys. He told them that if he was wrong he would apologize, but it seemed that there are things going on at this particular house that will not work on this street. At first the guys tried denying it, but in the end they did admit it. My husband once again, told them that it wasn't going to work.

One day the police were called to a house that is across the street from the crack-house. A woman there has a grown daughter who is on drugs and this young woman yells and screams at her mom with such wrath and venom. It is really unbelievable how crazed this daughter gets. Well, the mom got afraid and called the police. I didn't know this at first and me and my husband went to ask the police if they were there for the crack-house. We did kind of use large hand,arm,pointing motions toward the bad house. We let the police know what was going on and then let it be because they were already busy.

Next day, one of the men, an older fellow, comes to our door. My 15 year old daughter is the only one home at the time. Well, Mr Weaver, crack-house spokesman, said he was upset with us that we called the police on them all. Thankfully, Mr Weaver realized that he shouldn't get too upset with our daughter, but I was still mad. The gall!

Fast forward to the day after the Nat'l Night Out in August. We had a great get-together with tons of neighbors and talked about starting Neighborhood Watch the night before. After the party a HUGE fight broke out down the block. This never happens and it was certainly crazy after such a great Nat'l Night Out party. Anyways, I happen to see two cop cars parked across the street. I decided to be the nosy neighbor and ask them if everything was okay and if they had heard about the big fight the night before. They said everything was okay and , no, they hadn't heard about the fight.

I then proceed to talk about our very own crack-house and right away Mr Weaver comes yelling down the street protesting that I'm talking to the police about him and his house. Boy, he was mad! I raised my voice right back at him and while he was protesting his innocence I was speaking very loudly about the "Pimping, Drugs and the Prostitution GOING ON!" Neighbors came out and watched the spectacle. So, Mr Weaver and I went toe to toe while the woman officer held up her arms to keep us separated. (this was funny to me later, like did she think I would hit him?!)

Well, I was glad that we tangled a bit because I think it showed that crack-house that I wasn't intimidated by them. They needed to fear ME. Even though I told Mr Weaver, he still kept thinking that it was just our family that was calling the police on them. The whole street was calling on them and I thank God for such diligent neighbors. In the end the cops came and busted them. A couple of people were already on parole too. The house is going into forclosure because the owners didn't want to pay for all of the code violations and the raw sewage problem in the basement-Ewww. The city attorney also filed a suit against the owners-Yeah!

A win for the Band of Mothers for sure :D
I did hear about other goings-on, but I'll save that for another posting.
Never a dull moment in the 'hood.