Venting--people who make it hard for the truly needy.

[preciousdove]

My sister lives in a fourplex in a suburb of St Paul that was sold in late November. One unit was vacant. A person with a section 8 voucher called the new landlord and convinced him that the former landlord had promised her the unit and that her background check was already done. This woman said she was in the process of fighting to get custody of her young children and she "needed a clean, safe place to live." Last week someone left a timed pipe bomb on the upstairs back porch that went off. It was very near the natural gas line and could have started a fire or injured innocent people downstairs (including a toddler) if it had been positioned differently. The pipe bomb was meant for her boyfriend who was not on the lease but had moved in and started dealing drugs out of the apartment. Because this is probably the first pipe bomb this community has had to deal with the county sheriff came out, at night, and declared that someone had thrown something at the house in order to rob it and left. It wasn't until the next day that the downstairs tenet was able to find out what happened and call them back. By that time the boyfriend had packed up and was long gone and the woman wouldn't say who he was or where he went. She was evicted, the back porch was condemned and sealed off, the broken lock on the front entrance was repaired, but it was a horrible experience for everyone. Tenants, the new landlord, neighbors and the local law enforcement.

[mhr]

1. I Fight The Drug Dealers In My Neighborhood Everyday

It is a never ending battle.

However, if the citizens don't stand up to these thugs and bullies they will rule through fear and intimidation - kind of like Bush and his gang.