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?

Humpday Happenings...
Today is "Get a new roof" day...finally. After two aborted attempts thanks to Indiana weather, the guys are outside making our house look better than most every OTHER house around my area...not that it isn't easy to do considering all the HOVELS we have to choose from around our humble abode.
Actually I can make our house look better than most all the others in our neighborhood JUST by standing outside and smiling...LOL!
And doing that also makes the neighborhood's average IQ jump markedly.
But I digress...
Last night was the "Night Out Against Crime", and the media was saying we should put on our porch lights as a sign to criminals. Well, I haven't a porch light, but the front steps light works just fine, thank you. And I tend to put it on EVERY damn night, as a "sign" to criminals. Actually MY sign says "PRIVATE PROPERTY - KEEP OUT".(my other sign says "The Ghetto Stops HERE").
And the "second finger salute" makes a nice "sign" as well, when warranted, and that might include a pistol on the hip.
"It's pretty much how I say hello to everyone these days". (gratuitous Punisher movie plug)
Now, I was hoping that I'd see SOMETHING in the paper or on TV about some neighborhood association doing something on the SE side of town on the NOAC (night out against crime). Didn't see word ONE. And if my part of town had something...well, they kept it DAMN WELL HIDDEN from the media!
I DID see that both the NORTHWEST side and the SOUTHWEST side had activities, including police displays and free food.
Imagine that.
Here's the link to the national website:

http://www.nationaltownwatch.org/nno/

Curious, that on the on the ONE side of town where crime prevention is sorely NEEDED...nothing. Zip, zero, nada, nothing.
Now that speaks VOLUMES to me about the level of CONCERN in MY part of Fort Wayne.
It speaks to me that there is little if ANY, really.
Now I suppose that the FWPD or the ACSD "could" have fronted some kind of events for the families and kids down here, but considering that the neighborhood associations are smaller than most, in spite of the fact that this part of the city has the highest population density overall, it makes a good argument as to the state of affairs down here.
I said to the wife I could have had an "event"...I COULD have just sat on my step with my 12 gauge pump across my knees and smile at everyone that walks by, and if they say anything, I could do a "demo" of my own!
Still....it's pathetic to think that NO ONE had anything regarding the NOAC on the SE side.
I suppose that the Community-Oriented Policing ain't "cutting the muster" down here these days.
Oh, wait...I keep forgetting...you need a COMMUNITY that GIVES A DAMN first....THEN the COP program will work (as it does in decent neighborhoods across this fair city). Silly me, what WAS I thinking?
I have to say that EVERY NIGHT is a night out against crime around here. Hell, just ask people like Phil Marx about that. It's more like a YEAR OUT AGAINST CRIME...every damn year. And those all too few of us that won't allow such criminals to storm our bastions are the ONLY ones that care.
We know the city doesn't care all that much OR we would see more being done, and not some "pie-in-the-sky" development in the Hanna-Creighton area for housing that costs between $100K-$200K that very few low income people can afford.
And if that Section 8 voucher program is doing it's "thang", then people would move to a better area (like maybe the rich sides of town, where many of them can entertain others instead of US), and leave MY part of town to rot quietly away like most of Detroit is doing as we speak. If the city would get their asses in gear and RAZE a lot of these condemned and dilapidated properties, there would be a lot less places for these thugs to "play", and a lot more room for me to enjoy. Ne nice to have about THREE houses per block around here...real nice.
But as long as the city ALLOWS overgrown foliage to mask the hovels these dubious renters are infesting, I don't see much change presenting itself. Nor do I see this neighborhood becoming re-RE-gentriified into something the city can be PROUD of, instead of being ASHAMED of. That's what "blighted" means.
Like I have said too many times before...spend the (less) money to purchase and renovate these houses (many are architecturally unique), place some vets, gays, handicapped, military personnel, or even some seniors into them, and start reaping the benefits that better clientele would bring to THIS part of Fort Wayne.
It does have the novelty of never having been tried before.
And...it would most definitely deter crime to no small degree.
It's a win-win all around for everyone.
C'mon, City Hall...when WILL you stop ignoring the alarm and wake the hell up?
The coffee's burning, and the dog needs to go out.
Start caring.
We promise it's not painful.

On A Wing And A Prayer...
I thought I'd take to the (rather overcast) "skies" today and pursue an "all-aviation" theme...with good reason, I might add.
And boy, does that bring back a ton of GOOD memories
And, as always, we're callin' em as we see 'em.
So stow your gear in the overhead compartment, fasten your seatbelts, observe the NO SMOKING sign, and please return your stewardess to her upright position.
--Fort Wayne taxpayers can expect a HIKE in taxes next year.
Now WTF does THIS have to do with aviation?
Glad you asked.
Remember those THIRTY "entities" that can LEVY tax hikes (posted on many occasions right here)? Well, ONE of those minions of mayhem is at it AGAIN. The FORT WAYNE AIRPORT AUTHORITY is looking for $2.8 MILLION bucks...and it's looking in YOUR POCKETS for it, friends.
Seems the Kitty Hawk bankruptcy and subsequent pullout from the airport left a bit of a GAP in the old budget, and guess who has been selected to FILL it? That's right, people...it's YOU, the HOMEOWNER. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the financial waters (thanks to our Governor halting this runaway freight train of property taxation), along comes ANOTHER "shark" (cue the JAWS theme music)...all set to take a bite out of YOUR bank account, paycheck, nest egg, whatever.
I told everyone ages ago that the FWIA had this "master plan" over the next 25 years, and that it as going to cost some serious $$$. They already have a new tower (that still brings aircraft dangerously low over my house periodically), and good old Tory Richardson wants to build another runway to parallel the N/S runway 2-3.
And we NEED this....why?
We're a REGIONAL airport that is trying it's damnedest to want to be a NATIONAL airport...and we just can't do it. We will never become anything close to Atlanta, or O'Hare, or LAX (and be thankful for that). Be happy that we DO have an ANG unit stationed here, and that THEY are thriving (and paying money into the airport as well.)
Of course it would be NICE is we could (talk about a great plan to actually revitalize the SE side of town) renovate all the houses down here, and make them AVAILABLE to MILITARY PERSONNEL (and their families). I'd bet the farm that crime would HAVE to go elsewhere. Who wants to screw with the military anyway, right?
But alas, it's such a GREAT idea that it will never see the light of day...unfortunately.
And while we're on the subject of aircraft...
--Meanwhile...up in AUBURN, the regional airport THERE managed to have a WW2 era B-17 (Flying Fortress) and a B-24 (Liberator) fly in for a few days so people could view them and EVEN take rides. How cool is that?
Here's the link to the Collings Foundation page (owner of both planes):

http://www.collingsfoundation.org/tour_b-17g_hist.htm

http://www.collingsfoundation.org/tour_b-24j.htm

I've been fortunate enough to tour each of these type of bombers (when I was in Chino, CA - Planes of Fame), and I can say that the men who flew in them had something many lack today...CAST IRON BALLS.
There's not much room to do anything but sit, stand or shoot. And the skin of these plans is thin enough that it sure as hell will NOT stop an enemy bullet "passing through". The only heat at 30,000 feet was the electric flying suit you wore (unless you like frostbite coupled with the lack of oxygen).
Now, when was the LAST time you can recall an aircraft display or airshow HERE in Fort Wayne?
If you set your "Way Back" machine properly and said 1999, you'd win the Cupie Doll.
The last airshow was held at OUR airport back in the last millennium. How pitiful is THAT for the SECOND LARGEST CITY in the state of Indiana?
And the weather back on that weekend was bad enough that the Blue Angels couldn't even do their "low" show.
Still, the static display aircraft were worth a gander, and the souvenir stands were nothing short of fantastic.
The turnout for the event was pretty damn good as well.
The 122nd ANG (Blacksnakes) even had their hangars open to the public with officers and flight crew available to discuss a future in the ANG or even to ask questions about their duties and equipment.
Ever since Tory Richardson took over the helm at FWIA, we haven't had a BONE FIDE airshow at the airport. We had one or two "fly-ins" for a day or so (stopovers for WW2 bombers on their way to REAL airshows), but that was it.
You can't even view the BAER FIELD air museum UNLESS you are a ticket-holding passenger (they moved the museum UPSTAIRS from it's former location on the first floor), and that is a treasure that many will not see until they change it back.
It was nice to view the history of Baer Field, and the man it was named after.
But facts are facts...we're a municipal airport...a regional airport...NOT an "International" airport, no matter HOW much money we throw at it. I will confess that every flight FROM FWIA will take you to a TRUE "international airport", so you can leave the country, but we do not qualify for that "title".

--Lastly, Margaret Ringerberg will be laid to rest today in Harlan...or will she?
This local pioneering aviatrix, racer, medal winner, and all around lover of anything and everything pertaining to aircraft and aviation may have her body laid to rest, but I'd wager her SPIRIT will STILL be soaring for quite some time.
Like I said, she's earned her wings TWICE.
Keep 'Em Flying, Maggie!

Monday Musings...
Anatomy of a Neighborhood.
Well, I've some time to kill while our roofing shingles are being delivered for our garage, so pour another cup of coffee while l get this Monday off and running for you, fair enough?
Everyone has a preconceived notion as to what a specific neighborhood will look like, even when they aren't planning to go there. We can blame the media for much of the perception of that, but we can also take time to listen to residents OF those neighborhoods. After all, they spend most (if not all) their time there, right?
And so it is with me.
I know that there is very little to write home about when my "home" happens to be in one of those "blighted areas" of Fort Wayne. But there IS a lot to blog about, especially when many of you cannot possibly conceive of the idea that so many people can act in such a reprehensible manner, as I have described here so often.
And yet they do.
There is no deficit when it comes to people to blame for the way things pan out in certain parts of this city, or any other city across this vast nation.
There just happens to be too many people with their "fingers in the pie", as it were.
We can blame the citizens themselves, whatever the color of their skin. After all, THEY are the ones with no sense of self, no pride in anything they have or do, cannot see past the moment, and hand out disrespect to anyone who is (in their eyes) not part of THEIR cadre like the government that hands out (fraudulent) welfare checks. And of course I speak about a small portion of the citizenry, and (fortunately) NOT the general populace.
They must have been brought up to believe that littering is fine, public urination is OK, and vandalizing other's property in quite the norm. They must have grown up with a hearing problem, because everything in their meaningless lives revolves around the word LOUD, be it the $hit-for-music they play at ear-bleeding levels, speech patterns that can be heard a half block away, or the lack of a muffler on their vehicles.
But that is only one facet of this issue.
We also have the housing problems.
Yesterday, fellow blogger Dan Turkette (AWB-Fort Wayne News) posted about the section 8 article in Sunday's paper. It's a good read, so take the time to view it. Section 8 is a CRIME MAGNET...period. I have first-hand experience dealing with the problems that rapidly follow a section 8 changeover to an otherwise NICE apartment complex (in Columbus, Ohio). And I can say from that experience that it is NOT for the faint of heart. Actually, it was a damn good precursor to "clue me in" as to what I would later come to expect in my current neighborhood in Fort Wayne.
There is no regulation when it comes to "low-income" housing, and the section 8 aspect only helps to move the problem to OTHER areas of a city, by allowing people to have a house in nicer areas (which if not checked will be come the latest ghetto).
When low-income housing represents 10% (or less) of the entire area, crime tends to stay static, but when that number rises, crime seems to grow exponentially. I know (again from experience) that many people will just tuck tail and LEAVE the area (bugging out), not wishing to deal with the problems many low-income renters or residents bring with them. This is not to say that ALL are bad. Such is not the case. Many have fallen on hard times and are trying to regroup for another shot at life.
We have societal problems out the a$$ as well, such as the drug problems in the inner city (now coming to a suburb near you) which spurs on the crime problems. Since most low-income families "tend" to be ethnic, I would be remiss to NOT mention that (for example) the highest incidence of crimes AGAINST blacks is committed BY blacks. The DOJ reports that blacks have the highest "crime against" stats of every race in this nation. Apparently there is this small portion of the black population that preys on anyone for any reason.
Far be it for me to call ALL blacks "bad".
That just isn't so. Some of my BEST friends (and coworkers) were black
We DO have our share of wonderfully WHITE TRASH as well. You can never lump everyone of ANY race into ONE basket and make it work. But the statistics will reveal that there is a problem in certain ethnic communities, none the less.
One curious thing, is that whatever leadership those communities (claim to) have is woefully inadequate to address the problems. And that will cause any neighborhood to decline faster than the Dow-Jones whenever OPEC farts!
Many would argue that I don't KNOW "the experience" and that I don't understand. Well, I still have eyes and ears, and I can create a hypothesis based on what my senses tell me about people. And my education tells me that what (and who) I see is counterproductive to any thriving area of any city. It's the ANTITHESIS of what a normal society should be striving for, plain and simple.
Trouble is, I'm NOT OK with that (like everyone else seems to be around here). I can't accept bad behavior as GOOD behavior, no matter HOW HARD I try. And neither should any of you. We are advised to be "tolerant", but that should never mean we have to TOLERATE aberrations in societal behavior, calling them acceptable in the process.
We can also blame the police, but not for the reason you would think. They may be understaffed, under educated (regarding the subtle nuances of a given area) or they may be too busy avoiding frivolous lawsuits to effectively police the streets. They may have a few yahoos in the department that overreact when no reaction is warranted at all.
They do the best they can with what they have to work with. There are officers that believe in what they do just as there are officers that will just "punch the clock". After all, so many of them DO NOT LIVE in our area, just "work" here.
I, on the other hand DO live here.
We can blame the city leaders for their short-sightedness in seeing issues (in their infancy) and ignoring them, allowing them to fester like the societal infections they have become. The developers who are lured to other parts of town, forsaking a certain area because of it's "problems" and wind up building everywhere else doesn't help that "blighted" area one damn bit. It all adds up even if it's a missed trash pickup, a street light that goes unrepaired, or the code violations that are never reported or acted upon.
Lastly, we can blame those citizens that have given up on the area. The people who have shed the satin robe of caring for the sackcloth tunic of apathy and in doing so, have given that neighborhood over to those that only wish to bring it down further.
And the people that wind up controlling these areas are predatory users only. They will strip an area of ALL it's resources through whatever means...and after their consumption is finished, they will look to their NEXT neighborhood that they can gobble up. And some decent people are alarmingly fine with that. And that is scary to see that happen. They simply stop giving a damn. So what reasons do any decent people have to remain, other than ones founded in principle?
Yes, it's the old "We like banging our heads against the wall, because it feels SO damn good when we stop" syndrome. And many days, it taxes one's resolve.
What we can glean from this is that ANY neighborhood has the potential for longevity and can grow, OR can turn from a once nice, quaint area where Grandma used to live into a next boil on a city's ass that needs to be lanced.
I can only show you what happens here. I can only relay the foibles, the vicissitudes, and the players in this daily drama within the city's confines. But without actually living here and experiencing it "up close and personal", you will develop a preconceived notion as to what this area IS all about.
I just tell you things "as it is".
And the apple won't fall far from the tree in that regard.
When I convey the daily routines in my area, I'm not doing it to entertain, but to inform.
It should be a motivating factor to change things around for the better once again, so that every single person that wants a good neighborhood is able to have one.
And I don't think it's all that impossible to realize.

Crash and Burn...

At least that's what SITEMETER has done over the last 24 hours.

*FYI ALERT*

So ...IF you CANNOT access YOUR blog, but for some "strange" reason CAN access THIS blog, here's a simple tip that will get YOU back to rights:

--All you have to do is DROP the "sitemeter" HTML from your layout. Stash it somewhere as a text file (so you can retrieve it and paste it back in at a later date), and then PRESTO...your blog will REAPPEAR with none of that Internet Explorer crap telling you "the page is not able to be viewed" BS!

See, we're not only topical and replete with pungent social comment...BUT....we're informed like there's no tomorrow. But mostly, when it comes to "puters"...we DO get LUCKY...LOL!

Just another service I provide for you, the reader.

DO have a good weekend, people.

((Ed. Note: As of4 Aug, 0900Hr. SITEMETER is back up (crosses fingers), so I pasted the link back into my front page.))

Oh, Brother...It IS a Friday...
The start of yet another month in the city of apathy.
My, how the time flies.
So it's off to the grocery on our weekly jaunt to resupply the "troops" (that would be US and the cats), and to our amazement, this sojourn tried it's damnedest to become a major-league clusterf$ck!
All we could do was basically sit back and watch it transpire.
Allow me to elucidate.
We always go to SCOTTS, and those of you who regularly read this blog know of the foibles associated with this store EVER SINCE Krogers took over (a really huge mistake).
First stop - the DELI for our meats and cheeses.
Well, they DID have SWISS, but for the third week in a row...NO AMERICAN CHEESE (white OR yellow)...!!!
I mean WTF??
Last time I checked this was still AMERICA, and the most eaten cheese in AMERICA is:
(all together now)... AMERICAN (thank you).
I mean this is the cheese that the old welfare giveaways from those trailers were MADE of. Time was, you could get a damn BRICK of the stuff, and take it home to slice YOURSELF. Hell, they GAVE you so much of it, you would split it with another person that got flour...or powdered milk...or even rice.
When you get a standard burger at most ANY damn place, what cheese do YOU think they slap on that fried chunk of cow anyway? AMERICAN CHEESE. Check out ANY fast-food joint that makes burgers (and that is a $hitload), and the "cheese of choice" is always...AMERICAN.
And I won't even MENTION what cheese people ALWAYS seem to put on GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES.
I figures since we were CLOSER to Wisconsin (the cheese "capital" of the USA), getting a BASIC processed cheese (like AMERICAN) would be a helluva lot EASIER.
Now I could understand is someone came on the news and stated that INDIANA has inexplicably placed a BAN or moratorium on AMERICAN cheese (not that it would make any sense, but it IS Indiana), but for a MAJOR grocery chain to NOT have any for the past 3 weeks is nothing short of treasonous (and just a bit deplorable)!
And (according to the people at our local Scotts), there's NOT much DEMAND for it.
Funny thing...we bopped over to ALBRIGHT'S meats (on S. Calhoun), and THEY had yellow AMERICAN CHEESE...said it was a popular seller, too. Imagine that.
And here's what WIKI has to say about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_cheese

And an article ON American cheese:

http://www.broowaha.com/article.php?id=3855

Someone at Scott's ain't fessin' up, are they?
Perhaps new management sucks?
Perhaps someone doesn't know HOW TO ORDER $hit?
Sorry, people, but I've got to go with Albright's on this one. And I'm sure most ALL of you have little or NO trouble with securing AMERICAN CHEESE for YOUR families, right?
But hey, I suppose we have to have a reason for the decline in our societal structure in America...it might as well start with the CHEESE that bears this nation's name.
And that was the beginning of our journey into idiocy.
We had to stop at the ATM, and wouldn't you know it....for the past several weeks, there was NOT ONE SOUL at it (because we didn't have to use it), but THIS week...a bloody LINE of cars. And of course, since it's the FIRST of the month, people have everyone ELSE'S card to dick with making withdrawals.
"Sure, gimme yo card, I can git da money fo you".
Well, thanks to my making fun at these technologically-challenged morons, those minutes passed quickly. Then, it was off to Family Dollar for cheap soda and other stuff. And of course we got behind a lady that had to have a damn life story-esque conversation with the cashier...like your life is THAT thrilling, you HAVE to share?
Gimme a break.
Finally, that ordeal was behind us, and we set off to grab some smokes (and I needed one after all this crap), and get our asses back to "Homestead Heights", where the locals will be waking up in about an hour to marvel us with their pathetic lives once again, through the magic of their acoustic cacophony and TNB.
Wow, never seemed to have this problem early on in our life in fort Wayne, and I have really never had this occur in any other city I've lived in. Must be all that GLOBAL WARMING causing this behavior.
Well, it IS August.
It's FRIDAY, it a NEW MONTH, and it's WELFARE WEEKEND. I cannot imagine a series of events that have managed to conveniently create this nexus with such fervor.
To quote Charlie Brown..."UUGGGHHH!"
But it can ALWAYS be worse...just wait and see.
Do have a SAFE and peaceful weekend!
And to Officer James Arnold of the FWPD:
Welcome back!