Subscriber Comments for
Chasing a Mugger

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 300912	2012-07-24 03:52 PM
Great job on chasing the Wacko - Thanks for stepping in - One down - 1800 to go -------
COMMENT 300914	2012-07-24 03:56 PM
If only we could offer more than a warm meal, housing and clothing for this poor individual. Obviously we need to offer more services to him. This could be any one of us in this economy. Maybe he can stay at Helen's instead of prison?
COMMENT 300916	2012-07-24 04:10 PM
Our City Council would rather hear the public discuss what we should name an airport terminal, Cam Sanchez, Chief of SBPD, would like us to know that there are no real significant crime issues in this town.Our City Attorney, Steve Wiley, is afraid of ANY legal action that the City can and should take against thses vagrants...Keep putting your head in the sand Santa Barbara- you're giving this town away...
ROGER DODGER	2012-07-24 04:11 PM
I heard that on my scanner really could not make heads or tales of it. Thank You Wonderful Job taking part in cleaning up the streets..:)
COMMENT 300920P	2012-07-24 04:16 PM
Awesome, thank you!
COMMENT 300923	2012-07-24 04:17 PM
He was probably on Bath Salts.
COMMENT 300924	2012-07-24 04:17 PM
Here's wishing someone kicked the cr*p out of him. Kudos to the citizens who stepped up. I'm sadder each day to live in a town where the average tax-paying, gainfully employed, contributing to society citizen can be cold-cocked in broad daylight, in front of countless witnesses. Cam, Helen, et al ... now what?
COMMENT 300925P	2012-07-24 04:20 PM
Good job subscriber!
COMMENT 300929	2012-07-24 04:26 PM
Good job! Also burned off those lunch calories :) We could start up a lunch exercise group called "chase the mugger", good for the body!
COMMENT 300933	2012-07-24 04:36 PM
Well done to the jogger, thank you. Is anyone keeping a tally of these homeless attacks? Five year old punched, sexual assaults, this guy. All of these on State street this month, can we not have loitering laws enforced? It seems pretty clear that moving the mentally ill away from busy downtown areas would be an easy first step to lowering the likelihood of these kind of incidents. Obviously moving the homeless from one area to another isn't a fix but allowing panhandling etc on the busiest downtown street is clearly not working.
DILLYDALLY	2012-07-24 04:39 PM
Hope the victim recovers in all respects. Very bad day. Crime "can" happen to anyone anywhere? Santa Barbara doesn't get to be unique in that respect. Crime isn't a new thing in SB either, what is new is edhats reporting (if crime rates are increasing or decreasing is HIGHLY debatable and the city states that violent crime is decreasing per capita but many wont believe that). It doesn't matter how gainful your employment is or how average you are, a crime might happen to you or near you some day, and maybe not even in Santa Barbara. In fact many worse things can happen, until we start prosecuting thought crimes pre-cog minority report style. I am glad we live in a town where our fellow residents will help make sure the criminal is held accountable and not stand idly by. Also glad that the SBPD takes it seriously. I hope this criminal is handled in a way that prevents him from ever doing this again.
COMMENT 300936	2012-07-24 04:41 PM
916: You are right to nail Steve Wiley. He has given our town away. Though he is supposed to carry out the will of city council. So some blame can be shared. But since he rolls over rather than fight - you can't send a milquetoast city attorney to do battle on our behalf. Time to get someone more effective in his place. Soon. Grrrrrrr-rah. Yeah, he will really scare people.
COMMENT 300956	2012-07-24 05:07 PM
Time for this county to become a shall issue county so law abiding citizens can protect themselves when Law Enforcement is not available. The Police can't be everywhere at once and the City Fathers refuse to take a direction that will rid our city of these less than desirable elements. Shall issue means the Sheriff will approve permits for law abiding citizens to carry a concealed firearm.
COMMENT 300962P	2012-07-24 05:24 PM
Not sure why people are yelling at someone named Helen, your mayor's name is Helene. If you don't like the changes she has made show it with your vote. I have lived here all of my life and things are definitely getting worse. Perhaps the reason the per capita violent crime numbers are down is because the number of people living here has increased. Is this because of the high density housing that is being forced onto this town? Perhaps. What I do not understand is why for so many years this was not required but now it is mandatory. Somehow all this time we managed to house all of the workers without this type of housing why is it needed now? And why do we need so many services for the homeless in such a small town? I am not without sympathy for those who fall on hard times but we seem to be begging them to come here.
COMMENT 300969	2012-07-24 05:47 PM
962, with all due respect, it's the weather. Would you rather be homeless in the cochella valley with 115 degree weather or here in sb where it is always 65 to 75? It's a survival thing. You ever hear of " the least of us?" PS on the high density thing don't be greedy! There is room for many more people in sb. Other people should be able to live here besides you... With all due respect.
COMMENT 300970	2012-07-24 05:51 PM
This is a job for the restorative policeman who helps these guys get off the street and he helps puts them get clean and helps them go home. or get a job. He has already helped 125 people on the streets here is Santa Barbara. He is a great person. The work he and his team of 6 do a great job helping put back together peoples lives.
COMMENT 300976P	2012-07-24 05:58 PM
Glad to know someone cares enough to help, in a crime and doesn't just stand by and do nothing. Great work Jogger! It's time to get our city council to open there eyes and see the what's really going on here.
COMMENT 300995	2012-07-24 07:05 PM
Thanks for the kudos, I actually forgot that there would be comments to my report. I am not really a jogger, I'm a 64 year old sailor gal with an office downtown and I see egregious acts all the time down there, so I ran after the guy. If it had been a female who was attacked I would have kicked the guy in the balls before the police got there. We have to bring some safety back to our downtown area.
COMMENT 300924	2012-07-24 07:05 PM
969 if you want to live in a more densely populated area why not move to one. And as for the least of us, why not take a few of these folks off the street and into your home and around your dining table.
COMMENT 301001	2012-07-24 07:38 PM
..... mom ?
COMMENT 301016	2012-07-24 08:30 PM
The mayor's name is Helene. Just repeat after me 'Hell no, Helene must go'. Easy to remember that way.
COMMENT 301034P	2012-07-24 09:51 PM
Obviously, we don't have enough in the way of services. I think this is due to a failed tax policy. Instead of the benefits of low property taxes that the multiple homeowner is enjoying, we could have a change in property and income tax law so that if you own a second home which you have rented out, the tax for you is higher. There are tons of slum lords in this town making a living off of rentals (reaping the rewards of low taxes) while the poor (and the rest of us) suffer from not having enough services. This is tough on our whole society and not at all democratic. The rich are not paying their fair share of taxes-so there are too many poor folks, who are under-serviced-as well as the rest of us with regards to police, especially traffic police and police who deal with loitering, etc. And of course the weather here is a huge magnet for homeless.
COMMENT 301043P	2012-07-24 11:20 PM
301034p brilliant and when you raise their taxes on the rentals do you think they will raise the rent to offset that. We seem to have plenty of services locally we spend public millions every year and more millions in private funds as well. How do you suffer is it because you don't have everything you feel you are entitled to and someone else is to blame?
COMMENT 301034P	2012-07-25 12:06 AM
301043P In Santa Monica they have rent control, so that landlords will NOT raise the rent. Just because you can't figure a way out of this mess doesn't mean that there isn't one. I am tired of lazy thinking. I don't feel I'm entitled to anything other than what I've earned. I worked in social services for over 30 years and I know what the needs are and what needs are being met. I'd have to get into a full lecture to address this issue but suffice to say (in MY opinion) the system is broke and it ain't going to fix itself. We need to change everything about it, so that it can function in a way in which demonstrates a true democracy-unless of course, you'd rather keep your oligarchy/plutocracy.
COMMENT 301060	2012-07-25 07:07 AM
Oh yes...more services, I thought SB was one of the most generous cities already...how's it working so far!? Thanks to the good citizens that aren't afraid to step up and assist, there is hope...
COMMENT 301067	2012-07-25 07:27 AM
300962P - Neither Apple nor Microsoft regognizes Helene as a valid name for the mayor of Santa Barbara nor for anyone else. Ain't auto spell check great?
COMMENT 300936	2012-07-25 08:16 AM
It's not the weather that attracts vagrants to Santa Barbara; it is the political climate.
COMMENT 301090	2012-07-25 08:24 AM
YAY to the citizen who kept chasing him and to those who called 911. Yesterday we were walking in Alice Keck Park and a raving lunatic, long brown hair, plaid shorts white guy was walking toward us and a bunch of families who were having a party there. This guy was yelling and swearing and started addressing me and my boyfriend. We got the He77 out of Dodge and called 911. He must have been on some drug or schizophrenic or something. Completely out of his mind and a danger to our town. I had my pepper spray with me and I was ready to use it. I don't leave home without it now. It's a real shame but it's the only way I feel safe (r).
MUSIC MAN	2012-07-25 09:06 AM
Here's a thought: Shop in Goleta!
COMMENT 301164	2012-07-25 10:47 AM
This is probably going to be deleted but I'm having a tough time with all this hubris. "Hey, I did a good thing.... look at me!" Whatever happened to doing the right thing not for the attention it would get you but just because it was the right thing to do? Boasting of doing something helpful for another person? Are you kidding me? Is there no humility in this world, only hubris and showboating? One endless episode of Reality TV? I'm sorry OP, but you didn't do this for the "mugging" victim. You did this for your own self aggrandizement (a little George Zimmerman worship?). A good deed should be something you do for nothing, just for the sake of doing good. Bragging about it means you get to boost your ego and negates the good intention. What have we become? A nation of Kardashians? This message will be Nannied in 1 .... 2...... 3........
COMMENT 301166	2012-07-25 10:51 AM
@956 - you have got to be kidding me! Concealed weapons???? Should we then just sit around and wait for a citizen with a concealed weapon to have a break-down like the kid from Aurora? By the way...I really appreciate the citizen who ran after the attacker and DID NOT have to use violence.
COMMENT 301399	2012-07-25 08:13 PM
1166 If you were sincere about preventing another Aurora, or other mass murder, think about the other common factors in these killings. Factors like behavior-modification treatment of the majority of these killers, and the fact that they were all on psychoactive drugs like Prozac. Maybe we should put some collective pressure on the FDA to rethink their approval of Prozac - hey what a novel idea hey?
YIN YANG	2012-07-25 09:30 PM
164, I respectfully disagree. I think the woman was reporting, and included her side of the story and her outrage. If it was me, I would have reported. Thanks OP!
COMMENT 305351	2012-08-07 08:39 AM
They shoud not have arrested this poor downtrodden mugger. He should have been given a free pass for a meal at the Biltmore and a room to stay in. After all Santa Barbara is now known all over the country and the community of bums and wackos, as the place you can get away with anything and there wil be a crowd of liberal bleeding hearts who will find an excuse to rationalize what you do and reward your status, calling you "homeless" and refusing to change the ridiculous "coddle and comfort" policies promoting, or at least excusing, this kind of violent conduct.

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