this morning i found out that on thursday morning, when i was out running errands, there was a MAJOR drug sweep in my city. two houses were raided. cops descended wearing full body armour, including face masks, carrying heavy-duty weapons. they surrounded each house, smashed windows and tossed smoke bombs inside, then broke down the front doors and went in. eight people were arrested - 7 men and one 14-yr-old boy, a son of one of the adult men.

one of the houses raided is right beside mine. the one on the corner. for those of you who know the house, you will know that the owner of the place is infamous for being a slumlord and renting to people of "questionable character."

one of my neighbours watched the raid from her house.

for almost 14 years now, i have lived in this house and put up with the motley assortment of renters in that house, and the one directly behind it. this latest incident helps me feel better about losing this house and having to move away. there have been some pretty rough characters there, and plenty of drug activity in the place through the years. when these last people moved in - a young couple with two toddlers - all of a sudden, the neighbourhood became plagued with late-night prowlers, going into unlocked cars and stealing stuff, or trying to break into locked cars - setting off car alarms at all hours of the night! a few of us took turns calling the sheriff's office to report the problem, all of us suggesting that we had a suspicion our new neighbours were behind it. the local constables responded by sending late-night patrols around the area, cruisers with their lights off just snooping around while we slept. perhaps that helped them to pinpoint the drug activity in this house.

i have always made sure that my Brink's Security sticker was on the window beside my front door, right beside my NRA membership sticker. i always lock my house doors, even when i am home, and i always lock my car, even if i am leaving it for just a minute. i've lived in cities for too long not to be careful!! both the house and the car have alarm systems.

hopefully, wherever i end up living in the future will be in a quieter neighbourhood. i've been comfortable here, with mostly good neighbours - young families, retired folks and a few middle-aged professionals, but there have been a few house that have always been trouble. i won't miss that aspect of life here!

i remember when i was a kid, livinig way out in the country in ontario. we NEVER locked our houses, or our cars. there was no need to. i remember firends who actually left their keys in their ignitions, their cars unlocked and the windows open, overnight. we all kept our house windows open in the summer, to catch the night breeze. there was never a worry. i really miss that feeling of security and peace. now, no matter where i live, i will never have that feeling again. i've seen too much of "the other side" of humanity. it's sickening.

here is a picture of the drug house after the raid. you can see the boarded-up window where they threw the smoke bomb in. you can see the way those people live - all sorts of junk sitting around outside the house, trash cans overflowing. i feel sorry for those two little kids who woke up to a smoke-filled house and cops with masks and guns taking their parents away. both the mother and father were taken into custody.