Hammer time

Last night just after 4 am, I heard what I thought was somebody hammering loudly.....like construction noise. It was loud enough to wake me up, and I tried to think of which jackass in the neighborhood was doing renovation work in the middle of the goddamn night. It didn't sound close enough to be the dude across the street who is demolishing an old house single-handedly with a hammer and crowbar (he started in October). I got up, got a drink of water, and then the cop cars started flying down the street, sirens blaring. They sounded like they were stopping a few blocks away, but I couldn't be sure. I wasn't too worried, since cop cars and emergency vehicles like to use our street while en route to the crappy part of town.
This morning, I discovered the following on our local news website. This is about 3 blocks away from us, kiddycorner from our backyard and over a couple of blocks:


Several injured in early morning shooting

11:02 AM PST on Saturday, December 22, 2007

By ADRIANE HORNER, kgw.com Staff

An early morning shooting left several people injured in NE Portland.
Several people were injured in the shooting at an after-hours club on NE Emerson St.
The shooting happened just after 4 a.m. Saturday at an after-hours club at NE 42nd and Emerson.

Portland Police said that all of the victims involved in the shooting have non-life threatening injuries and were being treated at area hospitals.
Detectives were investigating the three-block crime scene and interviewing witnesses.

The Gang Enforcement Team was also called to the scene.
No arrests had been made.



I must admit that I am a little surprised; this part of 42nd has a big old catholic church, and several restaurants....even a popular bakery and fancy Montessori school a couple blocks down. I have driven on this street many times, and I have never ever seen an "after hours club". There are a couple of taverns that cater exclusively to the 60+ year old pensioner crowd, but I seriously doubt that they are open "after-hours", as their patrons are probably snoozing soundly after hitting the early bird special. But as my husband pointed out, on the other side of the street there is a holdout from when the neighborhood used to be a shithole many years ago. A strange storefront with a couple of rusted-out cars and a weird old dude that apparently likes to collect large piles of wooden pallets.
Wonderful. Now my friend Lisa has more ammo (no pun intended) for her claims that I live in "The Hood".