DEL.ICIO.USOn ATL’s most dangerous block, change comes slowly
Since March, 5 killings have taken place in 1300 block of Joseph E. Boone Boulevard
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Atlanta police have a new problem child. It comes in the form of late-night hangouts bunched together on the same block of Joseph E. Boone Boulevard in northwest Atlanta.
Boone, formerly named Simpson Road, has long been known as a place where violence felt welcome. But homicide detectives call Boone’s 1300 block the most dangerous block in the city. Since March, five homicides have been committed in or outside three establishments on Boone Boulevard: Jones Tasty Dog, American Legion Post 574 and Ruby’s Sanabella Lounge.
Jason Getz /jgetz@ajc.com
Atlanta police talk to a man, center behind car, who they later arrested for an outstanding warrant outside Jones Tasty Dog, left, and Ruby’s Thursday night on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard.
“Right now, it’s the worst in the city of Atlanta in terms of the smallest geographical area with the largest number of violent crimes,” said Atlanta police Lt. Keith Meadows, commander of the homicide unit.
Three killings occurred in a recent 31-day span. Demetrius Holt, 25, was killed and four others were shot Dec. 7 when an unidentified man opened fire in the American Legion hall. Ronnie Hill, 46, was shot to death Nov. 28 after an altercation that began at the Tasty Dog. Paul Martin, 19, was shot to death Nov. 6 while in his car outside Ruby’s. No one has been arrested in connection with any of the slayings.
Police say the block sees plenty of other crimes, also, including drug dealing, assaults, prostitution and robberies. And it’s been that way for more than two decades.
“It’s terrible,” said Atlanta City Councilman Ivory Young, who represents the area and remembers when, decades ago, Simpson Road was a vibrant business district. “It has unfortunately gone from best to worst.”
Atlanta police have tried to crack down on the area numerous times over the years, with no real lasting success. But the recent spike in violence has gotten the attention of so many that the Tasty Dog has been shut down temporarily by county health officials and the American Legion post has been shuttered by its state office.
Carjacking try suspected
Martin, a Morehouse College sophomore from a Detroit suburb, was the third homicide victim in Boone’s 1300 block this year.
Though Martin wanted to attend college in Michigan, he went to Morehouse at the urging of his mother. After his freshman year, despite considering a transfer, Martin decided to return to Morehouse.
He had made friends here, said his mother, Diane Jackson-Richards.
The night of his death, he had been out with them, Atlanta police Detective Raymond Layton said. The group returned home; Martin went back out by himself, Layton said.
Police don’t know what he was doing at Ruby’s, but Layton believes someone tried to carjack Martin’s black 2001 Audi.
He tried to drive off, but was shot in the head as he hit the gas. His car came to rest across the street.
The block where Martin died has a unique setup: The hangouts are so close that partiers create a steady flow of foot traffic between the businesses.
“The customers, they go from one to another,” Layton said. “Into one door and out the other. It goes back and forth.”
The Tasty Dog and Ruby’s are crammed next to each other on the edge of the road. The Legion post is on the other side of Ruby’s, set farther off the street and at the end of a parking lot about the size of a basketball court.
The Legion post had been the biggest draw, getting nearly 500 people on busy nights. Partiers packed its spacious parking lot and lined the road in both directions with their cars.
Madison Saxton recently moved his Westview Barber Shop next to the Tasty Dog. He wanted to keep his shop open late on weekends, but decided against it.
“After it gets dark, people get crazy,” Saxton said. “I just don’t really want to be here.”
He said the violence has gotten worse lately, but the locals aren’t fazed by it.
“It’s to the point now that if there’s a body laying there, some people will come over to look at it out of curiosity, step over it and move on,” Saxton said.
Owner counters media
Ruby Toliver, 70, the owner of Ruby’s, said in a brief phone interview that she doesn’t have any problems at her business and that media reports have incorrectly linked violence to it. She refused to comment further.
The Tasty Dog and Ruby’s are private businesses; the American Legion Post 574 is a nonprofit organization for military veterans.
The post’s commander is a former U.S. Army veteran named Larry Edwards.
Edwards, 54, says that Post 574 was once a “model” location, with a high membership, black-tie events and balls for veterans, and plenty of revenue to hold charity events for the community.
But by the early 1980s, many members had moved to the suburbs, died or branched off to start another Legion post, Edwards said. Drugs and crime took over the community, and the post’s membership dwindled.
“It was a dying post,” Edwards said.
When Edwards became commander in 2004, he began catering to a younger crowd, swapping bands for disc jockeys and using a massive ballroom for a dance floor. “The word got out — just like that,” Edwards said.
The younger groups brought in more money, but they are a rougher crowd, Edwards said.
Outsiders fingered
Police say the American Legion post has turned into little more than a nightclub. “The other American Legion posts seem to be much more civil in terms of the type of people that go there and what goes on in the establishment,” Meadows said.
The post’s vice commander, Adrian Abercrombie, blamed the violence on people who do not live in the neighborhood. “People come into this neighborhood and do things and then leave,” he said.
Legion officials have made similar arguments to police over the years, saying that the crimes and violence are happening in the parking lot — not in the building, Meadows said.
“Well, you know what, that’s your responsibility, too,” Meadows said. “What goes on in your parking lot is your responsibility.”
Georgia’s American Legion headquarters has decided that if Post 574 does reopen, it will do so at another location, said Fae Casper, the Legion’s state commander.
Jones Tasty Dog, owned by Len Jones, was closed by the Fulton County Department of Health & Wellness.
Atlanta police raided it four days before the American Legion shooting, with code and health officials and others in tow.
Jones, 72, was arrested on a charge of selling alcohol without a license because the vice unit had purchased alcohol there the previous day, according to a police report. He also was cited with numerous city ordinance violations, and four others are facing drug charges.
Jones hasn’t had an alcohol license since September 1996, according to the Police Department’s license and permits unit. He admits that he’s broken the law by selling booze. “Had to,” Jones said, “to make a living.”
But he claims that he has not sold alcohol there for more than a year and was not personally involved in any drug dealing.
‘Young crowd is crazy’
Jones, a convicted felon who says he spent a decade in prison for cocaine distribution, blames the spike in violence on the younger generation.
“The young crowd is crazy,” he said. “They don’t care about anything. That’s the problem — no respect.”
Jones said he plans to fix all the violations for which he was cited and try to re-open the Tasty Dog, though county prosecutors are considering filing a nuisance lawsuit against the property owner.
“I guess I got to keep working,” Jones said. “Got to do something.”
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