Month: January 2022

Hits: 453

Stephen Ames Berry

Something there is that does not love a light. Especially the gentle LED light gracing the end of our driveway here on Herkimer’s dingy-dark Pleasant Avenue. When we first installed it, one of our drug trafficking neighbors called the police. Another discussed putting anthrax in our mailbox. Oh! The endless wailings!

A few years later and walking down the street at dawn reveals a lot more of these cheap, bright lights, mostly in backyards.  And certainly our little light’s made it much easier for our cameras to pick out the faces of those trafficking out of landlord Jay Smith’s 326 Pleasant Avenue, two doors down. And the comings and goings of street bruiser Kim Vargas, next door at 328 Pleasant, as she makes her good-neighbor rounds of our village. On the bright side, we have some decent kids on the street who are happy to play ball in the lamp’s light. 

Prior to December, the light had been menaced but not attacked. That changed while I was away on 12/31, when 266 Pleasant Ave’s resident habitual offender Chandler Seelbach vandalized it. In November, Seelbach menaced and threatened my wife, Linda Kaidan over the light. She registered a complaint with the Herkimer Police and we hadn’t seen Seelbach for a while. Here’s a video of his vandalism. It begins with a brief clip of one of Kyle Stone’s occasional outbursts against the light:

 

“Neither Stone nor Seelbach would be infesting our community were it not for New York’s muddleheaded bail reform law

Stone and Seelbach are typical of Herkimer’s drug and child trafficking gang members: inept. Most of them have never worked and they have no grasp of cause and effect.  Despite their attempts, the light still works. Seelbach twisted its supports out of alignment, making it hard to properly position.  My complaint against Chandler Seelbach for Criminal Tampering is pending with the Herkimer Police. Seelbach seemed unconcerned about the 4 cameras recording him. And compared to the rest of his criminal history, it’s a minor offense. Neither Stone nor Seelbach would be infesting our community were it not for New York’s muddleheaded bail reform law, which is based on the philosophy that there’s really no such thing as a bad boy. In Florida, they’d have ago long been in prison.

Luring With A Light

I probably should mount the new, brighter light we have on hand. But am happy to leave the battered lamp where it is for now in hopes that some other drug-addled dimwits will attack it and be arrested. Think of it as luring with a light. Here;’s the law:

New York Penal Law § 145.20: Criminal Tampering in the Third Degree

A person is guilty of criminal tampering in the third degree when, having no right to do so nor any reasonable ground to believe that he has such right, he tampers with property of another person with intent to cause substantial inconvenience to such person or to a third person.
Criminal tampering in the third degree is a Class B misdemeanor. The penalty is 90 days in jail or 1 year’s probation, a fine and restitution to the victim.  

The videos make it an easy bust for the police.