Tuesday Tidbits...
We finally caught a break (?) from all this HEAT...it's ONLY going to reach the mid-upper EIGHTIES today...
Wow, that's one helluva "cool-down"...
(yeah, time to let the pigeons loose...and then watch them walk the hell away, because it's too hot to fly)
And Wifey and I did our "artificial rainfall" for our plants...at least THAT money won't be lost to the heat and humidity.
So, let's take a stroll around the area, and see what's happening, shall we?
*** There seems to be a "new event" down here at the Ghettoland Abusement Park and Discount House of Pharmaceuticals...
That is the "Air-Conditioner REMOVAL" event.
I must have heard at least FIVE instances where someone (they all happened to be black males for some ODD reason) was trying to remove a window air-conditioner from a 1st floor window in some house in the area...imagine that.
Hey, the person in that house might have a condition that makes them NEED that air-conditioner (I know some people that fit the bill there).
Now, it would be interesting to see someone hoofing it down a street (or preferably, an ALLEY - which never gets PATROLLED) with a 5K BTU A/C unit on his shoulder. I would tend to think that the unit is certainly NOT his.
So did the people calling into DISPATCH. One caller said a black male was trying to take the unit, and then promptly hung up...LOL.
Be nice to see that buck meet one of the OWNERS of that air conditioner, namely MISTER REMINGTON!
Hell, at that close range, use a pistol and not a shotgun...don't want to HARM the AIR CONDITIONER, after all...THAT is worth more than the life of the thief stealing it...trust me.
That's one good thing about having a CENTRAL unit...a bit harder to just "walk away" with, and believe me, you DON'T want to cut the HIGH-PRESSURE line to remove the condenser...you REALLY don't.
Even scrap metal isn't worth the chance of being burned (or blinded) by the freezing liquid FREON coming out at about several hundred MPH (in your face).
But, stupid IS...as stupid DOES down here with the locals.
I just want to hear that a perp was shot dead trying to take an air conditioner...that WOULD make my week.
*** How can you get shot to death while FISHING?
This sad story demonstrates the utter stupidity of SOME people:
(( Published: July 26, 2011 3:00 a.m.
Alleged shooter of 4-year-old was barred from having gun - Dominic Adams The Journal Gazette
The man charged with reckless homicide in the shooting death of a 4-year-old boy remains in jail after a plea of not guilty was entered during his initial court appearance Monday in Wells County Circuit Court.
Bruce Pond, 46, of Ossian, is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
He’s accused of killing Jacob "Jake" Michuda on Friday.
Pond lived with his mother, Barbara Pond, in a home near where Jake was shot.
"We’ve been through living hell the last couple of days and I’m not adding any fuel to the fire," Barbara Pond said, declining further comment.
Jake, of Bluffton, was fishing with his father when he was shot in the temple.
Wells County Sheriff Monte Fisher told the Bluffton News-Banner alcohol was involved and that Pond apparently shot at a light on a pier where Jake and his father were fishing.
Pond also was charged with a misdemeanor count of possession of a firearm after being convicted of domestic battery.
In August 2010, Pond pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor domestic battery charge in Allen County and was prohibited from possessing a firearm, according to Allen County court records.
Prosecutors and detectives advised Jake’s family not to talk to the media for fear that a trial would be moved out of Wells County, Jake’s grandfather Mark Michuda Sr. said.
"The Wells County Sheriff’s Department is making a commendable effort and we are very pleased by their commitment and hard efforts working this case," Mark Michuda Sr. said.
Police and medics were called to 3936 East E. 900 N. shortly after 11 p.m. Friday and Jake was taken by ambulance to a Fort Wayne hospital. He was pronounced dead at 3:12 a.m., the Wells County Sheriff’s Department said.
Jake would have turned 5 next month. The family will receive visitors from noon to 8 p.m.
Tuesday at Lancaster Elementary School in Bluffton, and a funeral service will take place at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the school, according to the Goodwin Memorial Chapel website. The funeral home said a private family Mass will be celebrated after the service at the St. Aloysius Church in Yoder.
Jake liked going to the beach, swimming, visiting the zoo and other outdoor activities, according to his funeral home’s website.))
This scumbag goes and shoots at a damn light, and winds up killing a young boy, while Dad watches it happen, unable to do anything...
THAT is part of the problem in this country...the LACK of (self) control by people. If Mr. Pond had issues with a stinking light, then maybe he should have just called someone...or at least bust the light during the day with a pellet gun.
And naturally, we'll hear more crap about GUN control, when we can all plainly see it was the PERSON that lacked CONTROL and needed to be BETTER controlled in the first damn place.
Mr. Pond had been drinking as well (that explains the prior misdemeanor domestic battery).
And he's got the balls to plead NOT GUILTY?
He "didn't mean to shoot Jake"...oh well, that makes everything FORGIVABLE then, right? Just a harmless "accident"...no problem.
WRONG...it's a HUGE problem.
And Mr. Pond IS guilty of that, first and foremost.
Here's a link to another story with a little more detail:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/crime/bond-set-for-man-accused-of-shooting-4-year-old
The good news is that Pond ONLY faces up to EIGHT YEARS for reckless homicide.
Oh, wait, that's not really ALL that good..at least from Jake's standpoint, as well as his family's.
Well, Bruce Pond DOES have to live with this on his conscience...right?
Oh, wait, he doesn't seem to have much OF a conscience, otherwise he'd have thought TWICE before firing that weapon at some dumb light.
Obviously, he didn't know one of the MAJOR rules of firearm usage:
"Learn to look and KNOW what's behind your intended target."
That tends to take the "collateral damage" parameter out of the equation in most cases.
*** Elsewhere...there's this:
(( Shots fired into SE home
A home in the 4600 block of Bowser Avenue was vandalized by gunfire around 4 a.m. Sunday.
No one was injured in the incident, according to a Fort Wayne Police Department report.
Five shell casings were found in the front yard, and five bullet holes were in the walls of the home. One copper-jacketed round was found in the northwest bedroom of the home.
According to the report, the woman who owns the house was not at home at the time of the incident, but her son was, and he called her.))
I heard this call come over the radio a GOOD SIX HOURS after the event (supposedly) took place.
What I find VERY disturbing is that I did not hear or see anything about ANY signal *113* (shots fired) in the vicinity... at all.
It's like people there just take sh*t like this FOR GRANTED...just part of the day, like walking the girlfrie...I mean pit bull.
The only call that went in for a 113 was at 2100 Fox Av...not even CLOSE to the 4600 block of Bowser.
But...if we had PATROLS down here cruising around, LOOKING FOR CRIME, some officer would have probably HEARD something somewhere.
Now THAT is more like the PROTECT aspect by SERVING the citizens.
But, I guess it's much better (read easier) for the Command Staff of the FWPD to just arrive AFTER the fact.
Sorry, but as I've said here...that is NOT policing... That's INVESTIGATION...period.
Yeah, FWPD command could learn a few things if stopped trying to be politically-correct and ethnically pleasing, and just allow the officers to DO THE JOB they were hired for. Or they could just ASK ME!
*** But wait, there's more...
(( Updated Jul 25, 2011 at 5:37 PM EDT
FORT WAYNE, Ind. / Indiana's NewsCenter - A 6-inch gas line was accidentally cut near Lewis and Winter Streets causing about 10 residents to be evacuated from their homes as a precaution. No injuries were reported. ))
Talk about an "OOPS" moment.
And I also heard this on the radio...sounded like a big deal, what with the gas spraying OVER TEN FEET into the air! ('ya think?)
I mean that was certainly a NO SMOKING ZONE, and they kept vehicles well away from the scene until things were out back to rights.
Funny thing...I always "thought" (and we know how dangerous to others that can be) that the utility workers had DIAGRAMS or city-supplied "maps" that showed WHERE such lines were, so when they work on a street, they DON'T "accidentally" bust a pipe or gas line.
With ALL the technology we have TODAY, that should be second-nature...
Guess not.
Weird...we never had AS MUCH of this when we DIDN'T have all this computer/GPS crap...wonder why?
*** Lastly today, I sure ripped a new ass for those in City Hall (in yesterday's post) when it came to the SE side of town, and I think I DESERVE to.
Personally, I LIKE this part of town...at least what it USED to be a dozen or so years ago, before crime got a REAL foothold and took the hell over, chasing whatever good aspects we still had AWAY.
If there is one thing you CAN say about the SE...it has POTENTIAL OUT THE ASS!
(for TRUE redevelopment, that is, and not some cosmetic facade of caring)
But, it's all contingent on the CITY wanting to do what NEEDS to be done, and the FIRST things is drive the crime OUT of the area.
It needs to hold the BLACK community leaders RESPONSIBLE for the INACTION they have take over the years to hold THEIR OWN PEOPLE accountable for declining living conditions here.
The city ALSO needs to get it's head OUT of it's OWN ASS when it comes to cajoling new businesses down here, and by that, I again mean that crime has to drop A LOT MORE than a mere percentage point or two.
THAT would entail more EFFECTIVE policing, and not some "ambassador of good will love-fest" between the citizens and the police.
They are here to SERVE AND PROTECT...the public (that's US).
They are not some puppets on a string, dancing to every whim of command so "they" can look good.
The ONLY really effective command is that which allows the street-beat cops not only to LOOK good...but DO good (by the community it serves).
You tackle the REAL problems in any community or neighborhood, let the residents know that they don't have to fear living there, and they will respond favorably. You ignore the small sh*t long enough and often enough, and you'll be hip-deep in BIG sh*t, and that won't illicit a positive response from ANY normal, law-abiding individual. They will determine that the police simply do not care.
That's been PROVEN, and for a LONG time, too.
And that's only human nature.
Give someone a REASON to help, and they will.
Deny them the opportunity, and much will be lost by many.
That is part of what makes up a good commmunity, because it's the way things USED to be.
We pull TOGETHER as a people...not apart.
Therein lies the lesson for today.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.

(( Editor's Note - Breaking news: A multiple shooting on the SE side occurred before 1100 hours. The *20* was the 4400 block of Winter St. - details tomorrow, along with some "interesting tales" from the past - Stay tuned, boys & girls))