I live in a rough neighborhood. There is no denying that. However, I have always tried to see the good in it, because it is one of those rough neighborhoods that used to be a nice, lower middle-class neighborhood, and a lot of the people who have lived there for a long time (including my husband, who has lived there off and on for 20+ years…I only moved to this state three years ago, so I’m not one of the originals) are really cool. Hell, a lot of the newcomers are pretty cool, too.

Since we moved in, however, we have been the victim of two crimes, and were the locks not so good on our doors, I’m almost certain it would be more. The first one pissed me off. The second one devastated me. At first it was a burning box (as in the box a case of Natural Light came in…we found enough remnants afterwards to tell that) full of dog shit that had gotten too out of hand to stomp out. There was no damage to our trailer, only to our mats outside, and we extinguished the fire with several pitchers full of water, but that’s not the point. It scared the living hell out of me. Soon thereafter, my husband and my Great Pyrenees puppy, who was the sweetest, most loveable dog I’ve ever seen in my life, was poisoned and died a horrible, horrible death. At first we thought it may have been parvo because he was a puppy, the symptoms were similar but not quite adding up, and he had had his first shot late (although he was vaccinated). I tore myself apart searching for a reason why my healthy puppy, who was like my child, had gotten sick and dropped dead as quickly as he had. And then a week later the same thing happened to my landlady’s chihuahua. Soon after, two chows up the street met the same fate. We determined it was poisoning, most likely with antifreeze.

After two months of no idea who could have done this, our former neighbors, whose gunpowder-fed pit bulls had mysteriously survived the rash of poisonings, confessed to the burning box of shit on the porch, threatening to do it again (among other things, like threatening to rape me). We reported this to the Sheriff’s Department. So I am almost sure the same people were responsible for poisoning our dogs, especially how they acted about our dog’s death (it was kind of a weird reaction…just something wasn’t genuine or right about it). And there is a special place in hell for them.

This past week there has been a rash of burglaries. A truck, a car stereo, a lawn mower, and a pit bull have all been stolen, among other things. An apartment up the road was also vandalized. Right after we heard of the stereo being stolen, my friend was approached with a “really good deal” on a car stereo for just $20. She figured the guy was a crackhead and desperate for drug money but also assumed he was selling his own stereo and not a stolen one. No. This man has also been implicated in the truck, the pit bull, and the lawn mower. He may or may not have been the person who broke in and vandalized the apartment (from what I’ve heard, I think it was a woman, more than likely a former girlfriend or roommate of the man who lives there). Oh, and get this. The crackhead burlgar is also a registered sex offender! What a great guy to have roaming the streets of my neighborhood at all hours even though his dad recently moved out of there. Yeah, that just gives me the warm fuzzies all over. Who wouldn’t want to live across the street from a crackhead child molester?

The Sheriff’s Department recently came over to investigate the people who used to live in the trailer next door to us (our other former neighbors, who are such lovely people that I had to call 911 twice because the man had beat his wife’s ass and she was always coming to MY house when she needed help). I don’t know what they were investigating them for, but I always had a gut feeling drugs were being bought and sold out of that house. I spoke to one of the deputies about recent events and said I’d like for us to have a neighborhood watch. He said if we did he would not only support us but be a part of it as well. So that is really cool, and I need to get on this ASAP.

The only stumbling block I can foresee is the city/county line runs right through our street about a block from where my husband and I live. We would have to get city police involved also or else exclude the people on that side of the divide, and I don’t want to do that. So more work for me, but that’s okay.

What’s a better slogan? “I want YOU for [my neighborhood] neighborhood watch” (real Uncle Sam like) or “Join the [my neighborhood] neighborhood watch. We have cookies” (I really would bake cookies, too).