Modesto police arrest homeless man in Enslen Park stabbing - Local - Modbee.com

It was only a matter of time......Modesto police arrest homeless man in Enslen Park stabbing - Local - Modbee.com

Tower Park Closure

Well, it's been awhile since I have last posted. The fact of the matter is that recently, the "residents" have moved more to Graceada and Elk Parks during the summer time out of my view of Enslen Park. They move around in groups to wherever they feel comfortable. Lately however, the "residents" have seem to have moved back to Enslen. I have noticed a whole new "clientele".

As reported in the Bee today, Tower Park, which is a homeless haven, will be closing within the year. These folks will be moving to other parks, and the closest parks are Graceada and Enslen. This is going to be a nightmare. The crime and filth will now be in our neighborhoods like we have never seen before.

Nothing really came of the bathroom closures (I think the city actually kept them open). So what could have been "doom and gloom" never really materialized. Now we have the Tower Park watch to be concerned with possibly.

A note from a "visitor" to the parks

This was an email from back in August sent to me by a visitor to the park....

We were walking by Graceada Park yesterday. There are a group of young ladies who regularly practice cheerleading on the southwest corner of the park. They look to be about 9-12 years and are supervised by some adult ladies. As we entered the park from the southeast corner, a strong blast of marijuana smoke hit us. There was a small group of scruffy looking characters with bicycles, smoking marijuana and drinking beer. These were not kids; they were 25-40 year olds. They shot us hostile, defiant looks. We ignored them and kept on walking. When we got to the southwest corner, an argument broke out among these people. An extremely loud stream of the most vulgar obscenities erupted from them. A fat man and a skinny lady squared off, with both of them screaming obscene epithets at each other, at top volume. The children stopped their activities, turned around and started staring. The ladies in charge gathered the children up, herding them to the southwest end of the park. The ladies looked very distressed; the children had saucer eyes.

A very wide strong man was sitting in his car near the children. He got out of the car with an unhappy look on his face. He started walking across the park, towards the arguers. When he got about half way across the park, the arguers and their friends took notice of him. The obscenities stopped instantly. The wide man continued on towards them, turning his hat backwards. The fat man got on his bicycle and furiously pedaled away. A few other bicyclists followed him. The rest of the group headed for the amphitheater. There were more scruffy looking characters in the amphitheater. The wide man directed his attention towards the amphitheater. All of the scruffy people started exiting the amphitheater using the north exits. They exited with purpose, sort of like when a show ends. They then tried to blend in with the people in the playground area. Calm returned to the park. The children returned to their activities. I wish there were more people like the wide fellow

   so my question is, what do the maintenance workers do?  I mean, the graffiti seen here on the left has been there for some time.  The Enslen pillars have been tagged for awhile.  I appreciate what the maintenance workers doing cleaning the park, but do they NOT report graffiti?  Are they blind to it?  Maybe they just wait for a pissed off resident to finally call and say, "Hey".  The graffiti on the Boy Scouts Building has been there only for a few days according to one of the "residents".

Bathroom Closures; Uh Oh!

So the city has to shut down park bathrooms.  It is inevitable.  The money needs to be cut somewhere.  They will have to ADD police officers for what will take place when the bathrooms are closed.  The homeless will be deficating in our alleys.  

So what if we get a volunteer group that will ensure that the bathrooms are kept up and the park clean?  Here is the problem with that.  Apparently, only Beyer, Davis, Downey, and Tuolomne Park's restrooms will remain open 24/7.  Then we get the community to take care of Enslen and Graceada parks.  If other communities do not step up to keep their community park clean, then that leaves only a few parks with their restrooms clean.  Now EVERY Tom, Dick, and Harry will be at our parks (the one with the open restrooms) which means more trash, more cleaning, more issues (drug deals and illegal activity) all because our community has chosen, and assured the city, that we will clean Enslen and Graceada parks.  

How about the sports teams?  How are you going to hold a soccer or baseball practice at Enslen Park now that the bathrooms will be closed?  In case you have not noticed, Modesto does not have enough facilities for practices.  It is already overcrowded.  Where are these teams going to go?

Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Park

These past years in my documentation of the homeless issue I have never at any point approached any of the "residents" at Enslen Park. I usually let my "informant" do my talking. They are all aware of my blog and I am "That guy that writes about us". The other night, the boy scouts were having their weekly get together at the, well, boy scout building at Enslen. They were outdoors doing their activities and I noticed a young fellow who made the universal "gotta go pee" gesture by holding his, uh, "area." I saw the Head Scout guy point to the bathrooms. The little guy shook his head, uh, no. Then he darted in the boy scout building where I am sure there are restrooms in there. I know why he said "No" as there were two guys laying asleep wrapped up in their sleeping bags, right next to the bathroom entrance. So, I ventured over there for the first time and awoke the guys and simply asked why they had to sleep right there as opposed to under some tree away from the activity. Man, I opened Pandora's Box. These guys got very belligerent and rude with me as I only asked a question and did not want any confrontation. The one guy who I will call "Dude" was absolutely out of line. Maybe I was out of line for asking him, but I meant no harm. I actually had to get my "informant" (who was not far from sight) to come over so I did not go after this guy for what he said. Again, I could have been in the wrong here, but I was being threatened as he "knew where I live", and "I know what you do". My "informant" would make sure that nothing were to ever happen to me or my family for my vigilance.

The word got around to the other "residents". My "informant" said that I talked to the wrong dude, being, "Dude". He is an a** and nobody cares for him and "Dude" has kind of ostracized himself from the others. I even went back to apologize and meant no ill will, but "Dude" just told me to get out of his face. The other guy was fine. What I am finding that over time I have softened a bit on these folks plight. The reason is, is that they police the park themselves. These regulars make sure that nobody rocks the boat and if they do, they need to move on. Most of these folks, other than "Dude", "get it" that if there is activity in the park being used for it's intended purposes, then the "residents" move aside and try not to be a nuisance. These people have told my "informant" that they know I am trying to be more peaceable. It is almost like we are ONE. They were not surprised by "Dude's" outburst, and they saw my point and sided with me. "Dude" has only made life even more miserable for himself.

Police Gone Bad?

In the "Letters From Our Readers" section in today's Modesto Bee, a posting "Nicely pointing out not-so-nice officers", a disgruntled grandmother spoke of a rude Modesto police officer who gave her grandson a ticket as well as some "threats" about not having mud flaps on his nice truck.  We do not know what actually happened.  Maybe the officer is guilty of being overzealous, or maybe the kid gave him some grief unreported by the grandson to grandma.  

I am a backer of the Modesto Police Department.  I do not get in trouble.  They help when I call about issues at Enslen Park.  They are very helpful.  With that said, a relative of mine was recently tazered by an MPD officer that brought my relative to his knees.  The "residents" at Elk Park (next to Enslen Park) apparently said that it was totally unwarranted and the police overreacted during midday right in front of all onlookers.  

There are going to be "loose cannons" in EVERY police department. Not just in Modesto.  There are going to be loose cannons in whatever job we work at, whether it is in a police department, fire department, an office, or on an athletic team.  Part of my job is managing softball umpires.  I have 22 of them to manage.  At least 4 of them are "loose cannons" that I have to keep an eye out on and watch their behavior.  Your office of 25 employees probably have 3 or 4 "loose cannons." Every work force has good workers, bad workers, nice people, mean people, organized people, scatterbrained people.  How is it going to be any different in a police force?  No matter what sensitivity training is issued, people are what they are and there is no changing them.  They may change for the better temporarily, but ultimately they are going to go back to their old ways.  

Caught

It's good to see that these thugs got caught.  I guess it was easy as there were a number of witnesses.  These punks are not gang members, just a bunch of your typical bored punks looking for trouble.  Read the comments at the bottom.  Very interesting.

Fans of Insane Clown Posse face assault charges in Modesto beating - Local - The Modesto Bee

http://www.modbee.com/1618/story/677844.html

Lawlessness at the parks

Recent news in the Bee has a father getting beat up by a band of young thugs at Graceada park.  A 53 year old father and his teenage daughters were trying out some night photography on Saturday night, March 8th.  A group of "men", or cowards decided after a few beers to pummel this guy into submission before the cops were called and he was able to regain consciousness.   Arrests were made thankfully.

Then, this past Tuesday night I was at the local market (Millenium) on the corner of Sycamore and Morris, you know, the "Green" store, or Sonny's market, as I usually frequent, and one of the Enslen "residents" was wanting to buy a small bottle of Hennesey.  He did not have the money, so he said he would be right back.  I mean, the guy was pleasant and all, not a problem.  As I am wrapping up my purchase and he comes back in and gets a bottle of Early Times whiskey.  He is right after me so I leave and get in my car when I notice the "resident" leave and hand the bottle off to some 8th grade kid!  My son was in the car and he recognized the boy.  The next day I told Sonny of the incident and he said he would take care of it.  This guy has "credit" at the store, so had not even paid for it, yet.  Sonny told me "no more".  

My "Informant" who is in with the "residents" had a little chat with the guy and he assured me that it would not happen again.  But this is the type of behavior that goes on.  A beating and a major violation of alcohol policy.  That is not to mention the 5 or so "dudes" who I saw purchase their brown bags and partake in their drinking at a picnic table at Graceada the other day.

I know that I have tried to put a "homeless" committee together which after some consultation, that is not going to work.  Too big of a challenge.  I am in contact with the MPD to have another neighborhood watch get together.  However, we have had these in the past with not much results.  Everybody gets together for a "bitch" session, yet nobody is willing to help out after the meeting is over.  I do have some ideas and will try this one more time.  I'll keep in touch.

Shoes Hangin'

Urban legend has it that a pair of shoes hanging from a telephone wire is a sign that the selling of crack goes on there, or the sign of gangs marking their "turf".  Well, we have a couple of pair hanging from a wire above the bocci court (or whatever they play there) at Enslen Park.  Now, the only "gang" there is that of the "South Central" Homeless posse.  My given name, not theirs.  Could they be selling crack there? Likely not, but not out of the question.  It could just be a prank or the work of bored teenagers.  I have emailed the city about this and hope to get a response to have them removed.  Actually, they look as though they are in good shape.  Size 12's hopefully.