It's never good to live in a neighborhood with empty homes, whether they be foreclosures locked up and awaiting auction, or "second homes" for the wealthy who have extra time and money to leave their places empty and often, unsecured.
It sounds like... that's what the Larry English family was doing with their "second home" being constructed in the primarily year-round neighborhood of Satilla Shores, Georgia.
Via his attorney, Mr. English is coming across as a coward if you read the press he is putting out. Sitting empty since at least October of last year, Mr. English allegedly has known that the property was not secured, and was receiving camera-surveillance text messages of trespassers, coming at night, according to news reports.
At least two other neighbors, Travis McMichael and Diego Perez -- full-time residents of the neighborhood -- had reported items stolen from their vehicles during the period Mr. English's unsecured home sat for months under construction. Another news report says a neighbor had fishing tackle taken.
Now, Mr. English is afraid. You can smell it in his attorney's statements. Mr. English met Travis McMichael back in 2019, he now says, but they discussed other issues, not the trespassings. Mr. English allegedly forwarded video from his surveillance cameras to Mr. Perez, who shared them on neighborhood social media, local news reports say.
Mr. English really should have secured his property better. It sounds like, he too -- albeit indirectly -- helped instigate the multiple trespassings and chase(s) of any suspects in the neighborhood. Instead of working with police to address and put an end to the misdemeanor issue in the neighborhood before it grew... (a gun was reported stolen from a vehicle; Mr. Perez' property was directly adjacent to the unsecured, empty one), Mr. English was busy contacting neighbors. With the information and video Mr. English chose to provide (indirectly) to the community via their neighbor Mr. Perez -- instead of making formal police reports, things spiralled out of his control...
You just wish he had paid full-time workers to complete the construction job, so someone could have moved into that unoccupied dwelling that reportedly was drawling human prowlers at night to the neighborhood... It happens. Not a crime, but if you believe in the broken windows theory of law enforcement, you would want the issue addressed so it doesn't grow into a bigger problem. The reported theft of a handgun unwisely, and perhaps unlawfully, left in an unsecured vehicle indicates there was already an escalation in the risks others in the neighborhood potentially were being exposed to. (ie/No parent of young children living there wants to learn through a police scanner, public police report, or neighborhood gossip that guns have been stolen. That happened to me once -- at an apartment in my building in Rice Lake, Wisc. I argued the landlady had a duty to inform us, after a neighbor had alerted me... Another story, another day, alas. Sometimes, you only create change, for yourself only, by voting with your feet...)
In short,
Properties where residents reside in them make for better, and safer, communities than unoccupied dwellings, especially "open" ones with no security present to respond to repeated intrusions onto private property.
God bless the man who has two homes (or more!) but perhaps that is why Christ essentially tells us in Luke 3:11 not to "lap" with too many possessions those who have none. To voluntarily share with our neighbors when we have ... "too much" and cannot properly maintain our property because we are not present daily to promote peace and protect possessions of neighbors and our own.
"Give it away, give it away, give it away now..."
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John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—
2during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
3He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
4As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6And all people will see God’s salvation.’ ”
7John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
9The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
11John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
12Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
13“Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
14Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
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