The Hungry Journalist

I heard one of the scariest stories in recent memory yesterday. The most terrifying part: my mother was the protagonist.

We’re currently staying in an Arlington, Texas, hotel right next to Six Flags. Since we’ve been here a few days and will be there a few more while my sister plays in the Texas Girls Coaches’ Association All-Star Softball Game, Mom decided to do some laundry.

There is a laundromat is very close, so she went there with a few loads and planned on using the coin machine to turn a $20 bill into quarters for the machines.

When she did this, three young girls (approx. 7-10 yrs old) ran up to the machine and started reaching in to get the money. Mom told them to go away and was pretty taken aback that someone would allow their children to act this way.

But when she looked over at their father, the story changed dramatically.

The girls ran over to their father and gave him the change. The man looked at Mom and dared her to say something, while the kids started laughing at her. She thought about saying something, as my mother is pretty feisty.

Then she saw the 6-inch knife the man had hidden in the back of his waistband.

Mom decided the 6-or-so bucks the kids stole wasn’t worth it. Not even close.

Instead she walked outside, smoked some cigarettes to calm her nerves and let the time pass until she could run in and transfer the clothes from the washer to dryer. While doing this, she saw the kids rip off a man in the same way, and watched him do nothing about it.

Mom was absolutely scared out of her mind, and ran out of their with our mostly-dry clothes as fast as possible.

To make matters worse, I accidentally read a story where the city of Arlington has been told by a consultant that it should hire and train civilians to do low-level police work.

That report concluded that trained civilians could answer up to 21 percent of the department’s calls for services for incidents such as shoplifting, vehicle burglary reports, 911 hang-ups and minor accidents.

If my mother had called the police, it likely would’ve been considered a low-level offense by the man and his children. And if she’d called the police, I would have been severely pissed if Nick Burns (your company’s computer guy) had caught the case. She deserves a real police officer.

Fortunately, it looks like Arlington’s higher-ups also know this.

City Manager Jim Holgersson said that the report would be reviewed but that the city is under no obligation to do what the consulting group recommends. Police Chief Theron Bowman said he was withholding judgment until he has reviewed the entire report. “But I have grave concerns,” Bowman told the council.

Thank goodness. The part of Arlington around Six Flags is scary enough.