Neighborhood Watch Talk #5

N e i g h b o r h o o d W a t c h T a l k # 5

Franklin “Harry” Ernst III, Editor

November 1, 2= 009

&= nbsp; Neighborhood Watch continues to this day. What follows is “Neighborhood Watch Talk= No. 5,” which was not sent out by my father in 1988. Dad cared very much = for this community, and he dared to write about what he saw, heard, and knew. H= e observed and wrote on a wide range of topics, including this topic. He showed how pe= ople deal with real life events.

&= nbsp; Many local leaders have made decisions that have had consequences, have lead Val= lejo to where it is today. The following, hopefully, will give the reader a glim= pse, some incite into the background of, What is Happening. F. H. “Harry” Ernst III

Neighborhood Watch Ta= lk No. 5

November 1, 1988=

By Franklin H. Ernst Jr., M.D.

"Neighborhood Watch Talk" was started up by this writer on his own say so, as a person not beholden to, funded by, or dependent on one of the local bureaucracies for political patronage or protection. It was started up to tell others what has worked h= ere, as one man's experience. After 3 years of "nothing but drugs on the streets" ours is currently a safer place to live and conduct business. Watch Talk is written in the belief that some of the methods we have used w= ill work in other areas.

   To be honest, more than a few in the local area have been edgy about the writi= ng of these letters, edgy that broadcasting the limited local success would fo= cus other troubles onto the area. The writer, however, has a hard time imagining more trouble than before our Block Watch programs got up and going. There w= as a $5mill to $15 million/year business, a "free trade zone" for drug= s in this 4 block strip, 7/Eleven to Union Square on Sutter, with trade growing = at a 300% per year rate. An average of 3 cars a minute, over the 24 hour day tur= ned off Tennessee St. onto Sutter St. in January, 1988. One Tuesday night, mid January 1988, 1:31 AM to 1:44 AM, 62 cars were personally observed turning = off Tennessee onto Sutter going north and south, counting the 13 that turned in= to the 7/Eleven Store lot. 16 went by that intersection without stopping or turning.

   Daytime, of course, the rate of turning onto Sutter from Tennessee was much higher, = up to 700 in an hour. At that time there were estimated to be 4,300 cars a day that turned onto Sutter from Tennessee alone. This does not count the acces= s to Sutter from Sonoma via Sutter's cross Streets.

    Without drugs, the number of cars turning off of Tennessee Stree= t onto Sutter Street is, at tops, 3,000 a day, average 700 a day.

    Assuming that 800 of the 4,300 cars were neighborhood traffic, a= nd 1,000 were the cars of the dealers, this leaves 2,500 buyer cars. 2,500 cars/day = times 365 days/year times $20/transaction with a dealer (probably low) comes out = to $18,250,000 a year.

   Druggers fought back. After that second meeting of January 25 with the Mayor, we = were greeted at our neighborhood by a hundred druggies intimidatingly "demonstrating" their muscle at the corner of Sutter and Tennesse= e Streets. Eleven (11) days later, 200 of the= 400 midnight "rioters" at City Park on 2/5/88 were aimed east on Tennessee and through our area at a Saturday 2:00 AM hour, just as our Watc= hes had barely started.

Two principles have emerged:

1. Find one accountable person to assist in bringing one specific problem u= nder control: A property owner where druggies live, a realty firm manager, o= ne member of a Board or Commission such as GVRD, a franchised neighborhood association president. Talk to them, tell them what is happening and what o= ne thing you need them to do for the NOW to bring better law and order to your block. Drugs on the streets of your area are the result of many, many probl= ems, often including your own being frightened. But the problems have been put in place, one at a time.

2. After a year of "Watching," I am confident "DRUGS ARE POLITICAL." By keeping this saying in mind= a lot of things make more sense.

    There are many who see the best point to attack to be that of the user. Persuade the user and potential user to not be users. Without any purchasers there would be no market. This is a valid, persuasive, and reali= stic method of approach. Ultimately in a free world it is the method that must be sought. Some argue, that carried to its logical conclusion, this approach involves discontinuance of legal sanctions against the users and dealers, i= .e. making drugs legal with the only restriction to their use being the person's ability to govern his own behavior, including drug use.

    By comparison to many, I am a newcomer to neighborhood watch. So= me of the personal benefits to belonging to a WATCH include many new friends A= ND fewer drugs in the local area where I live. At this time, I do not have an observation of a local illegal activity to report in the last 6 weeks. There are some houses we keep under close scrutiny: an increase of unfamiliar fac= es in and out, a house where a "tomato plant" without tomatoes on it= in August was found in a backyard. It disappeared after 3 of us had gone by to take a look.

   The closest to reportable was 10/20/88, Thursday night about shift change time = for Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Betwe= en 11:30 and 11:45 PM watched some 6 slowly walking "NMs" come and go into 7/Eleven Store, talking to customers inside, no buys to see. Plus 4 standing on the east sidewalk of t= he street next to the store "watching" traffic come and go. O= ne was a 6'-4" "NM" with a white turban, matching long sleeved cotton jacket, faded blue denim "pants" cut off above the knees w= ith quite a swish to his gait and many other mannerisms. These 4 were being "backed up" by a late 60s larger 2 door, light colored sedan slow= ly cruising up and down Sutter crossing Tennessee St., making a few lazy clock= wise swings around the block that 7/Eleven sits on.

    Observable are the almost nightly events under the local street lights of that intersection. At the end of Mare Island second shift, from 1= 1:15 to 11:50 PM, we will see from 4 to 8 NMs collect from the Washington Park area, standing on the sidewalk, going up and do= wn the sidewalk, occasionally into the store. After about every second shopping customer has left the store one of the NMs will walk south on Sutter into t= he Washington Park area and disappear. About 11:45 PM one or two cars with lou= d music will drive up unload one or 2 NM "store shoppers" who end their shopping, stop by "carrying on" with those standing on the sidewa= lk, loud, bantering, good-natured talk. Then cars drive off, sidewalk personnel leave in the Washington Park direction. Everybody "goes home" and= all is quiet for most of the rest of the night.

“Watch TalkR= 21;

    Shortly after writing the first "Watch Talk" in March (1988), I was approached and warned by one of Vallejo's Police Department and told: "Be careful. Do= n't let your letter fall into the wrong hands!" It made me wonder who = are "the wrong hands." Within a short period of entering Neighborhood Watch it became clear that "D= rugs are political."

At first, there were no problems getting PUBLIC INFORMATION.=

1) Public information? The names, addresses and telephone numbers solicited by Police Department representative at block watch meetings were initially readily forthcoming on request. These have become harder to get as time goes by: almost totally fa= ded out "ink", "broken printer", no date for getting an upd= ated list, "program not working." Now only the police have these (secr= et?) lists. Lists like these, solicited by a public, are either public informati= on or secret information. When files are maintained in secret by the City of Vallejo Police Department, then we have a secrets department of the police.= Who sets policy for the City Manager who sets policy for the Chief of Police who sets policy for the Police Department officers and other personnel?

2) Public Information? Per= sonnel at County Assessor's Office were initially cordial, helpful. They are now reluctant, hesitant, and balking at requests. But so far, not blocking effo= rts to secure information on ownership and parcel numbers of houses identified = as centers of drug activities. Calls by writer number less than one in two mon= ths average, over the past year.

   VALLEJO AND SOLANO COUNTY ARE NO DIFFERENT IN THIS RESPECT THAN OTHER AREAS OF THE = USA. Read the “American Spectator”, September, 1988 issue: "Los= ing the Drug War: Drugs, Banks, and Florida Politics" by James Ring Adams.=

THE PUNISHMENT FOR SUCCESS

   One of the writer's conclusions has been that the more success our local area h= as had in its Watch Program, the greater the bureaucracy obstacles. Bureau Chi= efs take their order from those with p= olitical (influence) power.

   One of our more active watchers got into a little family trouble. A grown child= at home who knows better, called the police who escalated it into a major "scene" via police radio. 5 squad cars swarmed the home. Watcher = was handcuffed and physically policed and major charges were brought against him. Writer watched the legal events unfold after he was release from custody. That particular Watcher? A very re= liable citizen, major contributor to our much cleaner neighborhood. Police Chief w= as initially very insistent this well known Watcher be strongly punished. Watcher, durin= g the 3 years before, had been a regular caller to the police department with det= ailed descriptions of dealers. He helped the police on more than one occasion identify stash locations and dealers. He, the Watcher, directed police offi= cers (by telephone) to specific locations where the drugs had hid their drugs an= d to the location of the dealers, all in the immediate area of his home. The ass= ault on his person, for his infraction, was a contribution to the local Drug Warlords.

   Our local area Neighborhood Watches have already given back to the City of Vall= ejo well over 100 hours of Police Department time this year, time previously sp= ent on chases which rarely yielded any arrest. Now there are reduced numbers of calls and fewer dispatches required.

   Heard the story about early September this year when a store owner across from City Park called police 10 times = over a 30 minute period for help, reporting rowdy druggies who had taken over his place of business. Getting no response at all, he took out his own permitted gun and ordered the rowdies off his private property. In seconds, the place= was swarming with police. Owner was handcuffed, permitted gun confiscated, and = he taken to the pokey while the rowdies standing around laughed at his predica= ment (and departure). After a few dozen calls to him, the Chief of Police was required to release the owner, return his gun to him, and apologize to the neighbors. Where did the initial protection to the rowdies come from? What = made them feel so secure? We are aware of the Police Chief's cautioning the good citizen about protecting himself from assault. {There may be more to this story}

WAR ON DRUGS

   "War On Drugs!" and other political euphemisms: The "Omnibus Anti-Drug Initiative Act" passed by Congress and Senate on 10/20/8= 8 is out of touch with reality, IF THE GOAL IS WHAT ITS NAME SAYS.

WATCH ATTITUDE

Political<= /span>

    What we see now is that Drugs and Drug dealing are regulated = by some, perhaps unseen, portion of the in-place political apparatus. If within a mere 3 months of first starting a local Watch Program here in our = own area we can get rid of 80% to 90% of the drug problem, after more than 4 ye= ars of its escalation to where it had taken over every street and every alley intersection, BUT other areas with equally, if not more dedicated and dilig= ent Watch Programs have not been able to rid themselves of druggies, THEN we ha= ve to look at the political apparatus of the CITY.

    Do not forget! Drugs are political. Drugs continue to spread in = our Congressional District. Which party do you vote for? Been to San Francisco recently? AIDs & drugs without end as far as the eye can see.

Questions for Congres= swoman Boxer

   Why would the Party of Incum= bency want to spread drugs on the streets?

1. Look how they demoralize good peop= le.

2. Look how the dealers intimida= te and frighten good people.

3. Look how much time is sucked = up just keeping them out of your yard.

4. By preoccupying the otherwise= free time of good people, good people are prevented from caring for their own family.

5. Drugs on the block, in the ho= me? HOW CAN A PERSON KEEP A LEVEL HEAD.

6. Increased home tensions, fami= ly tensions. Less time for personal consideration, member to member in the fam= ily under siege.

7. For those with children, the constant preoccupation about their drug exposures.

8. AND THE MANY OTHER SOURCES OF FAMILY CONFLICT BUILT UP BY DRUGS.

9. Drug usage by a family member= , a child? Mother seeks to protect and nurture the child. Father often will see discipline as the best answer. RESULT: Fathers and mothers waring in the ho= mes. Similar to what the parents of the younger, at home homosexual are up again= st. These are the youth seduced into that other "Alternative Life Style&qu= ot; before the age of consent, let alone informed consent.

10. Generally speaking, the principle advantage to the party of incumbency, whi= ch does not yet have total control over that society, is the one of keeping the good and the strong from focusing their eyes at the same time on what is be= ing done to them and their liberties.

    Being under siege at home is the least conducive environment for= clear thinking, to think about larger social issues, for example what you are rea= lly voting for. The more polished, nicer sounding & speaking, the better promiser, the better "villain" identifier, the more clever with t= he "scandalizing" quick phrase is more entertaining, more likely to = get the vote? These can be quite compelling AND not having the time to personal= ly research the actual results of the incumbent's actions, the at-home-distres= sed voter is more readily led by the glib, the fast word and quick promise arti= st.

    Incumbents who vote for family destroying legislation are out to destroy the basic social unit in societies of the free.

FRANCHISES=

    Do not forget, that in Communist Russia the government has been using the standard criminal element as one way to harass and oppress good people there for over 70 years (A. Solzhenytsen, “Gulag Archipelago&#= 8221;). That government locks up and releases their social criminals on a revolv= ing door basis. Remind you of how our judiciary at the highest levels is aiming. The Russian "politicals" keep on putting them into concentration camps and into their "Psychiatric Hospitals" for "25ers" & life sentences. "You don't agree with the party of incumbency? Sorry! Too bad! You lose!" More, yet totally non-offending people are locked up on a per city quota system, "1,000 for Novosibirsk next month (1988)." Sure keeps mos= t of the populace intimidated though. {The number of people in prison per capita is no= where higher than in California now, 2009.}

POLITICAL<= /span>

    Experience with neighborhood watch, up to now, tells me that the local drugs and druggie houses have been set in place because of the pro= tection offered by a second network, which itself is protected by yet a third network. Many of the second network value their social reputation and are working to get a better one. Memb= ers of the 3rd and upper layered network have almost flawless reputations. They will be found among the social "elite" of the community. Start finding out who owns which pieces of property, housing what is socially und= esirable. Press them a little.

POLITICAL RELIEF=

    “Start rattling their cages a bit.” One woman in ano= ther Watch found out that a prominent lawyer in Benicia owned a house on Sacrame= nto and Ohio Streets near City Park. The druggie members of that one drug "hive" “kicked back” (relaxed at his house) when not out on the streets. She called him, told him what was happening AND to bring it down. At first, he gave her back the standard "How dare you." She told him again of what was happening. Then he gave her the irate & innocent until proven, mouthwash. Then she told him to take care of it NOW; that he was civilly and criminally liable = for the activities on his property which she had personally witnessed many time= s, had called the police about on recorded occasions, and now, especially, sin= ce she had “notified” him about these events. It took a few days. = He cleaned it up.

     That takes balls.= She had her facts, and had them straight.

POLITICAL<= /span>

    More than 6,000 responsible citizens, most of them voters, membe= rs of NH Watch Programs see and complain AND have seen, have complained for at= least three long years that the FIRST POLICY AND THE FIRST GO= AL of City Hall should be related to Crime and Drugs on the streets and in the neighborhoods.

     Attending a porti= on of City Council's most recent off-schedule Council "Policies and Goals" meetings on Saturday AM 04/30/88, "Drugs and Crime on = the Streets" finally got listed, as an after thought by one member. True it will be last, in an as yet to be numbered Section of that over 200 page long document. And while, also true, that it is to be buried under another title= , it is now destined to be listed.

     THE BIGGIE FOR CI= TY COUNCIL MEMBERS then, however, was the vital overriding need for, high prio= rity of a new CULTURAL CENTER. "Fairfield's got one! Why can't we?"

     Drugs riddance is political? Yes, a ways down the list, eventua= lly. Where do you think a sales tax increase is really going to go? NO ONE ON CI= TY COUNCIL sees riddance of drugs on the streets as having any kind of priority anywhere in sight of the top. Some instead see having their name gloriously emblazoned on the cornerstone of some new City Building as THE THING.<= /o:p>

POLITICAL:=

     The over-riding n= ew Policy and Goal of Vallejo City Council, to this reader's eye, is to initiate = more RULE and REGULATION by selective complaint. This is different from t= he law and order by code, enforced by people with personal judgment. This is to usher in Law and Order by Situatio= nal Personality, individuals without any personal values or personal eth= ics, whose sole discretion will be based on peer pressure from those in their own networks and upon whom they dep= end for personal favors. See for example, page 196 in their "02/10/87" dated document. Some "complaints" are to be = treated as sacred, blessed with great and pious sanctity. Other complaints, which a= re contrary to the goals and policies of the powers behind the seats on the Council, we know, will be given the "HO HUM! NOT YOU AGAIN, NOT THAT AGAIN!" and the complainers themselves punished.

POLITICAL ATTITUDE

    "Government by (selected) Complaint" we already know is seriously flawed. "Government by (sacred) Complaint&qu= ot; is rigged against LAW and ORDER by Code, and favors rule by the "chosen" few, those who are in charge of those who select which "complaints" to be "heard"; which ones are to count, and which ones are to be buried and complainers prosecuted to the full extent of the (what) law. See also my letter dated 10/14/85 to then California Assemblyman Don Sebastiani about the unilateral and arbitrary actions, agai= nst medical advice, by the California Community Care Licensing. CCCL has been, = and continues to be responsible for aggravating the illnesses and causing the deaths of patients in Board & Care Homes. For example, they have worshi= pped the complaints of a dangerous fire setting paranoid man, against the word o= f his former landlord. That paranoid man had not paid his room and board for eight months, even though he received a SSI check every month from which to pay i= t. The landlord finally had him evicted. That particular State Licensing Agency, o= ut of Santa Rosa, ruined that Board & Care Operator. One "network&quo= t; man I know got richer by $250,000 from that set of State actions.

POLITICAL<= /span>

    The primary "Policies and Goals" listed by pres= ent City Council are those leading to more CONTROLS over more and more private property within the City. See especially Policy #A of #A & #B.

WATCH ATTITUDE=

    This writer would encourage the “Officers” of "= franchised" Neighborhood Associations' to get going with NH Watch Programs. Both the "franchised" NH Wa= tch Programs and the "franchised" NH Associations with Watch Programs should be encouraged to re-moralize, not demoralize their programs; encoura= ge, not discourage the people in their "Watches", "Hurrah",= not "Ho Hum" for the ACTIVE, FOR-REAL WATCHERS in their areas. To learn how "Ho Hum" works in matters of both local and national security read "Too Secret, Too Long" by C. Pincher. It is about a= Communist agent, Roger Hollis working in Britain's Intelligence during World War II, = even becoming Chief of Britain's MI-5 during 9 years into the 1960’s.=

WATCH ATTITUDE=

    How can an ordi= nary NH Watcher tell if the Program he is in, is out to sweep the area clean of drugs for real? or if it's more a political franchise aimed at keepi= ng track of how to discourage good people from gathering up their mutual resou= rces of time and energy to fight the drug monsters? Answer: mostly by keeping tr= ack of the behavior of the others in it, AND whether the tone of your Watch is optimistic with results, OR pessimistic and demoralizing with the results of that kind of attitude being spread.

WATCH ATTITUDE=

    There are several Neighborhoods with previously good quality, effective Watch Programs that h= ave since fallen victim to the scowlers, jeerers, belittlers, contempters, ridiculers, "ho hummers" and given in to despair, even disbanded.<= /span>

Real COMMUNITY RESOUR= CES:

·      =    Maryjane Szalan, VPD, 648-4399, 439= 7. "Energizer", Activator, WATCHER.

·      =    = Vallejo City Manager Office, 648-4575. Yes that office CAN BE a first rate source of information if the employees and the Manager have the sense from City Council AND the HUD offices, in that same = bldg (across the street now) that they will be backed in their helping you. Information galore (is available) when you can persuade them, AND when they feel safe giving the information. Tell them you need it for Neighborhood Wa= tch, when that is true.

·      =    City Council Members, Mayor's offic= e, 648-4377. Each one knows how these programs work. Let me know if they give = you the run around.

·      =    = County Assessor's Office for identification of problem owne= rs.

    When you call the Poli= ce Department, or the County Assessor's office about a Neighborhood Watch rela= ted matter, use the words (tell them): "I am with the Neighborhood Watch." The County and City Departments respect what Neighborhood Watch stands for. You are calling for a business-like purpose.<= /p>

Political<= /span>

     MARIN? The= 67th vote in the US Senate to give away the Panama Canal in 1978 still lives in Marin. Marin was on drugs a decade before Vallejo streets became so filled = with drugs. Remember the TV series on Marin drugs back then (ABC TV?). Now Marin does Vallejo's Planning. Now Marin represents Vallejo in Congress. AND now = we find many of Vallejo's (rental housing) "drug dens" (Houses Of Sanctuary For Elements of Criminal Enterprises Systems) owned by Marinites.=

     IMPORTANCE OF DRU= GS ON THE STREET TO CITY COUNCIL? Ever look at City Council's "Goals and Objectives?" Community Development Commiss= ion at least lists three lines on page 3 of its goals and objectives that inclu= de "Promote programs which prevent crime" and "to reduce substa= nce abuse."

WATCH

     Mrs. Whitmore, wi= fe of Wells reported (June 30, 1988) that they had problems with prostitutes and crime in front of their Marine Supply store, corner Alabama & Sonoma. T= hey balked at calling the police or forming a NHWP saying: "We don't want = to go over his (Leo Cavanagh) head" (to protect themselves, their busines= s, and property from the criminal element?).

STRATEGY

    This writer is on the = trail of encouraging neighbors to like their neighborhoods, to know what we are d= oing and figure out what's being done to us, what's happening in our neighborhoo= ds, AND then using what is already at hand to take care of our neighborhoods, ourselves. Given a minimum of GOOD, GOD-fearing leadership in a neighborhoo= d, we don't need more laws. The laws, we already have, will work.

ATTITUDE

    To the Mayor's statement: "There's very little that can be done about daytime burglar= ies where everyone in the neighborhood goes to work" (03/01/88) we can only respond that that kind of statement comes from having a bad attitude. Cimarron Hills was having an average of 11 burglaries (daytime) per week in 1985. "Everyone" there was going to work. "Everyone" th= ere still goes to work. In 1987 the "average" number of (daytime) burglaries was EIGHT for THE entire YEAR (MJS/VPD). Difference? They have a Neighborhood Watch Program now. Bay Terrace, "C" Street also, had= a problem. Solved by alert neighbors who knew what they were doing, working w= ith the VPD.

WATCH ATTITUDE

    What our Watch Program founder did to start with, was to personally call and then go over to the MAYOR's home that same day right after last Christmas to request assistance= . He got an appointment for Jan 20th (at the Mayor’s City Hall office), on= ly to be cancelled on the 20th, because of the "Mayor's bad back." T= he meeting was rescheduled to the 22nd. About a dozen of us showed up. And the= n the Mayor, pleading surprise at the large number showing, and pleading he didn’t have enough staff on hand, set another meeting date. At first = we were told: "There are too many of you." One attender reminded the Mayo= r of other larger rooms in City Hall that he had at his disposal. What we had, t= hat was different, was a completely dedicated founder AND someone else who knew City Hall.

WATCH ATTITUDE

    Our Founder also knew = about Neighborhood Watch from his family, sister Florence and his mother. This wr= iter watched in awe as our founder went through the steps of initiating, organiz= ing and getting our Watch going. I learned a lot. AND then HE STAYED ON THE TELEPHONE with police giving descriptions to them of the local drug activities: who, where, when, pr= emise addresses, probable locations of supplies on the dealer's person. He ke= pt the rest of us with him, and informed. Turned out he got a counter-siege go= ing on the dealers. With him, we then all started calling the Assessor's office, VPD, Public Health Dept, Fire Dept, local rental owners, local dealer invol= ved real estate firms. They were all helpful once they saw the firm, business-l= ike quality of dedication that had been unleashed (28 weeks after Oliver North's historic handling of an unruly Congress) that now confronted them; ALL EXCEPT HUD's local Section 8 Housing office, that is.=

POLITICAL<= /span>

    Drugs are basically= a political, not a police problem.

     Ed Meese (US Atto= rney General during the Reagan Presidency) closed the loop on that matter at end= of February, early March, with his 149 arrests out of almost 200 grand jury indictments he'd gotten. He'd seized about $3 billion worth of cocaine. His pay-off? Inside of 12 hours, TV stations, across the USA, were out hunting = for, not his scalp, but HIS HEAD. BURNS and WELD, his two high up assistants, on orders from "big brother" in the New York based "Council on Foreign Relations", began to cut on him in a way and for things without any basis in reality, let alone criminal.

     The behavior of t= he TV announcers was the real criminal act, their disinformation. To them drugs w= ere not important to be rid of. They (drugs and drugsters) in fact, apparently, were to be protected. The political thing that counted was unloading Presid= ent Reagan's long time honest friend, to disgrace him if they could pull it off= ; get rid of the man who had successfully brought about the all time largest drug bust in the world, to date.

{Editor’s note: Who is protecting the drugs coming out of Afghanistan, now ? What are the USA, NATO, Russia, Iran, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, and others doing about this? POLITICAL ? “Janes Intelligence Digest&#= 8221; reported that the Taliban had exports of 160 tons per year before they were kicked out by US forces over 7 years ago. Reports being leaked now suggest = that exports are now 6,500 tons per year. HEROIN. That’s a lot of addictio= n, money, power, influence, misery, ruined lives. That’s a lot of truck loads: Kyber Pass into Pakistan? The road to Georgia and Chechnya. US Air F= orce cargo jets? US Army transport trucks? Russian Mafia? Has the American public been duped, again? Are the Generals being played for fools? Jurisdictional issues?} {POLITICAL?}

POLITICAL<= /span>

    Think the druggies don= 't get rough. Remember how they rubbed out the entire Supreme Court of Colombia in= South America a few years ago?

POLITICAL<= /span>

    POLITICAL? Immediately adjacent to Lieberman's shopping plaza at 601 to 625 Tennessee Street, is 6= 31 Tennessee St. Even on the night of the heaviest traffic when there were 93 = to 98 people (dealing) at that shopping plaza, never once, in all my personal watching, did I ever see anyone either in front of or on the steps in front= of 631 Tennessee dealing. Who owns 631 Tennessee St? Answer: Then County Supervisor Lee Sturn and partners. Who has offices there? Answer: California State Senator Barry Keene and = California Assemblyman Tom Hannigan. Drug dealing going on all around, including behind, and up and down Quincy Alley, for example 733A Tennessee, front and back of 7/Eleven about 25 hours a day, it seemed.

POLITICAL<= /span>

    NEVER EVER ONCE WAS ONE SINGLE DRUG DEAL SEEN TO GO DOWN at 631 Tennessee St. during the past four years. Now, how's that for a clean reputation about your property. There we= re none even during that five month period two years ago while City Manager dawdled about getting the street lights there fixed, despite his assurances he woul= d, while public safety suffered.

POLITICAL<= /span>

    The drugs in to= wn are a severe and a major danger to the public health, to the public welfare, and to the public safety of Vallejo. To date, no one on= the CITY COUNCIL has denied that in words. Here again, I remind you of the importance of regularly measuring the DEEDS of the person, AGAINST their WO= RDS! If the gap gets too wide, watch out that you are not dealing with a psychop= ath.

    On that Friday afterno= on of January 22, a small group of us met with the Mayor. One of the Mayor’s opening remarks while greeting us was a smiling: "I feel helpless to do anything about the crime on the streets, too." Then as back up, he recounted the story of the Vallejo sc= hool principal who had been murdered in his home only days earlier across the st= reet from the Mayor’s home. Enough of us were not discouraged by his pessimism. We persisted after that second meeting with the Mayor.

     We met (later) wi= th the representative of Vallejo Crime Prevention and since have gradually been ab= le, with first rate assistance of the VPD, to make a real dent. After each of o= ur first three meetings, and after that January 22nd meeting, there was a major flurry and an active show of strength of the criminal element around the intersection of Sutter and Tennessee Streets. It started within one hour of= those meetings breaking up; up to 75 individuals at a time involved, harassing st= ore employees and patrons, vehicular traffic jams, and the tiny amount of legitimate pedestrian traffic. Since then, except for the massive "riot" of some 250 to 400 at City Park Saturday night of 2/6/88, things have settled down some.

    On 08/23/88, once again someone stood up at the Vallejo City Council Community Forum and demanded C= ity Council do something about all the druggers at the Convenient Mart Plaza on Mini Drive. In response to the Mayor's request, Chief Galvin, told what the= VPD was doing in the way of patrols in that neighborhood. It was remarkably cle= ar to this writer, who was in attendance at that meeting, that the words "NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH" co= ntinue on the list of prohibited City Hall words. The writer again commented brief= ly at that time to City Council about this lack of any encouragement by City Council for Neighborhood Watch programs, or even (their) using the words "Neighborhood Watch."

    Out in the foyer of Ci= ty Hall, the Police Chief was seen talking to "Mr. Demanding" some m= ore. Again no mention of Neighborhood Watch. The closest the Chief came to saying the key words of "NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH" was to tell the Demander "You should get your neighbor= hood organized." Demanders instant response, as could be expected, was anot= her gamey: "That won't do any good because..." in his game of "Do-Me-Something (You didn't do anything for me that I liked).

    The point of mentioning this, however, is that our new Police Chief apparently has the understan= ding that the words "Neighborhood Watch" are forbidden.

     "Getting your neighborhood organized" is NOT what neighborhood watch is. Neighborhood Watch is finding like-mi= nded people who are committed to ridding their neighborhood of street drugs and crime, AND then working with each other to bring this about. Not= much glory, very little social status, NO AUTHORITY over each other. =

     "Organizatio= n" and "organizing" has more to do with who is Chairman, who is to s= peak for the group, who is going to "write up the minutes", who is to belong to the organization and who does not belong, who is to be responsible for this and that activity.

    "Getting your neighborhood organized" is for political purposes, for figuring out ho= w to get the other guy to do the job, for enforcing rules and regulations over e= ach other, for electing someone in the group to a spotlighted position with ext= ra recognition.

     Neighborhood Watc= hes that are doing the job of bringing down crime and drugs on the stree= t, may go months at a time without meetings; because their one mission, purpos= e is getting THAT job done, getting local street drugs and crime under decent control.

    Neighborhood organizat= ions, as such, are like any other form of bureaucracy. They become self perpetuat= ing and then shop for "causes" in order to stay in existence. They get into "PLANNING", a nice word for figuring out "reasons"= and ways to control the actions and behaviors of other free people around whom = you live. Ever attend a meeting of the St. Vincent Hill Neighborhood Associatio= n, or its parent body the St. Vincent Hill Historical Landmarks Preservation Authority?

HOSFECES:

     Our Registry of Vallejo Houses of Sanctuary For Elements of the Criminal Enterprise Systems continues to grow. We know the owner of 1900 Marin St, corner of Marin and Nebraska. We are continuing to enlarge our registry of HOSFECES in the St. Vincent Hill area. The "action" emanating from 441/443 Illinois has shown the barest reduction, but is still clearly in evidence.

  Substantiated articles have b= een written about the Soviet Communist strategic programs for spreading drugs through our neighborhoods. Well documented from several reliable sources, t= his material will never be found in any of our usual Bay Area "newspapers&= quot;, let alone ever making any "6 o'clock news program." The controlle= rs call it "non-news." Ask them and watch them put-down either you, = or your information. Watch them ignore, dismiss or ridicule you, the reporter,= for asking. Watch them ridicule information.&n= bsp; Debate?

    You can understand bet= ter what they are doing when you classify their actions in the "OK CORRAL: GRID FOR WHAT'S HAPPENING."

     A "put-down&= quot; from them goes into the lower half of that GRID. You get ignored? That is o= ne of those GET-NOWHERE-WITH events in life where they don't let you get anywh= ere with them.

    You get dismissed? Tha= t is, to GET-RID-OF you. You get ridiculed? That also is to GET-RID-OF you, your interest and enthusiasm.

<= span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:"T= imes New Roman"'>

POLITICAL - War and Peace, Council On Foreign Relations

    Just as the spread of = drugs can be controlled through the present political structure, controlled drugs= can be spread through the neighborhoods in the present political structure.

     It took four year= s for drugs to almost totally take over Sutter Street, Union Square to 7/Eleven on Tennessee, this despite strong opposition of good citizens living there and many hours in multiple hearings on the matter at City Council meetings. Now= in three months, things are 80% reversed? That's almost unbelievable, even unr= eal, especially living in the center of it as I have. (I was not introduced to Maryjane and her program until 10 weeks ago.) Oh sure, one or the other on = City Council has each year gone through the perfunctory exercise of mentioning "give Police Department's Crime Prevention Bureau a call" each ti= me there would be a public outcry of anguish from one or the other neighborhoo= ds under siege.

ATTITUDE

    On the matter of Cityw= ide spread of drugs, the attitude of the people on the City Council and in t= he City Manager's Office has been bad for the health of the people in the infe= sted neighborhoods of Vallejo.

THANKS

    Thank you Bob Bledschm= idt and staff in the County Assessor’s Office for your help in determinin= g the ownership of various properties in our City Limits.

     Thank you County = Supervisor Osby Davis for recognizing (4/6/88) that there are other ways to deal with neighborhood drugs; rather than from some nebulous, ill-defined benefits fr= om a sales tax increase by which to improve our "Quality Of Life" by m= ore and more and more and more police. Our Police Department is now understaffe= d, true. But your recognition of the desirability of more incentives to and mo= re participation by the local areas in taking care of ourselves is appreciated. Your belief in the people’s ability to also participate by exercising= the innate ability to also be SELF-Governing of themselves is a rare quality to= see, in these days of more and more "Big Brother will take care of you.&quo= t;

     F.H. Ernst Jr., M= .D.

        &= nbsp; 11-1-1988