Letter to the Editor
Daily Press
Victorville, Ca 95392
We are a community of families with shared values and space. We are neighbors of mixed racial, social and economic backgrounds who have chosen and learned to respect one another enough to be neighbors. We are not necessarily tight friends but we are neighbors. Neighborly drama is minimal but there are those moments. When drama happens, it seems to always be renters. That is not to say that all renters are drama queens, they are not for most are functioning and respected members of the community. However, when trouble comes it is always renters.
Such a drama event occurred Sunday night, June 26, 2011. The renters on the corner had a party mostly on the driveway with loud music and party noise. One neighbor had the courage to visit the party twice asking on each occasion that the noise be reduced. One visit was at 9:30 to be followed by a call to the Association Security Department for their help. Another visit by this neighbor occurred at 10:30. None of these actions quieted the party so the Sheriff was called twice, at 10:30 and 11:30. They finally responded after 12:30 when the party had quieted down on it’s own momentum. These renter’s disregarded repeated civil requests from their neighbor for them to be neighborly.
Apparently this was not the conclusion of the drama for these folk had in mind payback. On Monday noise was heard from the right front wheel of the party visitor’s pickup. Incorrectly assuming it was disc brake noise, plans were made for a trip to the beach with the grandchildren on Tuesday morning. The noise became excessive in Ventura and the hub cap was pulled to find all lug nuts very loose, one bouncing in the hub cap and one bolt stud broken. The repair station refused to put the aluminum wheel back on the vehicle because the stud holes were badly elongated trashing the wheel. The money is not the worst of the intended payback, the motive of the party goers was to put other neighbors lives and safety in danger. In this the party payback succeeded.
The party hosts, Yvonne and Manuel, are a part of a subculture that routinely uses intimidation to relate to their neighbors. Intimidation by direct confrontation, talking eye to eye, even shouting over a perceived injustice is the American way. Backstabbing is the way of the streets and surely is not neighborly but we neighbors are who we are. Of course the denial of responsibility and claims of innocence from the party folk accompany the intimidation. “You have no proof and the fault is with you and your poor vehicle maintenance”, so they say. The first part is correct, there is no actual proof but is there any reasonable doubt? These attempts at deflecting responsibility are to be expected from the corner of Pinehurst and Colonial Court. The greater villains are the owners of said property.
Dave and Georgia Herbst once lived in this house but are now landlords. Yvonne, the present tenant,works for Georgia in her business. These landlords, like the many landlords of Spring Valley Lake, refuse to take responsibility for the actions of their tenants and play the like mannered blame game,insisting that the troublemakers are not really troublemakers. Money is always the real issue. If Dave had visited that party, he would know the truth and could no longer hide in the bushes of another neighborhood. We live in this neighborhood.
G.Goslaw
Victorville, Ca
