Monday Musings...
Out of the gate for another fun-filled, springtime-laden week, boys and girls.
Oh wait, that pertains to most of the REST of you...sorry, my bad.
Around here, it's another week wondering what the "locals" might have planned that will impact in some manner on your "quality-of life".
Those entitlement-enriched leeches will find some manner of annoyance to help you to not enjoy all that Spring has to offer, rest assured on that.
Luckily, I do see some signs of Spring, such as the crocuses popping out (behind our garage) in the yard.
I even see a budding hyacinth...a might early (colder weather coming again this week) for my taste, but Mother Nature knows best in such things.
And I've learned it to be very wise to NEVER argue with a woman in certain matters.
The sad part if you can't enjoy all of it as much as you would LIKE to...thanks to the locals.
They will get under one's skin...because they can.
But...let's not dwell...plenty of other things happening.
I'm sure if you're like any concerned citizen, when you see "trouble", you want to (at least) notify those who can provide proper assistance, right?
Someone falls, you contact the EMTs. When there's an accident, you call the police...a fire, call the fire department, and so on...
Now this past Saturday, we had what looked like a two-car accident about a block away over the side street past our house.
One vehicle was perpendicular to the street, and was partially blocking it. The left rear wheel was bent, and the rear quarter panel was wonderfully dented. People were milling about with little sense of urgency, and two were on cell phones.
Now that says to me: "accident".
I thought they were calling the police to report the accident.
But after TWENTY MINUTES (and no police) I decided to "step in".
I called and reported the accident (and played the obligatory "20 questions" with dispatch).
Now, I'm not NEW to how to contact the police, OR on how to report an incident.
I make sure I have all the data that ANY officer responding would need...ahead of time.
But dispatch, although they DO perform a great job, must labor under the belief that everyone is a helluva lot dumber than the average person.
So...I "play the game", and answer questions that, if I were allowed to proceed WITHOUT interruption, I could answer before they were asked.
All dispatch would have to do is "fill in the blanks" on their computer screen.
Anyway, 20 minutes already went by, no police, no tow trucks, and after I got done with dispatch I watched...for ANOTHER FIFTEEN MINUTES before a FWPD cruiser pulled up.
Okay, so let's do the math here...a good FIFTEEN MINUTES to respond to an accident...after 20 minutes had already gone by...
And apparently NO ONE at the scene had called PRIOR to me calling...what's up with that?
I didn't see anyone getting hauled off, but that doesn't mean the officer didn't write a ticket...I just didn't see it.
Given the FACT that so many down here simply DO NOT carry proper IDs...or INSURANCE, or even have a valid DRIVER'S LICENSE says a lot for the nature of how "business" is conducted in the ghettohood.
The chances of getting a citation or even an arrest are pretty damn good, depending on WHERE you look and HOW you patrol (if that's done to the degree I believe it should be).
I bring this up, because we have another "situation" at a nearby tobacco store that was robbed at gunpoint some time back, and even though the store clerk hit the "panic button" TWICE and managed to "stall" the perp in the store for almost 15 minutes (all the time with a gun pointed at the clerk), the police took an ADDITIONAL 10 minutes to get on scene, and when they chased the perp, they STILL LOST HIM.
Now, this should be damaging the calm of a LOT of folks down here.
That sort of response time is pathetic...at best.
I know for a fact that "certain" crimes are given "certain" levels of priorities...
If you call in a NOISE complaint, you "might" luck out and have an officer a block or so away, and they actually SHOW UP before the music either drives off or gets turned down (making YOU look like you're crying "wolf"when the perp bugs out or shuts the hell up), but as in most cases, the response time is at least 15-20 minutes.
I could lie and say I saw a weapon, but I just don't do that sort of thing.
If I DO see a weapon, I will say so...if I don't, I won't.
And if you shine a LASER on some asshole that is playing his music loud enough to drown out YOUR TV (when the doors and windows are all shut), and said asshole says "Datguy hadda gun point at me"...there WILL be close to FIVE police cruisers showing up (with a K-9 unit) in less than 7 MINUTES!
I found that out the EASY way...LOL.
But, they won't do anything about that loud ass (maybe a warning, if they feel like it)...amazing.
I suppose I could get into the whole "Noise is the #1 complaint in MOST cities across America" thing, but you can do your own homework in that regard...
We've got other things happening around the Summit City...like these:
*** A double shooting at Club V in the Piere's complex.
(( Friday, 18 March 2011 02:31
FORT WAYNE - A man is in serious condition Friday after a shooting incident at Pierre's Entertainment Center on St. Joe Road.
Just after 2:30 a.m., the Fort Wayne Police Department responded to a possible shooting inside a night club in Pierre’s Entertainment Center. According to FWPD spokesperson Raquel Foster, witnesses said there was a disturbance inside the club followed by gunfire. Then, the crowd scattered.
Outside the building, police found a man suffering from a gunshot wound to the arm, but was determined to be in fair condition at the scene. A second male victim was found inside in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the torso area. Both men were transported to a local hospital.
The shooting suspect is described as a black male, with light complexion who was last seen wearing a red shirt.
This incident remains under investigation with the Fort Wayne Police Department, and the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office. ))
Okay, another situation with a LARGE CROWD...and little to go on.
No one knew this guy?
More like no one wants to "snitch".
Typical behavior from such people when you combine both booze AND stupid...and shake well.
*** A man drowns in St. Joe River - divers searched for three hours.
(( Toxicology results will determine how man in St. Joseph River died
Updated: Monday, 21 Mar 2011, 7:18 AM EDT
Published : Sunday, 20 Mar 2011, 5:07 PM EDT
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - It could take a few weeks for toxicology results to come in on a man who was found Saturday in the Saint Joseph River in Fort Wayne.
Police say 21-year-old Jorden Nickols died Saturday when he tried to swim across the river behind the Canterbury Green Apartments.
It took divers nearly three-hours to find his body.
Nickols went into the St. Joseph River around 2 p.m. Saturday near the 23-hundred block of Abbey Drive behind the Canterbury Green Apartments.
Witnesses said he started to swim, but went under and never came back up.
Members of the Fort Wayne Fire Department SCUBA Team found his body in the river around 4:45 p.m.
Allen County Coroner Dr. Jon Brandenberger, said the autopsy findings were consistent with drowning, but an official cause of death won't be determined until after the toxicology tests are finished.
Those results typically take a few weeks. ))
Not a good ending to such a young life. The TOX tests will determine if he had any "pharmaceutical" assistance.
*** The Japanese are finally making progress with their nuclear reactors, but other problems continue.
Here's the link to the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110321/NEWS04/303219920
Interestingly enough, this weekend Nat-Geo channel aired a 2004 program on what happened at the TMI-2 reactor in PA back in 1979.
We dodged a HUGE bullet on that one, and got about as close to a real meltdown as one could imagine.
But at least (then) President Carter showed up on site...
We had NO fatalities as a result of that event, but there was one casualty during the scenario, and that was the TRUTH (as it was reported from the utility company). Engineers had trouble getting through to the facility (they only had TWO phone lines in), and had the engineers been able to contact TMI sooner, it would have ended the event in a lot less time.
But the utility company reps stonewalled the media and the governor's office for a few days, as was later revealed.
I suppose some of the same is happening in Japan, as to allay people's fears, and I can see that as being a good reason.
Yet, you DO have to provide critical information as it pertains to public safety...that's a given.
And thankfully, the Japanese are doing a decent job of that.
While the death toll (there) climbs closer to 20,000, let's NOT forget that during this entire time, the Japanese people have not taken to looting or rioting, and have displayed a MUCH better sense of order...and calm that we here in America seem to be lacking, and even under things that are MUCH less catastrophic.
Call this the philosophy of NIN TAI.
Here's a description of this:
http://www.kushu.com/nintai.htm
Thing is, it doesn't HAVE to apply JUST to a martial art, such as karate...it can go MUCH deeper than that.
THIS is the type of mindset that America used to have in a greater abundance, before we allowed the government to do FOR us, instead of DOING FOR OURSELVES.
We called this the AMERICAN SPIRIT.
Whatever you call it in whatever country, it STILL makes damn good sense, and we should be striving to achieve it, if not make it part of our daily lives.
Then maybe, we (here) wouldn't have all these issues surface when it comes to things like ETHICS...or INTEGRITY...or even CIVILITY.
And the neat thing about it...it can apply to ALL people of every race, religion, or creed....every nationality and ethnicity under the sun.
We struggle...we persevere...we manage, because it's in our blood. Our ancestors did so without thinking.
They KNEW what had to be done.
They KNEW that the alternative would have never made this nation as great as it had become.
And now...we know it, too...or we SHOULD know it...and not be afraid to practice it.
But, like most everything in life, you DO have to WORK at it.
You can have all the faith in the world, but if you're not DOING much along the way, not much is a whole lot of what you're gonna be getting.
The Good Book says in James 2:20 - "Faith WITHOUT works is dead."
Now, if we all had PERFECT FAITH, we wouldn't be needing any "works", but we're flawed creatures, and have to "adapt" in that regard.
We still have to STRIVE for that betterment...every single day, and not just by what we SAY, but also by what we DO.
And if an ancient eastern culture can show us a portion of who WE are as Americans, it might just be worth taking a longer look at how THEY are advancing through adversity.
We can learn so much from that.
Have yourselves a great springtime weekend.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.