How do YOU protect yourself? (Charlotte: high school, live, beach)

[MJPost32]

definitely! I just wonder how long it will take for things to change that is all..we aren't willing to wait it out (8 yrs. plus) and be the guinea pigs thats all.

On a side note Spring is absolutely wonderful here..we enjoyed a lot of b-ques this past weekend with our neighbors!

[nkjaws]

Originally Posted by MJPost32

definitely! I just wonder how long it will take for things to change that is all..we aren't willing to wait it out (8 yrs. plus) and be the guinea pigs thats all.

On a side note Spring is absolutely wonderful here..we enjoyed a lot of b-ques this past weekend with our neighbors!

Well unfortunately, we are the guniea pigs. So I don't know how long it will take to fix the mishaps of the last few years. But yeah it will take years. I think a lot of people feel the way you do about not wanted to go through the growing pains and watch Charlotte try to work it all out. So we too have been looking at houses back in TX.

[MJPost32]

maybe we will be neighbors! I probably really sound like a sour puss on this board but I swear I am not in person. I am generally extremely happy. This really just got us down but I believe everything happens for a reason. I have meet some wonderful people here and again really hope things change but we do have plans to take a long trip to visit family in TX next Spring. We plan to look at a few areas outside of all the major cities. My family leaves in the Woodlands outside of Houston and have nothing but wonderful things to say about it. I know the taxes are more and the traffic is crazy but we will see! I don't mind living in the heat stricken southwest (with a pool!) if it means I don't have to be on guard all the time and hear all these awful stories that occur in the suburbs week after week. Well at least I know how to protect myself wherever we end up now though

[LAMF]

Tomorrow night our little town of 600 or so people will be forming our first neighborhood watch, officially. I am very excited about this, and hope to be the first to be issued a pitchfork and a torch.

Oh yeah, it's gonna be a new kind of Christmastown after tomorrow night! Miscreants and ne'er-do-wells beware!

[MJPost32]

We talked about pitch forks too!!!

[nkjaws]

Originally Posted by MJPost32

maybe we will be neighbors! I probably really sound like a sour puss on this board but I swear I am not in person. I am generally extremely happy. This really just got us down but I believe everything happens for a reason. I have meet some wonderful people here and again really hope things change but we do have plans to take a long trip to visit family in TX next Spring. We plan to look at a few areas outside of all the major cities. My family leaves in the Woodlands outside of Houston and have nothing but wonderful things to say about it. I know the taxes are more and the traffic is crazy but we will see! I don't mind living in the heat stricken southwest (with a pool!) if it means I don't have to be on guard all the time and hear all these awful stories that occur in the suburbs week after week. Well at least I know how to protect myself wherever we end up now though

I feel the same way, so it is not just you. Taxes are not more in TX, there are no state income taxes, food and everything else is cheaper. But yeah they don't mess around down there and we shouldn't either. We should start researching how they do things with crime down there and what they consider to be good ways to protect themselves and see if we can apply them here.

[MJPost32]

and they were coming in anywhere from 2-4% and we pay.67 now so that is a big difference. I know they have Homestead tax but my relatives pay about $4400 on property taxes for a $250,000 and we only pay $1100 a year. You are correct though they don't pay state income tax.

I know they are allowed to shoot someone that is in their backyard or front yard they don't have to wait and see if they breakd down the door! Also where they live the cops are there with in 2-3 mins not 35 mins.! I am going to assume those are the big differences.

[MJPost32]

here is what one poster said about taxes..so it is pretty high average is 4% like back in the NE the houses are just less expensive but again no income state tax.

homestead exemption wii take about 10% off of you taxes, and taxes are high here but homes prices are low and cost of living is lower then alot of olaces. In The Woodlands, auto and homeowners insurance is less expensive(Montgomery County) the Harris County but home prices are less expensive for the most part in Harris County.
There is no comparison to the NE, as you can get a 10 year old 3000 sq. foot home with a pool, water softener, granite counters, 4 bedrfoom, 3.5 bath home in THe Woodlands close to Town Center(which is unbelievable!) for 325,000.
You can get the same home in Klein for a little less with top of the line schools.

[nkjaws]

Originally Posted by MJPost32

and they were coming in anywhere from 2-4% and we pay.67 now so that is a big difference. I know they have Homestead tax but my relatives pay about $4400 on property taxes for a $250,000 and we only pay $1100 a year. You are correct though they don't pay state income tax.

I know they are allowed to shoot someone that is in their backyard or front yard they don't have to wait and see if they breakd down the door! Also where they live the cops are there with in 2-3 mins not 35 mins.! I am going to assume those are the big differences.

Yeah, In TX if someone crosses your property line you are allowed to shoot. Average response time for an officer to arrive when dispatched is 2-3 mins as well. There is no such thing as waiting on hold for 5 mins with the 911 operator there. Just knowing that almost everyone owns a gun is a big deterrent there and knowing that the police are going to arrive in a few minutes doesn't give the crooks enough time to get much of value out of a house.

[nkjaws]

I think this goes hand in hand about some of the issues we have been talking about as to why we have to protect ourselves in the first place. Take this case for example:
Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Vance High School Student Arrested with Gun on Campus


Morris Justin Graves, 18, was arrested today at Vance High School after a school resource officer found a gun and spent shell casings in the trunk of his car which was located in the school parking lot.

Graves is charged with possession of a gun on educational property and possession of marijuana. He was released on a $3,000 bond.

CMS told the Observer that a fellow student alerted school administrators about the gun in Graves' car and there was evidence to suggest the gun had recently been fired on a trip to Myrtle Beach over spring break.




So here is my question, he has a gun, there is evidence that he has shot the gun and now he is released????? What do we have to do to get some brighter people in our judicial system to hold onto these guys until their trial?
In order to hold someone without bond, they have to feel that a person may pose harm to another person, themselves, or may be a flight risk. So one would think this teenager might be mighty angry at the other teenager that turned him in, ie poses a danger to others??? I just don't understand.