Humpday Happenings...
We kinda get a "two-fer" today...middle of the week, AND a full moon (I'll wager that the LEOs out there are already rolling their eyes).
Now, the "experts" can claim what they want to, but I KNOW that a full moon brings out the idiot in a LOT of people.
Many believe this to be just an "urban legend", but you ask an officer about the rising lunacy that possesses some folks every month...they'll tell you straight away. Sometimes, when a particularly "busy" night occurs, one officer might ask "We got a full moon tonight?"
But, it's a HARVEST (time) moon, and they always look cool, especially when there's a bit of a nip in the air.
*** Yesterday, we demonstrated the difference between doing something the RIGHT way versus the WRONG way (with a "neighbor" of mine providing the comedy relief from the wrong side of the fence).
Today, after a few "tidbits", we'll take a look at doing something RIGHT...for the WRONG reasons, as well as the results of making such determinations.
*** First up, we've got another bar shooting:
(( Update: Victim in critical condition after shooting
Updated: Tuesday, 11 Oct 2011, 6:18 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 11 Oct 2011, 9:08 AM EDT
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Fort Wayne Police have identified the man who was shot outside a Fort Wayne bar Tuesday morning.
He is 36-year old Terry Giddens of Fort Wayne.
According to Fort Wayne Police, an argument broke out just after 2:30 a.m. near the Sports and Spirits bar on East Wayne Street.
During that argument, Giddens was shot at least once and was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
The bar's owner tells NewsChannel 15 that the shooting took place about half a block west of Sports & Spirits, and then Giddens came back towards the bar where patrons saw him and called police.
Two unrelated arrests were made at the scene and investigators do have one person of interest in custody.
The incident remains under investigation. ))
You know, I predicted the homicide count would be 25 this year...and we've got some really bad shooters out there, apparently, because I stand the chance of being wrong here. These folks need to get cracking. At this rate, we might not even hit 20, simply due to bad marksmanship.
Is that being a bit morbid? Not as long as the perps kill ONE ANOTHER.
*** Next up, a lead on the shooter that killed that professor in Goshen:
(( Goshen Police release sketch of possible suspect
Professor's wife helped police with sketch
Updated: Wednesday, 12 Oct 2011, 4:17 AM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 12 Oct 2011, 2:30 AM EDT
GOSHEN, Ind. (AP) - Police in northern Indiana have released a composite sketch of a clean-cut man being sought in the beating death of a Goshen College professor.
James Miller was beaten to death during the home invasion early Sunday at his house near the campus. The sketch was drawn with the help of Miller's wife, Linda, who is recovering from the attack in a South Bend hospital.
She told police the attacker was a man in his early to mid-20s and about 6 feet tall.
Police have released few details about the attack.
They're also encouraging people in the Goshen College area to lock their doors and take other safety precautions and to report suspicious activity. ))
I really hope they catch this jerk. When an EDUCATOR isn't safe in his OWN home, something is DRASTICALLY wrong with our society.
People need to have a feeling of SECURITY in their damn home, for God's sake, no matter who they are.
And normal, law-abiding citizens should NEVER have to resort to placing BARS on their windows and doors in order to feel safe enough...
Barred doors and windows should be the SOLE domain of the incarcerated...period...and that's to protect THEM from US, should we ever decide to pursue natural justice to it's inevitable end.
*** Next, we have a disturbing story about school buses:
(( Girl injured after school bus fight with male
Updated: Tuesday, 11 Oct 2011, 11:30 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 11 Oct 2011, 3:50 PM EDT
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Medical crews took a 14-year-old girl to a local hospital Tuesday morning, after a physical altercation with a male student on their school bus.
Officers with the Fort Wayne Police Department say the incident happened on the bus at approximately 7:25 a.m. near the intersection of Reed and Madiera Roads.
When a Fort Wayne Community School Transportation Representative reported the altercation, the female was unconscious on the bus.
Fort Wayne Fire Department EMTs and TRAA paramedics responded to the scene and provided medical care. The girl was said to be in fair condition.
The suspect in the attack, a 14-year-old male, was taken to the Allen County Juvenile Center on a charge of battery.
Officers say the incident remains under investigation.
NewsChannel 15 talked with the victim's grandmother who said her granddaughter was choked until she lost consciousness and didn't come around until she was treated by paramedics. She said she doesn't know what the fight was about, but knows that both 8th graders at Lane Middle School have and problems in the past. She also said because both students played a role in the fight, they both could face disciplinary actions.
FWCS has no comment on the situation. ))
Now, this is what I was talking about at the top of today's post...doing the RIGHT thing for the WRONG reason...like busing kids to school.
It's a good idea, but we lost the logic behind it all.
Many of the FWCS bus routes take kids ALL over the damn city...kids from bad neighborhoods bused into good schools, all for the sake of diversity...or racial-balance...or giving kids a better chance.
And while these ARE noble intentions, there are consequences, and some of them are unintended.
Some of these kids are raised like wild animals, and will exhibit such behavior, and that can creep out the "normals" in the crowd.
Many come from single parent homes, and while many single parents ARE indeed exemplary parents, raising some of the best-behaved and charming kids in the country, there are those that don't give a rat's ass as to WHO raises them, or in what manner they're raised.
That gives crime a very nice place to play, as it were.
The demise of the neighborhood schools brought about much of this problem.
In my day, we WALKED to school, because it was close enough. In fact, no matter where you lived, you COULD walk.
And when we got to high school, we had THREE choices to get us to the campus:
1) WALK some more
2) Have someone DRIVE us
3) Take PUBLIC transportation
And this was a time when we DID have black teens at our school...they were not bused, but took the PTC (which became SEPTA) - public transportation...or they were driven by their parents before THEY went to work (which seems to elude a greater number of blacks today), but back then, we didn't have the WELFARE-CRUTCH to lean on, either. That came a little later.
Now, these days, we see more and more fights breaking out on school buses.
NEVER happened in my day, and I attended one school for two years in the NE part of Philly, and it was the first time I was ever bused.
Considering it was a quasi-rural area in development, that made sense...the school was MILES away with little access to public transportation.
Suffice it to say, it was a fun ride. (except in winter when the heater failed)
Today, it's all about picking some fight, and it doesn't matter WHERE you break one out.
Could be at the McD's, or the BK, or some convenience store nearby...or on the school bus.
Now the story claims BOTH were participants, so this wasn't a case of someone getting "sucker-punched",
And even though the girl was knocked out (by a male...such a REAL man, too), she was still part of the gig...just didn't duck fast enough, and should be punished accordingly.
Some people would like to see another ADULT on the buses, aside from the driver, who could also up getting injured, causing Lord-knows-what to occur. Wonder who's going to volunteer to "ride shotgun" here, hmm?
Or, who's going to PAY to have these people do a "ride-along".
(note - you really wouldn't want to have ME as a "bus-monitor", although I'd kinda LIKE it...discipline WOULD rule the ride)
We already HAVE cameras on board the buses in a lot of cities, and all that seems to do is provide fodder for YouTube.
There are those that would argue that some sort of change is needed...
I would counter by saying we need to take a few steps BACK...back to when we ALL acted in a more CIVIL MANNER.
It doesn't take all that much to treat another individual with a modicum of RESPECT (even the undeserving among us).
And it sure doesn't take much to be a bit more POLITE to one another.
I know this sounds so old-fashioned, but think about it...
We've allowed and permitted our society way too many passes when it comes to our own evils, and to what end?
Brawls in restaurants...fights on school buses...shooting at bars...drive-bys...the list is damn near endless.
This type of behavior starts so innocently, too. A tossed potato chip bag, or a dropped plastic bottle is all it takes to get the ball rolling into the realm of bad behavior.
When we allow all this small sh*t a free pass in our society, we put a foot in the door leading to the room of bigger sh*t.
And there is never a lack of idiots in that regard, wanting to enter.
We need to remind them that actions DO have consequences, no matter WHO you are.
--Natural consequences are the result of what occurs naturally, hence the name. You have little if ANY control over what happens. You drop an egg, it WILL break when it hits the floor...natural consequence.
--Logical consequences are the result of of a situation engineered by the person "in authority"...and they are logically connected to the "wrong". Your child breaks curfew, and you ground them for the rest of the week...logical consequence.
--But UNINTENDED consequences are things that happen that you didn't expect...much like Prohibition.
Sociologist Robert K. Merton was behind this phrase when he popularized it in the 20th century.
Unintended consequences come in THREE "flavors":
1) positive - (sometimes called serendipity)
2) negative - (most often exacerbates the original problem)
3) perverse - (opposite to original intent, making the problem even worse)
Now, I'm no sociologist, but I know what I know...and what I see and hear.
And I know I get REAL tired whenever I hear about someone wanting to change something...because they can.
I really detest "change for change sake"...there HAS to be a purpose...a REASON for doing something...anything in life.
We don't (or shouldn't) up and revamp something that needs no revamping. We can amend it, make it better, but to scrap something for something else that's touted as "new and improved" when in fact, it has never been tried and tested, or never tested at length makes no sense to me at all.
We shouldn't toss good money after bad...anyone that knows anything about running a household knows as much.
Wish our governments would get on THAT bandwagon soon enough.
We need to find the CAUSE of our problems...not just attend to the symptoms.
Any good doctor knows that already...or any decent field commander.
Same can be said for our society, but creating ALL these programs meant to make us all "feel good" doesn't do a lick to help the reason WHY we feel the way we do...it just glosses over it all.
Each of us needs to look at ourselves and ask ourselves where WE need to go and how we plan to get there, because we're not going to find the answers at the bottom of a bottle of medicine OR booze...or certainly NOT at the expense of others.
Just something to ponder, that's all.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.