Daily Journal reports on Sunday's gun violence

The Press of Atlantic City has completely ignored the recent eruption of shootings at 5th and Mulberry Streets in Millville. The News of Cumberland County ran an article paying lip service to the incident last week. Today, The Daily Journal ran their second article dealing with the situation.

An apartment house at North 5th and East Mulberry streets was hit when several gunshots were fired at it Sunday, marking the fourth time in five days police responded to reported gunfire near the intersection.

A drug turf war has been escalating ever since one slumlord rented an apartment to Bridgeton drug dealers. That is the word I hear from neighborhood residents familiar with the parties involved. The DJ fails to mention that the house that was the target of the gunfire is home to participants in the drug activity according to eyewitnesses. They are fearful of speaking up because, well, the bad guys all carry guns and they don't.

Witnesses reported hearing between 12 and 14 gunshots, followed by a pause, and then more shots.Police recovered bullet casings from .40-caliber and .380-caliber handguns, Zadroga said.

An eyewitness told me that a vehicle came around the block and began blasting away at the house. A male began running down the block, chased by the car, shots still being fired in his direction, and he cut down an alley to escape.

The house on the other side of the alley is owner-occupied, and wonderfully restored. It is a shame that home-owners that take pride in their properties are held hostage but out of town slumlords and careless landlords that rent to anybody that comes to them with a Section-8 voucher.

Stop the "No Snitch" Mentality

I hear people in the neighborhood commiserating about the shootings, the breaking and entering, the vandalism to vehicles prevalent and seeming on the rise. Many of them know who the culprits are, but when I ask them if they made a report to the police department, they hem and haw and make excuses.

The News of Cumberland County has run a few articles recently on the "no snitching" culture.

“It is the responsibility of all members of society to be witnesses if they see a crime. It’s a civic duty, and it’s necessary because if we don’t do that then we wind up where we are right now,” said Bridgeton police chief Mark Ott.

What he means by “. . .where we are right now,” is in the midst of a string of shootings that go unsolved because people, both criminals and regular citizens, will not speak to the police.

Of course with that civic duty of the residents comes an expectation that law enforcement will do its utmost to protect our privacy.

The fear that prevents people from reporting criminal activity is that of retribution. If you have small children at home, you fear for their safety. If you have a newer vehicle, you fear the property damage, the slashed tires and broken windows that all too often go unreported in the local papers. You fear that your house will be robbed when you are at work.

The fact is, the police can be everywhere, all the time. Criminals know this. The fact is that the Cumberland County Courts and the State of New Jersey will continue to refuse to treat violent offenders harshly, and the jails are a revolving door for repeat offenders. Our so-called justice system has no teeth, and the few churches and youth programs making an effort to pull even a few at-risk kids off the streets are undergoing concerted attacks to have their funding slashed by tax-reform groups. These same tax-reform watchdogs are advocating that police officers be laid-off, and that law enforcement funding be significantly reduced.

We are in the middle of a Catch-22. The only way that we can change the course is to stay the course. Make the difficult decisions and choose to be the voice of sanity for your neighborhood. You cannot change the block around the corner, but together, we can make a difference one block at a time.

Join us today

It seems that the Millville neighborhoods are bringing the New year in with a BANG! Criminal activity is erupting throughout the Center City neighborhoods as well as the 3rd Ward. I am hearing reports from South Millville of renewed drug dealing activity on 4th Street and environs.

Gunshots are once again a fact of daily life. And of course, when the police arrive, in good old Sgt Schultz style, everybody "saw nothing".  It is time for concerned citizens to make a concerted effort to fight back.

I urge you to click on the "Join this Site" button on the right, and to contribute. I will be putting more effort in updating the site on a regular basis.

The goal for this year is to point out the addresses of nuisance properties, and post the names and addresses of the absentee landlords that own these houses. When you witness nuisance activity of any nature, call the Millville Police Department Dispatcher (856-825-3111) and give them the address of the problem house. If the address shows up enough times, the owners will be required to stand in front of the City Commission and pay fines.

If you know of illegal rental properties, contact Commissioner Dale Finch at City Hall (856-825-7000) and provide him with the information. The landlords will receive a stiff fine, and the house will get a mandatory health and safety inspection. It is time to make the absentee landlords that have allowed their criminal tenants to destroy our neighborhoods.

If we get enough subscribers to the website, our next step will be to organize neighborhood watches on your block. You have to be willing to take responsibility for your block, nobody else is going to do it for you.

More absentee landlord properties involved in the gun violence

Last night I reported on the gun violence that is escalating near 5th and Mulberry Streets.  State Police, the Sheriff's CSI unit and Millville Police were all on the scene for the better part of the night, and Mulberry Street was block with crime scene tape from 5th Street to midway down the block.

The stray lead hit some of the residences in the area, although to my knowledge nobody was hit. YET.

There are three residential properties involved in an ongoing drug war over turf. I recently listed the name of the slumlord that owns 501 N. 5th Street, an anonymous owner from Lakewood NJ who enjoys their own quiet neighborhood as they profit from blight and urban decay. Hey, as long as they get that government section-8 check, what do they care?

Two other properties are also involved in this battle. 501-503 Mulberry Street, owned by Kenneth Williams, PO Box 1568, Millville, NJ 08332.  The tenants of this property are only peripherally involved in the violence, but neighbors say confidentially that they have trashed the entire inside of the house to the point that it is not fit for occupancy.

The real troublemaker in the recent slate of gun violence is 505 Mulberry Street, another rental owned by  Kevin Ragsdale, 426 N 6th St., Millville, NJ 08332.

The daily shooting spree began about a week ago, and has resulted in incidents every single night - allowing residents a reprieve only for New Years Eve night. So far there are no casualties other than the property values of home owners that live in houses that have been rendered almost valueless due to the inability of the City of Millville to put a stop to the violence.

City Commissioner Dave Vanaman insists that the citizens should not be allowed to defend themselves, and claims that it is the duty of the police department to protect the law-abiding citizens that are stuck in the war zone. But to date, he has been mum, refusing to comment to the media or public.

I know renters that are working families, scared for their children because the City of Millville has failed to take corrective action and put a stop to this gangland dispute.

First drive-by of the New Year

5th and Mulberry, 9PM New year's Day and we have our first drive-by shooting of the New Year. I want to know what the hell our director of public safety is planning to do about this, is he waiting for an innocent bystander to be shot?

301 N 5th St LLC - SLUMLORDS

Fifth and Mulberry Streets have become a hotbed of nuisance activity. Residents lives are in danger from stray bullets as gunfire is a regular, nightly occurrence in this area. It is only a matter of time before an innocent bystander is hit.

The Daily Journal reports that the source of some if this activity is 301 N 5th Street.

A street brawl and gunfire in a Center City neighborhood Friday morning led to the arrests of five men on unrelated charges.
It was the third time in three days police were called to the area of North 5th and Mulberry streets for reports of shots fired.
Bystanders to Friday’s fight directed officers to an apartment house at 301 North 5th Street to find some of the people involved in the incident, police said.

This property is a rat's nest of nuisance activity. The building is an eyesore, but unfortunate that is not a crime.  But it is indicative of the contempt the owners hold of Millville residents and taxpayers. The owners are too cowardly to list the property under their own names, but hide behind an LLC. Their LLC is listed as the highly imaginative

501 N FIFTH ST, LLC. 

133 Stratford Place

Lakewood, NJ 08701.

They relax in their quaint neighborhoods, collecting easy money while our neighborhoods turn into ghettos. I did a search on 133 Stratford Place, and discovered that it is owned by Avrohom and Judith Goldberg. Apparently this property consists of condominiums, so it is not clear of the Goldbergs are behind the 501 N Fifth St LLC or not.  I will continue to dig.

5th and Mulberry Criminal Hot Spot

Fifth and Mulberry Streets mark Millville's newest hot spot of criminal activity. While law abiding citizens are denied the right to carry a concealed weapon for self-defense, and Commissioner David Vanaman states that he opposes the right of citizens to defend themselves, guns carried by felons and criminals are a fact of life in Center City.

The same city intersection is now the scene of three shooting incidents in just over 36 hours after a resident called police Friday morning to report a gunshot, leading to five arrests.

Residents standing outside about an hour afterward were either mum or claimed nothing had happened at all. 

It is no wonder that by-standers are keeping mum. Just ask Arnold Bell of the 3rd Ward.

Days after Arnold Bell complained that police are not doing enough to protect him from neighborhood teenagers who are attacking him and trying to burn down his house, city officials either said his protection was someone else’s responsibility, that enough was already being done, or were simply not available.

It was in regard's to Bell's situation, a man who has been harassed and threatened since speaking to authorities about a recent murder, that Vanaman claimed he had no right to defend himself in public,

Bell suggested that he should be allowed to carry a gun to defend himself, but Vanaman disagreed with this personally and said any changes to the law were out of his hands.

“That’s not even in our control. That would be the state’s responsibility. I don’t think it’s gotten anywhere near that state of things though,” he said.

“My personal feelings are, I don’t think there should be a general open carry law.”

Here are the facts - if the State of New Jersey is going to deny citizens the right to self-defense, then it is incumbent that every citizen receive 100% police protection, so that they are completely protected from the predatory criminal element that the court systems deem worthy of being allowed to roam free our streets. Dave Vanaman lives in a safe neighborhood, as do his followers. Of course he is going to claim that citizens do not have the right to protect their property of their lives, he is safe and secure in his house.

Mary Messick heading crime watch efforts

Mary Messick  from Center City Millville is heading the efforts to create a new crime watch.

Messeck is taking the bull-by-the-horns and distributing a newsletter each month that lists upcoming meetings within the city where residents can voice their support against violence and crime.
“It’s a newsletter, plain and simple,” Messeck said. “But it tells the facts.”
Facts like “(in) 2010, 65 percent of Millville’s crime was located in the Center City/3rd Ward area.”
But it’s not worth anything if people refuse to speak up, Messeck said.

 Those interested in joining Millville’s neighborhood crime watch, or supporting Messeck’s initiatives, should contact her at (856) 982-7323, by email at maryhymer@aol.com or on Facebook by searching for “Mary Messeck.”

Millville resident denied the right to defend self and property

With all of this talk in the county recently encouraging residents to "snitch", we have a situation where a resident is willing to talk, and now suffering retribution while law enforcement is ignoring his plight.

A city resident who called police with tips immediately after a teenager was murdered in October said that neighborhood teenagers are terrorizing him, and that the law enforcement agencies that so desperately ask for tips are doing little to stop them. 

This resident even has photographs of the juveniles that are terrorizing, and that allegedly attempted arson. They are roaming free today.

It is no wonder that people are afraid to talk and report criminal activity.

Gunfire at 5th and Mulberry

There were reports of gunfire at 5th and Mulberry Tuesday night, December 20. One person said they counted eight shots, after which the Millville Police descended en-masse on the area. I see nothing in the papers about this as of yet.