FAST MONDAY BOOMERPDX NEWS TROLL

Fast Monday, the big news day after the weekend.

I like news, I like big news, but this isn’t an aggregating news site.

Until now.

The news is local and urgent on the day of the week that blurs past like the rainbow smear that evaporates when you wash your windshield.

Woman killed near Reed College

People in Portland pay taxes, vote for change, and yet they find a body in the street outside their door.

Flower petals have been placed where the woman was shot and killed.

 “I think we both just feel kind of uneasy in general in Portland. Portland has got so bad,” said Cole. “I know it’s all over the news and stuff, but it just keeps getting worse and keeps getting closer and closer to home.”  

“We passed by a lady and we were like, what happened?” said Sabol. “And she was like, someone just got murdered. I held her until she died.”

Who has that on their ‘to do’ list?’

 (A neighbor) rushed out and held the woman’s hand as she died. She said the woman was a mother of 2 young children but didn’t say anything to her.

“She couldn’t talk,” she told KOIN 6 News.

The couple said the deadly shooting was not that surprising as the area has seen a spike in criminal activity. Despite that, they said neighbors stick together.

“We all rushed to see if we could help,” Olson said. “But Southeast Portland, it is really rough to live here.”

Bridenbaker went farther. “Don’t move here.“

Fear Of Anonymous Death On A Fast Monday

Twice in Portland people have died across the street from my apartment.

The first time was in NW Portland where a guy worked on the oil pan of his lowered Camero.

He made room under there with a bumper jack on a rainy afternoon.

Bumper jack? It looked like something a country boy would do in a barn.

“I’ll just slide under there and tighten that oil leak up.”

I was taking a bath when the screaming started. I listened for the ‘go words’ like “HELP” or “FIRE” or something other than screaming.

Then came the sirens.

In the fading light a rescue team focused beams under the car, reflecting off the wet pavement where a man lay trapped under an oil pan after his car slipped off the jack and fell on him.

I’ll tell you 20th and Lovejoy looked like the last desperate place you’d want to be.

I moved to inner SE on 11th and Lincoln after I got married.

One night I pulled into the neighborhood in the dark after visiting my mom in Eugene.

But it wasn’t dark. The place was taped off and emergency lights focused on a van across the street.

It looked like a movie set.

I hustled my wife and kid inside and locked the door, then slipped out the back to find out ‘what the hell?’

A woman left a bar a few blocks down 11th and got into a van.

The driver sped away.

In two blocks the woman opened the passenger door, or the side slider, and left the van as it accelerated past a telephone pole.

Somehow she bounced off the pole and died in the street.

The next morning before work I took another look and found hair and teeth left behind.

Nothing ever showed up on a fast Monday news troll, just two more Portland people at the end of the line.

Where Is The Line On A Monday?

To say people get jumpy when bad things happen close by is a supreme understatement.

People get jumpy reading about news around the world as if it was all in their front yard.

But what do you do when it is in your front yard? Or the curbside in front of the yard?

Twice so far I’ve had an armed police response to the ‘meth friendly’ house two lots away.

The kingpin is a widow doing her best for her kids. For the neighbors, not so much.

Her ‘kids’ are in their late 50’s, early 60’s, and have the look they’ve earned over the years: worn out and tired.

City and county police showed up with long guns, short guns, lethal guns, and bean bag guns.

Also flash-bang explosives and dogs for an early morning operation.

As the sun rose behind Mt. Hood it revealed police cars, fire engines, ambulance, and a troop carrier arrayed in the street outside my window.

Since then there’s been a police presence on occasion with a patrol SUV parked to watch traffic.

But police surveillance isn’t enough for all of us. One neighbor has a video surveillance system that captures a wide angle.

And it brings with it a ‘ripple effect.’

If you have a surveillance neighbor in a drug house neighborhood recording your wife and you and your house 24/7 to fulfill their interpretation of civic responsibility? 

That’s a ripple.

Say there was a daylight dope deal they caught on film just outside your front yard and they take a still from video that includes your house and front yard and post it online?

That’s a ripple.

What happens when they take an attitude of ‘You’re either with me, or against me’ regarding installing a surveillance system and establishing constant contact with the police?

That’s a ripple.

Take a moment on this Fast Monday to consider how your actions affect others.

If you find a problem, fix it.

If you don’t find a problem?