Humane Evictions

The Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell announced a two-week ban on evictions involving foreclosed rental properties. It seems renters might be getting evicted when their landlord's property gets foreclosed, even though they've paid rent. Pickell said the two week moratorium would provide an opportunity to come up with a "more humane" way to deal with tenants.

The Genesee Landlords Association responded by threatening to sue the sheriff's office if he didn't enforce the eviction notices.

After all, Flint's got such a hot real estate market that banks and mortgage companies want to get these desirable foreclosure properties on the market as soon as possible. Who cares if some renters get put out on the street?

The housing oasis

Property values are dropping everywhere in Genesee County except...Davison?

Family Fun!

It happens to the best of us. We go to Chuck E Cheese on Miller Road in Flint, have a few beers, eat some pizza, have a few more beers, play some video games, have a few more beers...and start brawling. The Flint Journal has the details:

The first call came in at 8:53 p.m. concerning a fight among three teenage girls at the pizza parlor. A Genesee County Sheriff's paramedic and state troopers quickly got the fight under control, and canceled other officers headed that way to back them up.

But a few minutes later, the officers sent out a second call as the fight erupted again, and quickly turned into "a knock-down, drag-out between 75 and 80 people," said Flint Township police Sgt. Tim Jones.

"The biggest thing we did was just try to control the crowd. Once pepper has been sprayed, it's floating in the air so we called in for medical help in clearing it. If people aren't used to pepper spray, they get pretty scared and angry," said Jones.

And the fun was really just beginning.

On Sunday, it looked like it was going to happen again. A TV news crew was in the parking lot filming a segment on the previous night's brawl when a family fight broke out among several women and escalated to a group of about 10 in the same family, said Jones.