I have the unpleasant task of reporting that last night (5/3/2014 and 5/4/2014) I got to actually see who has been leaving the black circles and squiggles on Ballantine Street at Fuqua. I was up working on some projects at midnight when I heard the dreaded squealing of tires outside. I came out but the people had left. So I called the Police and asked them to come by because these people usually come through several times once they start. The Police never showed up and after a while I went back inside. At 1:00am they were back and I called the Police while watching them drive down our street. The Police never came again and they were gone again by the time I had made it outside. So this time I stayed near the front door and when I heard them start up again I ran outside and called the Police again. There they were - a big red truck and a medium sized black truck doing circles in the Fuque intersection. Then an amazing thing happened. The two trucks drove to the second house across from the Gulf Meadows Church and stopped. Everyone in the trucks got out and went into the house. I had called the Police again and talked with Officer Alex. He assured me that the Police would come. Sadly - no one came again and I finally went back inside to wait for the Police. At 3:00am I heard voices outside and came out. The people had come out of the house, got into the trucks, and left again. I again called the Police and Officer Alex answered again. For the next forty-five minutes these trucks came and went and did more circles. The Police never came out. At 3:45am the two trucks loaded up adults and kids and left. The show was over. I went to bed after calling the Police one more time to tell them that they were too late. Stupidly, the Police then called me at around 5:00am to wake me up just to ask if I still wanted the Police to come by.
My stance is - this isn't the gettos or the barrios and I do not like having our streets made to look trashy. I don't mind if people want to have parties or fun but defacing our streets makes our community look trashy. There are places people can go if they want to race or make tracks on the road, and others things like that.
I don't know what the civic club can do about this. Disturbing the peace is one crime, defacing public property is another. I am sure the people driving those trucks went to get beer at least once because I saw what looked like a six-pack of beer being brought into the house. So possibly drunk driving as well. I am also surprised that not even one other house turned on their lights or came out to see what was going on. I'm also dismayed that the Police did not respond in a timely manner when I called. I realize they probably have other types of crimes which might rate them being somewhere else - but four hours? I could have pointed out the vehicles in less than a minute, they could have taken down the license plate numbers, and maybe even made an arrest.
Since these people only do this on the weekend (Friday or Saturday night). I plan on setting up a video camera to capture what is going on and if I can - I will take pictures of their license plates. If need be - I'll send the videos off to one of the TV stations and see if I can't get this stopped. If the civic club can do something - that would be good too.
