Neighbor mugged and moving to Prescott

[James] This morning as I was doing some laundry, I ran into our next door neighbor Matt. He and his family have been in the process of moving for about a week. I offered to help him with some things today if he needed it, which led to my first tour of his place. He, his wife and their 3 children have lived next door for a couple years at least but have now made the decision to move. A couple months ago Theresa was home during the day when she heard some people outside roughing around. It sounded serious enough that she felt that she should call the police. When the police asked where the disturbance was coming from, she decided to peak her head outside to see. When she went outside she discovered several youth to be the source of the commotion. One of them asked if she was calling the police, to which Theresa replied, yes they are on the phone right now. The girl rushed over to her and started taking swings. Theresa was able to dodge the throws of two girls and in fact ended up injuring one of them as she tried to defend herself. Within moments almost a dozen other youth from the area rushed out and were joining in. Theresa was actually forced to the ground as kids began kicking her head against the ground... She suffered a pretty severe concussion which made her sick for the next month. Theresa's father insisted that they move to a safer location. Even thought this was the first physical encounter that they had experienced, it was to be the last. Matt say's that they have enjoyed living here in this neighborhood and that they have felt relatively safe here for the most part, but once was too much.

Matt and Theresa have found a place in Prescott where they hope they will be able to raise their children in a safe and nurturing environment. I can't say that I blame them.

Each day it seems we learn something new about the neighborhood and the people. Today it got serious. We roommates can often have an ideal picture of what this is supposed to look like, but it is so important that we realize that we aren't there yet.