Hi Robert,

Yes, there was an incident which had made the otherwise uneventful morning, interesting.

On  the morning of 4th Dec 2001, at around 2:30am, we (Andy Chin, Kenneth Chua and myself) were distributing the USJ23 NW newsletters while going about our rounds when we spotted one of the house on USJ23/5B (no.xx) had it's main door and it's adjoining grill opened. Curious and cautious, we proceed to ring  the door bell and call at the house owner.  

Out came a soft, male voice: "Help! I feel terrible...please come in.." We asked if he wanted  us to ring for any emergency medical service (Kenneth, who had a cellphone at that time, actually tries to call for ambulance dispatch) but he refused  the offer.  

Not wanting to leave the scene without really knowing what was going on, we proceed to enter the garden of the house by climbing over the metal fence by the gate (the gate was locked), proceeding cautiously, we entered the house through the front door into a living room that was dimly lit. Lying on his back on the marble floor was a man looking really ill. He had asked for us to help him to sit up, and  then to help him up to his bedroom on the second floor (he claimed that he couldn't move his legs and he did look that way to us!), we weren't sure it was the best thing  to do (leaving him alone in that state upstairs) and continued to persuade him to seek medical help.  He refused our suggestions - insisting that he'll be okay later, we had no choice but to leave him sitting, within comfortable reach of his telephone (for further help if he chooses to). Before leaving, we looked around the living room to make sure things were okay ( there was no sign of foul play at that moment to us) and proceeded to close the front door and grill behind us - leaving them open would  have been an open invitation for crime!. The whole incident lasted about 15-20 minutes.

Personally, I was still worried that something bad might happen to the person. So, I drove by a few hours later, before leaving for work, and tried to see that things were okay/better -noticed that his car was driven back properly into his driveway (it was left outside the house at 2:30am when we last saw it ) .

I'm glad that we could help someone who was really in need, even if the  particular person is not even considerate enough to contribute to the community. Hopefully, this incident can help bring realization to those who are blind to the need for community spirit, and come forward to do their part for our neighborhood!

Best regards,

Casey.

(message was edited by Robert Chan)