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| A sister's love. Syreshia Wimberly brushes away the tears at a vigil in honor of her brother Tyree. |
It's a rough neighborhood, at the border of Allentown and Bethlehem. Cigarette smoke and the odor of stale beer wafted in the air as Pastor Junito Cruz led everyone in a brief prayer. An Allentown police cruiser was parked nearby, just in case there was trouble. But people were there to remember, to grieve and to love.
Tyree's sister, Syreshia, wiped tears as she remembered her fallen brother on his birthday. Young Quintus Moser, age 6, who sometimes hears gunfire in the night, was visibly upset. "Somebody died here," he lamented. His mother Dawn states her children are unable to play outside. "Once the streetlights come on, they're in," she said, noting that conditions in her West Broad Street neighborhood have deteriorated. "The strip club does not help," she observed. "All it brings is problems."
Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski told neighbors, "We're doing everything we can," adding that this was a "senseless act of violence."
Bethlehem School Director Basilio Bonilla, who helped organize this event, called for the "immediate shutdown of Scoobie's Gentlemans Club" But that's already happened. A fire at Scoobies the very morning of the vigil has forced the club to close for the "foreseeable future."
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| "Somebody died here," sadly notes Quintus Moser, age 6. He, his sister Autumn, age 11, and mother Dawn, were neighbors. |
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| A makeshift memorial in honor of Tyree Wimberly on Hanover Ave. |
my condolences to the family HOWEVER these people are looking for any reason to shut this place down. the club did not kill the kid. not saying it's a good place or should even be there but cut me a break. the little kids could get shot or run over during the day or the night maybe the kids should be locked up in the house and not allowed to go to school. buses sometimes wreck.
ReplyDeletethis is total hype, paranoia and bs
When you use a word like "buckwheat," you make very clear just how you feel.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the people who actually live there, unlike you, this area has gone downhill since that strip club began operating as Scoobies. It was an eye-opening experience to talk to some of the people directly involved, and what they had to say. You could not be more wrong.
And frankly, operators of the club lied. They claim the killer was not even there, when police have witness statements and surveillance video making clear that he was.
"We are doing everything we can."
ReplyDeleteSo? What changes?
That club was bad news since the day Jimmy Rose opened it, many years ago.....and shit nothing has been done. And the overall neighborhood AIN'T that bad dude,
Better than half of Allentown.
Fact is, nothing changes except the politicians and the bullshit they feed the sad people.
jimmy rose has done some serious hard time, if I recall correctly
ReplyDelete69 says fire intentionally set. neighborhood improvement?
ReplyDeletePawlowski could attend a lot of vigils like this in the Allentown he's created. Except this one gives him the opportunity to push the blame to someone else.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that this is a "rough neighborhood."
ReplyDeleteThere are I suppose, degrees of "roughness" in neighborhoods, but by most measurements, the area around this club is not some sort of urban dirthole.
I am still waiting for someone to investigate the alleged action that led to the shooting. Was it really because one fellow offered to sell marijuana to another, and that because of a man's refusal to make a buy, he was killed in cold blood? That somehow does not pass the sniff test Bernie.
Still a tragedy though.
VOR
VOR,
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has unfortunately attended several of these vigils, I can tell you unequivocally this was a tough neighborhood. It's the first I attended where people smoked through the prayer, and the odor of stale beer permeated the air. When they sang Happy Birthday, a few of Tyree's friends would say, "Happy Birthday, nigga'!" The folks made the vigil in South Bethlehem seem like one in a gated community.
One of these neighbors is someone I happen to know is tough because I've known him for years, though I had no idea he was involved in this incident until last night. He lives in that area, and was one of Tyree's closest friends, something else I did not know until last night. I also met some other people, and cannot go into detail abut that for several years. But suffice it to say that this young man's life was snuffed out over nothing, a refusal to buy weed, and others could have dies as well. He really was going on an errand for his sister. He really had turned his life around.
Allentown is a sick City. After Pawlowski spoke, he hopped into hs SUV and drove off, not even sticking around for the prayer. No other City official was there. Not Julio Guridy. Not any of the candidates was there. Democracy truly is dead in Allentown. Wrong kind of people I guess. If it was JB Reilly, they'd be there en mase.
Another disappointment was the police. In southside Bethlehem, the Chief and several officers participated in a vigil a few months ago, sending the message that they care. In Allentown, a police crusier is parked nearby and an officer sits and watches to make everyone behaves.
It's a sad city.
"And the overall neighborhood AIN'T that bad dude,"
ReplyDeleteIt's a rough neighborhood. Any place where you hear shots ringing in the night is a tough neighborhood.
He was such a good boy, he turned his life around. He would never, ever be involved in a drug deal gone bad.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling, there will be a lot more to this story before it is finished.
That's bc you're ignorant.
ReplyDeleteAs neighborhoods in Allentown go. It is simply not a tough neighborhood. One can spit into West Bethlehem from there.
ReplyDeleteIn my view, any place where kids are worried about the sound of gunfire at night, is a tough neighborhood. There are good people in there, and they care about their homes, but they are tough people. Not what I see at the local country club.
ReplyDeleteIn my view, any place where kids are worried about the sound of gunfire at night, is a tough neighborhood. There are good people in there, and they care about their homes, but they are tough people. Not what I see at the local country club.
ReplyDeleteBernie,
ReplyDeleteI agree. We should have been there.
No excuses.
Alfonso Todd
And now the arson. There's a lot more to that story than meets the eye also. The rally played right into a more complex plan for this business.
ReplyDeleteThat young school board member from Bethlehem has got a lot to learn. This pandering may turn around to bite him in the ass.