Do you know your neighbors?????

Mummified body found in front of blaring TV

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Police called to a Long Island man's house discovered the mummified remains of the resident, dead for more than a year, sitting in front of a blaring television set.

The 70-year-old Hampton Bays, New York, resident, identified as Vincenzo Ricardo, appeared to have died of natural causes. Police said on Saturday his body was discovered on Thursday when they were called to the house over a burst water pipe.

"You could see his face. He still had hair on his head," Newsday quoted morgue assistant Jeff Bacchus as saying. The home's low humidity had preserved the body.

Officials could not explain why the electricity had not been turned off, considering Ricardo had not been heard from since December 2005.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2007-02-17T211521Z_01_N17362175_RTRUKOC_0_US-DEATH-TELEVISION.xml&src=rss

this is really sad... no one missed him for over a year...

This gives a whole new meaning to neighborhood watch...

maybe we should get to know our neighbors...

Or maybe he had all the lights out, and it was drawing so little that it hadn't reached a critical cost where they go after him for the dough. I imagine there's an amount involved, where it becomes cost-effective to do a collection and/or send someone to shut off the power.

...in Detroit, dead of winter, they shut my electric off at 34 days overdue. So unless his neck of the woods is way more lenient than mine, I would guess direct debit.

There is an odd isolation that occurs in the US

We have all these freedoms and the upshot seems to be that like minded people fall into groups with one another and stop trying to deal with anyone outside their grouping. It is enabled by urban sprawl, cars, and telephones. We no longer have to be amicable with our neighbors or our community. We can make our own virtual neighborhoods and communities using our cars and phones. As a result we find ourselves in monolithic subcultures within our incredibly diverse society. And these subcultures can become quite unaware of the any other way of living.

TV also plays a roll in this by acting as a surrogate for social interaction. People tune in and tune out from life. The characters from Lost and 24 become their friends.

In a land of such diversity it is a pity how so many sink into a rut within their microcosm.

When I lived in London years ago there was the same isolation and the effect spread into the surrounding counties. I now live in Cornwall and there is far more community spirit.

Little background: I lived in Detroit for several years, and knew the neighbors on either side.

I moved into a neighboring community about ten years ago. It's on the border of Detroit, has some similar crime problems, but much more community minded. So, though it is the first ring suburb of a large city, its residents are much more involved in their little four-square mile enclave than I ever experienced in the city proper.

on edit: subject tense

Thanks for this.

looked it up,

I don't think improved social horizons is a bad thing, there is only so much shit you can shoot with your neighbour. I would much rather drive to Burbank or San Diego to see a friend than talk to that hypothetical neighbor about the superbowl commercials.

Plus, I don't think I have neighbours... the houses on either side of me just kept getting flipped by speculators.

different places...

They're not married, they just share the house. She has many medical issues, asthma being one of the biggest causes of hospital stays for her. He was ill a few years ago with some sort of cancer that required an operation. I had approached them shortly after I went back to work after my divorce began to see if they could possibly watch my kids for about 30 minutes each morning and make sure that they made it to the bus for school. They happily helped me for close to a year! When he needed his operation, he was fearful of the blood system and came over to ask me what my blood type was. Since I was a match for him, he asked if I would go to the hospital and make a direct donation for him. He said he would feel more comfortable getting my blood, should he need any, than taking a chance with a public pool.

They now have his brother living there also, who suffers from Alzheimer's. I check in on them often, they come over when they need something moved or some assistance and I always keep my eye out to make sure that I see both of them as the days roll by.

Knowing your neighbors is priceless!

Poor devil...ghastly way to go, ghastly.

That is why I'm looking for a job some where else!

I've lived in the same house since the eighties and several of my neighbors also have lived here the same amount of time or have been here longer.

My next door neighbor is eighty two, widowed and lives alone. She has had several falls and always seemed to hurt her head. Just recently she has been confined to using a walker and so I've offered to take her to the doctor, pick stuff up when I'm at the store, take her Jello, soup, or just drop in to talk. She was always the active one when her husband was alive. She mowed the yard, raked the leaves, BBQ, you name it she did it. She only had one kid from a previous marriage. However, he died several years ago. I want to be of more help to her but don't know exactly what I can do, except the small things I've been doing and doing research of some of her symptoms she's told me about. She thinks she suffered some kind of brain damage from her falls. I took her to get a MRI last week, so maybe it will provide her with some sort of relief. So far the neurologist wants to peddle drugs and offer her no hope. When she told me who her doctor was I couldn't believe it, he treated both my husband and father in law and they both couldn't stand him because he didn't offer his patience hope. My family members found other doctors, which I did tell my neighbor this as well, just so she would be aware of the situation.

There's another elderly gentleman who lives across the street from me although he hasn't lived here very long. I worry about him as well. I've come to realize it is extremely hard for them to except help, but eventually they realize they will have to give in.

It's really sad to think about it that we don't offer people within our community the time of day. We confine ourselves to our homes and rarely come out to socialize. I'm guilty of that. I love my privacy.
But I realize that someday I too might find myself in the exact same situation as my neighbor friend. No children to care for me. No family to look in on me. I guess it kind of scares me to think about it.:scared:

I've gone on way to long. Thanks again for posting....:hug:

My neighbors are the co-parents of my kids, and the back neighbors are their best friends of many years. Then we know a number of other neighbors because of the kids.

But otherwise I doubt I'd know many very well.

I've met one of them once and I've seen the other two. (I live in an apartment). I know what they all look like and what vehicles they drive, but other than that, no I don't know them.

If I died in my sleep tonight, I have co-workers, friends and family that would wonder where I am.

had to go to the hospital twice on an emergency basis - everything turned out ok, but we both vowed then and there to check on each other every night. Every night one of us calls the other and says "I'm checking on you" and if no one answers we give each other 30 mins to return the call or both of us take off with guns blazing to check on the other. It's become a joke, but it does make both of us feel more secure. Check on each other; it only takes a phone call.

and my elderly neighbor to the left of me calls me in the middle of the night when my dog barks or if she hears a noise or gets scared.
She lives alone and we watch out for her.
My neighbor to the 2nd house is handicapped and also calls if he has problems.
My neighbor to my right is my bank president. I forgot to transfer money to pay a bill and so he did it for me. Told me when I was out in the yard to go sign the papers the next day.
It is one of the nicer things about living in a small town.

8 flights of stairs with 2 apartments on every other landing. I live at the top.

My Grandfather took a nasty spill a couple of weeks ago so my Grandmother is depending on me to take her to the hospital.I get her her bananas and stuff from the store too. It's the least I can do.

It seems the closer you live to one another in cities, the less you know your neighbors. The more rural of us do know our neighbors that surround us. I know most of mine for a mile around. Weird isn't it?