The attraction to Hammond for Susan (and her husband David Klein) was the price of the house and the proximity to David's employment. And her house, believe me, though I have no pictorial evidence thereof, is nice as well as the neighborhood she lives in.
About two blocks away from her house is the Great Wall of Hammond, which I happen to have no picture of, either. This is the story: more than a year ago, the cash-strapped community of Hammond, formerly a proud Midwestern industry port that has fallen now into hard times, was coping with a problem. The problem? Black kids from Calumet City Illinois were riding their bikes into Hammond and stealing stuff from people's homes. What were the righteous citizens of Hammond to do?
Well, build a wall, of course.
So, the outraged citizens of Hammond spent their precious resources building this curb down the middle of State Line Road to deter this traffic. The people living on either side of State Line Road (one side is Calumet City, the other Hammond) now could not cross is or make left-hand turns which deterred traffic alright. But the funny thing was: I stood on State Line Road and watched black kids from Calumet City ride their bikes right over the curb, in fact do wheelies right over the curb and ride right into Hammond, completely undeterred. The only thing the curb has done is keep the Hammond police force from being able to chase the kids on bikes back to Calumet City.
Don't build walls, people. This is silly.
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