Family feuds keep Warren neighborhood in turmoil

The owner of a pit bull
terrier admits the dog
has contributed to turmoil.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN — In a Northwest Side neighborhood, a dispute involving two teenage girls who got into a fight six weeks ago has escalated into a neighborhood feud.

The situation resulted in a felony charge being filed a week ago, when a 39-year-old uncle of one of the girls was charged with felonious assault.

Police say Daniel Boone, 39, of 241 Penn Avenue N.W., hit Tracy Mathews, 18, with a baseball bat Aug. 12 near Mathews’ 442 Penn Ave. house. Mathews lives there with his mother, Lisa Wright, 38, and four brothers and sisters — one of whom is the 14-year-old who got into the fight with Boone’s 13-year-old niece.

Wright said the fight that started the conflict was fair — only fists were used. But her daughter is larger than the other girl, and the fight has turned much of the neighborhood against them, she added.

Monica Hussing, Daniel Boone’s sister and mother of the other girl, lives on York Avenue almost directly behind the Wrights.

Hussing said much of the neighborhood dislikes the Wrights. Among her complaints are that their children run through the streets with their pit bull terrier, threatening and scaring people with it, and using foul language.

“I’ve lived here 13 years and never had a problem with anybody” until the Wrights moved in about five months ago, Hussing said.

Wright was charged Thursday with having a vicious dog (the pit bull) and allowing it to run at large. She pleaded innocent Friday and returns to municipal court Oct. 15.

Neighborhood changes

Kathy Bowden, who lives just north of the Wrights on Penn Avenue, said she and many other nearby homeowners are fed up with the general deterioration of the neighborhood.

Some of Bowden’s friends from the four or five streets around her — people who have owned homes there for many years, rather than renting — have sought help from Warren City Council, but nothing seems to help, she said.

An example of the problem is that children on the street frequently won’t move out of the way for cars. Break-ins occur in the neighborhood all the time, and Warren police are called to the street at least once a week, she said.

“We’re tired of it,” Bowden said. “We keep our properties up, and the rentals are going to trash.”

Bowden said some of the homeowners have taken up the practice of having “porch parties,” where they gather at a house with beverages and snacks and keep an eye on the neighborhood — all the while keeping a steel baseball bat handy.

Bowden said her garage has been broken into twice in the past two weeks. Her golf cart was stolen, along with power tools and other items. “Some people can’t even get homeowner’s insurance the thefts are so bad,” she said.

Many of the houses around her are vacant, and several are for sale. “Once they’re vacant, the plumbing gets torn out. That night, it’s gone,” she said of the copper pipes inside the houses, which thieves rip out and sell.

Police calls

Bowden said the Wrights have had police at their house a lot the past few months. Police reports say calls from the Wrights or neighbors have brought them to the address six times since July 22.

But Bowden says she doesn’t see the Wrights’ behavior as being much different from what she sees in most of the rental properties. “It’s typical of that end of the street,” she said.

Hussing disagrees.

On the Sunday afternoon that her brother was arrested, Hussing said she was cornered in the backyard of a house near the Wrights by the Wrights’ 7-month-old, 70-pound pit bull, Cautious; Tracy Mathews; and his parents, Lisa and Joe. She said the Wrights had tire irons and Mathews told the dog, “Sic her, Cautious.”

When word got back to her brother, Daniel Boone, of what was happening, he came to her defense — along with lots of neighbors.

“They had me trapped in the backyard,” Hussing said. “All of the neighbors came running.”

Boone said that when he got there, he did hit Mathews with his fist because Mathews pulled his hair, but he denies hitting him with a baseball bat.

“I know I’m going to beat this case because I didn’t do anything wrong,” Boone said.

Teen accused of assault

Meanwhile, Boone’s 15-year-old son is also accused of assaulting two of the Wright children. Detective Sgt. Jeff Cole said this week that he is continuing to investigate and may file charges in juvenile court against the 15-year-old. Cole said the incident is part of an ongoing “neighborhood dispute.”

Lisa Wright said that Hussing’s story about being cornered is untrue and that Hussing’s accusation that her children use the dog to threaten people is also false.

“My kids are not like that. They would not sic the dog on someone,” she said.

She admits, however, that the dog has been the source of much of their conflict in the neighborhood. When the dog gets loose, he does scare people, even though he has never done serious harm, she said. The dog was loose on the day Daniel Boone is accused of hitting her son, Wright said.

She, however, sees the attitude of the Boones, Hussings and their friends as the reason the neighborhood has been in turmoil for the past couple of months.

“These people will not leave my kids alone,” she said, adding that she wants her kids to be able to play in the neighborhood like normal kids — not locked in the house.

runyan@vindy.com