I've had ENOUGH

[Jaime Hughes]

Thanks, I appriciate it. I will be available all day tomorrow by telephone. I will be checking back onto this forum periodically to see if any new posts have been left.


Best way is to get ahold of me by telephone....I am going to the Mayors office tomorrow and setting up a meeting.

[northside lurker]

I'll give you a call tomorrow evening.  Hopefully, you can get ahold of the owner by then.

[Jaime Hughes]

I will be contacting the owner this Monday. The house is registered under Mr. Robert H. Vansickle, he is also the owner of the Covington House and the Illinois Manner. He has his business on 3666 Mahoning Avenue.


I understand about the integrity of the house, but the problem is...once the copper is stripped the house is basically useless..it takes a lot of time and money to rewire and pipe a house that has been stripped.

I know for a fact a week ago that house still had all of it's copper because we had walked in there and saw much of the pipes and that exposed but still there. It was like...Vansickle had just...walked out one day and left it because there are still desks and everything, phones still hooked up, everything is still very particularly placed.


John thank you for wanting to help, please...if ANY of you would like to help... please contact me anytime this week ....John also call me and we will work something out in the way of helping out this house.


330-550-6959, I want to do like...an adopt a house thing, where maybe once a month you are designated to ahouse and you clean the trash out of the yard , plant flowers maybe? Etc etc...but then I run into issues like this and wonder how I can get around it....any ideas? CALL ME!

[northside lurker]

Are you communicating with the owner?  Do they know what's going on?  If you get the owner's permission, I'll help you close the house up.  We can close and reinforce all but one door.  At that one door, I'd be willing to buy and install a new deadbolt.  Then, we would have the key, and the house could be locked up.  But, because I don't have a driver's license, I would need your help at least for transportation.

Hopefully these guys were just after the copper plumbing and/or wiring.  While that can cause damage, it would be much worse if they are taking architectural items like woodwork, french doors, stained glass, etc.  The electrical and plumbing systems can be repaired.  But, the architectural items are often irreplaceable.

You already have my email.  But in case you don't remember who I am, my email is: jcumpston -at- neo.rr.com

[Oldmill]

Just goes to prove Bad guys win . Good guys lose. Thats why I believe in vigilantism. Otherwise do just that, crawl in a hole and give up.

[Towntalk]

I don't blame you one bit. As for the cops, 99%  of them are as worthless as $3.00 bills, and I have reservations about the others.

Why should we respect them when they don't do their job?

If they are like this when it comes to house strippers, what are they like when it comes to other crimes?

There is absolutely no excuse ... NONE ... for the not to have investigated in that case, and don't bother even trying to find excuses, because I won't buy them. This kind of behaviour is too common to excuse. Too many folks have had this sort of experience for it to be the exception to the rule.

Where is the "Zero Tolerance" Mayor when it comes to this topic? He is too busy finding excuses for the total incompetence of his Police Department to start cracking down on them.

IS THIS WHY THE SOUTH AND EAST SIDES OF YOUNGSTOWN ARE IN THE SHAPE THEY ARE?

[Jaime Hughes]

The other day, when I was ranting and raving about everything I do as well as the other organizations do is an uphill battle, I brushed it unto the rug and didn't give up hope. I was really inspired after seeing a rainbow cast over the city of Youngstown and felt that was a sign that I neeeded to continue to help.

Yesterday, in my endeavors of yardwork on that mansion (259 Park), something very very strange was going on. The house next door is for rent/sale, well there was a young gentlemen seated on the sidewalk....watching us unload our lawnmower like a hawk. A minute later we heard ruffling and an older gentlemen walk down the driveway and they both got into their truck and drove away.

I turned around to see the board over the doorway to be moved (when earlier it wasnt.) and the front door to be open, I got a little closer to hear someone running around in the house and someone talking on a phone.

I got spooked and walked away, in the meantime calling the YDP and YSUPD, while waiting on the PD's to get here....this truck continues to circle the house, then they park at Wick Park and cross the street... the older gentlemen disapears as my partner rounds the corner to see the fence open to the house we were caring for, as well as the basement door being kicked in.


The police arrive and walk around the house, confirming someone was indeed inside (they had locked all the doors to keep the cops out), the police said that they werent going to go in after them only because by now the copper was probably gone (if we could only tell him that there was still copper in that house...but we couldnt tell him that we snuck in.)

Then WE were in a difficult situation! Because we couldnt file a complaint or even get the people out of the house because we were in fact trespassing also! Although they appriciated what we were doing, the owner of the house could in fact come in and file a complaint against us.



As we groomed the yard, there were people inside that house....killing the integrity...


I researched that house, it was built in 1875, it was the first house on that street EVER, way back when it was still considered Youngstown Township. It was owned by C.H. Krauter, who was the first pharmacist in Youngstown. In 1937 that house was marked at a half of million, today it is only worth 68,000.

It has 20 rooms, all solid oak everywhere, the copper is still in tact, and it was the first style of it's time (because Krauter designed it himself.), the Krauter's have crypt in Oak Hill Cemetary.



I just feel like giving up all hope, I am going to be contacting the owner of the house this week to find out what we can do to make it better, because it is such a beautiful house. It's horrible, I mean...this house sits vacant...it was the FIRST house ever built on that block. It's on the Historical National Registration, yet sits and rots (the house and the carriage house behind it are registered.).


I just needed to express my utter digust about everything, I want to give back to the city but everytime I pick my next small project... something is blocking it.