As The Snow Keeps Melting...
Gee, kinda sounds like the name of some SOAP OPERA, doesn't it?
Well, be that as it may, the piles of rapidly graying snow ARE melting away, and with it, lots of water everywhere.
And all that water will turn to ice nightly, providing driving enjoyment beyond your wildest dreams (read nightmares).
But that's not all...
In MY part of the ghettohood, whenever the snow starts to clear, the litterbugs come the hell back out!
I suppose it's partially due to ALL that frigid weather we had that kept the windows of those loud-ass-mobiles UP, and now that's it's a tad warmer, down come the windows, and out goes the trash that's been piling up inside the interiors of those cars (ask ANY LEO about the interior of a suspect or stopped vehicle in the "badlands"...it's a rolling trash bin).
And what BETTER place to remove all that crap from their cars than on our very own CITY STREETS.
Sure, another ordinance that's rarely enforced fits the bill down here.
Add THAT to the NOISE and the PARKING ordinances that also rarely go enforced, and you have all you need to blight up an area real well.
Now here I thought Chief Rusty wanted MORE citations...what WAS I thinking anyway?
Oh, that's right...you have to have officers PATROLLING IN THE AREA (first) in order to have them WRITE CITATIONS.
Well, since there's plenty for them to do like chasing the radio, the point becomes a bit MOOT, does it not?
Let's not dwell, though...we've got other stuff to check out.
*** Four of the eight FWPD officers in that 2005 police-action shooting of a barricaded individual have been dismissed from any charges.
Here's the link to the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110215/LOCAL03/302159992
Now, you have to understand that "if" a person really WANTS to follow through with a suicide attempt, they will very likely succeed, in spite of what police negotiations or family members are trying to do to stop the event from occurring.
Much of this case rests on the whole "excessive force" aspect.
How much force is considered "excessive", and who can properly make that determination?
Let's face it, if you don't take your stack and storm the place in the hope of startling the person who's barricaded, you haven't done your job as member of the SWAT team. You can negotiate until the cows come home, and when hours pass by with no appreciable resolution of the situation in sight, your alternatives as the response team become VERY limited.
You storm the place, you might be considered taking "excessive actions" by some.
You sit back and keep trying the negotiating gig, and you can be accusing of NOT DOING ENOUGH.
Like "you're damned if you DO and damned if you DON'T" kinda thing.
Depends on how OTHERS (usually civilians) perceive the situation, and NOT the actions taken by the response team(s).
According to what was presented to the media sources, I believe the FWPD team did everything they could in the time allotted to avert any disaster on scene.
But Rudy Escobedo was a person with mental issues including suicide, was high on cocaine, and was armed with a pistol, vacillating between wanting help and wanting to check out (of life). The chances of a "happy ending" all around were slim to say the least. But that's just my observations and feelings on the matter.
We'll stay with this story until it's conclusion, so stay tuned for updates.
*** (( Woman 9th victim in apartment holdups - The Journal Gazette
A woman robbed Saturday as she got out of her car at Canterbury Green Apartments became the ninth victim in a string of holdups at apartment complexes on the north side.
Fort Wayne police responded at 9:53 p.m. Saturday to 2706 Northgate Blvd. where a woman told police a man came up behind her and said, "Don’t move, I have a gun to your son’s head," according to a police report. The woman’s young child was in a car seat in the back of the vehicle.
The thief took the woman’s wedding ring and wallet and fled in a dark-colored, four-door sedan, according to the report. The vehicle had metallic or sparkly flakes in the paint and darkly tinted windows, the woman told police.
She told police the robber was a black or dark-skinned Hispanic man, was wearing a dark "bubble coat," brown boots and had a very deep and "raspy" voice.
Although the description of the robber and method of the heist were similar to eight other recent holdups at apartment complexes on the city’s north side, officer Raquel Foster, Fort Wayne police spokeswoman, said detectives don’t know for sure whether Saturday’s crime was committed by the same man.
Last week, a man at Woodbridge Apartments was pistol-whipped during an attempted armed robbery.
Since late December, there have been nine holdups at apartment complexes on the north side, mostly near Clinton Street and St. Joe Center Road.
Police said the gunman had a similar description in each of the previous eight robberies.
He has been described as a thin black man wearing a black baseball cap, black jacket and black pants. ))
Will someone please find this guy and shoot his sorry ass?
I'm getting real tired of normal, hard-working people being the prey in this "game" by this street thug and whoever is helping him.
He's gonna wind up doing something real dumb (and potentially deadly) if he's not caught. That's the way these people operate.
They can go from ZERO to STUPID in the blink of an eye, trust me.
*** Fort Wayne has vacant homes...a LOT of vacant homes.
We currently have close to 12,000 VACANT homes...that's a whole lot of EMPTY lying about.
Here's the link to the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110213/LOCAL/302139932
I'm proud to say we have TWO houses directly adjacent to us that ARE vacant...and personally, I LIKE it that way.
At one time, we were almost surrounded by vacant houses, and it was a lot better than having them OCCUPIED, I can tell you.
Now, with so many houses that are empty, comes the usual crap, such as scrappers stealing COPPER from those houses, break-ins for other reasons like having a more comfortable place to smoke your crack rocks, or pursue sexual "purchases"...whatever floats your boat.
I've already caught more than a few people trying to get INTO such houses when they were just "between renters".
Much of the problem lies with the landlords, or whatever else you wish to call those that "technically" own the properties.
While there ARE those that follow the rules and are good landlords, many of them are EXACTLY like the tenants they dump into these houses - they just don't give a damn.
They perform a minimal amount of repairs, mostly on the facade (certain people gravitate to "shiny" stuff), and the required steam-clean of whatever they call CARPETS in the house, and then bring in a new crapload of human refuse to start this process over again.
Eventually, this "process" takes it's toll upon the structure, and it become uninhabitable.
This can occur because some people LIKE to punch out walls or break windows with heavy objects (like each other's skulls).
Some become vacant due to a death...or a foreclosure on the mortgage holder. Hey, sh*t happens, right?
It's what BECOMES of the recently vacant houses that should be of concern.
I know for a fact that Fort Wayne has around 400 houses on the "wrecking ball" list.
You just can't put people into them...not even the lazy-assed flotsam that passes for renters.
The FWHA doesn't like that.
They would MUCH rather have houses that are nice, or preferably BRAND NEW, and that's why we constantly see this "push" for new LOW-INCOME housing.
But, let's define this "low-income" thing... LOW income does not mean NO income...or ILLEGAL income (such as "street-pharmaceutical" sales or prostitution).
But to many in our city's growing set of "cogs", it means JUST THAT.
And that is why we have neighborhoods going down the crapper faster than one can flush.
The article says: "...Even worse, vacant homes lower the value of the houses around them, deepening a cycle that can spiral a neighborhood into financial ruin."
Gee...'Ya think?
Cripes, we've seen this FIRST-HAND!
Helluva study for some sociology, economics, or anthropology major with a thesis or two waiting to be written!
I could give them more than a few pages on neighborhood DECLINE...EASILY!
My take on these vacant houses would be to raze those that need razing...bring those up to code that need it, and refurbish the rest. Lots cheaper.
But we don't just stop there...
We then get WORKING PEOPLE who know HOW to manage a household, and who can TAKE SOME PRIDE in what they have and move THEM in these houses, instead of plunking down the latest group of indigent and transient vermin from whatever other city didn't want them (or still wants them...usually on criminal charges).
And please make sure these people know that ENGLISH is the language of THIS COUNTRY...FIRST!
Hold these tenants OR home buyers accountable for the properties as well as the landlords (where applicable).
Don't waste the taxpayer's money by wanting to build brand new "low-income" housing in other parts of the city that have NO need for such things.
(And yes, Heather Presley-Cowan, I AM talking to YOU. She's the Deputy Director of Economic Development for Housing - Geezus , that TITLE is longer than the attention spans of ALL the "people" she puts in housing down here)
One has to admit we have a housing problem...about as much as we have a gun-control problem (which we do not, BTW).
We do have a PEOPLE problem...always have and always will, so long as we constantly try to level the playing field.
Some folks succeed by hard work...and diligence...and by applying themselves to the job-at-hand.
Conversely, some folks fail because they do nothing at all. To place those "do-nothings" on the same level of as those who bust their asses is morally, ethically, and Constitutionally WRONG...period.
We reward GOOD "behavior", and not the bad.
We teach those that exhibit bad behavior, so that they may learn, and display good behavior.
It's the SAME way you train up a child...only with ADULTS (and it takes longer).
What is needed is a return to a more CIVIL time...not some "new" idea that wastes time, money and other resources and does nothing (as so many programs have already done). The NEW paradigm should be an old one..one that worked.
We have to provide an equal OPPORTUNITY to everyone...not provide an equal "lifestyle".
Like I said...some will succeed...some will fail.
And it's not the responsibility of everyone else to take those failures and call them successes.
You succeed or fail based on YOUR OWN merits...YOUR OWN character...YOUR OWN motivation.
But that's the way humankind has operated for AGES.
Everyone has to hold up their own part of that log...makes it easier in the long run to share the load.
And all Americans have shared so much for so long to help so many.
It's not right to be forced or coerced into doing for those unwilling to do for themselves.
Therein lies the lesson for today.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.