Friday Follies...
Well, looks like we made it to the weekend relatively unscathed.
And it's a typical January around here...
Plenty of COLD weather, all that "lake effect" snow, coming in dribs and drabs, putting JUST enough of that white stuff on the roads and streets to make driving more challenging for everyone.
Trouble is, there's more than a few folks out there that don't LIKE being challenged this early in the morning (and some not at all it would seem)...and it shows.
Police and fire departments were REAL busy yesterday with accidents.
Every few minutes I'd hear a "25" come across the radio (accident - property damage), especially along out local chunk of the interstate.
And then you'd hear a call for a "hook" soon afterwards after arriving on scene
Today, probably more of the same - the temperatures are cold enough so that any salt dumped down isn't going to be all that effective until later in the day.
It's days like this, that I recall a witticism my Dad would say about life...
"If it ain't one damn thing...it's another."
Shoulda kept a money jar and dropped a dollar into it ever time he said that...talk about being "socially-secure"...LOL.
Moving on...
*** An update to the story I posted here about that NE side shooting.
Yes, friends, we DO have a winner of the FIRST HOMICIDE IN FORT WAYNE lottery!
Here's the article in today's paper:
(( Published: January 7, 2011 3:00 a.m.
1st homicide victim of ’11 paralyzed in ’99 shooting - Jeff Wiehe The Journal Gazette
FORT WAYNE – Fort Wayne’s first homicide of the year occurred when someone mishandled a gun and accidentally shot a close friend, a man who had been paralyzed from a gunshot wound more than a decade ago.
Robert T. Portee, 29, was found dead inside an apartment at 1202 Lake Forest Drive on Wednesday.
Several people inside the apartment were questioned by detectives. The shooting was declared an accident by police, who said a friend holding a gun accidentally discharged the round that killed Portee. The Allen County
Coroner’s Office ruled Portee’s death a homicide. The county had 30 homicides last year.
It was at least the second time Portee had been shot.

In 1999, a customer at a gas station Portee was trying to rob shot him in the neck. The wound left Portee a quadriplegic "living in his own hell," according to Allen Superior Court testimony at the time.
In that case, Portee was convicted of attempted robbery and pointing a firearm, both felonies. He was given a suspended prison sentence.
Portee’s close friend has not been identified or charged with a crime. After being interviewed by police, the person was released.
The investigation will soon be completed and forwarded to the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office, police said.
It is unclear whether that person will eventually face charges, but some accidental shootings in Allen County have resulted in prison sentences.
--In 2005, 22-year-old Christopher O. Lawrence shot and killed 16-year-old Chase Richards.
Lawrence told investigators he did not realize the gun was loaded and was trying to scare Richards.
Lawrence was convicted of reckless homicide and sentenced to nine years in prison.
--In 2006, Sodonna R. Green pleaded guilty to reckless homicide after she shot 20-year-old Morgan Craig in the head. She told police she pointed the gun at Craig after they exchanged words and it went off as they fought over it.
Green was given six years in prison.
--And last year, Deyante Stephens pleaded guilty to reckless homicide after he shot and killed Christopher Ty-Ron Caldwell at Caldwell’s mother’s home.
Stephens had walked into a bedroom where Caldwell was. He saw a shotgun inside a closet, picked it up and pointed it at Caldwell. The gun went off, and the round killed Caldwell.
Stephens, who was forgiven by Caldwell’s mother in court, was given four years in prison. ))
Like I said in yesterday's post:
What part of "PRACTICE GUN SAFETY" did any of these people NOT understand?
Back on 28 December, Bob Aldridge had an OP-ED about this VERY topic.
Here's the link to THAT article entitled "Proper gun handling a healthy obsession":
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20101228/EDIT05/312289957
Mr. Aldridge runs the IFTNRA website:
http://www.iftnra.com/News.html
He's a firearms EXPERT and INSTRUCTOR and holds regular classes throughout the year.
I mean, it's not like there are NO resources at anyone's disposal to know HOW to PROPERLY handle any firearm, right?
The FWPD did carry out an assault rifle and a pistol-grip shotgun from the residence (and other weapons).
The person that accidentally shot Portee had NEVER handled an assault rifle before (as was reported on local TV news), so WTF was everyone thinking when they handed a LOADED and (obviously charged) weapon TO that individual?
If you want to "show" someone a firearm...ANY firearm, the FIRST thing you do (if you're practicing correct safety with a weapon) is CLEAR the weapon, which often includes dumping the magazine and racking the slide or otherwise EJECTING any round in the firing chamber.
With wheel guns, you have to flop open the cylinder and eject the bullets (usually all 5 at once, because you never let the hammer rest on a loaded chamber, in case of dropping the weapon ON that hammer and making it go BANG)
You don't have to be an EINSTEIN to figure this sh*t out, folks...it's plain old COMMON SENSE.
It's also called "becoming familiar with your weapon", as in READ the manual that accompanies it...you might save a life along the way.

(who wants to bet that a gun manufacturer tries to get SUED over this?)
Could this have been avoided?
I suppose, but given the nature of the people that possessed the firearm, I'd think it highly UNLIKELY that something like this would have NEVER happened.
Some folks just don't take all that well to "book-learning".
Just pick it up and use it...or get in and drive it away (never mind figuring out how the damn thing works and what can go WRONG if it's mishandled)
they move into a house...
They've got NO IDEA whatsoever on what it takes to MAINTAIN a dwelling (or for that matter, an apartment).
They look at a toilet as a "universal disposal" (ever wonder HOW MUCH drugs are dumped there yearly?)
Walls are made to be punched with one's fist.
Kitchens are rarely used for COOKING (and in some cases, if they ARE, it often results in a GREASE FIRE).
That stove is "auxiliary heating" for the winter months.
It's little wonder that however bad the INSIDE of the place is being trashed (and believe me, they ARE...seen it first-hand...a LOT), it WILL migrate to the OUTSIDE of the house or apartment, and eventually to the areas surrounding such a dwelling.
And THAT is how to "build a ghetto"...
It's IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE that cause blighted areas...NOT poverty...NOR racial discrimination.
It's those who choose to "buck the system"...play it like a cheap-ass fiddle for all it's worth that causes a slum area to "evolve" (or is that DEVOLVE?)
Funny thing about that...those that TRY to do something to turn an area around or stop the decline are all too often in the minority of the minority.
Those people are way too few in number, and very often out-gunned and out-numbered.
(sounds like a recipe for disaster, doesn't it?)
Shouldn't have to be that way, but thanks to a city's selective apathy, that's what happens.
And, as is the case, the blight is permitted to "expand"...to move outward to other neighborhoods to start fresh.
Sooner or later, all those that left once good neighborhoods to move someplace else are going to find a lot LESS of that "someplace else" to move to.
Staying and fighting the status quo is not for the faint-of-heart, trust me.
I am often wondering WTF I am doing here...why I don't bug the hell out like everyone else has done.
I figure this is OUR house, free & clear...don't owe anyone anything...no financial Sword of Damocles hanging over our head.
Why would be go get some shovels and dig a nice, deep, expensive, mortgage-laden HOLE when the economy is so damn tenuous anyway?
That's bit too far on the lunatic-fringe side to suit my taste.
Better to stay the course...ride out the storm and keep what we have.
Better to chase the undesirables out, that have US chased the hell out.
It's called fighting for one's PRINCIPLES.
Nothing lasts forever, but there's nothing saying you can't having something FOR A GOOD LONG WHILE, right?
Welcome to OUR house, folks!
And when it comes to the Missus and this house, I will always play it safe for all concerned.
You don't allow the riff-raff to run the show
You stand for what you believe in...what you KNOW to be right.
Like I say, it's not for everyone, nor is it easy.
But if everything WAS easy, we'd get pretty damned bored pretty damned fast, right?
Have yourselves a great weekend (and keep warm).
Be well, make a difference to someone, and, as always...
Stay safe out there, America.