Magazine sellers back in Magnolia

April 28th, 2012 · 27 Comments

By Reporter Steve Smalley

Door to door

The magazine crews are back in the neighborhood this afternoon. Homeowners are asked to order publications which the sellers say will, “get people jobs in the Central area,” according to a Magnolia resident who spoke with the men. As of 1PM Saturday, there were two salesmen knocking on doors, delivering their pitch to residents.

Tags: Uncategorized

dreincke

Well since the last news story on KOMO about this problem in our neck of the woods in Magnolia we have made changes. The impotent “no solictors” signs are up, but we now know from the police that if they transgress these signs they are in violation of the law. Don’t endure these characters if you don’t want to. I carry a stun gun now which I use against loose dogs and will discharge at my front door in front of violaters who carry on through their pitch while being asked to leave. Enough is enough. I was once cheated by these people after being stupid enough to buy a subscription 4 years ago. Now I am ready for them to come back. After having them hit each house in our neighborhood repeatedly about 2 months ago the police issued a statement: “Tell these people it is illegal to go past a “no solictors” sign and tell them you’ve taken taken their pictures. ” They also suggested to not answer the door, but others responded this led to leaning on the doorbell. Don’t wind up on the news with this mess again…when these angry idiots are refused they feel free to then vandalize your property. Stop this for good.
Tootie1223

Our block has had increased concerns about these type of solicitors, esp after several break-ins and attempted break-ins. Some seem to be casing the neighborhood – we have stepped up our block watch and are on the look out for people that don’t “belong” on our block. Strength in numbers!!

Seasuzanne

I am grateful for our strong block watches, but I cringed when I read your comment about targeting people who “don’t LOOK like they belong.”. That could be interpreted as singling our blacks, who happen to be the race of the magazine solicitors (see photo) and happen to be underrepresented on the bluff. I think you mean looking for strangers, people who haven’t been seen on your block before, right?

Tootie1223

I cringed when I read how you interpreted my “don’t belong” comment! I am not a racist and had no intention of implying that. I wish our neighborhood had more diversity. What I meant was folks trying to sell things or the slow drives down our alley to check out homes..that kind of “don’t belong”. Thank you for offering me the chance to clarify.

Heywood

Read the New York Times article, Grim Tour on Magazine Crews.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/us/21magcrew.html?pagewanted=all

dreincke

Wow, what an article. I see myself as so liberal, so open to new ideas, and yet when I hear my anger (see below) at being molested by these “crews” I feel like another George Zimmerman policing my little world. I don’t know what else to do except firmly chase them away. It is very clear from the article that our suspicions are all correct…these crews are bad news and need to be repelled. The poor kids who are part of it, sooner or later, will have to make a choice to move on, and buying a subscription from them certainly doesn’t help either side, since they are bogus. So little in life is black or white. Its all personal choice and the great gray area of ethics.

Just Me

Nothing will turn a liberal into a conservative faster than to be a victim of a crime.

dreincke

God forbid I become a conservative. On the other hand, being blessed with a brain, I prefer to reason out a way to make all sides win. For me conservativism represents head in the sand, religion bound “it was better in the old days” exclusivism…hold onto what I have and the Hell With you. I know you didn’t mean to insult me, so no insult taken. As an educated individual I can’t be a conservative, but I can confront what is wrong…and use my brain to figure out the solutions.

Diana Dee

Why is this even considered a news story by the ‘Voice’? If you don’t want to buy magazines from these crews, then don’t buy magazines. Magnolia: your overt racist tendencies & fears are on display for all the world to see. Joining other such local white enclaves as Medina and Broadmoor in these antedeluvian views is a ‘black’ stain on us all. No pun intended.

And Sara and S. Smalley of the ‘Voice’? Grow up and join the 21st Century at some point – OK? Everything doesn’t have to be about pandering to the fears of your white base for the benjamins – does it?

dreincke

When did it have to be about race? Obviously you haven’t been through this. People of all races come to your door repeatedly and make you feel guilty for not listening. Then they do it again and again. Then they kick over things when you reject them and curse at you when they leave. Its about people who want to feel home is a safe place to be. The NYT article wasn’t about race, it was about kids who thought this was an opportunity. As for Magnolia’s viewpoint, most people who chose to live here do it to have peace and quiet away from it all. Most of us have worked hard to get here..liberals and conservatives both. It is a news story in the Voice because it was such a problem two news networks carried it.
DSF

Relax Diana and get off your High Horse

DDSF

Snarkbark

Unfortunately, these black magazine crews are well known for targeting potential residences for “return visits”. Sorry PC sheep but it is what it is.

dreincke

“What it is” if often in the eye of the beholder. White drug addicts break into houses in Everett, close the the meth centers. Evangelical ministers bilk people out of money to build monuments to themselves…then there are the priests….people in general tend to prey on others who have things they want. The issue here isn’t race, I repeat, it is about protecting oneself without doing unnecessary harm. If you choose to put a race feature to it you are choosing to ignore all the rest of the creeps who are out there doing wrong…including the rich who steal from the rich.

Dear Playboy Adviser

Thanks, Snarkybarky, you’ve just proven my point: it IS all about race.

‘These black magazine crews…’?

The State of Arizona just called. Magnolia has now been nominated to be an honorary city of that great racist State. Y’all must be so proud……

And Sara of the ‘Voice’: keep on pandering.

dreincke

Not all of us in Magnolia are racist, just as not all of us are Catholic or conservative or gay or liberal or anything. The Sara Palin/Rush Limbaugh mentality is what keeps these people talking since in real life they can’t get changes/results/whatever to improve their lives (lack of education?). God forbid anything in Washington be like Arizona! At least we talk about it in Magnolia Voice, puzzle it out, suffer through the inconsistencies…surely you’ve noticed in these postings that there are many points of view? At least those of us who aren’t of the racist crowd… racism being an infestation everywhere in the world where people weren’t raised to know people different than themselves. I mistakenly thought these postings might be a site for intelligent discussions, but its the usual…the uninformed dullards v.s. the offended who can’t take the time to form their thoughts. No need to continue….

Dear Playboy Adviser

Thanks, Snarkybarky, you’ve just proven my point: it IS all about race.

‘These black magazine crews…’?

The State of Arizona just called. Magnolia has now been nominated to be an honorary city of that great racist State. Y’all must be so proud……

And Sara of the ‘Voice’: keep on pandering.

Just Me

Read the stories of kids trapped on MagCrews.

http://www.magcrew.com/
Just Me

Drugs, violence, and kids deserted in the middle of nowhere are just some of the activities on MagCrews as witnessed in this website:

http://www.parentwatch.org/
Another me

I had a young woman knocking on my door last week with a story that she had to meet 100 neighbors a day for 2 weeks as an assignment for school! What a great idea, I thought, and told her I would sign whatever she needed to say that she met one! She proceeded to tell me she actually had an opportunity to go to Japan as an exchange student and needed to raise funds with magazine subscriptions. So, is this a similar ploy? It’s hard to know. I declined and she went away p0litely. Some Seattle schools use these magazine subscriptions as fundraisers.

Lizavernon

That girl came by my house as well. She said she went to WSU – I asked her when school got out and when she goes to Japan. She couldn’t give me any dates…

DigPhoto

They are back. 29th and Boston.
Gold van with California plates
5GRW008

Heywood

Running the crews as repeated over and over.

dreincke

I was the one who started this line of conversation, and it was my first experience with talking with others on a site like this. I won’t be doing this again any time soon, but I think it is interesting that we ALL were proved wrong:
1. To the person who said that the Magnolia Voice was ridiculous or pandering to put on this story: there are 21 responses. People wanted to talk/argue about this. Dog stories don’t get that response.
2. To the persons who said it was about/not about race: Enough people responded to show it wasn’t just one kind of person who is snared into this magazine-gang sort of thing….and its not any one race.
3. To the persons who want to see Magnolia as a bigoted neighborhood: Read all the postings. It is not. There are people here who contradict your point of view.
4. And to me, who was totally angered because my husband and my evening time with a nice bottle of wine was repeatedly interupted day after day, hour after hour by the irritating ringing of the doorbells, well I learned enough from these postings to see that it is multi-dimensional….the kids doing it are trapped, not yet ready or smart enough to bail and move on, and we just have to say no again and again. They are like the rain, evidentally, just part of life. I found this experience to be partly a waste of time in that no one really wanted to talk about anything in depth, but a real education in that I was able to rid myself of the anger. For that, thanks to all for what you wrote.
Magnolia Mom

I don’t care if you are purple, don’t knock on my door selling something and then cuss us out if we say no thank you. Seriously, it’s not about race but I am afraid when someone cusses me out and kicks over our garbage can. It’s not like these are little girls selling cookies.

Magnolia Mom

What I meant to say(typing to fast) is that if you cuss me out for saying no thank you, that is not OK. We felt borderline threatened. Selling magazines is fine but being rude and intimidating is not.

Annoyed Magnolia resident

Bad experience tonight, around 730pm just off Thorndyke. Doorbell rings, man wearing bright red tie standing back about 15 feet from door as I open it. He tells me he’s going door to door. I tell him I’m about to sit down to dinner and it’s a bad time, no thank you.

As I go to close the door, he says, “If you’re about to sit down to dinner, why did you open the door. ” I explain it’s because UPS and FedEx delivery usually ring the doorbell to let me know a package arrive. He starts to berate me, and I say he’d better leave before I call the police. He shouts, “You do that!” and leaves.

Yeah. He’s going to sell at LOT of magazines.
Jorja

I am glad this story is up. I want a heads up about these crews since that last gal was left for dead a few years back by one of these guys. Also, they came to my neighbor at 9PM the other day. Not good. I am alone nights with kids. I need to know and let’s just avoid the race issue for once, can we?