Shon
06-16-2004, 09:19 PM
Rainier Valley park has city's most unusual problem
Last Tuesday, June 8, was a beautiful day for a celebration.
Hundreds of people gathered at the corner of Othello Street and Martin Luther King Way South to celebrate the groundbreaking of Sound Transit's newest light-rail line.
"Because of light-rail this [Rainier Valley] will be the best place in the world to live," King County Executive Ron Sims proclaimed.
City Councilman Richard McIver added, "We will no longer be the forgotten segment of Seattle."
But just one block away at Othello Park, several neighborhood residents weren't celebrating. They were reading the new graffiti on a park bench. They were comparing notes on recent disturbing events in the park.
And they were looking up a tree.
Several times in the last few months, users of this park have spotted something unusual in the tree branches.
It's not birds. It's not nests.
It's dogs.
Pit bulls, to be exact. Pit bulls hanging from the trees by their teeth.
"They do it to strengthen the dog's jaws for fighting," says community activist Ron Momoda, who brought several of his neighbors to a safety meeting on June 2 to testify about the problems at the park.
Three of his neighbors got up to speak. Momoda brought pictures.
"They bring them [the dogs] to the park on a leash," one woman said, "and then they take the leashes off."
One of the neighbors described the fighting she has seen at the park. She said one of the dogs was a puppy. It wanted to play. Its owner was making it fight instead.
"I've never seen dogs trained to fight," she said. "The sounds would make you sick."
The Star asked Don Jordan, who has directed the city's Animal Control department for the last 15 years, if he's heard of dogs hanging from trees before.
"It's a new one for me," Jordan replied.
Pit bulls in trees is not the only bizarre thing happening at Othello Park. A rash of violent incidents in the past few months has residents afraid and in dread of summertime, when school is out and kids congregate.
Last Tuesday, the day of the Sound Transit groundbreaking, new graffiti appeared on a park bench there testifying to a beating that occurred at the park on May 21. The original graffiti had been washed off immediately by the parks department, neighbors say.
The graffiti boasted that a boy "got his ass woop" with a bat and went to the hospital crying, according to a photo taken by a neighbor.
A woman who lives adjacent to the park witnessed this beating. She says about six Asian youth attacked a black youth with a baseball bat.
"My mother was screaming, 'Stop, get off of him. Someone call the police,'" the woman, who did not want to be identified, said.
Even when she came out of her house and approached the group they didn't stop beating up the kid.
"They didn't even miss a beat," she told people at the safety meeting. "The guy with the bat just looked at me so evil. I said I'm talking to the police right now."
She was calling 911.
The witness said they beat the boy so hard the bat broke. The police came very quickly, she said, but they did not catch the perpetrators.
The police department denied the Star's request for the police report because the perpetrator was a minor.
The following day, May 22, the witness' mother saw another fight in the park, this one between two young women. She says a large car was parked across
45th Avenue S.
, the road that adjoins the park, so no one driving down
Othello Street
could see what was happening.
More incidents were reported by other neighbors. On May 6, while a woman was walking in the park with her parents, someone ripped off her necklace and her earring. On March 6, three young children playing in the park told a neighbor that they had been threatened by kids with a bat. On Feb. 20, there was a big fight among about 30 teenagers at the park.
Momoda has written letters to the police department and to Councilmembers Nick Licata and David Della about the violence. Mark Solomon, a crime prevention coordinator with the South Precinct, wrote back to tell Momoda, "Currently, there is nothing I can do to follow up on your letter, other than to encourage you and your neighbors to report the vicious animals to Animal Control, and to report any threatening behaviors to 911."
Momoda says he did not get a reply from Licata or Della.
At the June 2 meeting, South Precinct Captain Tom Byers said he's made pit bulls "highest priority" for his officers. He says training pit bulls is a thug's activity.
"It's almost like having a crocodile or an alligator for a pet," he said.
Byers is concerned that one of the children who plays in the park is going to get caught in the crossfire between aggressive pit bulls. He told the neighbors of Othello Park that he is taking steps.
"I did personally call Don Jordan," Byers said at the safety meeting on June 2. "He's assured me Animal Control officers are walking the park as we speak."
We checked in with Jordan a week later.
"We've been able to patrol it [Othello Park] a couple of times in the last couple of weeks," Jordan told us. "But oftentimes, calls about dog fighting happen when we're not on duty."
Jordan says he really needs citizens to call when they see this kind of behavior.
"Getting them to testify is next to impossible because they're afraid of retribution," he says.
The price of crime
Another Othello Park resident is trying to sell his house. He says two potential sales have fallen through because of the crime in the park, according to his realtor.
"They don't want to buy because it's too close to the park," he says. The potential buyers have relatives who live close by.
"I can't get rid of the park," he says. "All I can do is come down on the price of the house."
He's lowered the price but there are still no takers.
Momoda and another neighbor, Nancy Wagner, are now writing letters to the mayor asking for his help dealing with problems in Othello Park. They're looking forward to the mayor's scheduled visit to the park on June 19.
Last time the mayor visited Othello Park, he planted primroses.
Last Tuesday, June 8, was a beautiful day for a celebration.
Hundreds of people gathered at the corner of Othello Street and Martin Luther King Way South to celebrate the groundbreaking of Sound Transit's newest light-rail line.
"Because of light-rail this [Rainier Valley] will be the best place in the world to live," King County Executive Ron Sims proclaimed.
City Councilman Richard McIver added, "We will no longer be the forgotten segment of Seattle."
But just one block away at Othello Park, several neighborhood residents weren't celebrating. They were reading the new graffiti on a park bench. They were comparing notes on recent disturbing events in the park.
And they were looking up a tree.
Several times in the last few months, users of this park have spotted something unusual in the tree branches.
It's not birds. It's not nests.
It's dogs.
Pit bulls, to be exact. Pit bulls hanging from the trees by their teeth.
"They do it to strengthen the dog's jaws for fighting," says community activist Ron Momoda, who brought several of his neighbors to a safety meeting on June 2 to testify about the problems at the park.
Three of his neighbors got up to speak. Momoda brought pictures.
"They bring them [the dogs] to the park on a leash," one woman said, "and then they take the leashes off."
One of the neighbors described the fighting she has seen at the park. She said one of the dogs was a puppy. It wanted to play. Its owner was making it fight instead.
"I've never seen dogs trained to fight," she said. "The sounds would make you sick."
The Star asked Don Jordan, who has directed the city's Animal Control department for the last 15 years, if he's heard of dogs hanging from trees before.
"It's a new one for me," Jordan replied.
Pit bulls in trees is not the only bizarre thing happening at Othello Park. A rash of violent incidents in the past few months has residents afraid and in dread of summertime, when school is out and kids congregate.
Last Tuesday, the day of the Sound Transit groundbreaking, new graffiti appeared on a park bench there testifying to a beating that occurred at the park on May 21. The original graffiti had been washed off immediately by the parks department, neighbors say.
The graffiti boasted that a boy "got his ass woop" with a bat and went to the hospital crying, according to a photo taken by a neighbor.
A woman who lives adjacent to the park witnessed this beating. She says about six Asian youth attacked a black youth with a baseball bat.
"My mother was screaming, 'Stop, get off of him. Someone call the police,'" the woman, who did not want to be identified, said.
Even when she came out of her house and approached the group they didn't stop beating up the kid.
"They didn't even miss a beat," she told people at the safety meeting. "The guy with the bat just looked at me so evil. I said I'm talking to the police right now."
She was calling 911.
The witness said they beat the boy so hard the bat broke. The police came very quickly, she said, but they did not catch the perpetrators.
The police department denied the Star's request for the police report because the perpetrator was a minor.
The following day, May 22, the witness' mother saw another fight in the park, this one between two young women. She says a large car was parked across
45th Avenue S.
, the road that adjoins the park, so no one driving down
Othello Street
could see what was happening.
More incidents were reported by other neighbors. On May 6, while a woman was walking in the park with her parents, someone ripped off her necklace and her earring. On March 6, three young children playing in the park told a neighbor that they had been threatened by kids with a bat. On Feb. 20, there was a big fight among about 30 teenagers at the park.
Momoda has written letters to the police department and to Councilmembers Nick Licata and David Della about the violence. Mark Solomon, a crime prevention coordinator with the South Precinct, wrote back to tell Momoda, "Currently, there is nothing I can do to follow up on your letter, other than to encourage you and your neighbors to report the vicious animals to Animal Control, and to report any threatening behaviors to 911."
Momoda says he did not get a reply from Licata or Della.
At the June 2 meeting, South Precinct Captain Tom Byers said he's made pit bulls "highest priority" for his officers. He says training pit bulls is a thug's activity.
"It's almost like having a crocodile or an alligator for a pet," he said.
Byers is concerned that one of the children who plays in the park is going to get caught in the crossfire between aggressive pit bulls. He told the neighbors of Othello Park that he is taking steps.
"I did personally call Don Jordan," Byers said at the safety meeting on June 2. "He's assured me Animal Control officers are walking the park as we speak."
We checked in with Jordan a week later.
"We've been able to patrol it [Othello Park] a couple of times in the last couple of weeks," Jordan told us. "But oftentimes, calls about dog fighting happen when we're not on duty."
Jordan says he really needs citizens to call when they see this kind of behavior.
"Getting them to testify is next to impossible because they're afraid of retribution," he says.
The price of crime
Another Othello Park resident is trying to sell his house. He says two potential sales have fallen through because of the crime in the park, according to his realtor.
"They don't want to buy because it's too close to the park," he says. The potential buyers have relatives who live close by.
"I can't get rid of the park," he says. "All I can do is come down on the price of the house."
He's lowered the price but there are still no takers.
Momoda and another neighbor, Nancy Wagner, are now writing letters to the mayor asking for his help dealing with problems in Othello Park. They're looking forward to the mayor's scheduled visit to the park on June 19.
Last time the mayor visited Othello Park, he planted primroses.