A neighbor of The Observer’s had a sad tale to tell of drugs, police and a system that failed all involved. It started with a ring of her doorbell last weekend.

“On the front porch was a man in his late 20s, clearly whacked out on some kind of drug. He was shirtless, his jeans had been ripped and cut almost entirely off of him. He was holding a crying 8-year old boy and asked if he could use our phone to call the police. He said that his ex-wife had cut his clothing and that she and a second child were in the apartment across the street from me. The ex would not let him back in the apartment.

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“I took the little boy upstairs, got him dressed and turned on the TV for him to watch. I called the police at 9:29 p.m. and again at 9:34. The man got the little girl to my house, and I called the police again at 9:55.

“The ex-wife ran across the street screaming that she wanted her kids back. My date said no, we were going to wait for police. She attacked him, ripping his sweatshirt to shreds. When I called the police the fourth time at 10 he was also calling them, so in total between 9:29 and 10:15 they were called six times and all six calls noted that children were in danger.

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“One cop finally showed up. The woman was violent and the officer told her to go back inside her apartment. She had hidden what her ex said was a purse full of drugs in the bushes so did not have her keys. The cop stood and watched her break out a tiny window on the second floor, nothing but concrete below, and jump the 3 feet from her door to the window to get back in. He looked at me with a commanding grasp of the obvious and said ‘this is just not good.’ I figured events might be enough for them to take the woman to jail for the evening to cool down but was told they had no room for public intoxication cases.

“When a TV van arrived the cop stood idly and watched the woman beat on its doors, windows, kicking tires and screaming that they could not take her picture. In the middle of Kavanaugh. He also stood and watched her leave her apartment and come back with her purse. He didn’t bother to look in the purse.  

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“After a grandmother — who had custody — came to get her son and his kids, the police left, leaving a furious drug-crazed woman just across the street from me.

Today I called the police first thing. They had no record of the incident, wanted to know why I did not know the name of the officer. Eventually they found a case number, but no report.

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“I called the property owner, too. All he needed to know was that I owned a house nearby, took me at my word and said he would have the woman evicted today. Took all of three cordial minutes. Funny how so very easy it was for me to render the woman homeless instead of getting her into treatment for the help she needs.”

 

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Saturday, Nov. 22, was a significant day in the history of Arkansas football, and The Observer, we’re proud to say, was part of it. In a way — we sat and watched the TV screen intently, which is more than a lot of so-called Arkansas football fans did, we’ll wager.

Have two college football teams from Arkansas ever played on television on the same day without one of the teams being the Arkansas Razorbacks? We don’t remember it, and as we said, we follow this sort of thing more than most.

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The Razorbacks played in untelevised obscurity Saturday, having not won enough games under their new coach to be permitted on television.

On TV were the Arkansas State Red Wolves (nee Indians) defeating Florida Atlantic and the University of Central Arkansas Bears routing the vaunted McNeese State Cowboys. More like McNeese State Creampuffs, to The Observer’s way of thinking.

It was disappointing that at Arkansas State hardly anybody showed up to watch in person. ASU’s crowd of 10,000 or so was scattered around a 30,000-seat stadium built for the university years ago by taxpayers led to believe that ASU football would fill it. The near-empty stands must be a downer for players and fans. Not to mention taxpayers.

 

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