HANGING IN THERE--Jeff City, August 17th

OK, so the block is a bit quieter. Still the neighbors back door is open and teenage boys sneak in and out of there all night long (even though one boy wallked out the front door about 8 this morning).

Do we have gang activity back?

Don't know, even though the momma next door comes onto her porch every night at the sametime wearing a red shirt and is soon surrounded by teenagers also wearing red shirts. There's a lot of cursing and other noise. ("He took my gun from me and I'm gonna get it back no matter what," one boy yelled. But this is the only crazy thing we heard.)

During the day it's always 90 and today they claim it will break a hundred. Friday night. Interestingly enough, when I met with the city (more on that later), they thought the college boys on the corner were the biggest problem. We let them know the truth.

It does seem now that the biggest problem house--the red shirt open door in the back house--did lose their Section 8 status. How are they paying rent? They're not. The landlord dropped by yesterday to make arrangements, was not allowed in, talked on the porch for awhile, and left.

Friday night? We'll see if the red shirts develop into anything or not. I'll keep you posted.