Humpday Happenings...
With "The Great Beg-A-Thon", Charlie Brown (aka Hallowe'en) a mere TWO days away, I'd thought I would bring some of "those" stories...yeah, the ones that truly make one sit up and pose the frequently asked query: "When the hell did I wake up on BIZARRO WORLD?"
Item - The rubber ain't meetin' the road these days...at least not at one Allen County (Indiana) B.F. Goodrich plant.
It appears as though close to FOUR HUNDRED employees might get laid off, thanks to production cuts of up to 40%.
Now with the holidays looming ever closer, what BETTER way to say "thanks for a job well done" than to lay folks off, hmm?
The plant is looking at the senior staff to "voluntarily" take a lay off of about 8 weeks, so that's not too hard a pill to swallow. Of course, the newbies will be forced out (as is SOP with most ANY company these days).
And here I thought people NEEDED tires, even with the high prices we had "enjoyed" at the pumps in the past few months. Guess not.
Other cuts will be felt in the Tuscaloosa and Poelika (Ala) plants as well. Merry Christmas early?
Item - Uzi recoil kills 8 year old at gun fair.
In Westfield Connecticut, the last thing one would expect would be for a boy to die from a self-inflicted 9MM round to his head while shooting at a pumpkin, but that's exactly what happened. At a gun fair held there this past weekend, the supervised boy lost control of the weapon, and the muzzle jumped up, with the resulting wound to the head.
Now, why am I appalled at this? In spite of having instructors and trainers on sight, this tragedy took place.
The Uzi is inherently hinky when it comes to muzzle rise, as is the Galil and the AK47. And damn near anything with a short barrel can get you kissing the sky real fast, unless the barrel is ported in some manner.
But when you slap it into full-auto, you BETTER have a damn good stance and grip ON that piece or you'll be goose hunting instead of sending ordinance DOWN range (where the targets can be found). Apparently, the boy wasn't aware or was not told about the severity of the muzzle jump, and at 8 years old, I personally do not feel any boy should go full-auto, until he has already mastered the quirks of the firearm he is shooting on semi-auto.
But I'm an old fogey in that regard.
Better to ERR on the side of SAFETY.
That applies to EVERY weapon...ALL the time. 'Nuff said.
Item - A Fort Wayne man is facing charges of impersonating a public servant, after he pretended to be a police officer.
Sounds like a slam dunk, right? Not so fast.
Marcus Benjamin, 23, of the 4300 block of Hanna Street was being held at the Allen County lockup. Police were called to his home last week, where he was pretending to be a police officer, according to witnesses. Benjamin was holding a shotgun when police pulled up, and had just "called for backup" for a dispute among some children, reports state.
FWPD found NO law enforcement ID on Benjamin.
Now, let's dissect this, shall we?
First off, Marcus made a bad call when he dialed up dispatch asking for "backup". That is a no-brainer.
You can use the signal jargon, but if asked by dispatch IF you are a police officer, you simply state "no", and be done with it.
As to "witnesses"...I can say one thing about this area (where I happen to live near)...people will lie like a rug when it comes being ANY type of witness. They will say they saw nothing when, in fact, they DID...they will say YOU had a gun when all you did have was your hand in your back pocket...they will see guns when none are present, and will deny seeing a gun when spent cases are in the damn street. That's just the "cultural norm" around here. That's also why the FWPD has such a hard time cracking cases....the lack of credibility with the type of people they encounter. So much for "Community-Oriented" policing.
Did Marcus impersonate a LEO? Well, if the FWPD wants to believe a group of liars, I guess he did. If Marcus DID identify himself AS a LEO...that's a whole other ballgame. Since he's not old enough to be a retired officer, that takes that out of the equation.
I will say this...some the people around here know NO other means of "motivation" than having a weapon drawn on them...they have THAT MUCH CONTEMPT for others. I see it every day.
Lastly, let's end this on an "up" note...with plenty of "Awwww" factor, 'K?
Item - Sometimes FATE steps in.
Take the case of four, healthy, weeks-old kittens that were placed in a garbage bag with a knot tied at the top, and tossed into a trash bin behind a Hardee's restaurant and left to suffocate or be crushed when the trash men came to empty the dumpster.
Sorry...Didn't get a chance to happen.
Thanks to Serv-All running late (I'll not gripe about it), the kittens' loud mewing, and some concerned employees at the Hardee's at Maplecrest & East State St, this catastrophe was avoided.
The store manager, Shawna Gehrig, was told by another employee that they heard cats in the trash bin out back. Shawna had confirmed the noise, and had someone do a dumpster dive to rescue the kittens. The manager took them to her house in Craigsville, where her son fed them. It wasn't long before the shy cats had the run of her home. The same day the kittens were recovered, the manager told another patron, Emilie Beard, 73 about her discovery, knowing that the woman was a volunteer at Fort Wayne Animal Care & Control and a founding member of H.O.P.E. for animals.
Tuesday, after two weeks of having the kittens in her house, Shawna took them to the Hardee's, and handed them over to Emilie, who will care for the kittens until they can be adopted.
Just a few feet away from the dumpster where they were supposed to meet an untimely demise, the cluster of blue-eyed kittens peered through the door of an animal carrier as they were placed in Beard's car.
In many cases, the type of abuse fostered against these kittens IS a criminal act, involving law-enforcement and animal cruelty agency officials.
Not THIS day.
The perp that did this just didn't give a damn.
And the kittens got a reprieve, as well as a fresh start on a better life, because someone DID give a damn.
It all came down to ONE person...that DID make a difference.