Lest We Forget AULD Acquaintance - 1

The first few days of a New Year always find me turfing out old documents... some of which are always poignant. Take a look at these original communications that surfaced in my throw-out and which kickstarted our Lonehill Community Security Initiative:

Found on http://www.lonehillaction.co.za/lonehillattack.htm

Lonehill man critical after vicious AK47 attack!

Lonehill Village Terrorism!

Last night - Friday 12th May 2000 - I had the horrific, gory task of plugging up the gruesome gaping bullet wounds of my neighbor - Steve.

At 9 minutes past 7 p.m. I was sitting in my home office with some visitors when an almighty firefight broke out... seemingly on our doorstep! At least thirty shots were fired in a 90-second burst with the most chilling sound being the final deafening volley-burst of an AK47 and a car rushing off. Reminiscent of the very worst border-war experiences I have had in years gone by, I knew instantly that we had a REALLY serious situation on our hands.

As I nervously ran the 20 metres down the road I was met by the most frightening sight you could ever wish to see - and God-willing, you will never have to see what I saw! Behind the bullet-pierced windshield and shattered side-windows of Steve's car I saw his blood-spattered forehead slumped behind the steering wheel.

Click here for 400kb picture of AK47 bullet-riddled car in Lonehill!

Having a quick look at Steve and at the condition of the car I felt that his only chance was to get him to a hospital as quickly as possible. I rushed back to get my car to load him in and get going... but no such luck! Steve in his pain and shock had tried to climb out of the car and just slid onto the garage floor where the full extent of his injuries made it apparent that we could not risk moving him.

With 'rivers' of blood flowing from an exit-hole the size of a tennis ball on his right shoulder and a 'watermelon-pulp' wound on his left shin, I looked over the 26 or so AK 47- and makarov-pistol-like bullet-riddled bonnet of his car to see the horrified pale-white ashen-faced looks on the faces of his street-neighbours gathering in the road - some of whom I have not seen for months! And I couldn't help wondering what has happened to our community spirit to allow something like this to happen on our doorsteps! This is now a crime-induced war-zone, as bad as any terrorist violence I've ever witnessed - this is urban terrorism! And... what are we doing about it?

Helped by a very courageous resident/neighbour - Stacy - and a visitor friend Dave, we immediately began plugging and belt-tourniqueting the most critical flowing wounds and trying to keep an incredibly brave and shocked Steve in communication with us while we checked out the full extent of his injuries. It was all we could do to keep him with us. We could see two entry wounds in the lower bowel, the horrific holes in his shoulder and leg and an entry point in his thigh - he seemed to be hit by 5 or so bullets.

Stacy's husband - Brett - was doing a magnificent job on his cell phone organising the the paramedics and police - who I am told arrived within 10 to 15 minutes (to me it seemed like an age longer) - with a chopper arriving 5 to 10 minutes after that. I am told that the pilot made the most spectacular landing in a very tight landing area. A very competent group of doctors and medics took 30-odd minutes to stabilise Steve as he slipped into a morphine-induced coma right below me - having been roped in to hold the two drips (six replacement drips were used in this time) as they struggled to block his ruptured arteries in his shoulder/neck area. I cannot tell you the how horrific it was to witness the fountain of spurting blood as they sought to ventilate his lungs and restrict the flow of blood in his chest cavity. And.. I now know that this could be me... or YOU... in the near future... if we don't do something now!

I must mention that the paramedics, on arriving, had only one question for Steve on their arrival - not 'Where have you been hit?' or 'Where does it hurt?', but rather, 'ARE YOU ON A MEDICAL AID?' What the heck does that have to do with treating a critically- wounded human-being? After a choice little word or two from myself (for which I apologise), they called in the chopper and administered the morphine to reduce Steve's pain. But let this be a lesson to those who do not have medical aid. Heaven knows what would have happened if Steve had to have muttered, 'No'!

Understandably, my wife and I could not sleep after this horrific episode and we got to asking questions of our security in the Lonehill community... and why nothing is being done by the community at large to prevent this type of incident? It is now clear that our community is experiencing this type of violent-crime every two months or so... very soon it is going to be one of us!

Who do we blame? Do we just give up on the apathy of a community at large - where I think the biggest blame lies? Do we question the leadership of the LRA - who are just like us, people with families who give up their precious-little spare time to act on behalf of an unsupporting and apathetic community? Where is there a preventative SECURITY action program?

I don't think there is any way we can apportion blame... but now it is time to institute a MASSIVE ACTION program. Forget about little LRA newsletters that get hidden amongst the tons of junk mail proclaiming insignificant little Security issues - now is the time to hype up the Lonehill Community's emotions... as much as our neighbors are now hyped up! It is time for Lonehillers to face this urban terrorism head on!

Click here to join our Lonehill Residents Security ACTION email database - NOW! An active security communication network is vital email: (decommissioned)

It is time to employ shock tactics. Something like taking Steve's bullet-riddled car and parking it at our major entrances for a week or two with an invite to an LRA-organised Security CRISIS meeting - with a chilling slogan like: 'Are You DYING to stay in Lonehill?', or "With your luck... will you be next!" It is now time for our community and particularly it's part-time leadership to stop pussy-footing around! There are now many Lonehillers who have been directly affected by a tragedy of this nature in the past year and we can use these emotions now to great positive affect!

And.. if Lonehillers don't respond to a massive action program then I believe the LRA has every right to take what little monthly contributions they get from some of us and stick up notices that read... 'Welcome to Lonehill - the Village Community that doesn't give a damn!'

Sincerely
Trevor Nel

PS. If you are as nauseated as I am about this happening on our doorstep please print this out and distribute it to your neighbors - if they want to see action, get them to communicate with me on 705-2790 or send me an email so that I can put them onto our Lonehill email database. If you are on the LRA you'd better contact me while I am so riled up - perhaps you should ask Ian Bell (the best thing to ever happen to Lonehill) what type of action-man is communicating here! This is not the time to sit on our back-sides and do nothing.