Subscribe
Shop Local
Magazine
Gas Prices
Today's Poll!Jefferson City man convicted of robbery, shooting
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
A Jefferson City man was convicted Tuesday for his role in an October 2011 shooting that took place after a failed robbery attempt.
Demetrius Boyce, 26, of 717 E. McCarty St., was found guilty of first-degree robbery, first-degree assault and armed criminal action by a Cole County Jury after a two-day trial.
Sentencing will take place at a later date.
Boyce faces up to life in prison for the robbery and armed criminal action charges.
Jefferson City Police Department said Boyce used a handgun to shoot a male victim in the 500 block of Lafayette Street.
The victim told police he offered to give Boyce a ride after Boyce knocked on the victim’s door about saying he had been involved in an accident.
While the two were riding in the victim’s vehicle, Boyce displayed a handgun and demanded money.
Boyce repeatedly told the victim he would shoot him in the head and demanded the victim’s ATM card.
The victim, in fear for his life, told Boyce he didn’t have an ATM card, so he gave him money and drove back to the area of his house.
The victim then ran from his vehicle and onto the porch of his residence to call 911. The victim was shot in the leg as he fled.
According to police reports, after a number of leads were developed and surveillance was conducted on Boyce, SWAT members served a search/arrest warrant on his residence and he was taken into custody without incident.
Marry Me
Comments
eileen10 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I've been sitting here for 15 minutes thinking about what happened and all I can say is thank God the nice person who tried to help wasn't killed and the piece of trash that shot him is exactly that. A piece of trash and heaven help us because there are more like him in one way or another that are all around us. I believe in helping people but I have rules. I dont pick up hitchhikers or let strangers in my home or car etc. but anything can happen. No matter how careful a person is one wrong action could be fatal or life altering. Time for a cup of coffee and a cancer stick.
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
When is JCPD gonna get serious about fighting REAL CRIME in this town instead of parking and speeding tickets? No wonder this town is dying fast. No one wants to live here with all these thugs and lowlifes robbing, raping, stealing, shooting, and assualting every night.
viktorkowski 9 months, 3 weeks ago
It's hard to blame jcpd when they are just doing what their boss tells them to do. Don't like it then complain to the mayor. maybe JCPD just needs a change of leadership
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
They report to the city administrator, not the mayor. After that last election, the council is powerless to do anything about it.
earlsmusic 9 months, 3 weeks ago
You got that one right, imho. Not a lot of major crimes occur in school zones while school is out, do they?
kentheco 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I don’t think they’ll ever be effective. The politicians have made stopping and questioning groups of people standing around at 3 a.m. illegal (profiling) and as shown in the latest violence in Jefferson City, these groups are not going to “snitch.” Without citizens being willing to come forward, the officers stand a chance of becoming victims themselves, unless they use force, then the group will come forward against the police claiming police brutality which is a “no win” situation for both the police and community.
asb 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Boys, just say "scarey black guys" and save yourselves the effort of thinking up and typing your FOX-grade codes?
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Who cares what color/race/gender/religion/etc. the criminals are? Just get them out of here. Make this town very unfriendly to these cretins.
asb 9 months, 3 weeks ago
You care Lifer, constantly.
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Yeah, i care that there is way too much violent crime in this town. Get these thugs out of here.
Are you just being a racist, or are you trying to use race as a reason to excuse poor choices and poor behavior?
asb 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Lifer ANY violent crime is too much, and we all care. It IS possible that your phrases, straight out of The Bigot's Handbook of Ways to Say One Thing And Mean Another, are accidents . . . nope, you're the real deal.
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Who is hating on who here? Pot, meet the kettle.
Who here brought up race?
Who here uses race to excuse poor behavior?
This is bs. Race has nothing to do with poor behavior. It is more about having poor character and making bad choices. It is about individual responsibility. Drugs and guns don't cause people to have bad behavior. Alcohol doesn't cause it. People with poor character and making bad decisions cause bad behavior. I don't even know why we are talking about race- the topic was violent crime and criminals. In case you didn't know, they come in all sizes, shapes, colors, races, languages, genders, etc etc etc.Doesn't matter- we need to run that kind of stuff out of town and let them know they are not welcome here.
asb 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Cityguy, I think it IS about race for some posters. Terms like "the east side," or "these people," or "certain groups" come up all too often from the same group of trolls. Crime is down nationally and in Missouri. I don't know about Cole Co but I've been here over 30 years and it all seems about the same. And it most certainly IS about the poor, not picking on them, but by way of explanation. Poverty makes crime, not race.
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
You mean when the adults hang around and actually RAISE and support their children...
asb 9 months, 3 weeks ago
You mean the FBI collusion with the socialist-islamo foriegn agent in the whitehouse tryin' to destroy our once-great nation. Really Grace? Cooked books on crime reporting? This is what you get for listening to Bozo Beck and the rest of FOX 'n Fiends. And who knew that crime isn't caused by poverty? You've got a real scoop 'o poop there Grace, and it only contradicts every qualified source available. Of course they're all also in the conspiracy to fool America into thinking what the coniving left wants them to believe.
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I know several very poor people who do not do drugs, do not steal, do not shoot at others, etc. They are some of the best salt-of-the-earth people with hearts of gold and would help anyone out if they could. They go to church regularly, and raise their kids with the same excellent values. Using poverty to excuse criminal behavior is really too much. Just because a person is poor does not mean they are a criminal. Shame on you for stereotyping poor people like that.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Anecdotes are just that: anecdotal. They don't speak to the overall circumstance. Your life experience is not statistically significant.
dokeus6 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Never mind that statistics show cause and correlation.
You really shouldn't even mutter statistics on this blog BubbaD.
Someone will get very angry because she doesn't understand what the numbers represent.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Oh well, those who rant against factual evaluations just make it that much clearer that they have an agenda instead of reasoning.
dokeus6 9 months, 3 weeks ago
That's what I constant reminder her of every time she posts and she posts quite a bit thinking she has any clue what she is posting on. I hear she has a doctorate degree which I highly doubt. If she did have a degree like that she would understand statistics but to no avail she hates numbers because they back up what others are posting.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Actually, knowing math and statistics and spending the time to read the basis for factual evaluations does result in knowledge. Dismissing them all out of hand is just lazy, ignorant or both.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Yes, you did. You dismissed statistics and evaluations based on them as potentially flawed. You didn't even speak to the fact that anecdotes are anything but evidence. No one posted a specific study AND no one alluded to one. You argued with me because of someone else's comment about you. Again, you fail at making a logical and reasoned case.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I'm being quite honest and your dislike of and argument with doke has nothing to do with me. Your posts seek to bully those who disagree. You aren't very successful at that, however.
dokeus6 9 months, 3 weeks ago
what I tell you
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Indeed. Very nearly on-cue.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Really? heh heh heh He didn't allude to any statistic or study. He said that "statistics show cause and correlation." That is a true statement, unless you require that he qualify that with a requirement regarding the veracity of the statistical evaluation. One normally presumes that one is talking about proper and appropriate statistical evaluation, not flawed. You are railing over nothing in an irrational manner.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
He posted nothing on this thread to that effect. Just a general statement about the ability of statistics to illuminate cause and correlation. Perhaps he made such a statement on another thread? If so, I haven't read it. Again, your fight with him has nothing to do with me. You can think whatever you like, but you are tilting at windmills.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
You could do the same. You won't be able to disprove his general statement. I agree with that statement. If you think you can bully me off of that point, you are quite wrong.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
And in the process, revealing all of your logical flaws for all to see.
dokeus6 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Grace I never offered any statistical data at all. I didn't input any data to draw a conclusion from. I have an idea on how to get some data for you but I don't have the time and it's not my job to do these studies. I guess I take the numbers that scientists and scholars that work in the criminal justice field for what they are. The only problem I have with this whole topic is that you go out of your way to put down other people's opinions. You are using The Mother Mary in control syndrome. Please stop. We have a right to post on this blog also. This platform is not only yours.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
That would presume that crime has a singular cause. There is not anyone here, to my knowledge, asserting that to be the case. Poverty is, indeed, one of the causes of crime. Why would anyone steal if they weren't in need? Sure, perhaps compulsively for those who have mental defects. But really? That is one of the most ridiculous things you've ever posted.
It seems to me you are ready to dismiss anything that doesn't fit your agenda and you are not willing and/or not able to truly critique statistics.
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Poverty does not CAUSE crime. It might correlate with crime, but is is not a CAUSE. Anyone who knows anything about statistics would understand the difference.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
So, you are denying that poverty is a motivation for crime? Do you deny that motivation is a causation for crime? The law would certainly disagree with that. Motive is a consideration in legal appraisals of crime. Your assertion is unfounded and wrong.
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
ABSOLUTELY, I AM ASSERTING THAT POVERTY DOES NOT CAUSE CRIME.
People with low morals and poor character cause crime. Being poor does not make one a criminal, but having low morals and poor character facilitates crime.
I know lots of poor people who are not criminals. They have good morals and good character.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
So, do you know that an assertion is an unsupported and unproven statement ? On that basis, I think you are precisely correct.
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
It is hard to admit you are wrong publically, but I do thank you for manning up and admitting it. I hope you have a nice week. .
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Ummm I just admitted that what you wrote was an unsupported and unproven assertion. If that helps you somehow, more power to you.
dokeus6 9 months, 3 weeks ago
capaassociation.org/newsletter_N009/Articles/PovertyCrime.htm
Here is a article from a Christian newsletter Lifer. This quote is from the third paragraph. "Sociologist and criminal justice scholars have found a direct correlation between poverty and crime. One economic theory of crime assumes that people weigh the consequences of committing crime. They resort to crime only if the cost or consequences are outweighed by the potential benefits to be gained. The logical conclusion to this theory is that people living in poverty are far more likely to commit property crimes such as burglary, larceny, or theft."
Seems scientists and scholars have made a correlation using statistical data but to say that poverty is the main cause of criminal activity would be in error.
There is a correlation but that doesn't mean that the poverty level is the main culprit. There are other causes for criminal activity.
Numbers don't lie. Statistics isn't hard just have to use the brain you have instead of the place where the good Lord split you.
I'm not trying to spread an evil agenda. I don't have an agenda except to find knowledge which will lead me to draw my own conclusions. That's it. I'm sorry if I don't believe in anything that Fox News or CNN spits out.
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
It is just as logical to conclude from this that a life of crime causes people to live in poverty. Once again, you show that you do not understand the difference between corellation and causation.
dokeus6 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Well let me see if I can sort it out real quick.
Correlation means that there is a possibility that one action causes a another. Like smoking causes a person to drink.
Causation means that one action causes another. smoking causes cancer.
Is this what you mean? I think I have a general understanding of the differences in the two.
dokeus6 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Science does say that smoking causes cancer.
There is evidence done by countless studies that indicate that there is a direct correlation between smoking and cancer. This means that people have taken the time to do study on people who have had cancer. This study probably excluded variables like family history, environmental conditions. So what this means is that they took a ball point pen and marked that John Doe smoked he has cancer. Jane Doe smoked she has cancer. They plot points on some statistical measuring device.
Each point on the graph indicates a person who smoked and has cancer. The data indicates from the study that there is a direct link between smoking and cancer.
Certain types of people respond differently to environmental conditions. The warning given on a pack of cigarettes indicates exactly what it is, a warning that If you continue to expose your insides to a known carcinogen, you will get cancer.
Just like a warning sign that trespassers will be shot.
The studies that have been done indicate that there is a correlation between the poverty level and crime. The study did not say how strong of a correlation there is but it says that there is one. Hold on I will explain this for you.
here is a link if your interested in learning more on how statistics works.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics
There is no indication in any of my post about I said that poverty causes a life a crime.
No offense Grace but I will take the Surgeon General's warning over your word any day.
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Quit trying to make excuses for criminals. They cause the crime. Criminals do not get a pass for poor character and poor behavior just because they are poor.
If your opinion was correct, there would be no crooks on Wall Street or crooked CEOS or crooked bankers.
Hold people accountable for their behavior.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I don't intend to excuse their choices. I intend to understand their behavior. Understanding leads to more opportunities to intervene and prevent such behavior. You should quit telling others what to do and what to believe. I never said it was the sole cause, read my posts. I said it was one of many causes. Therefor, it doesn't explain all circumstances or all cases. You have a real problem with logic in your posts on this issue.
dokeus6 9 months, 3 weeks ago
welcome to the blog bubbaD. There is no logic in most of the posts. Just speculation and personal jabs at other people's opinion's.
BubbaD 9 months, 3 weeks ago
It doesn't seem to be a very welcoming place, but thanks for your hospitality.
Speculation and personal jabs do seem to dominate SOME folks posts....
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
You have a real problem understanding statistics, or else you are trying to manipulate a conclusion from which there is none.
dokeus6 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Who are you referring to Lifer. I guess this is meant to address myself?
What problem do I have understanding statistics?
Please enlighten me.
asb 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Not making excuses, I'm pointing to the real cause and trying to focus the discussion. If your neighborhood has gone sour, keep after the city and the landlords, you can sue them if you can show true neglect. I live on the east side too and I hear gunfire, and I have for over 30 years, but I'm not going to say cheap guns and liquor are to blame.
asb 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Perhaps you should check liquor sales around town, far more spent on alcohol than other drugs. It's the illegality that puts the bad guys and weapons in play. Nothing you've ever read from me says "Oh Well." Of course I'm concerned, there's danger out there, and there has been all my life. Don't put your misconceptions on me son.
jpfelix 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I know landlords that have reported illegal activity in their buildings. They are told by JCPD that there's nothing they can do. It is better if the neighbors report the problem to JCPD.
viktorkowski 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I'm sure if the neighbors report it they will get the same answer. its called a run-around.
copcamaro 9 months, 3 weeks ago
THANK YOU JCPD!!! Every one you get off the streets of Jefferson City is one less you will have to look for. Your job is never ending and one x cop says THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CCW's are the answer and won't stop them all, but which of these low lives know who is carrying!!!!!! I DO and wow be the the guy or gal who tries me!!!!
earlsmusic 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Come on, now. They miss out on a number of late-night empty streets speeding tickets when they're pursuing criminals.
sancho 9 months, 3 weeks ago
It is better if everyone reports the problem, landlords and neighbors. However, the landlord is responsible for what happens at their property. The lease can state that illegal activity is not permitted. Sure, that's a no-brainer. But put it in the lease so you can evict the problem tenant. And avoid problem tenants altogether by screening your tenants.
The amount of violence in Jefferson City has increased. I don't care what the statistics say. The reality is that there are more criminals carrying guns and shooting them in Jefferson City.
In my opinion bad landlords are 99% responsible for the crime in Jefferson City. They don't care who they rent to, just so they get a rent check. They don't take care of their property, they rarely go to their property. They offer criminals the perfect situation: just pay the rent, no questions asked, no nosy landlord snooping around fixing things. The criminals and the bad landlords are a match made in Hell --- which is what our community is becoming because greedy landlords don't care.
connor 9 months, 3 weeks ago
And let a landlord refuse to rent to one of these thugs or their babymomma's who let them stay there and see how long they get to retain the property in question. I am not even sure a landlord has the right to refuse section eight payments anymore. Basically a landlord cannot refuse to rent to any of the "protected" class of people no matter what kind of background the prospective renter has. After they are in place getting them out is a long process as well.
sancho 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Connor, what are you basing your statement that a landlord cannot refuse to rent to someone? The Section 8 "Owner's Handbook" tells owner's to check a family's background (paying rent and utility, caring for property, engaging in drug-related criminal activity or other criminal activity and other factors). So if landlords are told to screen their tenants, then they can certainly refuse to rent to someone based on the person's past history as a tenant and other factors relating to their ability to pay and their history. Some landlords are bad at being landlords. They don't know how to screen tenants and won't take the time and energy to learn. They are poor managers of their properties. It's just like someone who has a garden and refuses to do anything to control the weeds because it's too much work. They'll get a little out of the garden, but not much, and it will look like krap.
Sequoia 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Yeah, the discrimination laws prohibit discrimination that is based substantially on race, gender, age, family, etc, because these are immutable characteristics. It is hard, not easy, to prove discrimination.
It is pefectly legal to discriminate based on objective criteria like previous rental history, ability to pay, etc. All that stuff you put on a rental application can be used to disqualify you.
Sequoia 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Love the bickering on this post. Not as good as the religion-in-schools tangent on the drug war post, but still... entertaining.
Look, you can't reduce crime, or any human behavior, to simple rules of cause and effect. People aren't perfectly rational machines (which is why fields like social science or economics so often veer into foolishness). People commit crimes for all sorts of reasons. A not-insignificant percentage of criminals are motivated by financial desperation. A society can never win these so-called "wars" on crime, poverty or drugs.
All we can do is try to make life in poverty a less panic-inducing, anxiety-producing situation. When people don't have to steal for bread, so to speak, society is morally justified punishing crime conducted for purposes of greed, peer pressure or thrill-seeking.
asb 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Any faith or system that gives a person a stake in their lives will do as well as Jesus.
asb 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Breaking news Graceful, your faith is just one of many, widely held in America, but still just one of many that teach morality and charactor, and no more or less correct in its dogma than the others.
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
That statement just totally blew your credibility!
connor 9 months, 3 weeks ago
OK Sancho and Sequoia even if you consistently set a requirement and follow it in background checks etc you cannot eliminate the thug boyfriend factor. Also those you eliminate will begin to show a pattern which can and will be used for filing fair housing complaints against you. I doubt the local housing authority and/or HUD affiliate is going to release any information on past internal hearings against tenants for violating the long term visitor rules as well.
The discrimination potential is in the numbers which in today's climate of social engineering outcome will go against a landlord who enforces his or her rules for renters evenly. The end result is one group or another will be turned down more often and a pattern will be set.
eileen10 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I love a good sense of humor.
sancho 9 months, 3 weeks ago
You eliminate the criminal boyfriend by showing up regularly, doing maintenance, asking who the guy is, tell your tenant you've observed the guy there, etc. You can have an attorney assist you with including language in the lease that addresses visitors. There are ways to do this without discriminating against people.
By the way, the slum landlords that I know don't discriminate against anyone: they treat everyone equally bad, regardless of race, religion, whatever.
There are good landlords in Jefferson City who have figured out how to manage their properties and get good tenants. It takes work, but if you are not willing to do the work you should not own the property.
And on the subject of poverty, these worthless landlords are preying on the poor in this community as much as the criminals prey on the poor. It is disgraceful.
eileen10 9 months, 3 weeks ago
My post was supposed to be for Hank Chase but it got put in the wrong place
eileen10 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Your welcome
MO4LIFE 9 months, 3 weeks ago
@ CityGuy Yes i 100% agree the big cities (i.e. chicago, STL, & KC) are tearing down project buildings and all of the gangs and criminals have no where to go but if they contact Rev Rice he will set them up in Public housing down here! Therefore the dramatic increase in big city violence in JC COMO Fulton Mexico.
eileen10 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I lived on Cherry St. for awhile and due to the gun shots,drugs,scarey people and violence I left and moved to Taos. It's boring here but I prefer boring to dodging bullets. I didn't know about the Chicago criminals coming into Jeff. I'm not poor but I,m not rich either and I was fortunate enough to be able to get away from the crime but there are those who maybe can't due to owning a home or whatever the case may be. On Cherry St. I lived next door to a very nice police officer and his wife and did that make a difference as far as the bad stuff? No. My daughter was physically attacked by two druggies but thank God she got away even though she was injured and needed medical assistance. Neighbors told the police who the guys were but nothing came of it which to this day I don't understand.
Huh_interesting 9 months, 3 weeks ago
This is a tragic story for the young man, the victim and for all of us. Whatever made Mr. Boyce decide to knock on that door that night was the result of the 25 perceeding years in his life. I would venture to guess there hasn't been a great deal of support from anyone.
Foster care, juvenile dentention and on up the ladder, right here in good old Jeff City. So we can't blame this one one the big cities.
This was not his first run in with law enforcement. JCPD knew him, they knew where to go and ask questions. You can't blame law enforcement. They do the best they can do with the resources they have.
I especially love the comments blaming the landlords. Seriously.
Maybe Mr. Brooks fell through all the cracks. JCPS, foster care, mental health assessments or maybe he was just mean. But I feel safe in saying that most of you can not imagine what his life has been like. Is that justification? Hell no.
But just maybe, if resources had been available to help him get on the right track, he would not have been knocking on that door that night.
Oh yeah..... resources.... that's money. Money from TAXES. Well, we pay enough in taxes. Why should my hard earned money go to help a kid in a bad situation? I would much rather have my money go to incarcerate him for the rest of his life. That's much cheaper.
So as long as we as a society continue to ignore and blame whoever or whatever for all the bad, it's just going to continue. And as long as we continue to complain about government and paying taxes, early intervention is not going to happen. And one day some local kid may show up at your door asking for a ride.
sancho 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Huh_interesting you made me so happy when you said, "I especially love the comments blaming the landlords. Seriously." I'm glad to know you seriously love my comments.
I cannot force the state's social service dept. to do things the way I believe they should be done, like really help people out of poverty instead of enabling them to stay in poverty. I cannot force state legislators to allocate enough funds to the department of mental health so that they can provide the needed help and services that their clients need. But I can tell my city council people to get a backbone and require landlords to act responsibly. And I can put pressure on the housing authority to require landlords and clients to comply with the rules or regulations that already exist.
If this community would demand changes in this one respect, landlord responsibility, we would see the results. Let's stop expecting the police to fight this battle on their own.
Huh_interesting 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Sancho, sounds like you have an issue with landlords. By the way, the legislature passed and the Gov signed a bill that makes it easier for landlords to kick people out.
And you can force the Legislature to allocate enough funds, it's called elections. Support and work to elect people who will get that done.
Landlords are business people. You can't put a responsibility to protect society on them.
I not a fan of a person who owns a great deal of property in the City. Historic property. And it's not rented because they don't take care of it and someday in the not too distant future, these once beautiful properties are going to be demolished. Why, because the city council won't adopt ordinances governing landlords. And again.... it comes down to elections.
sancho 9 months, 3 weeks ago
You bet I have an issue with landlords. I don't advocate putting "a responsibility to protect society" on landlords. I demand that landlords conduct themselves like decent human beings. If they are going to profit financially from renting housing to other people, they will provide decent housing, they will comply with codes, and they will not allow their properties to become blighted and infested with criminals. Other communities are tackling this problem. We can learn from them.
And as for the properties on E. Capitol, you are correct that our city council will not tackle that problem. I don't know why, I am sick of the talk talk talk talk.
Arresting the criminals and convicting them is one solution to one part of the problem. Dealing with the landlords is another solution to another part of the problem. If you think I'm some nut case, ranting against the poor business man landlord, then go down to the 1100 block of E. McCarty and talk to some of the long time residents on that block. See what they think about the landlords on that block.
Huh_interesting 9 months, 3 weeks ago
CityGuy - read carefully. I did not say ANYTHING about the poor guy and he should not be punished. He should be punished and he deserves whatever sentence he is given.
In my theoretical, unrealistic world, I would like to live in a place where we work to prevent problems, not clean up after them. Sorry if I offend.
And on landlords. There are many good ones. They do their checking and they rent to responsible people and take responsibility for their property. And there are others.
Again, look at the make-up of the people who would write those ordinances to crack down on neglected property. If we can't get these elected people to pass a law requiring landlords to take care of their own property, how in the world are we going to get them to be responsible about who they rent to?
Sancho.... good luck on your crusade. I think you have a good one!
JCLifer 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I have had the opportunity to be in some slum apartments that are located on Dunklin Street just across from the JC Public Schools District offices. I have relatives who work in the Employment Security Building up the hill who watch the cops bust druggies living right across from their office on a regular basis. This town is full of slumlords, low-life thugs, and drugs. The courts are a revolving door of the same people over and over who get arrested and then get a month of unsupervised probation and are let back out to keep on thugging and drugging. Several of these old slum apartments could be very nice places if they were cleaned up and restored. However, one or two of these on the block will sour the rest of the housing on the block, and then it all goes down hill from there.
I am furious at our city "leaders" who look the other way and do not enforce building codes, sanitation codes, trash codes, nuisance codes, weed codes, abandoned cars, and other laws that could really put the pressure on these people and get them to clean up or move out. I don't understand why we tolerate daily harrassment of parking meters and speeding tickets on an Expressway, but none of this other stuff ever gets enforced. If the city would come down hard on these slumlords and thug renters, this town could be quickly be cleaned up, If they do not comply by the third notice, take over the property and either clean it up or tear the property down.
This isn't poverty- many of the thug renters have very expensive cars or Cadillac SUVs. They have money- they just do not want to pick up after themselves or do menial work like taking the trash to the curb, getting old cars fixed, mowing grass, etc.
This town used to be such a nice clean town 25 years ago. We need to take it back and clean it up.
Huh_interesting 9 months, 3 weeks ago
CityGuy, i did not mean to lecture and I don't think I dismissed what you said, I actually agree with a lot of what you said about crime in JCMO. So don't assume I don't know what I know. Our city fathers have denied anything is wrong for too many years. Anyone who has had kids go through JCHS knows this. So my opinion on people need to be educated and vote doesn't do anybody any good. Sorry, but I believe that change is made by people who show up. And to solve the crime problems it will take laws and money to enforce them. Good luck with your immediate actions. I hope you are successful.
viktorkowski 9 months, 3 weeks ago
first, you have to have property owners that actually live in these neighborhoods. many of the properties in old town are owned by descendents of owners from years ago. These descendents no longer live locally, the other half have been bought by slum lords from bank sales and you end up with nothing but absentee landlords. it takes local owners that have pride in their homes to even begin to make a difference. on a side note columbia does have a nuisance property law.
Please review our Policies and Procedures before registering or commenting
Or login with:
OpenID