Gun Fire Too Close To Home
The other night we were sitting on our sofa watching television when we heard really loud gun fire outside a home 3 houses up the street from us. It was so loud that it sounded like it was in the same room with us. I flew off the sofa and plastered my body flat against the floor. David ran over to the window to see what was happening. All the while I am screaming, “Get out of the window! Get out of the window!”

David saw two Hispanic teenagers running up the street, right past our house. We assume it was a gang related incident. No one was hurt but it definately scared me.

Selling Crack Across The Street
My sweet neighbor from across the street saw me in my yard and came over to talk. She asked me if I had seen a green Buick parked in front of her house. I told her I had but admitted that I hadn’t really paid much attention to it. She told me that I needed to start paying more attention because the man was selling crack from his car. This woman lives directly across the street from us!

She handed me a slip of paper with the car’s license plate number written on it. She asked if I would call the police on her behalf since her English is not that clear. I called the police department for our area directly. The officer who took my call wanted to know how my neighbor knew for sure the man was selling crack? I explained that it is happening in front of her house so she was able to observe the transactions and it was pretty obvious the man wasn’t selling Avon.

The officer told me to call 911 the next time we saw the car because the police would need to catch the man in the act of selling crack. At this point I became frustrated and asked if the officer could at least run the license plate number. He did and said it was registered to a Buick. The officer again requested for me to tell my neighbor to call 911 the next time she saw the vehicle.

The whole exchange was infuriating. I can see why most of my neighbors are of the opinion that the police don’t care. The car hasn’t been back since I reported it to the police. I almost wonder if someone at the police department tipped off the crack dealer?

The Attempted Burglary 4 Hours After We Left Town
Last summer David and I flew to D.C. for a vacation. Our flight was right before noon. We usually schedule an early morning flight so that we can leave our house under the cover of darkness but that didn’t work out this time. The taxi picked us up and took us to the airport. Four hours after we left town we received a call from our alarm company letting us know that an alarm screen had been tripped.

The police responded about 45 minutes after the alarm company contacted them. Of course, by this time there was no intruder to be caught. They filed it as a false alarm and the city of Los Angeles stuck us with a $115 fine.

When we got back in town a few days later I called the police department to file a report. They sent out an officer who basically said there was nothing he could do because there were no witnesses or any evidence. He believed that someone in our area had observed us leaving and did try to enter through the kitchen window because it is shielded from the street. The officer said the alarm served its purpose and scared the would-be burglar off.

It wasn’t stated but the innuendo was that $115 is probably a small price to pay when being faced with having our house broken into. I see his point of view but I’m angry because it WASN’T A FALSE ALARM.

The other incidents were people coming into our neighborhood and doing illegal activities. The people who actually live here are hardworking. They take care of their houses, manicure their lawns and generally make great neighbors. I am most bothered that someone who actually lives near us is either tipping off a friend or is willing to steal from us directly, i.e. is generally not a great neighbor.

Most of the time our area is a quiet, peaceful transitional neighborhood. Hopefully, the negative elements will completely transition on out of here.

Movie trailer: Zathura

When that first meteor burned a hole through the beautiful hardwood floor I was like, “NO!”