Code of conduct

Inside 260 N. Commerce Ave., sticky and crumbling apartment walls are divided only by dark doors with coarse, glassless peepholes. Outside, a toy-strewn yard hosts drunken, drug-induced fights.

Yet despite almost daily police visits and frequent arrests, many tenants see recent policy changes bringing peace and quiet.

Others are just getting away from the place that’s OK for living, “if you’re strong enough,” a six-year tenant said.

Those on the move are avoiding a new landlord who introduced an aggressive eviction mentality and code of conduct early this year, just after a spurt of violence.

Due in court today are three men: David Sanchez, 20; Isaias Rojas, 22; and Jose Sanchez-Aregin, 20, charged with robbing a fourth man of beer and beating him with a baseball bat Dec. 19. The victim, Eduardo “Piku” Herrera, 36, shared a story of ambush and manic self-defense with The News Virginian, but might be a no-show for a racially-tinged trial, attorneys and neighbors said. The victim said the Mexican assailants, jailed since the fight, targeted him because he is Puerto Rican.

One week later, a teen stabbed a man in the same apartment where the baseball bat attack began. That attacker pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.

Bobby Jardine bought the building, last assessed at $386,000, after the attacks. He started to identify troublemakers, especially non-tenants who residents and Jardine said are known for fits of dangerous debauchery.

“They all think I’m strict,” Jardine said. “I’ve been working hard to clean the place up ... asking police to give a little more help in ... making regular drive-bys.”

Officers walk through more than once a month, according to police records, but come around in response to calls far more frequently, reports show.

In the first 170 days of this year, officers logged 135 incidents at the apartment. Those numbers put it on pace for a record-setting 289 incidents this year, but call volume is unpredictable, police say. The address attracted 199 calls in 2007 and 288 in 2008. Those are rates of more than once every other day.

Most common are calls for disorderly conduct, intoxication, noise violations and family fights. Noticeably absent this year are incidents of attempted rape, riot and robbery, all on the list of calls in 2008.

The success of Jardine’s efforts to break up parties, issue trespass papers and identify non-tenant vehicle license plates is unclear, tenants said.

“He don’t play. He’s a good landlord,” a mother of two said of Jardine. “So far I’ve seen him throw people out quicker.”

Some tenants would not speak on the record for fear of retribution by the landlord.

Aggressive evictions and the conduct code have turned some tenants against Jardine, or encouraged them to leave, he said.

John Miller, 43, lives in a ground-level apartment at the front of the building, where he’s “seen it all” in just eight months.

“Ever since Bobby took over, he’s really cracked down,” he said. “This could be a good place to live.”

What nobody denies is how social the building is, and how accommodating it can be for people of all races and those on fixed incomes.

“Even when it’s cold, there are people outside ... congregating,” said Waynesboro police Cpl. Charles Baugher.

He said officers take care when responding to the building, as most calls involve intoxicated people.

During the day, mothers and their children sit in the yard. Miller smokes on the front stoop. Teens coast surrounding sidewalks by bike. At night, “9 o’clock, every Friday,” a neighbor said, the yard “gets hot.” Men are soon urinating on surrounding buildings and fences.

Tenants said the building needs better care, something Jardine vowed he is working on.

“Since I’ve gotten there, I’ve been filling a lot of vacancies that existed before,” he said.

Two multi-year tenants said they worry about sagging ceilings and holes in floors.

“This place is a wreck,” one said. “But [Jardine] is trying.”

Call frequency

SOURCE: WAYNESBORO POLICE DEPARTMENT