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HARD TIMES GONE, BUT A VIOLENT END CAME

October 24, 1995
Section: METRO
Page: B1

By Janine DeFao Bee Staff Writer

**********SETTING IT STRAIGHT PUBLISHED OCTOBER 25, 1995 FOLLOWS:*********

A story on page B1 Tuesday gave the incorrect name of the firm that manages Grandee Apartments on Folsom Boulevard. It is Sacramento Real Estate Management.

--Jim Hill had struggled. He had lived out of his station wagon during last winter's floods, his 9-year-old son with him, selling scrap metal and cardboard and trying to get by. Later on, a job cleaning rooms at a Motel 6 put a roof over their heads, albeit a temporary one.

So when Hill, 50, was offered the chance to live at and manage a troubled Rancho Cordova apartment building, he went at it with gusto, friends and residents there said.

"He was trying to prove to himself that he could do it. . . . He was really trying hard to make it work - especially for his kid," said resident Marcy Mora. "He wasn't looking for trouble. He was just trying to do his job."

James Edward Hill Sr., a small man with a tough facade, was stabbed to death Saturday night when he confronted a group of young men he had previously told to stay off the property, authorities said.

The four youths, who were going to visit a resident who is a gang associate, had caused problems before at the complex, Sacramento County Sheriff's Department officials said.

Two 15-year-old suspects have been arrested on murder charges, and two others have been questioned in the attack but have not been charged.

Residents of the Grandee Apartments, two bleak rows of gray stucco buildings along Folsom Boulevard divided by a sidewalk and a few trees, expressed sadness about Hill's death, but said they were not surprised.

The complex of two dozen apartments, many of them vacant, long has been besieged by problems from gangs to drugs and public drunkenness, residents and sheriff's officials said.

"I feel terrible about what happened to him, but this was waiting to happen," said Jerry Bohrer, who said he managed the complex until he was fired in August and Hill took over.

"You just keep coming out and agitating these people - eventually they're going to turn on you," he said. "It's kind of an eerie feeling because I probably dealt with these same people" who stabbed Hill.

"There were several times I said, "There ain't no way I'm going out there, I'll let the Sheriff's Department handle it,' " Bohrer said. But when deputies left, the troublemakers often returned, he said.

Sandee Dirks of Sacramento Management, which manages the property for the owner, Victor Gubersky, said the management company evicts problem tenants as quickly as the law allows.

She also said the management company had instructed Hill to call police when there were problems, rather than handling them himself.

"He wanted to play cop and you can't be ugly with people," she said.

As a result, Dirks said, Hill was fired Friday as manager, but was to be kept on as a maintenance man. She said the agreement had not been put in writing.

Residents, who said they were unaware Hill had been fired before his death, acknowledged that Hill could be tough on people, but said he was trying to do a good job cleaning up the apartment complex and its problems.

"He was trying to do a little more than he should have himself. He should have dialed 911," said resident Myron Lambert, who described Hill as a hard worker and good handyman. The two men's sons were playmates, he said.

Hill's son, who called 911 when his injured father stumbled into their apartment, has been placed in a temporary foster home while officials try to locate relatives. Hill was divorced and had full custody of his son, said Sacramento County Coroner's Deputy Brianna Pierce.

"They hung around each other like they were best friends," resident Mora said of Hill and his son.

Hill "stood his ground," she said. "He was letting (troublemakers) know this is his home. That's what he would say: "This is my home and my son's home.' "

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