Neighborhood Watch: Attempted Letter to the Editor
Email by me
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006
From: "Janet Granofsky"
Subject: Letter to Editor, The Avenue
To:
CC:
Dear Ms. Flanagan:
Following (below the dashed line) is my submission of a Letter to the Editor for publication in the next issue of The Avenue. I know I have missed the deadline of 5 PM today, Friday. I hope you can still fit this into the May 24 issue. It has taken me all day to compose. This letter concerns an incident on April 27th, about which I have left you some phone messages. This submission you are reading does not include the account of another police-involved incident on May 13th; I left you some phone messages about THAT also. I have hinted about the May 13 thing at the end of this submission you are reading now. I plan to submit another Letter to the Editor as soon as possible, about the May 13 incident.
I would like you to print this entire Letter in your paper, without condensing or modifying it. If you cannot do so, please inform me ASAP, and do not publish it yet. Italicization is not necessary. Please do not correct the spelling of the word "hapend"- it is intentional, an "inside joke". I have proofread and hope the rest is correct.
Please acknowledge this submission by phone rather than email, as web access is uh- painful for me.
Janet Granofsky
Middle River, MD 21220
(At this time I have no P.O. Box address. But, of course, do not publish my address/phone.)
====== start Letter to Editor: ===========
TO: The Editor, The Avenue Newspaper
FROM: Janet Granofsky
In the past year or two I have occasionally left phone messages on the Essex-Middle River-White Marsh Chamber of Commerce
This past March I phoned the Baltimore County Communications number about a super-loud construction noise, and was transferred to the Baltimore County Police Dept., Essex Precinct, Officer Waite, who told me the police could not help. I also phoned a woman the Essex-Middle River Chamber of Commerce about this problem, and remarked disparagingly about my apartment-managers' level of concern for such issues. In March I also summoned police about a flip student door-to-door subscription salesman, who I later found to be legitimate.
On the evening of April 14 I left a phone message on the E-MR Chamber describing a certain quality of Baltmore County's Love.
The next evening I qualified this with a message on the Director of a Baltimore County public agency, referring to a County administrator's broadcast appearance.
In a wee hour of Tues April 25 I left another phone message on The Chamber, quoting what I had been called that day by mostly teen motorists as I rode my bicycle to the library: 2 versions of the B-word, several "Get on the sidewalk!", and other instructions. I also commented about the meteorological/ social weather, and hoped E-MR, and WM too, were ready for world fame.
I made several other visits to the Essex branch of the Baltimore County Public Library around this time, engaging as usual in lively conversation with librarians and patrons.
About 7 AM on Thurs., April 27 I left a phone message on the E-MR Chamber of Commerce about my bicycle sign; other people's gas-price ire; my expectation that I might get run over; whether I cared any more; the instruction to, if such hapend, notify Senator Barbara Mikulski to take care of my affairs; and my expectations, based on past experience, of treatment from Franklin Square Hospital.
The same day at 2:25 pm I answered my door to find 2 fully armed adult male police and an adult female. One officer started to shoulder in and glanced around quickly, but withdrew affably when I stated firmly "You are NOT welcome in here." They identified themselves as Officers John Rogers [spellings assumed] and Jim Morrison, and Roxanne Lauer, a "mental health clinician ...with the mobil crisis team", a specialized detective unit of the Baltimore County Police. They were concerned about my "letters to" (wrong) the Chamber of Commerce, because "they [The Chamber] don't deal with these kinds of issues" and "You said something about 'finding your body'." (wrong again) and "They jist found that to be odd, which is why we came out here."
We conversed about 15 minutes. We discussed mental healthcare practices. I read them my "No police shall be allowed to enter ... unless called by myself" notice on my apartment door, and told them a little about how Baltimore County Police had very seriously violated my civil rights in 1993. I hoped that if I were ever again hospitalized, that Sen. Mikuski might protect the contents of my apartment from ransacking by certain parties. (I realize now that this was a mistake, since Sen. Mikulski has never answered any of my submissions, and staff had treated me somewhat dismissively when I had contacted her office about my past civil rights crisis.)
I told the crisis unit about the (above-mentioned) motorists' yelling at me; the (above-mentioned) subscription salesman; pornographic vandalism on my apartment door decor; dollar-store clerks' demands for me to surrender my backpack to them while shopping (Police have told me this is not mandatory); my December 1999 Letter to the Editor of this newspaper protesting endangerment by illegal dirt bikers on BGE power line property; later being brushed against by an illegal dirt biker; letters to myself from police and BGE regarding same issue; being hit in the face by an object thrown by a teen from a parked car-- and I wondered why these were not responsible concerns of the Chamber of Commerce.
Ms. Lauer asked "Are there any services that we can help you with?" I didn't think so, considering that they hadn't bothered to get a print of the exact text of my phone message, nor had they actually heard it themselves. Officer Morrison said "A lot of people don't give us the exact quotes-- "they jist go off the top o' their heads."
Ms. Lauer asked me for a small number of personal info items, most of which I answered, including that I have lived here 14 years. She wrote my answers (I assume) on her clipboard, for their report.
Finally Ms. Lauer handed me their business card, in case I ever needed their services, and said "We won't bother you any more." After more comments, some repetitious, and "Thank You's" (disgruntled on my part), the team left.
The card says "Baltimore County Crisis Response System Community Hotline" with the (local) phone number; a logo with "Relief is just a call away"; "A service of the Affiliated Santé Group"; and a list: "Telephone triage for mental health needs, Linkage to psychiatric treatment services, Crisis stabillization in the community, Community education, Family Intervention Team."
On the morning of Tues. May 2 I phoned the Crisis Response System Hotline and asked how I might obtain a copy of the police or other written report for the April 27 incident. I left my phone number and suggested that Ms. Lauer might simply leave me a message with contact info for obtaining a report.
At 12:13 pm I received the following recorded message: "Hi Janet, this is Roxanne Lauer with the mobile crisis team I-- I'm [unintelligible] that you called in earlier looking for, um, you wanted something-- a report, you wanted a report to you? Um, there are no reports from us, and it was just a wellness check, just makin' sure that everything was okay. So um if you have any further questions give me a call: [Hotline #] Thank you."
I began framing my "further questions" over the following days, when ANOTHER incident occurred...
-- Janet Granofsky
======= End of Letter to Editor =========
Another e-mail by me
Date:Sat, 20 May 2006
From:"Janet Granofsky"
Subject: Forgot info for insertion
To:
CC:
Dear Ms. Flanagan:
In my emailed submission of a Letter to the Editor yesterday evening, I neglected to include some very important info. For publication, you may insert the following paragraph into my Letter, between the paragraph ending with "...Community education, Family Intervention Team." and the one which begins "On the morning of Tues. May 2 I phoned the Crisis Response System..."
====== paragragh for insertion ==========
Over the weekend I phoned John Gontrum, listed as VP for Chamber Affairs at www.emrchamber.org, and left a message for him and for Alexander B. Page III, Chamber President, about the April 27 incident, some legal cases, and some other phone numbers on which I am accustomed to leaving messages; however I heard some strange electronic sounds and suspect that this message might not have registered in voicemail. Later I left a related message on one of those other numbers.
====== end of paragraph for insertion ======
Also, in the 2nd paragraph of my Letter, I meant to state: "I also phoned a woman at the Essex-Middle River Chamber"-- you may insert the word "at".
I apologize for inconveniencing you.
I am working on another Letter to the Editor about the May 13 incident involving the police again, Dollar General, and the backpack issue again. I hope to have this completed by this Friday 5 PM deadline, at latest, and hope nothing ELSE interferes.
--Janet Granofsky
(I prefer confirmation by phone rather than email.)
Reply Email
Date: Wed 24 May 2006
Subject:Re: Letter to Editor, The Avenue
From:
To:"Janet Granofsky"
Dear Ms. Granofsky,
Thank you for writing to The Avenue News. I have received your voice-mail messages and am sorry you are experiencing some difficulties with the police and local business owners.
Unfortunately the content of your letter is not something suitable for publication in The Avenue News because it involves a personal matter with the police.
If you feel you have been mistreated by anyone in the police department, you should contact their Internal Investigation Unit and they will investigate your complaint.
Again, thank you for writing to The Avenue News.
Jean A. Flanagan, Editor
The Avenue News
442 Eastern Blvd.
Essex, MD 21221
410-68 7-7 7 75 (Phone)
410-6 87-78 8 1 (Fax)
"The old law of 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
See also my Index file,
Janet Granofsky's (My)
My Comments on 9/11, terrorism, war, bush, etc., (Was this an early blog?)
Professor David D. Perlmutter's email about his "Dark Thoughts",
Wesley J. Smith's recommendations to me.
Note: I throw out almost all emails I get here, without opening. Try to be exceptional. And remember that everything is probbly being eavesdropped, especially ours.
This Attempted file committed publication
