Pay Raise for the Guards

Today as I was headed to Dr. Gustavo's office, there was a dead man in the road with his motorcycle and his helmet lying next to him. It is never fun to see a dead person. The part that hit me hardest is yesterday at that very same corner, a motorcycle passed me on the left and then cut in front of me and turned right. I had to swerve and still almost hit him.

I told Fany, "I am going to kill someone on a motorcycle one day."

Fany scolded me, "Don't say that. Words have power."

I dodge motorcycles every time I drive. It's strange - you'd think a little motorcycle would be dodging my truck. But no. I am the defensive driver in the case of most motorcycles. I get cut off more often by motorcycles than by cars. True fact.

Yesterday as Fany and I were headed home we saw the head of security for our Colonia. I wanted to talk to him about a survey we got this week. It said if we don't pay $5/month more for security, we will no longer have guards.

Our colonia has two entrances. At each entrance there are at least two guards who open and close the big gates. If your car has a sticker, that means you live here and can pass through. If you don't have a sticker, they stop you, write down your license plate and driver's license number, and keep your license until you leave. They have a log of every driver who enters. To get in on foot you have to leave ID with them too. It's a good system.

We don't have problems with crime here except for the crazy lady two doors down who pops peoples tires if they park near her house. But she's lived here for years and the people have come to accept the fact that she acts out in strange ways.

Now the guards would like a pay raise. They haven't had one in five years, so to me it seems fair. The money will also go into street repair and some other stuff that will benefit the community.

Here's the catch. Already there are neighbors who don't pay the $25 monthly fee for our guards. If we don't agree to the pay increase, our guards are going to leave in three weeks and we will have an ungated community.

I am all for the pay increase. It seems only fair after five years. I told the head of security I think the guards on my side of the colonia are doing a great job. They keep the gates closed and hurry to open them when a car is coming. They carefully check everyone who enters.

The guards on the other side of the colonia don't do anything and need to be more alert. They just stand with the gate open and don't check for stickers. The head of security said he is also concerned about them and has fired one whose last day will be Sunday. He wants me to call him every time I see them not doing their job. (They didn't even glance at my car when I came in through their gate today.)

Here's the biggest problem. The two neighborhoods next to mine are not gated. The both have horrible crime and recently there has been a "cleaning" going on in one. I can no longer walk to the next colonia to get cheese or tortillas or fruit because they are shooting people there. Actually, I would be safe. They are only "cleaning out" the young people.

Fany has walked there twice since the "cleaning" began. Her sister-in-law's friend's child was killed two weeks ago. Fany still goes there, but only in the morning, when Laura is at school, and only to the corner closest to us. She doesn't walk into the community and she won't take Laura there.

The news reported that they caught the people responsible, but everyone knows they just grabbed some people and put them in custody so everyone would stop freaking out. The real bad guys are still out there.

Now we have military police patrolling inside of our colonia, which has never happened before.

If people decide they won't support the pay increase and the gates are left unguarded, it will be very easy for our colonia to become just like the one next to us.

Yesterday I started praying about this issue. Every evening I've been walking with my friend Carol, who just moved to my colonia. We still have to be careful, but if the gates were open we could never walk after 5:30 p.m.

My prayer is that people will take into account what is going on around them and agree to pay an extra $5 each month for security. I pray that the people who live at the other side of my colonia and watch the guards there who are not doing their job will still be willing to contribute the extra money. They might be fed up after seeing those men who aren't doing their job. And I pray that the head of security gets rid of the guys who don't do their job so we remain safe.