Life in Lake Worth

This is a copy of an e-mail forwarded by Maryanne Webber:

Dear Maryanne and Bruce, My husband Vincent and I have owned our house at 1102 N. Golfview Drive for 22 years. After we retired in the year 2000, we became Florida residents and divided our time between Lake Worth and Norwalk, Ct. (7 months down South and 5 months up North).

We saw Lake Worth go from a seedy old town to a vibrant fun place. We are now devastated over what it has become. Friends from other places are skeptical about visiting us, especially at night, because of everything they read in the papers.

Last Winter our home was broken into in broad daylight. Vinnie had been home less than an hour before to take a shower after a round of Golf. Since our car was in the garage, there was no way to tell if anyone was at home. They could have surprised him in the house and who knows what might have happened.

Fortunately, he remembered to turn on the alarm. However, it took the police over twenty minutes to get to the house. The thief - or thieves- knowing they had plenty of time, ransacked the house and got away with many of our valuable possessions. We never got our things back or found out who did it because,we are sure, no one ever bothered to try to find out. In fact, we never heard one word after we filled out the report.

Since then we have fortified our home like it was Fort Knox, keep our valuables in a safety deposit box and are never as secure and comfortable as we were before. We tried to sell the house for a while but, of course, could not. We know the housing market is bad, but no one would buy in Lake Worth even if it were not.

Thank God your son is all right. We are all relegated to live in fear and look over our shoulders. Something must be done. Please feel free to forward this letter to anyone you wish.

Sincerely, Marie Grillo