Okay so most of you have not been aware of any such "saga." But since Halloween, we have seen more and more of young Mr. Donovan. Background: for the past 2 or 3 months he has lived about 4 houses down the street from us, he's 15, and likes to borrow Hubs' skateboards and bike. That was the extent of it. He was just a slightly annoying kid with an obvious lack of social skills and friends. When I teach piano I face out the living room window, right out to the street, and several times I've noticed Donovan popping wheelies right in front of our window, then glancing over to see if I'm watching. A little sad, really.
But lately we've seen more of him; not just hanging out in our driveway talking skateboards with Hubs, but teaching our kids how to ride his razor scooter, reminding our kids not to ride bikes/scooters in the street, helping them cross the street on occasion, etc. All in all, getting a little bit too friendly with the kids. Just to the extent that I think to myself, "It's probably harmless" but at the same time, not wanting to leave them outside alone with him because why does a 15-yr-old want to hang out with lil' tykes. Just this week, he has knocked on our door two different afternoons, asking if the kids are going to come out & ride bikes. Did I mention that he's 15, and they're 3, 3, 5, & 7. But still, he has a speech impediment and does seem slightly "challenged," as one neighbor put it, so maybe he's harmless.
Still, I'm glad that the house he lives in is for sale.
But then he told us that they're renting it, and the seller intends to sell it to another investor and that they will stay in it. Drat. (He concluded a long, meandering, half-coherent tale of tax write-offs and investments with, "Long story short, it's our house.)
Well today, as the kids were out riding bikes with the other 7 or 8 kids on our street, Donovan was noticeably absent. It was so nice; I could focus on watching for cars and kids riding out into the street, instead of my usual game of watching the teenager like a hawk.
A little bit of investigation on Hubs' part turned up quite a tale:
According to some other neighbors, Donovan's family (I think there's just a dad and a brother) moved out of their house last night.
At 3:00am.
Accompanied by a police car.
What?? I'm no legal expert but my rudimentary understanding of evictions is that they happen during regular hours under civil, law-abiding conditions. I guess that's only the way it is in naïve-land. I should check with my relative who is an expert in landlord/tenant law...
Another junior-high-aged neighbor boy also reported that "It's good they're gone. Donovan was not a good kid." Why? He has been suspended from school for sexual harrassment. He's been seen beating up his dog. He taught the S-WORD to the cute little 5-yr-old boy in the cul-de-sac. He may or may not have knocked over a neighbor's cactus in the dead of night after being told that it was inappropriate for him to hang out with the little neighborhood kids. Had I known these things before, my children would have been confined to the house or the backyard during these past couple weeks of lovely weather we've had.
But now he's gone. Let's hope it's for good.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Donovan saga update
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12 comments:
saga indeed. that is crazy. and creepy. i'm glad he's gone, too.
I thought he was creepy the one time I met him (when he was telling me that Sam should not ride the bike in the street). That's so strange. I'm going to ask Q about the leaving in the middle of the night thing as soon as he gets off of the phone and I read him this post. Sheesh!
Oh my goodness! What a saga! I too thought Donovan was super, hugely creepy. After he REALLY badly wanted to run with our kids in our little race the other day (he was practically begging to participate)...I just thought there was something so odd about him.
You know, I was concerned when I bought this house about the registered sex offenders in my area. But I think you really just have to be SO cautious and kind of worry about everyone!
So glad Donovan is gone. And by the way, Noah corrected me several times last week to tell me that his name was "DON-O-MAN." :)
That Donoman thing is cracking me up!! I had no idea the kids thought that was his name. Well, no point in correcting them now :)
Wouldn't it have been nice though, if Brandon the middle-schooler, or his parents, or SOMEONE, had given us a heads up on this kid a little sooner? Come on folks, be good neighbors!
So if someone is evicted and doesn't leave when they are supposed to, the sheriff will come to accompany them off of the property with some sort of writ (I can't remember the name the Q told me). But they do this during regular hours. So if the cops (as opposed the the sheriff or constable) were involved and it was the middle of the night, Q guesses someone was being arrested for something criminal. Not an eviction.
Oh--I am shuddering just reading this story. I have to side with Kate and say I'm worried it's not an eviction and you haven't seen the last of him.
This is quite the hot topic for me as I was discussing the delicate balance between trying not to offend someone on the one hand and going with your gut instinct on the other. I think when kids are involved, you go with the gut and stop worrying about being offensive. 15 years old is way too old to be hanging out with kids, even if he is really immature. Whatever social fulfillment he gets from palling around with the neighborhood toddlers is only exacerbating his poor social skills, not helping him. And as for what your kids are getting out of it--it's really questionable that he could be any sort of a good influence on them whatsoever. If he comes back, banish the kids to the backyard until he gets the hint and finds another crowd to run with. Sure, it will probably be the glue-sniffing crowd under the bleachers at the high school, but better them than your kids.
Okay, this is an extremely long and needlessly opinionated post for what was essentially a hilarious story.
A hilarious, icky story.
I think the neighbors told Aaron they were actually moving out, like there was stuff being moved out of the house and maybe even a moving truck of some sort.
I had actually written this on Saturday, so they've been gone since Friday night... no sign of them... holding our breath...
But yes of course, knowing what we know now, in the event that they're not gone for good, there will be no more teaching our kids how to pop wheelies or anything else!
Wow, that is crazy. I am glad you kept and eye on your kids. Always trust your gut, it is usually right. Our neighbor is a police officer and we love it. I know it's not going to keep the bad guys aways but it is just reassuring!
So I just took it upon myself to investigate more thoroughly... there's a bright orange NOTICE OF SEIZURE on the front door, stating that the house has been siezed, locks changed, etc. Another paper gives legal details, something about a writ, etc.
So it looks like they ARE gone for good! The middle-of-the-night issue still seems strange to me but they must've had multiple warnings.
OH YIKES!!!!! I could barely get thru the reading of this saga. I am SO glad he's gone!
Actually, I was not trying to be incognito above. I just forgot to put my name in before I published my yikes comment.
Wow--gotta go with your gut when the crazies come around. Remind me to tell you about my street urchin tomato-licking annoying neighbor kid. Maybe that's an idea for my next post?
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