Tales From the Southside...
Looks like it's time to dig through the files, blow the dust off of them, and submit for your approval, items of interest, sure to intrigue.
I promise it will make you think, and thinking has never hurt anyone all that much, has it?
So, without any further ado, here we go, get ready for an *E* ticket ride, boys and girls...
=======================
** From the "PS, they shot you" File:
We can now claim our 7th AND 8th homicides of this year (and it looks to be on track for the magic number of "25" I said would occur. Don't you thugs out there disappoint me, now). Think of this as a "twofer".
Rather than link you to the story, as I did yesterday, I'm going to just reprint it HERE. Consider this (as the late Paul Harvey would say: "The rest...of the story").
(( No Shooter, Clues in Felons’ Double Slaying
byHolly Abrams-The Journal Gazette
Two men shot to death early Wednesday on the city’s south side had pleaded guilty to felony charges in separate cases – one having spent time in prison for drug dealing.
{nah...you must be joking}
Police dispatchers received a 911 call reporting gunshots on South Harrison Street, between DeWald Street and Creighton Avenue, just after midnight. In an alley in the 2200 block of South Harrison Street, police found a green Chevrolet Impala with two men inside, said officer R. J. Sutphin, Fort Wayne police spokesman.
One of the men, De’Anthony J. Lewis, 20, who was sitting in the front passenger’s seat, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver was rushed to a hospital in critical condition, Sutphin said.
He died there shortly after arrival.
The coroner’s office has ruled the deaths of Lewis and the driver, Adam Nicholas Tadeo, 25, as the county’s seventh and eighth homicides this year.
Preliminary autopsy results show both men died from gunshot wounds. Police have made no arrests in the slayings, said police spokesman officer Michael Joyner.
Officers used a police dog to try to track the gunman Wednesday morning. Police found and questioned one man, but he was released, and no charges were filed against him, Joyner said.
Joyner said detectives have not determined a motive for the killings. They have no description of a suspect or knowledge of whether another vehicle was involved, Joyner said. "It’s a wide-open investigation," he said. "We’re just starting from scratch.
We have no clue who might be involved."
{but police ARE looking for a maroon caddy seen by a neighbor at the scene when the shooting took place}
Police do know that both of the victims have criminal records.
{big surprise there - must be a "cultural thang"}
Tadeo had been released from prison in July, according to Doug Garrison, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Correction. Tadeo spent time in a work-release program before being put on probation in January.
{seems he got out too damn early, if he wasn't rehabilitated}
Tadeo pleaded guilty in January 2004 to three counts of dealing cocaine and one count of cocaine possession. He was arrested after selling the drugs to an undercover informant on three occasions.
Melissa Tadeo, 29, said her cousin enjoyed spending time with loved ones and had few friends outside his family.
"He was a family person. He didn’t bother nobody,"
{here we go again with the "injured innocent, wouldn't harm a hair on anyone's head, good as gold" bullshit} she said, adding that he had a sense of humor.
{wonder how humorous early Wednesday AM was to him?}
She said her cousin was most recently working at an Ohio company. That is where he met Lewis, whom Melissa Tadeo described as one of her cousin’s friends.
Lewis was sentenced to six years’ probation in January after pleading guilty to aiding burglary. {another slap on the wrist sentence}
In May, Lewis drove a getaway vehicle used in a city burglary. Coins were stolen from a man in that case.
Meanwhile, neighbors who live near the shooting said criminal activity in the area is troublesome.
"It does concern me," Stacey Pearson, 24, said. "I have three kids at home."
Pearson was passing through the area Wednesday night, having just departed work.
Around the corner, on DeWald Street, Michelle Alonzo, 27, was inside her apartment knitting when she heard three gunshots.
"(There is) a lot of crazy stuff on this street," Alonzo said. "They don’t tell you that when you rent. It’s kinda creepy."
Alonzo, who moved to Fort Wayne three months ago from California, is expecting a child soon.
She said the South Harrison Street neighborhood she lives in does NOT seem like the BEST place to raise a family.
{welcome to the SOUTH side, dear}
"That’s something you don’t want to be around," she said.
Graehm Sack, 39, who lives at a home at Harrison Street and Creighton Avenue, described his neighbors as mostly TRANSIENT, renting apartments for only a few months before moving.
{and welcome to MY neighborhood, thanks to city planning}
"It obviously concerns us," Sack said, adding that he has two young children. "This neighborhood has gone up, and it’s gone down. I think this is getting toward the worst." ))
{God bless you, Graehm...you GET IT}
===========================
** From the "¿Dónde Están Mis Armas? File:
We seem to be hearing about all these "illegal arms" that are making their way TO MEXICO (from America), and that those liberal gun lobbyists want to impose even MORE restrictions on guns HERE (read law-abiding gun OWNERS).
Well, truth be told, the whole "guns to Mexico" line is a fairy tale of monumental proportions.
The FACT is that arms are MADE in SOUTH AMERICA , and are basically CLONES of arms made right here in the USA!
It doesn't matter if it's a .45 caliber model 1911, an AR-15, or even the simple wheelgun.
Taurus Arms is based in Brazil, and even some S&W and Stoeger arms are manufactured there or Argentina (the Sigma auto pistol series).
So all these Mexican drug cartels have what appears to be U.S. arms, when in fact they have LOCALLY-MADE arms, not to mention IMPORTS from nations OTHER than the USA, and they have no restrictions on them like we do here, so you've got a lot more "full auto" weapons down there.
Curiously enough, the BATFE does NOT have a database that can track weapons made elsewhere in the world...well, not YET, anyway. They have to rely on outside sources (such as Interpol) if they can even trace them at all.
What they CAN trace are weapons manufactured here (for the most part), from the gun maker to the dealer and then to the original person it is sold to. After that, it's ANYONE'S guess, and that's why STOLEN weapons are the best to use. It will track back to the OWNER, and usually not to the perp/thief. Nice, huh?
You get YOUR gun stolen (and report it), some perp commits a crime (in another city or state), and the police and BATFE come a' knockin' on YOUR door, cuff and stuff you because the gun was traced back to YOU...
Talk about a flawed system!
Here's the short list of S.A. manufacturers:
Bersa - Argentina
IMBEL (FAL clone) - Brazil
FAMAE - Chile (maker of machine guns)
Taurus - Brazil (all types)
And this does NOT include any or all arms IMPORTED to South American nations from other countries around the world.
That list is HUGE.
And with the governmental corruption rampant on MOST of those nations, it's quite easy to "misplace" some grenades, RPGs, and other assorted "fun" stuff to use elsewhere in the world by the drug cartels.
Hell, even .50 caliber sniper rifles are made worldwide...Barrett does not have sole proprietary rights to make it.
They just make THEIR BRAND.
It would seem that Mexico needs to look under it's OWN BED for these weapons that the cartels are being supplied with, before looking at the USA. That doesn't mean that absolutely NO weapons are making their way TO Mexico from HERE. I'm sure that there are a few "entrepreneurs" that are making some serious money smuggling arms south of our border, but the vast majority are coming from farther south and across both ponds.
There have been people in the states, that have seen stampings on their (American-made) weapons that say MADE IN _____ (fill in the blank with a nation other than the USA).
Ditto for the ammo. It's made all over the world, in ALL calibers.
So all these politicians need to step back and take a hard look at the FACTS involved here.
That would best serve the law-abiding citizens of THIS nation a lot better.
And when it comes to OUR personal safety, the politicians should be taking notes and making SURE that their constituents (that's US, folks) are "job-one". We don't need tighter GUN control. What we DO need is tighter PEOPLE control, and by that I mean that those who SHOULD NOT have a gun...NEVER have the opportunity TO GET ONE. The days of having people "fall through the cracks" of our society need to stop now.
It's not about a "wild west" mentality.
It IS about people being allowed to feel safe on their streets, in their homes, and at their schools & businesses.
It IS about our Constitution and the rights granted to us by that 2nd Amendment.
And I don't think that's too tall an order to place.
Stay safe out there, America.