lady who lives in hazleton

Carolyn Hileman* | March 25, 2007

This is in response to the IIRA ordinance proposed in Hazleton. I am sick and tired of reading how the illegal immigrants feel intimidated and discriminated against. I lived on Cedar and Chestnut streets for 13 years, and I was a friend of Derek Kichline and Tammy Gombert. I watched my neighborhood turn into a slum when the illegal immigrants moved in. I watched migrant farm workers move mattresses into the home across the street. That’s the only thing that was moved in. They spent most of their time hanging out on their porch, all 12 of them in one house. I had drug dealers living in my apartment building. Their customers would ring my doorbell at all hours of the night looking to buy drugs. There was filth and garbage everywhere around my building. I kicked their used condoms off my porch on a regular basis. I cleaned up garbage constantly, chicken carcasses, dirty diapers, beer bottles and lots of used condoms, only to have more garbage there the next day. They would stare me down looking at my like I was an idiot to be cleaning up the yard.
I had to listen to their Latino music blasting from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. when I got up in the morning, if I actually got any sleep at all. My son would cry himself to sleep at night begging me to go next door and tell them to turn the music down. It’s a good thing I didn’t. I might have taken a bullet between the eyes like Derek did.

From what I understand, he was murdered because he had the nerve to tell his killers to take their drug transactions somewhere else, when they loitered outside his home. Tammy had the misfortune of seeing him murdered six feet away while sitting on her front porch. She was so afraid that she had to move out of Hazleton. When I would visit her, I was so afraid that I started carrying a can of oven cleaner in my purse. If anyone tried to victimize me, they would have gotten a face full of oven cleaner. Do the people of Hazleton have the right to be angry and afraid? Absolutely! You can’t even walk the streets of your own neighborhood without worrying about being a crime victim.

I read in the paper that a man was robbed at knifepoint by four Hispanic males on Cedar and Chestnut. I also read in the paper that the Hispanics are upset about the police patrolling the streets where they live and work. When I see the police around, I know that they are doing their job to protect and serve. Only criminals are intimidated by police presence, not law abiding citizens. If they feel so intimidated, let them pack up and leave Hazleton the way Tammy Gombert did.

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