Woodmar crime watch 1/20/2009

Last night we attended a meeting of the Woodmar crime watch for the first time. The meeting was lead by Dan Repay along with two members of the Hammond PD, Scott Holbrook and Jeff Long. The city attorney Kris Kantar was there and spoke. Jim Callahan from the building dept was also in attendance. The meeting was very informative. Much of the discussion was centered around the problems that McTavern's is creating for the surrounding area. McTavern's liquor license comes up for renewal in Sept. If the city can document that McTavern's is a source of problems, they can lose their license. The most effective way to make a good case against McTavern's is for residents to call the police everytime they see a problem at the bar. Drunken driving, disorderly conduct, loud music, garbage thrown in the yard are some the things that could be called in. Several points of information were made by the police. Last March, Hammond PD conducted a raid at McTavern's because they exceeded their maximum occupancy. During the raid, one bar patron who had a warrant for murder was arrested. Afterward, our PD made several recommendations to the owners of McTaverns to improve the situation. McTavern's owners have refused to comply.
Patrol captain Long also said that most of the patrons of McTaverns are from Illinois. I think it is time to start calling the PD until McTavern's becomes a better neighbor or they are out of business.

sparks wrote:

So far this year there have been two homicides at McTaverns. The bar is drawing criminals from
outside of Hammond. The current display on it's billboard contains the word "Uzi". There are homes
that are within 100 ft of where these shootings have occurred. The neighbors are understandedly frightened and want the owner's of McTavern's to change their marketing strategy before one of these gangbangers from Illinois kills a resident of the Woodmar neighborhood. Is that clear enough for you?

Like there's a shortage of criminals and gangbangers in Hammond?

sparks wrote:

BigWhiteGuy wrote:

sparks wrote:

During the raid that Hammond PD conducted with the local task force, the ID's of everyone in Mctavern's were checked. The vast majority of the people in McTavern's were from Illinois, according to one of the police officers who was on site. Chicago is headquarters to some of the biggest gangs in the midwest. The residents of the Woodmar area would like to see McTavern's shut down because they are actively seeking to draw a criminal element to Hammond.

So, what you are saying is, the people inside were from Illinois. From what I've read, the murders took place outside.
Theoretically, these unsolved murders, were not committed by someone from Illinois. Also, why would gangbangers come from Chicago to murder someone in a bar in Hammond. Makes no sense. I'd be looking at Hammond, East Chicago, or Gary, personally.

The 17 year old that was shoot last week was from Chicago. The McTavern's employee who was murdered earlier in the year was trying to stop an altercation that started in McTavern's. From what I understand, police are actively searching for a suspect who is from Illinois. You can make all the theoretical observations you would like, but the reality is that you are wrong.

He was shoot or shot?

Was the 17 yo a bar patron?? If they are indeed serving minors, there's a reason to shut the bar down.

Ohhmama wrote:

sparks wrote:

BigWhiteGuy wrote:

sparks wrote:

During the raid that Hammond PD conducted with the local task force, the ID's of everyone in Mctavern's were checked. The vast majority of the people in McTavern's were from Illinois, according to one of the police officers who was on site. Chicago is headquarters to some of the biggest gangs in the midwest. The residents of the Woodmar area would like to see McTavern's shut down because they are actively seeking to draw a criminal element to Hammond.

So, what you are saying is, the people inside were from Illinois. From what I've read, the murders took place outside.
Theoretically, these unsolved murders, were not committed by someone from Illinois. Also, why would gangbangers come from Chicago to murder someone in a bar in Hammond. Makes no sense. I'd be looking at Hammond, East Chicago, or Gary, personally.

The 17 year old that was shoot last week was from Chicago. The McTavern's employee who was murdered earlier in the year was trying to stop an altercation that started in McTavern's. From what I understand, police are actively searching for a suspect who is from Illinois. You can make all the theoretical observations you would like, but the reality is that you are wrong.

He was shoot or shot?

Was the 17 yo a bar patron?? If they are indeed serving minors, there's a reason to shut the bar down.

It was an attempted car jacking in the parking lot. The 17 year old, along with another Chicago youth tried to
car jack an SUV from a man and his girlfriend. Instead of getting the SUV, the kid was killed by the owner of the SUV. The kid must not have known in Indiana you can legally carry a handgun. The police are ruling it as a justifable homicide. You are right about serving minors. Another gangbanger bar in Hammond,Sebastion's was instantly closed after a minor was gunned down there.

So it wasn't an Illinois patron as you alluded to? Just some schmuck who got what was coming to him. thank god for the concealed gun laws!

Ohhmama wrote:

So it wasn't an Illinois patron as you alluded to? Just some schmuck who got what was coming to him. thank god for the concealed gun laws!

The first shooting was an Illinois patron who murdered the bouncer, the second incident involved a criminal from Illinois. Where Mctavern's is located is a busy area with homes nearby. The neighbors are very concerned.
So far,no bystanders have been hurt yet. Hopefully,we can have the place shut down before that occurs.

sparks wrote:

Ohhmama wrote:

So it wasn't an Illinois patron as you alluded to? Just some schmuck who got what was coming to him. thank god for the concealed gun laws!

The first shooting was an Illinois patron who murdered the bouncer, the second incident involved a criminal from Illinois. Where Mctavern's is located is a busy area with homes nearby. The neighbors are very concerned.
So far,no bystanders have been hurt yet. Hopefully,we can have the place shut down before that occurs.

Link? Proof? Other than Hearsay?
Are you Paul Blart? :troll:

BigWhiteGuy wrote:

So what gang affiliation did Sebastion's have? Were the Illinois patrons also the cause of their problems?

actually yes. as i recall that (sebastians) shooter was from pheonix ill.

as far as mctaverns goes anyone who is familiar with the place knows what has been going on there in recent years. it has become a mecca for gangbangers from all over. and that seems fine with butch as long as they pay thier tabs. butch can whine and moan all he wants about being hard to sell the place now, and how sorry he is for the shootings, but he should have thought of that before he started catering to the gang bangers. he has only himself to blame for his current situation.

kudos to sparks for taking action and attending the meeting. i would have also had i not been working.

Here's an email from Chief Miller about towing cars off the streets. The tow truck drivers will be busy!
Friends: we are completing the large task of red tagging every car in the city that has not been moved since the last major snow. We have had teams of
traffic officers red tagging tirelessly the last few days, and we hope to have the
entire city done this weekend. We are going to start towing next week. When the streets are clear, we will again plow and hopefully be able to widen the streets. A street department plow will accompany the police cars and tow trucks so they can dig out the cars that cannot be easily moved. This is a huge task as hundreds of cars had to be tagged, and I hope you will bear with us while we finish the job.

Yep, my car got tagged. It has been moved. I don't see how that will help with plowing, but I moved it.
I think a better solution would be for the mayor to use his powers to declare a "snow emergency" which would implement an odd/even parking scheme.
When it snows and the plow goes down the street I try very hard to move all my vehicle to the plowed side so that the plow can get my side, then I move the vehicles back to my side.
I have been having back problems so I didn't get a chance to do that this time; of course now they tag :thanks:

when the car hasnt been moved it is impossible to plow that part of the street (and the part immediately behind it). if the car is moved later....than it leaves behind a mound of snow around where the car once was.

so ideally. all cars will be moved every day or so, so that the plows can eventually, over two or three days have the entire street plowed curb to curb. to not do so, means repeating a cycle of thaw/freeze/thaw/freeze, seemingly endlessly.

there is also a common ordinance in most citys that require all vehicles on streets to be moved every so often. i believe in hammond its every 72 hours. and since the first snow that hasnt thawed yet was 10 days ago now, all of the cars that are snowbound are clearly in violation of that ordinance.

Bill B wrote:

Yep, my car got tagged. It has been moved. I don't see how that will help with plowing, but I moved it.
I think a better solution would be for the mayor to use his powers to declare a "snow emergency" which would implement an odd/even parking scheme.
When it snows and the plow goes down the street I try very hard to move all my vehicle to the plowed side so that the plow can get my side, then I move the vehicles back to my side.
I have been having back problems so I didn't get a chance to do that this time; of course now they tag :thanks:

I have always sensed that you were one of those slackers who waits for spring to melt the snow from your car.LOL!!!

According to the tag "state law 72 hours" was checked. There is also a box for "city ordinance 96 hours"

sparks wrote:

I have always sensed that you were one of those slackers who waits for spring to melt the snow from your car.LOL!!!

Yep, that's me! Just ask the guy that plows my street (he's active here ).
Actually, because I'm on call I almost always drive my work truck; I use my car about three times a month.

Bill if the car runs just move it out of the way. There is an ordinance that puts cars on one side of the road on odd days and the other side on even days during snow events. Mostly if people cooperate it doesnt need to be enforced.

voter3 wrote:

Bill if the car runs just move it out of the way. There is an ordinance that puts cars on one side of the road on odd days and the other side on even days during snow events. Mostly if people cooperate it doesnt need to be enforced.

After the broke down piece of junk across the street is towed, and that side of the street plowed I'll move all my vehicles like I usually do.As a matter of fact, I'll move my truck in the morning