by Timothy Rutt

Have reports from several neighborhood newsgroups about young people knocking on doors at night, claiming to be neighbors and/or claiming to know neighbors and requesting some unspecified help.  (We've had a couple of reports of young men, and one of a young woman).  They will want you to come outside or request to come into your house.

While we haven't heard from anybody who's listened to their spiel, they get aggravated and sometimes profane when told to go away.

Areas they've hit so far include Porter at Loma Alta and the President Street area.

It's possible they're working for a magazine subscription crew (mag crew), where young people are transported miles from home to sell magazine subscriptions.  While the business is legitimate, crew work has been known to be abusive to the crewmembers and possibly dangerous to homeowners (see this New York Times story).

Parent Watch (http://www.parentwatch.org/) is a watchdog group for magazine subscription crews, and has some resource information.

If you have an encounter at your door, call the sheriff at 798-1131.