CRIME A MYSTERYWhen Crime visits your tennis program repeatedly what do you do? 
According to an article in the Akron Beacon Journal the body of a teenaged girl was found in a vacant house on Edgewood Avenue. She was found dead about 10:30 a.m. at 613 Edgewood Ave. As of yet police have not determined how long she had been there. Our main tennis site is the courts on Edgewood Ave. As you can see in the photo this house is directly across the street from the courts. A man who ran onto the porch of he house to get out of the rain Saturday smelled a foul odor coming from inside the house, detectives said. The man called police, who arrived and found the teen's body. The girl had to be identified by dental records. So far detectives are unsure of how she died. The girl's name is Melissa. Thought her death was not ruled a homicide; detectives were treating it like one until evidence shows otherwise. So far detectives are unsure of how she died. According to investigators she didn't appear to have been shot, and there were no evident signs of blunt force trauma. Thus far no one is sure if a crime was committed. The Summit county Medical Examiner's Office has not ruled on the cause or manner of death yet.
One high school team moved their practice to another facility. This might be purely coincidental but it happened the same week the story hit the paper.
Ironically Ann-Marie Barnes and I selected this location precisely because it was laden with crime. So we are staying. We resolve to offer kids in this area a chance of escape through tennis. click to leave crime.html and return to homepage
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This last in a series of deaths in this area has yielded predictable results. As you can see this house is directly across from our tennis courts. Parents are leery if not terrified of having their kids attend events at the courts. They see the area as crime invested.
Two of our elite players live on this street and very near the house where the dead body was discovered. What are we supposed to do, tell Christine and Brian that their neighborhood is too dangerous for us? Remember, I am a product of a similar housing project.
We are trying to make a difference. While the death of this young lady is tragic and cast an ominous shadow over the neighborhood, we know that this is yet another obstacle the we and all face who strive to make a difference.
