Remember man that you are dust

This passage from the Ash Wednesday service in the Roman Catholic Church hit home in Seton Hill recently. A dead body was found in Saint Mary Park. I have not heard nor read any reports about the cause of death. The belief in the neighborhood and among my friends who saw me on both Channel 2 and Channel 11 believe that it was probably due to drug overdose. On Monday 28 August a neighbor told me that it was a fully-clothed man.

I arrived home at my usual time and noticed a bunch of young people at the south entrance to the park. As I pulled up to a parking spot in front of my house, I also noticed people at the next entrance and then I noticed the police in the park.

As I got out of the car to investigate, a young boy, probably four years old, asked me, "What happened?" I replied, "I was going to ask you that." My real questions are what is a four-year old doing running around on a block where he does not live and why is he asking a stranger a question. Where are his parents or guardian?

I went over to the second entrance and talked with some of the people there. Shortly after I arrived there, the police officers started to tape off the area to keep the children from coming there. Two girls were already in the park, but not in a position to see anything yet. The police office very politely asked them to leave the park.

As the police officers were taping off the area, I commented to the adults there that I used to be a chaplain for the Civil Air Patrol and if we were on a mission to find a down aircraft, the cadets (teenagers) would go ahead of the adults to search. The minute that an aircraft is seen, the cadets are immediately pulled back and the adults go in. We do not allow the cadets to see the victims. When I explained this, the adults also understood the importance of what the police just did. Thus my ten years as a chaplain for the Civil Air Patrol was not wasted. In fact, I wish that I were still with them.

The police decided that they had to cut away the brushes to get to the body. They summoned the black truck in the photo. This is the first time that I ever saw this truck. It is well equipped with tools for most occasions. It is operated by two police officers.

I was talking to another neighbor whose children were at the pool. He was really happy that his wife decided to take them there this particular day. He called her and told her to stay there until he said that it was safe to return.

The Baltimore Police Department has taken some really bad rap for the actions of a few police officers. I am extremely proud to report that the actions of the officers at this incident were very professional and they were very courteous. One woman had her bag in the brushes near the scene of the body. He told her that she could not retrieve it now but it is safe. This homeless woman sleeps in the park. When my neighbor asked about his children returning home, the police officer was extremely helpful and confirmed when it was safe for them to return. We also presumed that they will leave the tape up so my neighbor was prepared to remove it as soon as the police left, but he did not have to do so since the police removed the tape themselves.

After they took away the body, I went into the park and talked with the TV crew. One of them asked me if I worked here and I told them where I live. So they asked if they could interview me and I agree. As soon as the first interview was finished, a third cameraman also asked for an interview. Friends told me that they saw me on Channel 2 or Channel 11. I watched Channel 45 but did not see anything. This was probably the first time this year that I turned on my television set.

As of the time of this report, I have had several conversations with friends and neighbors. We neighbors are very much concerned about the drug situation in our neighborhood and we want to keep this a very safe and beautiful neighborhood. It was obvious to some people that Seton Hill is a wonderful place to live. We don't refer to it as "walking distance to the rest of the world" for nothing. One can walk from here to Penn Station. One can also walk from here to a Light Rail stop where one can take the train to BWI Airport. From there one can take an airplane to almost anywhere in the world or take the B30 Metrobus to the Greenbelt Metro Station in the DC area. Two subway stops are also in walking distance. Plus there are several MTA bus lines which service this area.

During the investigation and afterwards I talked with several neighbors. Many of us did smell something three weeks ago, but the last thing that we suspected was a dead body. I thought that it was a dead rodent either in my house or some place outside. I could smell it as I worked in the living room but it was really too much trouble to move nine bookcases and a file cabinet to look for it. Ivan thought that it was something in the trash in the park. As soon as the City emptied the trash, the smell went away. Some of us thought that it was a dead cat. I constantly have cats visiting my backyard and they are always welcome to come to visit and spend some time.

As of Tuesday 6 September 2006 the investigation is "pending." Thus it has not been classified as a homicide and it might not be classified as such. The police are still trying to identify the body and then they will contact the next of kin. According to Sgt. Charles Hess, the community relations officer for the Central District, the "medical investigators were not even able to determine caus eof death due to the body's condition."

We have a good neighborhood association in Seton Hill and the Police Department has been very cooperative. Sgt. Hess and his crew have been fantastic in working with the neighborhoods. The Central District has been very fortunate to have had some great police officers working with us. I still remember Officer Joe Zebac and the day he climbed up on a chair and held out the police record of one individual. It was seven pages long on the old computer paper. I remember doing Citizens on Patrol with officer Art Nixon and with then Lieutenant Debie Owens. She was especially funny the way that she made an arrest as a result of the walk. These were in my old neighborhood, Mount Vernon/Belvedere, but they are still a part of the Central District.

We do have problems, but we are dealing with them in a professional manner. By the way, the pictures taken from outside were taken with my Kodak Easyshare camera.

	Taken from my bedroom with Kodak camera
Channels 2 and 11 TV cameramen	Channel 45 crew	Scene of the death
	Taken from my bedroom with Canon camera	Taken from my bedroom

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