Terrace Heights
(A story about cops, politics, and how just one sheriff can turn around one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city.)
“Sheriff Hughes was horrible.” They all thought so. He fired thirty-four deputies during his twelve year term, only because they had to shoot at gang members. He didn’t want to lose his job for having his deputies randomly shoot people. He was only elected because he was the only candidate on the Democrat ticket. The town knew that he was a bad sheriff, but they felt that electing their Democratic senators and representatives was more important than voting for a new sheriff.
During Hughes’ term, things on the East Side were horrible. Gunshots were more common than the ice cream truck. Gangs were infesting the East Side, and no-one could stop them. Then, the citizens of the housing projects of the East Side figured out how to stop the problem. Here was their solution: If they vote for the Republican sheriff, then maybe he would put an end to all of these gangs! The idea would spread like wildfire. Every day, people were putting up more and more posters for John Harwell, the Republican candidate.
On Election Day, Voting District Four had the highest turnout ever. John Harwell won in a landslide: 80% Harwell, 20% Hughes. The next day, Hughes went missing, and was never seen again. The new sheriff had a very strict agenda. One week after Election Day, he rehired all thirty four cops that were fired, and hired one hundred more. After a month of training, he placed about half of them in the twenty towers, one hundred row houses, and fifty small houses that made up Terrace Heights, the city’s largest housing project.
The rest of the new officers were placed in Harrison Township, where all of the gang members who were kicked out of the public housing system lived. It also was very crime-infested. It had lots of condemned old houses, unlike Terrace Heights, which was what you would call a “concrete jungle”. On their first day, the new and old officers alike made twenty-three arrests; all for drug possession and vandalism, except for three murder arrests. This pattern continued for several months.
Two years later, it was re-election time. The citizens were very satisfied with the new sheriff, but they only had one request: that he moved over to the Democrat ticket so that they could vote for their representative. Realizing that he would lose many votes if he did not, he reluctantly moved over to the other ticket.
Weeks later, Clay Hughes was found in a condemned house in Harrison playing illicit poker with five wanted criminals. He was charged with a misdemeanor for gambling and given a $500 fine. However, the gang members he was playing with were given larger sentences, with the largest being life without parole. They tried to interrogate him, but his lawyer told him not to say anything.
Over the last two years, tons of progress has been made. Developers are creating plans to put in a mall right next to Terrace Heights, which has been slated for demolition and reconstruction. Many industries have considered moving to the area. Two hundred condemned houses have been slated for demolition in Harrison. The East Side has been transformed from a slum to a normal working class neighborhood. The residents are very happy with this change.
The day after Harwell was elected for his second term, a death threat was sent to him. The person sending the death threat also threatened to kidnap his wife and put ransom on her. Forensic experts then determined that the handwriting on the letter was that of Clay Hughes. They also found his fingerprints on the letter. The District Four Police Department immediately issued a county-wide manhunt for him.
One week later, they found him behind a dumpster at McDonald’s in Harrison. He was immediately put into interrogation. At first, his lawyer told him not to say anything again, but after seventeen hours of interrogation, he finally admitted to sending him a death threat and threatening to kidnap his wife. He also turned in four of his aliases. One month later, he was sentenced to five years in federal prison for terroristic threats. The town was shocked to hear about this.
Five years after this, things have changed dramatically not only on the East Side, but all over town. Middle-class businessmen are riding the city buses; before, they were afraid of the gang members mugging them. The East Side Mall was doing great; people were shopping there now because they were not afraid of the gangs anymore. The people in the town kept him in office for the rest of his life.
(written by OSUbuck3y3 for my use)
Last edited by one_man_show (January 18, 2011 (02:08pm))
13:58 BertL you mean in high school people don't spontaneously break into song and dance
