I was all set to pound out some words today about the 27 year old that ran the Chicago Marathon on Sunday and then, six plus hours later, gave birth to a healthy seven pound baby girl. That was until I logged onto Facebook to find a message from my 20 year old son to call him when I got up.
The phone call leads me to feel that village or city laws seem to only apply to taxpayers, not to others who live in towns – particularly college towns.
My 20 year old leaves in a house in a college town. This house has two three bedroom apartments in it. Each bedroom is leased separately for $500 for the summer and $2,600 for each semester. Since the five college students who are currently living there have moved in, there have been concerns about the building. First, it was not cleaned after the last tenants moved out. Second, the windows have no screens in them. Third, the locks work intermittently.
Anyway, last evening, while my son was on campus for a rehearsal of a musical group he is in, the apartment was broken into by three armed men. Electronics were stolen and at least one resident had a firearm pointed at him. When my son returned home, the police were still there.
The question is what do I do as a parent. He can’t move home, although it is only an hour commute to the college. He has a lease that goes through May 31st, 2012. I am going to give the rental company a day to replace all locks. I am going to give the city police (I believe it is a city but it is small) time to investigate and see if any of the stolen merchandise is recovered. This is the time when a parent – whether I am talking about a college student or an older child – feels helpless.
