How safe is your neighborhood?

[EvaLaruefan]

Hi everyone!
I live in Montreal,Canada which is generally a pretty safe place, but lately I've been freakin' out with a couple of stories happening here. For one, there is a rapist on the loose (not too far from my area) and he's raped 5 girls so far that they know of...

and then last week a man and his 5 year old son were on the city bus. 3 guys came on the bus and 1 of them knocked the son by mistake with a bag so the father told the guy to be careful. (wouldn't anyone???) anyways...the father and son get off the bus and so do the 3 guys and they beat the father up with metal bars and punches in front of his 5 year old son. Isn't that sick??? If the father hadn't been a well built man, he would've been dead.
People are sick in this world. I just wanted to share that and if you have any stories from your neighborhood, you can share them.

Sorry if you find this thread boring.

[Miss Filangi]

Not boring at all Eva. That is scary about the rapist though. Reminds me of when the Scarborough Rapist was on the loose in Toronto and turned out to be Paul Bernardo. ::shudder:: You can never be too careful.

My neighbourhood is really quite good and the people in my complex look out for one another.

I grew up in a nice small town not far outside of the city. There were always tons of small time crimes... car break ins and store robberys, but nothing too serious.

[KKelly]

I can't believe how horrible people can be . . . One of the memories from my childhood was when I was in the 8th grade and there was a gang called the Aces, and now I live in a small town in eastern NC, which you would think would be pretty safe, but they beat a little boy to death (I think he was 10 - I remember his name was Donnie) with a baseball bat over a quarter. The little boy died and the guy that did it went to jail but it always stuck with me.

and we (Raleigh) just had a guy found guilty of killing his girlfriend. She was sick and apparently he strangled her with a dishtowel. He tried to say she strangled hereself but finally broke down in court and told the truth. I've never heard of that method but he did it.

I hope they catch the guy terrorizing your area soon.

[Julie]

A few months ago I would have claimed that my little neighbourhood was completely safe. I live in a townhouse complex, and it's sectioned off into 'circles' of 25 townhomes. Our section has a lot of kids, and there are always parents around to watch them. It's a rule amongst most of us moms that we are allowed to give heck to each other's children if they're caught misbehaving. We, for the most part, know each other pretty well and are always in communication about what's going on.

But.....(don't you hate 'buts'?)

I also live less than a km from the infamous 'pig farm', where they've discovered the remains of over 15 ladies (I'm not sure what the latest count is, it's probably over 20 by now). As shocking and horrifying as it is, I never felt a sense of personal fear over it, mainly because the victims were from a specific area in Vancouver.

A 19 year old girl who lived a block away was raped and murdered as she walked to work one early Sunday morning.

And lately I've discovered that more than a few of my neighbours (the ones I don't know well and don't have small kids) have major drug addictions. One of the worst has already been implicated (but the police can't prove it) in a few thefts from backyards and vehicles (I don't own a vehicle and have nothing in my backyard worth anything so I'm fairly safe) to fund his habit.

And, the worst (at least for my little circle).... two of my kids' friends were flashed by a pervert on Saturday morning. The guy rode up on his bicycle, pulled down his pants, and left. This happened about 200 feet from my front door.

So much for feeling comfortable letting your kids out to play.
:rolleyes:

[Miss Filangi]

Originally posted by KKelly
they beat a little boy to death (I think he was 10 - I remember his name was Donnie) with a baseball bat over a quarter. The little boy died and the guy that did it went to jail but it always stuck with me.

Oh that is so sad. The fact that you at least remember the victim's name is touching though. At least his young life touched yours.

And Julie... the Pig Farm story is just sickening. There are quite a few wackos in Canada.

[KKelly]

Oh for heaven's sake! I'm so sorry!

We had something happen a few years back. I live outside the city limits and it's family land. I live next door to my parents, in front of my brother, down from an aunt, across from a cousin and down from an uncle . . you get the picture. so we feel pretty safe here.

My aunt, and those of you who have been on the Clay Aiken thread, this is the 76 year old I've talked about. someone knocked on her door, she asked who was there and he said Sammy (Sammy is a 15 year old that lives next door to her) and she opened the wood door, leaving the storm door locked, flipped on the light which was "blown" and said Sammy, my light's blown, opened the door and he came in swinging a baseball bat. He wanted her money and hit her many times, the last time being when she asked why he was trying to kill her and he raised the bat above his head and came down on her one last time.

Now keep in mind this is a 71 year old 120 pound woman.

Now the miracle part . . . there was a lot of blood in front of the couch where the main part of it took place and a lot of blood at the steps coming up into the kitchen and leading to where the phone was and none inbetween (about 15 foot distance) , she remembers being in front of the couch and remembers pulling herself up the steps and nothing between -she was able to call us, she called the sheriff's dept., she looked like something out of a horror movie with blood all over her face, head and clothes but she remembered her credit cards, spotted the light bulb that he had removed from the porch so she couldn't see him (thought buld blown), she had all of her senses.

we spent the evening at our wondeful local hospital who wouldn't do a CT scan or admit her becasue they don't have a trauma doc and she "had no evidence of trauma". they said they normally transfer to one of the bigger hosptals and I asked for that and they wouldn't. She is throwing up and her head bleeding everytime she moves and they are putting a paper suit on her to go home. Well that's when I took over and I am normally very soft spoken and would never say anything - just go with the flow but I told the nurse - I said "please help me understand this - this should be educational for me - I work for a medical malpractice attorney and we sue hospitals every day so please explain to me why you can't do a CT scan". well, needless to say the nurse never spoke to us again, nor did the doc, but they did do a CT scan, found a bleed on the brain and transferred her.

She is fine now - took her a while to get over it physically and even longer mentally.

and it wsn't Sammy but a guy pretending to be him to get him in the house. It was an 18 year old she had taught Sunday school to when he was little and it was for drug money (he got $50 and 13 years in jail)

[Julie]

Originally posted by Miss Filangi
And Julie... the Pig Farm story is just sickening. There are quite a few wackos in Canada.

There sure are. I also was a kid during the Clifford Olsen years... and lived in the same area where the killings took place.

But, on the bright side (trying to find one here), at least we don't have a lot of drive-by shootings up here.

[Julie]

Kkelly, I'm just in shock over what happened to your aunt. What in the hell is wrong with the world these days?

All of the stories being shared are horrifying me.

[KKelly]

Originally posted by Miss Filangi
There are quite a few wackos in Canada.

A friend of mine told me this (she read it in some book - about Paul Benando maybe) and I want to see if it's true since so many of you are from Canada. Is it true that no matter what you do, you only get 25 years in Canada? I didn't read the book cause I just couldn't so I thought I'd ask. I'm not even sure if that's the guy's name. Thanks!

[Julie]

Originally posted by KKelly
A friend of mine told me this (she read it in some book - about Paul Benando maybe) and I want to see if it's true since so many of you are from Canada. Is it true that no matter what you do, you only get 25 years in Canada? I didn't read the book cause I just couldn't so I thought I'd ask. I'm not even sure if that's the guy's name. Thanks!

If you get life you can get out in 25 years, but it's not an automatic thing.