August 12, 2015
To Whom It May Concern:
During the past month or so, a group of four (sometimes five) homeless inebriates have been camping out in the daytime on posted private property in the 4900 block of N. Broadway, near the intersection with U.S. 36. My understanding has always been that the small commercial district here is an “island” of Boulder County, surrounded on three sides by the City of Boulder, and I’ve observed many times that it’s BCSO which responds to complaints here. These rowdy individuals, who are frequently so drunk they can’t stand up, litter (despite the fact that I leave a trash bag there for their use), yell at each other, drink from open containers of alcohol, smoke marijuana, and are now fighting each other. Two of the usual four drunkards are registered sex offenders, convicted for crimes involving children — there are many kids in the area, so I’ve been wondering if that’s one reason that Frank Funk and Austin Gibson are loitering at this spot.
Yesterday was the final straw for me. I’ve been sitting on the wall in front in front of the Mexican restaurant for years, reading books and chatting with business owners, workers, and residents of all ages from the Dakota Ridge neighborhood. I’ve seen many undesirable homeless characters come along, begin misbehaving, escalate their misbehavior, and then be told to move along or ticketed by BCSO deputies. In the wake of the mutual affray between Funk and Gibson shortly after noon on 8/11/2015, it’s time for the entire bunch (including the two alcoholic Native American women) to be visited by law enforcement officers and told to hit the road.
It’s really not funny because of the negative impact on everyone’s quality of life, but I’ll mention a couple of details I witnessed as the two drunkards fought: 1) Gibson threw a punch at Funk and missed, falling down into the weeds along the sidewalk in front of the large NO TRESPASSING sign; and 2) Funk then stood over Gibson and threatened to beat him with a half-empty plastic jug of vodka.
I don’t own a cell phone, or I would have notified BCSO of this violent incident as it occurred. In addition, the public access computers at a local library do not allow me to send e-mail to the appropriate division of the Sheriff’s Office in order to make a formal complaint. Therefore, I ask a favor from the readers of my blog: Please forward this post to that law enforcement agency, and if you have your own complaint about this drunken crew to add that would be great.
Thank you all for your support, and rest assured that I’ll continue to try and make our north Boulder neighborhood a safer place to live and work, as I’ve done for the past 7 1/2 years of my residency.
Max R. Weller
4869 N. Broadway
Boulder, CO 80304
(303) 442-4646 messages
homelessphilosopher 