Monday Musings...
Is it just me, or do the holidays seem to be coming at us faster than the speed of light this year?
I've got more adverts heralding Christmas (now) than I ever used to get on Thanksgiving, which always was the harbinger of the season.
I know it's just a retailing "ploy" to get us out and shop 'till we drop, but in this economy, the media sources are already claiming that people will be spending LESS, rather than more this year, and with good reason.
Still, all this pre-holiday fuss takes away from any "magic" this time of year brings in more than a few ways.
But, we've plenty of time before the holidays to chat about that...
*** I want to relate a (mis) adventure I had this past Saturday.
I like to run up my car's engine every few days when I'm not driving it regularly (which is most of the time), so, I start it up in the garage, then return in about 15 minutes and shut her down.
Saturday...I got sidetracked and FORGOT...so the car ran for about 2 1/2 HOURS...inside the (closed) garage...!!!
To borrow from Momma Fargo - (*blink-blink*)
I dashed out to the garage and when opening the door, I was greeted with a pall of "fog" and carbon monoxide.
Suffice it to say, I IMMEDIATELY turned the engine off, and proceeded to ventilate the garage with the help of a box fan.
Now, I've breathed in my share of toxic fumes over the years...everything from CO to phosgene to tear gas and even a little chlorine, but I can say I have a much better "appreciation" for carbon monoxide NOW.
And it doesn't take much to make you queasy...not at THAT level of concentration.
On the "up" side (you mean there WAS ONE, Bob?), the garage was heated to a rather "balmy" 75 degrees (it was in the low 40s outside).
(Note to self - do NOT use the car as a means of auxiliary heating...)
So, after an hour went by, the fog was gone, the temperature dropped back to near normal (low 50s), and the cars were covered with a nice film of soot, which explains why people who kill themselves in a garage with the motor running have high concentration of carbon ON them as well as IN them.
(Second note to self - suicide by CO asphyxiation is OFF the short list...permanently!)
My only concern, other than the headache and sour stomach I currently had, was what damage I did to the car itself (probably gonna need a new air cleaner straight away).
Considering I DID burn off 1/4 tank of gas, I figured I'd take the car out Sunday and fill it back up.
Well, that went very well...not a lick of problems mechanically-speaking, so the old Guardian Angel of mine must have taken a few automotive "classes" along the way. And having that St. Christopher medallion in the glove box NEVER hurts at all, either.
So, if there was any "damage" to be ascertained, it was to my PRIDE, as in I did a really BONEHEAD stunt.
And I got away from it lucky...period.
(Third note to self - when running up the engine in the garage...STAY WITH THE CAR for the 15 minutes.)
But, considering that after TWENTY SIX years of ownership of this car, this was the ONLY (and hopefully LAST) time I did this, it's not a bad track record.
And, I DEFINITELY learned SOMETHING...trust me...LOL!
Meanwhile...elsewhere in Fort Wayne (aka the Summit City)...
*** For those of you still keeping track of our "dead pool", we are now up to TWENTY THREE homicides after a triple shooting that occurred early Sunday Morning at an uptown club.
Kinda makes CO poisoning PALE by comparison, doesn't it?
Here's the 4-1-1:
(( 2 killed in shooting at tavern - 3rd victim in fair condition; crowd of 200 flees in panic
Holly Abrams The Journal Gazette
Fort Wayne police are investigating a shooting that killed two men and injured a third early Sunday at a north-side club well known to police because of past troubles.
One of the victims shot inside Rick O’Shay’s Irish Pub was identified Sunday as 23-year-old Jeffery James Moore of Fort Wayne. His death has been ruled a homicide, the 22nd in Allen County this year.
The identity of the second man who died was not released Sunday pending family notification. The second man was also from Fort Wayne. An autopsy on him is scheduled for today, according to the Allen County Coroner’s Office.
Fort Wayne police dispatchers received multiple 911 calls from cell phones just before 1:30 a.m. Sunday, reporting gunfire had rung out inside the bar at 4610 Parnell Ave., within Coliseum Plaza.
The first officer to arrive found an injured man on a sidewalk outside. A second injured man was on the floor inside the bar, and both were being tended to by patrons and bar staff, according to officer Michael Joyner, police spokesman.
Joyner said all available northeast-side officers, along with Allen County police, were called to the shooting scene as an estimated 200 patrons left the bar in a wave of panic.
Police later learned a third Fort Wayne man was also shot at the same location and had been taken to a hospital by non-emergency personnel. He was listed in fair condition Sunday. His identity was not released.
Paramedics took Moore and the other dead man to a hospital in critical condition. Moore was pronounced dead about 3 a.m. Sunday. The other man died about 9 a.m. Sunday, Joyner said.
This is the second deadly shooting near the pub this year.
In May, 20-year-old Hector Tenorio of Geneva in Adams County was found shot in the parking lot of Coliseum Plaza. Police said Tenorio had been inside the bar just before being shot. He died at the scene, and his slaying was ruled a homicide. No arrests have been made in that case.
A motive for Sunday’s double slaying has not been determined. Joyner said initial reports from witnesses indicate two groups of people were inside the bar and the group members got into an altercation for an unknown reason.
Joyner said the bar employs security staff but that they are not certified law enforcement officers.
Police have made no arrests, and no suspects have been identified. Joyner said he was not aware of any arrests from the crowd that was in and around the bar.
"People were scattering everywhere," he said. "I don’t think it was necessarily an issue of crowd control, but an issue of people in just shock and horror."
Rick O’Shay’s Irish Pub is a three-room bar including a sizable dance area in the back. The pub is also still known by the name Broadripple. The copyright on the company’s website is listed as Broadripple/Rick O’Shays Irish Pub.
"We’re very familiar with this location," Joyner said. "This building, when it became a nightspot, generated a lot of noise complaints for law enforcement. Any officer that has worked the northeast-side shift is familiar with this establishment."
Joyner said the bulk of the complaints have been about noise coming from inside and around the plaza – a problem that has plagued many establishments that have been housed at the same address. Between November 2000 and September 2002, Broadripple was cited more than 60 times for violating the city’s noise ordinance.
In the past decade, before becoming Rick O’Shay’s Irish Pub, the Parnell Avenue location was also home to Broadripple Place nightclub, which closed in 2002, and at other times Club NV nightclub and Banana Joe’s – a Caribbean-themed eatery and dance/entertainment complex.
The bar, which is typically open on Sundays, according to its website, was closed Sunday night.
The co-owners of the plaza, George Kotsopoulos and Christine M. Kotsopoulos, filed in February for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a bid to buy time while tenants catch up on overdue rent payments.
At the time of the filing, a liquor license was issued for the club to 10-6 Enterprise LLP, a company for which George Kotsopoulos is the registered agent, according to the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office. Phone numbers listed for George Kotsopoulos were out of service.
Kotsopoulos was sentenced last month to serve probation after being convicted of promoting professional gambling at the now-shuttered Parnell Poker Palace. That gambling enterprise operated under the guise of a charity from December 2008 to June 2009 at 4608 Parnell Ave., within the same plaza.
Joyner said police are urging anyone who witnessed Sunday’s shooting to come forward. Witnesses can do so by calling Fort Wayne police at 427-1222 or by leaving an anonymous tip at CrimeStoppers, 436-7867. ))
And this followup story:
(( Autopsy set for Monday on second shooting victim - Coroner identifies one of two people killed
Updated: Monday, 08 Nov 2010, 4:00 AM EST
Published : Sunday, 07 Nov 2010, 2:19 AM EST
Kaitlyn Steward
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - NEW INFO: An autopsy on second person who died after a shooting at Rick O'Shay's is set for Monday. The Allen County Coroner has identified the first victim.
According to Allen County Coroner, Dr. Jon Brandenberger, Jeffery James Moore, 23, of Fort Wayne died of gunshot wound(s).
The second victim of the shooting, was pronounced dead at Parkview Hospital around 9:00 a.m. Sunday. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday at the Northeast Indiana Forensic Center. That victim's identity will be released when positive identification has been made and next of kin has been notified.
Police said when they arrived they were met by a very chaotic scene where hundreds of bar patrons were found both inside and outside of the building.
"It was probably a scene directly from one of our Hollywood movies. Just total chaos, shock and panic," said Michael Joyner, Fort Wayne Police Department Public Information Officer.
Investigators have learned that a disturbance took place inside Rick O’Shay’s involving two groups of people.
It’s not known what the disturbance was about.
No arrests have been made and the shootings remain under investigation.
"It's too soon to say if we have one shooter, multiple shooters, but that is something we'll be able to sort through once we are able to recover what evidence is left at the scene," said Joyner.
"Witnesses become our best ally in these situations. So we're very hopeful that we will have several people that will assist our investigators in this particular incident by providing some critical information that will lead to the person or persons responsible," said Joyner.
The two deaths from the Sunday morning shooting are Fort Wayne and Allen County's 22nd and 23rd homicides for 2010. ))
Well, it's refreshing to know that the NOISE ORDINANCE IS ENFORCED SOMEWHERE in our fair city (because a lot of people keep getting away with breaking it DOWN HERE...for YEARS!).
Now, with about 200 witnesses, you would think that SOMEONE will come forward...can't be THAT many apathetic people in ONE spot (except in MY neighborhood), right?
And to think that comes on the heels of that ROLLING GUN BATTLE in the early hours of our neighborhood back on 28 October...NAH, couldn't be related, right? We've got plenty of violence to go around, as well as drugs and illegal guns.
Be real interesting if it WAS related, though, don'cha think?
I mean, the club IS in what could be considered "neutral" territory...NOT in the SE side where anyone from the area would have an advantage of "home turf".
Oh, and the crowds up north...not a problem...that adds to the chaos created, and makes a good screen for what goes down.
Considering this place has a fairly decent history of problems, one would THINK that something can be done...or should have been done a LOT sooner than this past May...or even yesterday morning...right?
Well, we can just chalk this up to another "broken window", I suppose. And I think we're having a few too many of them to feel really safe.
I know we have another "club:" in our area, called THE VAULT (alongside the Tire shop at Lafayette and Pettit, across from Southgate Plaza), and according to my sources, THAT place is one that has attracted the attention of the FWPD in recent months.
Add to that, these other houses converted to "quasi-rave" status as "after-hours" clubs or "gentlemen's clubs" (yeah right...about as Gentlemanly as I am oriental), and you've got another recipe for crime.
People don't behave the same damn way in public as they USED to, that's for sure.
They simply LACK the social courtesies, graces and ettiquette that many of us were brought up with...adn that's s damn shame, especially for the victims of shooting at such establishments, isn't it?
Society has forgotten how to conduct itself in most every public venue...call it a loss of civility.
And it's something that apparently should be TAUGHT in early school classes, for without it, we take a few steps closer to anarchy and self-destruction.
Personally, I don't want to even entertain the notion of living in such a society, and neither should you.
We should strive to become BETTER than what we are...not WORSE.
Perhaps a good, healthy dose of MORALITY is in order.
Sometimes, it doesn't hurt to LOOK back in order to MOVE forward...that is how we ALL learn.
And that you can take to the bank.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.