md2hog

I've been reading Jack Olsen's "The Man With The Candy" lately (actually rereading, but I'd forgotten many things in it as I hadn't read it since it was first published), and seeing the Henley-Brooks-Corll horrors in quite a different light as I'm much more familiar with the Heights now than I was as a kid when the murders first came to light. I'm wondering how many of the Heights-area houses (and other structures, like Corll's old candy factory) mentioned in the book are still standing, but in order to find out the addresses I'll probably have to hit the Texas Room and sift through the phone directories from the early 70s.

I had forgotten that Henley and a couple of his victims lived on 27th St. When I was in high school, one of my English teachers lived on 27th. He offered summer writing classes outside of school to some of the advanced students, and I spent the summer of 1981 heading over to his house three mornings a week for one of those classes. I used to walk around the neighborhood quite a bit, and given that he lived on the stretch of 27th between Shepherd and Yale, I'm guessing that I walked right past the house Henley grew up in on many occasions without realizing it at the time.

Anyone have an address on the 27th Street location?

I am curious to know if there are any other old golf courses that were "around" the loop that have vanished.

Here we go again...from the WH bulletin board. This is since last Friday from what I understand.

1000 Block of 7th 1/2 -(past week/daytime) An African-American male in old white Oldsm-a-Buick pulls all the way up into neighbors driveway, knocks on the door a few times and then proceeds around back where he apparently pulled boards out of their fence, broke into the house, emptied the contents of the fridge on to the floor for their dog ( a serious Pit/R.Ridgeback?) and cleaned them out of cameras, guitars and guns,etc...

700 Block of 11th 1/2 -(past week/daytime) Thieves come through the alley and break into the back of a house. Upon returning, the elderly neighbor was about to enter the house when she realized something was amiss and that the dog didn't greet her at the door but was barking from somewhere in the back. She had to wait at least two hours for a response unit to see if there was anyone in the house before she could release the dog and see what had been taken.

700 Block of 11th 1/2 -(past week/daytime) AC unit stolen from a house.

Earlier in the day neighbors had seen a caucasion male with short blonde hair pedalling down the street with an AC unit balanced on his handlebars. There was also mention of a large old Lincoln/Cadillac type car hanging out in the area during these last two. I don't remember their names but this reminded me of a father and son crimewave that used to plague our area.

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Just received this email from a friend, it is true, lady's name is Sarah:

As many of you have probably heard, I was mugged this morning on a friend's front porch in the Heights. I was meeting her to go running at 6 AM, heard something behind me when I was on her porch, turned around and a guy punched me in the stomach/ribs and stole my purse and rode off with his friends. I got his license plate # and gave it to the cops and I'm happy to say that the police were able to track them down based on the license plate that I gave them and they now have them (the entire entourage consisting of 3 crackheads and 2 crackhead prostitutes) in custody. They had my credit cards in their wallet and one of the prostitutes had on a necklace that was in my purse - very smart. These guys are not, according to the police, the same people that recently pulled off similar robberies around Rice and Midtown (based on the descriptions that those poor women gave the cops). If you live around Rice, Midtown or the Heights - I would strongly caution against you or your spouse (particularly any females with purses which seem to be what they are targeting) going outside alone in the dark, or, at the very least, be very cautious and cognizant of your surroundings. I certainly will be more careful from now on.

Btw - just in case you were wondering - if someone punches you in the stomach and gets arrested - you don't get to punch them back. I asked.

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Last Friday 10/19-

This afternoon, about 4:30, I saw a mid 30's guy, blue jeans and tee shirt, walking north on Watson at Byrne. He turned West on Byrne. Then he walked down my neighbor's driveway, to the back of their home. I know he had no business there. I called the police. They were very nice. I also got my digital camera. He came out of their driveway, empty handed. He continued walking West on Byrne. He went down one of my neighbor's driveway. I knew he had no business there. He came walking up her driveway a few minutes later, with a weed eater and leaf blower in hand. He set those down on the lawn on the corner. I suspected he may have noticed I was watching him, and set them down in case the police came. Now he walked down another driveway. He came out a couple of minutes later, empty handed. He picked up the two items and approached some young guys at Byrne and Julian offering to sell them. They declined and he walked North on Julian. I saw the Police car and flagged him down. I told him what the man looked like and where he'd gone. When I got to Euclid and Julian, the Officer had the guy on his face in the yard. The man had tried to sell those people his goods. In all three police cars showed up. They cuffed him, and got him in the back seat. The Officers were very nice and got all the details. So, if you live near Byrne and Watson, check your things. And always keep an eye out for your neighbors.

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10/19

The stoopy pellet gun shooters rode down Julian last night/this morning shooting out car windows. They got 4 last night. Police say they've been taking similar reports around the neighborhood for several weeks.

The perps make no attempt to break into the vehicles, nor do they trip the car alarms. They apparently only want to do drive-by shootings.

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The breakin despite the dogs in the house (and the 2 hour police wait) sounds identical to my situation last month. The thiefs were kind enough to return and break into the garage last week. I still don't think the police or City Council, or the Mayor's office are taking the situation seriously.

Alarm was configured that way. I made it all the way from Tomball when the alarm company called me and still beat the police by 50 minutes.

My home in the Heights was broken into on Monday during the day. Thieves jumped my back fence and broke out a bedroom window....ignored the alarm, and stole quite a few valuable items from the bedroom.

I arrived home, cops had still not shown up. I called to complain and was told "we can't drop everything and come straight over to your house when you call". I won't share with you my response, but you can guess it was less than pleasant. I guess the boys in blue were too busy writing speeding tickets/illegal license frame tickets on Yale or Shepard to respond in a timely matter.

Glad that my wife was not home...she usually works from the house. But very concerned about the brazeness of the theft given the time of day. Of course, with three hour response times to breaking and entering calls, why would they be dissuaded?

Finally, I have been hearing the mayor and police chief talking about reducing crime and adding police for over three years now. Yet, I really don't see anyone doing a thing about either problem. They sure have figured out that red light problem that was causing such a public uproar. Does anyone get the feeling that the $$$ are more important than doing acual police work? When was the last time you saw a police cruiser in your neighborhood just driving down the street (ie...doing a routine patrol?).

I have been a Heights resident for 10 years. I understand that we live in the city. I do not understand why it takes nearly two hours for the police to respond to a breaking and entering call. I am sure that the businesses that were hit feel the same way. Proactive sure beats reactive. Reactive forces businesses to move from our neighborhood to a safer place where their windows don't get broken, cars don't get broken into, and they feel the police are "protecting and serving" the community and not out simply providing revenue for the city coffers by writing speeding tickets.

Rant over.