Crime In Montrose

[trymahjong]

received this email and thought I'd share it--

From: First Montrose Commons Neighborhood Association

Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 6:41 PM

Subject: Murder in First Montrose Commons

Dear neighbors,

As some of you may have already heard, this past Monday HPD discovered a murder victim on or near the empty Post Properties lot at the intersection of Richmond and Garrott, which is the southeast corner of our neighborhood. The victim has been identified as Myra Ical, a transgendered person who was legally known as Ruben Dario Ical. She was last seen wearing black clothing.

To my knowledge, Myra was not a resident of First Montrose Commons, but that in no way reduces the impact of her death upon all of us. It's true that our neighborhood has its fair share of petty crimes, but no one in FMC should ever have to fear for their life, no matter whether they are residents, business people, or just passing through. We as a community cannot and will not tolerate this kind of crime.

But what can we do? First and foremost, if any of you were acquainted with Myra, or if any of you saw her recently, please contact HPD to let them know whatever you know. I have been informed that HPD has no leads on this crime right now. You may not be able to provide HPD with a "smoking gun", but any little bit of information about Myra might lead them to something more, so I urge you to share whatever you know even if it may seem inconsequential to you. For those of you who are hesitant to speak with HPD for whatever reason, you may contact me instead and we can work out a way to get your information to them.

Next, we must take steps to minimize the possibility of an incident like this occurring again in FMC. We need to work with HPD and our elected officials to increase police presence around Spur 527 at the Richmond and W. Alabama intersections. These areas are well-known havens for drug dealers, prostitutes, thieves, and beggars masquerading as homeless. And while few of those people are capable of murder, their presence fosters a lawless environment where violent tendencies can fester. It is unreasonable to expect HPD to constantly monitor these areas, but we can demand that they at least periodically drain those swamps and send a message to criminals looking for action in and around our neighborhood.

It is my intent to call a security meeting to be attended by FMC, our neighboring civic associations, HPD, and all relevant representatives and authorities to discuss our crime problems along Spur 527. When that meeting is announced, I hope to see all of you there and to hear your voices. Only by working together can we make First Montrose Commons safe for all.

[kylejack]

That's a great e-mail for many reasons. I have to commend whoever wrote it.

[ricco67]

received this email and thought I'd share it--

From: First Montrose Commons Neighborhood Association

Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 6:41 PM

Subject: Murder in First Montrose Commons

Dear neighbors,

Blah...blah...blah...

If I remember correctly, the increase of patrols that were made in the area were paid for with a grant money of some sort, but was only able to do it for a few months.

Just remember, heavy patrols won't protect Mr. Smith from taking out Mrs. Smith because she forgot to buy cheesey poofs.

[kylejack]

Click2Houston, Chronicle, My Fox Houston, and Houston Press all referred to this victim as a man. This is not correct, the victim was a transgender female. While this may be controversial in certain social circles, it is not controversial in the journalism world. Both the AP Style Guidelines and the New York Times guidelines state that a transgender should be referred to by the gender they present as, not the gender they were apparently born with, regardless of whether they have undergone surgery.

I contacted all 4 and only the Houston Press corrected the mistake, which was good because their entry sounded the most ignorant.

Edited January 22, 2010 by kylejack

[musicman]

let shim RIP

[rsb320]

HPD Crime Site puts 4300-4399 Garrott on the other (south) side of the Spur in 77002. GoogleMaps puts the address at Richmond Ave.

HPD's site sucks, by the way.

http://mycity.houstontx.gov/recentcrime/index.html

[musicman]

HPD Crime Site puts 4300-4399 Garrott on the other (south) side of the Spur in 77002. GoogleMaps puts the address at Richmond Ave.

HPD's site sucks, by the way.

http://mycity.houstontx.gov/recentcrime/index.html

go annise!

[Ehipassiko]

Y'all kinda suck. I personally spoke with the detective handling the case today and he said "There is absolutely no evidence to support the notion that drugs or prostitution was in any way involved with the murder." As soon as you found out the victim was trans, many of you seemed to automatically assumed she was a sex worker. Stereotype much?

You might be interested to know that the murder was, in the detective's words, "particularly brutal". He told me that she went down fighting.

... And the pronoun is SHE, not he or shim or whatever other word you want to use to make fun of someone who way basically lynched.

[kylejack]

Yeah, I was kind of alarmed by how quickly people jumped to drugs and prostitution. This location seems more like a dump site for a body than anything.

[AtticaFlinch]

Y'all kinda suck. I personally spoke with the detective handling the case today and he said "There is absolutely no evidence to support the notion that drugs or prostitution was in any way involved with the murder." As soon as you found out the victim was trans, many of you seemed to automatically assumed she was a sex worker. Stereotype much?

You might be interested to know that the murder was, in the detective's words, "particularly brutal". He told me that she went down fighting.

... And the pronoun is SHE, not he or shim or whatever other word you want to use to make fun of someone who way basically lynched.

You kinda suck for using the second person plural "y'all" (a contraction for "you all") without so much as carifying who "y'all" are. Because, you see, by not clarifying it, you made it inclusive of everyone who'd posted previously to you, thereby relegating all of us to suckness regardless of whether or not we wrote what you accused us of writing. In other words, you just did the exact same thing you've accused everyone else of doing: stereotyping even in the absence of evidence to support the notion that "y'all" assumed the trannie was a hooker or a drug addict.

Welcome to the board, by the way.

[Ehipassiko]

You kinda suck for using the second person plural "y'all" (a contraction for "you all") without so much as carifying who "y'all" are. Because, you see, by not clarifying it, you made it inclusive of everyone who'd posted previously to you, thereby relegating all of us to suckness regardless of whether or not we wrote what you accused us of writing. In other words, you just did the exact same thing you've accused everyone else of doing: stereotyping even in the absence of evidence to support the notion that "y'all" assumed the trannie was a hooker or a drug addict.

Welcome to the board, by the way.

Falling back on a grammatical critique is fail.

To clarify for those who are obtuse enough to look at my finger when I'm pointing to a brutal murder:

1.) Assumptions biased upon a stereotyped and fundamentally oppressed population is fail.

2.) Failing to grasp the humanity in a exceedingly brutal murder case is also fail squared.

3.) Poking fun at a murder victim after you find out that they come from the GLBT community is epic fail.

4.) Being too lazy to actually skim through the thread to satisfy your curiosity concerning the aforementioned lame pwnage of a murder victim: PRICELESS.

[sevfiv]

I don't appreciate the blanket "suck" statement either - alas.

The news articles pointed to the area as "a field known to police as a hangout for prostitutes and drug users near the Montrose area." (quote from the Chron).

[kylejack]

I don't appreciate the blanket "suck" statement either - alas.

The news articles pointed to the area as "a field known to police as a hangout for prostitutes and drug users near the Montrose area." (quote from the Chron).

Except that the first post to guess that she might be a prostitute thinks that the crime didn't happen in this area, so that doesn't process.

My thinking is that, since the cops thought she was a lady, so did her john. He freaked because she had a weenie and wacked her. I'll bet that she was murdered elsewhere and the body dumped there because someone knew of the idiot little forest.

[AtticaFlinch]

Falling back on a grammatical critique is fail. To clarify for those who are obtuse enough to look at my finger when I'm pointing to a brutal murder:

... And the pronoun is SHE, not he or shim or whatever other word you want to use to make fun of someone who way basically lynched.

Whatever.

1.) Assumptions biased upon a stereotyped and fundamentally oppressed population is fail.

2.) Failing to grasp the humanity in a exceedingly brutal murder case is also fail squared.

3.) Poking fun at a murder victim after you find out that they come from the GLBT community is epic fail.

4.) Being too lazy to actually skim through the thread to satisfy your curiosity concerning the aforementioned lame pwnage of a murder victim: PRICELESS.

Well, now I know how I'm an epic failure in your eyes. Thanks for sharing.

Oh, by the way, I never once made fun of the trannie or called her a shim or assumed she was an addict or a hooker, but then, considering you'd actually skimmed through the thread to satisfy your curiosity about that, you must have made yet another broad (and false) stereotype.

Also by the way, mine wasn't a grammatical critique, but rather a critique of your logic. So... fail. Try again.

[Ehipassiko]

I don't appreciate the blanket "suck" statement either - and a first post nonetheless. Alas.

The news articles pointed to the area as "a field known to police as a hangout for prostitutes and drug users near the Montrose area." (quote from the Chron).

Sorry. Let me clarify:

Everyone who refused to say something when this thread began mocking a murder victim sucks as do those who perpetrated the lameness.

Sucks: A verb used to indicate that something is unpleasant or that someone is bad at doing something in particular.

Usage: AtticaFlinch sucks at pwning noobs, Ricco67 and Musicman sucks because they are fail while Kylejack is not afflicted with any suckage because they are made of 100% win.

[Ehipassiko]

[kylejack]

Wow, looks young for 51.

[sevfiv]

Thank you for posting the flier -

and here is the official HPD news release, but I can't find any updates:

http://www.houstontx.gov/police/nr/2010/jan/nr012010-1.htm

[AtticaFlinch]

Sorry. Let me clarify:

Everyone who refused to say something when this thread began mocking a murder victim sucks as do those who perpetrated the lameness.

Sucks: A verb used to indicate that something is unpleasant or that someone is bad at doing something in particular.

Usage: AtticaFlinch sucks at pwning noobs, Ricco67 and Musicman sucks because they are fail while Kylejack is not afflicted with any suckage because they are made of 100% win.

Dude, seriously. HAIF isn't about sucking or pwning or failing or winning. And, way to make this whole thing about you. Get back under the bridge with the other trolls.

You've complained that we aren't giving enough reverence to this person's death and then you turn around and hijack this thread, turning it into your personal angsty bitchfest? [deleted]

(Sevfiv, feel free to delete that last sentence if you think it went too far.)

[ricco67]

Wow, looks young for 51.

I agree!

If it isn't prostitution related (I'm still putting my money on that), then it's probably someone she knew.

[Ehipassiko]

Dude, seriously. HAIF isn't about sucking or pwning or failing or winning. And, way to make this whole thing about you. Get back under the bridge with the other trolls.

You've complained that we aren't giving enough reverence to this person's death and then you turn around and hijack this thread, turning it into your personal angsty bitchfest? [deleted]

(Sevfiv, feel free to delete that last sentence if you think it went too far.)

ORLY? ANFSCD...

I just found out that she was 5' tall, originally from Guatemala and that her friends described her as "friendly", "settled" and "quiet".

[Fringe]

As soon as you found out the victim was trans, many of you seemed to automatically assumed she was a sex worker. Stereotype much?

I think a lot of people, including myself, would rather this be about drugs or prostitution than a hate crime. Much easier to digest. No disrespect intended to the victim. 

[sevfiv]

Memorial at 6 this evening at the field near Garrott and Richmond..

http://www.khou.com/news/local/Mystery-Surrounds-Montrose-Murder-82564912.html

I hope someone comes forward with *something*...

[sevfiv]

Also, a call to use "fair, accurate and inclusive reporting" - something that needs to be worked on...

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/01/23/Trans_Woman_Murdered_Media_Calls_Her_Male/

[kylejack]

Yeah, I saw that. If KHOU's story is any indication, it is working, because previously all 3 stories I read had referred to the victim as a male, and some even said that she had "fooled" the police. Just awful.

[kylejack]

I would guess it was about 200 people there. It got harder to take pictures with the camera phone as it got darker.

I saw Channels 2, 13, 39 and Univision there doing interviews and shooting footage.

[trymahjong]

from an email i received about the Neartown meeting=>

Incidentally, there was a lot of talk at the Neartown meeting about the murder / dumped body down in First Montrose Commons- It was brought up that there was another transgender person murdered last summer in the EMCA area.

Wanda Adams is getting involved; she says there are too many untrimmed bushes and burned out street lights in that area where the body was found. I have a feeling that neighborhood will make a big appearance at the PIP meeting Wednesday , demanding more police patrols and safety measures.

Edited January 27, 2010 by trymahjong

[trymahjong]

Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 1:37 PM

Subject: FMC / Spur 527 Security Forum on Feb. 16th

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In lieu of our neighborhood association’s typical monthly meeting, First Montrose Commons will be hosting a security forum on Tuesday, February 16^th, at 7 pm. The forum will be held at HSPVA, located at 4001 Stanford, in the school’s Black Box Theatre.

The forum is being held in response to the murder of Myra Ical, whose body was found in or near the southeast corner of First Montrose Commons on January 18^th. Her death has greatly affected our community and has raised serious safety concerns about the south end of our neighborhood.

To be blunt, the south end of First Montrose Commons is not a safe place. This is due to several factors, beginning with the presence of several large, empty tracts of land situated near the intersections of Richmond & Spur 527 and W. Alabama & Spur 527. These open areas provide refuge to a large group of disadvantaged people who are drawn to the Montrose and Midtown neighborhoods by various social aid organizations. Because many of these people are unemployed, they often spend the day and night loitering at or near the intersections, looking for ways to pass the time. A number of them beg, while others sell drugs, engage in prostitution, or look for crimes of opportunity. Many drink alcohol, most litter, and more than a few use the Spur’s heavy landscaping as a cover for everything from elimination to fornication. They are able to behave this way unabated because the intersections that they inhabit are virtual blind spots.

No owners or tenants monitor the several unoccupied lots near the intersections, and few residents or businesses have a clear view of them. The dense landscaping and lack of lighting along this section of Spur 527 also contribute to its seclusion. The freeway itself, including its underpasses, provides a visual and physical barrier that can mask illicit behavior. In short, these problem intersections and the feeder road between them are a vacuum which has been filled with desperate people, and they have thereby become an incubator for crime. This dangerous condition along Spur 527 is evidenced by a map of criminal activity compiled from HPD PIP reports for our area. This environment fosters filth, delinquency, violence, and now murder. We cannot allow this situation to continue.

First Montrose Commons is now assembling a coalition of local interests to address and combat the conditions along Spur 527, beginning with the February 16^th security forum. Invitees to this forum include not only our own residents, but also residents of Roseland Estates, Westmoreland, and Audubon Place, HPD, Neartown Association, the Montrose Management District, the Midtown Management District, Mayor Annise Parker’s office, District D Councilmember Wanda Adams, TXDOT, Harris County Constables for Precincts 1 and 7, Metro, HSPVA, the South Main Baptist Church, the Montrose Counseling Center, and various local business interests. Several of these parties have already pledged their support to this effort, most notably CM Adams, who is already working with TXDOT regarding the Spur’s dense landscaping.

Please make plans to attend this security forum to voice your concerns and to share your ideas about reducing crime and vagrancy along Spur 527. Everyone receiving this email is encouraged to attend. I hope you will make time for this important event and that we can all work together to make our neighborhood a safer place.

Sincerely,

J G

President, Director of Membership

First Montrose Commons Neighborhood Association

[Ehipassiko]

The forum is being held in response to the murder of Myra Ical, whose body was found in or near the southeast corner of First Montrose Commons on January 18^th. Her death has greatly affected our community and has raised serious safety concerns about the south end of our neighborhood.

To be blunt, the south end of First Montrose Commons is not a safe place. This is due to several factors, beginning with the presence of several large, empty tracts of land situated near the intersections of Richmond & Spur 527 and W. Alabama & Spur 527. These open areas provide refuge to a large group of disadvantaged people who are drawn to the Montrose and Midtown neighborhoods by various social aid organizations. Because many of these people are unemployed, they often spend the day and night loitering at or near the intersections, looking for ways to pass the time. A number of them beg, while others sell drugs, engage in prostitution, or look for crimes of opportunity. Many drink alcohol, most litter, and more than a few use the Spur’s heavy landscaping as a cover for everything from elimination to fornication. They are able to behave this way unabated because the intersections that they inhabit are virtual blind spots.

I applaud this action!

As it turns out, the person of interest (who goes by the name of Laos Jack) is a homeless person with mental issues who knows details of the murder. It may turn out that Myra was not murdered in a hate-crime. It may turn out that a unstable homeless man accosted Myra and killed her. Laos Jack wears a bun (he puts his hair in a bun) on his head. If you see such a person lurking around the spur, please call HPD! Crime Stoppers is offering a $5000 reward for info leading to the arrest of Myra's murderer!

[AtticaFlinch]

I applaud this action!

As it turns out, the person of interest (who goes by the name of Laos Jack) is a homeless person with mental issues who knows details of the murder. It may turn out that Myra was not murdered in a hate-crime. It may turn out that a unstable homeless man accosted Myra and killed her. Laos Jack wears a bun (he puts his hair in a bun) on his head. If you see such a person lurking around the spur, please call HPD! Crime Stoppers is offering a $5000 reward for info leading to the arrest of Myra's murderer!

I know who that guy is. He's always talking to himself (sometimes screaming). Once I saw him walking around Midtown with his junk hanging out of his pants. To say he's got mental issues is an understatement. As a person of interest, does anyone know if he'll turn into a suspect, or is he just "of interest" because he's an eyewitness? If the latter, I seriously doubt any testimony he gives will hold up. If the former, I seriously doubt any testimony he gives will hold up.