George W. Dobbs has seen a lot of changes in the 35 years he has lived in his home on Greenleaf Court, many of them less than favorable. But early last Sunday morning, he'd had enough.

The 67-year-old was walking his poodle Lucky around 1:20 a.m. when he was approached by a teen with a sawed-off shotgun, demanding money. Rather than comply, Dobbs refused to be bullied and took the gun away from the teen, striking him in the face several times for good measure.

"I was scared the whole time," he said. "But I noticed he kept cocking and clicking the gun and I made up my mind that he didn't have anything in it. I took a chance - I didn't see no other choice."

George's wife Diane said he came in the house and woke her up, telling her he had just taken the shotgun away from the would-be robber and to call the police.

"I would have been scared to death," she said. "But George is lucky. He had an accident in a pick-up truck a month ago and he walked away from that. Someone is definitely looking down on George."

George was able to get a description of the teen and the car he was riding in and several days later, authorities from the Covington Police Department arrested a 14-year-old boy for the attempted robbery and charged him with armed robbery, aggravated assault, possession of a sawed-off shotgun and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

According to George, the crowd moving into his neighborhood is the main cause for the decline and the folks who have lived there for years just have to deal with it.

"The police have to come out here and just sit it's so bad out here," he said. "It's a rough place but I never had no trouble and then all of a sudden this happened. It scared me but I guessed getting that gun from him was my only choice... It could have gone wrong and I might not be here."

The mellow attitude is something Diane says her husband has always had and it is likely what allowed him to keep his cool under such pressure.

"He doesn't let nothing worry him. He takes about 10 or 12 different medications a day and has to be on a ventilator and he has a heart condition but he never lets that or anything else get him down. He just goes on."