[speaker001:] Okay. Well like I was saying, Burlington's crime, it doesn't involve children and, what you see on the T V -s from, you know, in Washington and New York. So what I believe the people want, the subject is, is big city crime, which is something that I don't have any first hand experiences about, but I have, you know, concerns, and
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I have a few ideas of, um, how to combat it. I mean, I don't, I don't think, ideally, you know, you need money to do everything so
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] That's one thing that, that's, that's crime that you can't fight it if you need that money. So.
[speaker002:] Right, yeah, well, when, uh, we lived in San Antonio, I grew up around San Antonio, and it's always been a very large, uh, city, and increasingly growing. It's has kind of the split population. Um, there's a lot of retired military, uh, individuals that live there, and then there's a very large Hispanic population there. And the one thing that we noticed that over the years has gotten worse and worse is Hispanic, uh, gang crime in the city
[speaker001:] Oh,
[speaker002:] and that has, uh, been the worse thing that we've seen happening.
[speaker001:] Does it spread out of the neighborhoods into the more the, uh, retired people's community, or does it stay in the bad neighborhoods?
[speaker002:] Um, the majority of the actual gang crimes, like the pat-, the drive by shootings and stuff stays in the neighborhoods, but the crime spreads out into the more affluent divisions through robberies, rape and, uh, car crime. There's a very large, uh, or very high percentage of car theft. And San An-, San Antonio's not far from the border to Mexico, so a lot of the, uh, cars go to, uh, you know, shops, and they take them apart, and a lot of them go over the border, especially like Mercedes. A lot of those, those in the, the Z, uh, the Z cars, the Datsun cars end up over the border, and uh
[speaker001:] So that's a big concern if you live there,
[speaker002:] very much so,
[speaker001:] is to really lock your car up.
[speaker002:] very much so, in fact, for a while there they had downtown if you were to come to a stop light, they had a rash of where people were, when people were stopped at stop signs that people would get in their car and hold a knife and hold them up. So now, ever since then, when you drive into the city, most people keep their doors locked while they're in the car, until they get down there, and once you've reached the, the river walk area, which is the tourist area, it's usually pretty safe during the day, if you're just kind of cautious and don't go down the back streets or alleys, and, um, you know, or alone. If you stay with the groups and along the area where they have the river patrol cops, it's very nice. But at, at evening, um, again, you, they have the high tourist area, the river walk area, which is nice, but you don't want to get off the beaten track. Um, there's a lot of parking garages there because parking is very tight. And so you don't want to get caught in the parking garage, uh, alone.
[speaker001:] Oh, my, it sounds like, um, San Juan, Puerto Rico, we were there just, well for a lay over
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and, um, well, it wasn't a lay over, we were, we had, we were staying at the other end of the island, and we drove into San Juan to catch our plane.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] It was at night, and this boy really wanted to go on the beach, and they look at you crazy
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] you don't go on the beach.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Well, it's a big tourist town, you know, don't they, don't people go for a walk on the beach at night? And they said, no, it's very safe in the daytime
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] but at night, they even have the policemen come around at dusk and sound their sirens, pretty much telling people, be wary, you know, and get off the beach.
[speaker002:] It's just so sad, you know, it is just really so sad, you know, it is just really so sad because you can't enjoy anything any more. Um, in San Antonio I don't know what the answer is. Education, I think, is a lot of it. Um, so many of the kids are drop outs. Um, uh, there's a lot of drugs that go on, and that they just have hopeless lives. They, they lead themselves down hopeless tunnels. I think education helps a little bit there. Um, then again, I don't know really what steps there are that they,
[speaker001:] Well, what they, what they say they try to do is to get the kids, um, early and young.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And what we have here in Burlington, which it doesn't cost a lot of money, but they have a kids council
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] that they have all these after school activities for kids.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] They set up kids with elderly people, in the winter time they shovel their snow. They have a big brother, big sister program.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] They have bottle drives, they have cleanup outings. And they have also organized fun activities like gyms, going to the beach, and playing volleyball at the beach in the summer, and they have gyms open. And it seems that the younger you can get them and get them involved with programs
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] after school, you might keep them
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] but you, again, you need that one on one like a big brother, trying to keep the younger kid, you know, tell him, hey stay in school, it'll get better, you know, so that your mom doesn't have a job
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and she doesn't work, you don't know, you can be better than that. You don't have to live on the, you know, for a street life.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] But.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, that's good, that sounds like they've got a lot going on there.
[speaker001:] Yeah, but it's so cheap they don't have a problem here. I mean, um, they can deal with that
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] scale. They might have five hundred troubled youths.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] When you have five thousand troubled youths, plus when you're getting into th-, well, the kids now, it's twelve years old and they're selling drugs
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and they've got a fifteen year old that's their boss
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] that is carrying a gun.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] It's just, it's the morals of the people which, I mean, I guess we, everybody's responsible for the society, but, if I had a child that, that did things so bad, it's not, they don't care about anybody
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] these people they're stealing from, they're just the big bad rich guy
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and we don't have it, so we deserve it, and we should take it.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, yeah. I don't know how you combat that. I, I don't know where you start or, with a lot of these kids, um, so many of them, all they see is just the gangs
[speaker001:] Yes.
[speaker002:] and unless you can take them out of the environment enough to where they don't have the peer pressure from the gangs as soon as they come home from school.
[speaker001:] Well, I think a lot of it is the parents are totally irresponsible, too. We're talking
[speaker002:] Oh yeah.
[speaker001:] these kids are fourteen years old. The parents might be thirty years old
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and I'm thirty years old, and I'm kind of irresponsible, but I have the morals that keep me from, you know, if I was going to go out and drink or do something, I wouldn't do it in front of my child. These people, you know, they bring their, their Johns home and they bring their drugs home and the kids are just sitting there in the same room.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] It's just that they have absolutely no, no morals
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and it's really sad.
[speaker002:] And I don't know how you combat that. I rea-, I don't know what the answer is to that problem, you know.
[speaker001:] But I like your idea of education [LAUGHTER]
[speaker002:] Uh-huh [LAUGHTER],
[speaker001:] I mean if the parents aren't supplying it, they've got to get it
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] from someone else
[speaker002:] Yeah,
[speaker001:] from the schools,
[speaker002:] And what do those kids do, they get it at school and come home, what do they do then. I, I feel, I feel for them, I don't know how to make it better for them or, you know, because it, they can't remove themselves, they can't just leave and say okay, well, it's not acceptable, I'm leaving the big city, Mom, and I'm, I'm going off, you know, when they're ten, they have to live in it, and,
[speaker001:] Yeah, it's really sad, like if they did have a big brother, big sister program
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] those, those people trying to help the kids, the parents might have hostilities towards them, you know,
[speaker002:] Right, I think so, and uh,
[speaker001:] Like you're judging us, and I'm not good enough to raise my child, which basically is true
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] It's, it's, it's, I'm glad I don't live in a big city
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, yeah,
[speaker001:] just because, I mean, not just because I wouldn't feel safe, it's just because that I would be reminded every day
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] of something that I don't see, and I might see it on a, you know, a SIXTY MINUTES special.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, no, in San Antonio it was like every day, it was just a matter of who was shot that night,
[speaker001:] I know it but San Antonio is considered a nice clean city, believe it or not [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] I mean, they have all kinds of nice write ups about it
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, oh, yeah, but,
[speaker001:] but any big city has a bad section.
[speaker002:] But there's a lot of them, it's very prevalent, a lot of the crime is very prevalent.
[speaker001:] Yes, they're very bold it seems.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, very much. When we moved here to Monterrey it was a big change, because it's such a small community, we're just above Carmel, and, um, there's hardly, most everybody seems pretty well employed around here, and um, those that aren't, there's Celinas which is about a fifteen minute drive, which is mostly migrant workers, and there's a lot of crime there, um, migrant Hispanic farm workers, people that are down and out, and uh, they all seem to congregate in Celinas, not so much here in Monterrey. So, it's, it's pretty quiet. You know, we walk the streets at night, and, uh, people run in the park, and you know, you're just, have your normal smarts about you, then you really don't have to worry, or,
[speaker001:] Really, even, uh, even in the worst crime areas in Burlington, I, I can walk the streets. I wouldn't, I, if I did it every night
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I think there would be trouble in our house, so you wouldn't get confronted or anything
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] but I don't think you would, uh, someone might grab you, mess around with you, but they're not going to grab you, steal you-, your money and slit your throat
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] which in a lot of big cities
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] I mean that's what you, your going to have to expect that to happen. People are just totally unfeeling.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, uh, I didn't know that about Burlington, I'll have to keep that in mind [LAUGHTER].