If It's Not One Thing...
It's another, right?
Well, we DID get our new garage roof put on yesterday, and I'm using that as a preamble to the "meat" of today's post.
We needed to get a new roof...the old shingles were worn down to the backing tar paper, and curling at the edges.
Yep, time to change up.
But aside from functionality and even aesthetics, there was another reason for getting the roof.
My wife and I take pride in what we have. yes, I know that sounds a bit anachronistic in today's world, but it's true. We're throwbacks to a time when (as Dad used to say) WHAT YOU HAD WAS WORTH KEEPING...AND TAKING CARE OF.
Call it "good stewardship".
Call it "investing in one's investment".
And it has always made damn good sense.
Plus, it keeps my neighborhood from looking worse than it is (and that, my friends, is a daily chore).
Now there are those who will belabor the point of poverty being the cause of the physical "demeanor" of a neighborhood.
Bull$hit!
There is not reason one WHY some person (who might be financially-challenged) cannot lift a damn PAINTBRUSH or push a dam LAWNMOWER. The amount of money you have in your account, or even in your "hip-national-bank" has absolutely NO BEARING on cleanliness or even keeping one's house, car or children in proper order. There is one program that can get you FREE PAINT for the house, for example. There are churches that can provide help and volunteers to fix up a house or even a car.
The kids might not have the "newest" clothing, but by God, you sure as hell can keep them from looking like some vagabond that has blown in on the last freight train. It's called GOODWILL or the SALVATION ARMY. And you can STILL afford soap and water and wash the windows of the house once a damn year. Hell, cheap-ass Windex isn't all that expensive...try Family Dollar ($1 a bottle).
You might not have the latest model car, but you CAN keep it clean and in working order. you just don't hop in, turn the key, drive off day after day, and expect the vehicle to maintain itself.
The bottom line is this: TAKE TIME TO GIVE A DAMN, whether it's with the kids, the car, the house, or yourself. That's how neighborhoods keep from becoming like mine...or Phil's. - SEGUE ALERT -
Now I said all THAT...to say THIS:
We had two shootings yesterday, one resulting in a fatality.
That brings the Fort Wayne homicide (pool) number to SEVENTEEN, I believe.
1) The first shooting took place in the 4500 block of BOWSER St. Now before you ask, YES...it's in the S/E quadrant, and what I like to affectionately call "The Badlands". Now it's not the worst of the worst, but like MY particular neighborhood...it IS trying.
(Here is the story):
Father shot to death Was picking up kids on Bowser; gunman on foot
(Abby Slutsky --The Journal Gazette)
A Fort Wayne man was shot to death Wednesday afternoon as he arrived at a home on the city’s southeast side to pick up his children, police said.
Robert Parke, 35, was picking up his twin daughters, who are toddlers, from a home in the 4500 block of Bowser Avenue about 4 p.m. when a man approached him and fired, police said.
Parke was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Officers remained in front of 4531 Bowser Ave. for about three hours while obtaining a search warrant for a home across the street and searching for possible evidence.
Police have not identified any suspects or made any arrests.
Marlene Gomez, Parke’s mother, said Parke was a good father. The twins, 1 1/2 , are the youngest of Parke’s four children, she said. "He was a father that took care of his kids, and he loved his babies. He loved all his kids," Gomez said.
Parke’s grandmother, Marian Machon, said Parke co-owned a bar and was working to get custody of his twins. Gomez said the twins’ mother died in December.
Although police have not determined a motive in the slaying, a detective at the scene said witnesses saw the shooter going through Parke’s pockets after he had fallen to the ground.
The detective said robbery may have been a factor in the shooting.
Witnesses saw the shooter running from the scene, but police dogs were unable to track him, police said. Police did not have a complete description of the shooter.
Police closed Bowser Avenue between Senate and Capitol avenues while neighbors sat in lawn chairs and on porches and watched officers work.
While detectives attempted to gather evidence at the shooting scene, an officer and his police dog, trying to track the shooter, walked between two homes on Bowser Avenue and spotted two pitbulls fighting in a yard.
When neither police nor the dogs’ owner was able to separate the two pitbulls, Animal Care and Control was called to remove the dogs from the yard.
According to the Indiana Department of Correction, Parke was convicted in 2000 of forgery, dealing cocaine and cocaine possession.

* * * * *
Now this could have been a crime of opportunity, a drug deal gone bad, an old grudge..who can say. All I know is that some black male shot another person (who happened to be white).
2) The second shooting was late last night and took place in the 24oo block of WARSAW (near Suttenfield).
(here's that story) :
Late-night shooting on Warsaw
Journal Gazette
Just before midnight Wednesday, police responded to a report of a shooting in the 2400 block of Warsaw Street.
It was not clear who was shot, or how seriously the victim was injured, but not long after police received the call, an ambulance was seen leaving the area with its lights and sirens activated.
Officers responded in force to the area and police were putting up crime-scene tape, blocking off parts of East Suttenfield Street and the front of a home in the 2400 block of Warsaw Street. Two people were placed in handcuffs.
Phil Marx, an area resident, said he heard four gunshots and saw a man running from the area.
No further information was available before deadline.

* * * * *
WTG, Phil!
(I'd wager those involved were black as well)
But it's not like he's been TELLING the FWPD about crime in HIS neighborhood for all these years, is it?
Oh, wait...he HAS, and has been met with mixed results.
This is EXACTLY the types of situations I want to KEEP FROM HAPPENING in MY neighborhood. It's bad enough that people like us have to sleep with a gun within reach every night (welcome to the Midwest's version of Baghdad) in a city that has about 1/10th the population of my hometown, Philadelphia (where I never slept with a gun, nor even OWNED one).
It's not about the CRIMES, though, in spite of the fact that many would say it is. It's about the PEOPLE. After all, PEOPLE CAUSE CRIME...it doesn't just manifest itself for no reason. There is always a root cause...and it's the people that inhabit neighborhoods like ours that ARE the cause. Besides, if poverty IS the issue, how's come these "poor" people ALL have GUNS (or can get them easily enough)?
And it's not restricted to one specific race, although DOJ crime stats do bear witness that a small portion of one race commits the most crimes in cities across the nation (but you're all smart enough to know that).
I suppose we're fortunate in that we have real "diversity" when it comes to those committing crimes down here. We don't hold any bias when entertaining thugs. They come in ALL colors, and ethnicities. from the saggy pants-wearing thuggie wannabes, to the crackhead staggerers, to the meth-skinny females and their dysfunctional "boyfriends of the month", to the chronically soused feloneous flotsam, to the gang members being recruited from "out-of-towners"...we have it ALL. We have Serbian gangs, black gangs, Hispanic gangs, and white motorcycle gangs.
And heaven help the innocent that get in their way.
Still, I do whatever I can to deter crime on my minuscule parcel of property, whether it's keeping teens from using my corner as a hangout, telling someone to NOT toss trash on my lawn, or shining a million candlepower spotlight (or laser pointer...heh, heh, heh) on some dumb ass boom car that is shaking the plaster off my walls.
And I'm willing to assist the police in whatever measures they need to take to bring some semblance of order BACK to MY neighborhood, but I do it with one provision.
I would expect those that are hired and paid by my taxes, those that wear the badge carry the gun, and swear the oath, to respond in kind.
I've taken my share of oaths, and I fully understand what I am undertaking by doing so.
I just think a bit or reciprocity is in order.
And I don't think that's asking too much, eh?