Thank God It's FRIDAY (Follies)...

I think you'll easily be able to figure out why I named today's post in the manner I have.
Many of you from anywhere around the era that I grew up in will appreciate the "nuance" in that.
And, we will be finishing up today's post with the reason behind the title as it were, but first, I have got to relay some disturbing "things" and a wonderful rant that I've been working on since early last evening.
*** We had THREE (count 'em, 3) fatal shootings over the last 24 hours in Fort Wayne.

Nah, we couldn't see this coming...well, one of them was JUSTIFIED (cue the theme music from that FX show, maestro...lol)
Lemme see...that makes HOMICIDES number TWELVE, THIRTEEN, and FOURTEEN (for those "dead pools" at work or home)!
--The FIRST shooting occurred around 1900 hrs and was the first of the two that happened on the...(.all together, gang...)...SOUTHEAST SIDE of Fort Wayne. The *20* was given as 3717 Bowser Avenue (it's about as wide as a small street...go figure).
--And if you want, here's the link for the WANE report (with reader comments at the bottom of the page...VERY good take on what OTHERS think about this crap):
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/One-killed-in-Bowser-Ave-shooting

--The SECOND shooting occurred about 2 hours later at 1502 Gardendale "Avenue" (think more like a frigging dirt road - who the hell NAMES these streets anyway?) between Decatur Rd and S. Anthony Blvd (which is more LIKE an actual AVENUE).
Here's the *4-1-1* on those events:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120518/LOCAL07/305189967

At the Bowser location, you naturally had all the damn (government-sponsored) lookie-loos about, and a few decided to start a damn altercation, prompting police to further cordon off the area in order to "diffuse the situation".
Now...while all THIS was going on, I had placed not one...not two...but THREE (count 'em, 3) calls into dispatch regarding a very LOUDASS moolie who was blasting his car stereo at the house behind ours. It started around 1900 hours, coincidentally. My 1st call was made at 1930.

Wifey was in the computer room, and had the police radio on, and never heard the 44LM call (loud music) go out on the air. That is what prompted me to redial and voice my GROWING frustration.
The 2nd time I called, dispatch informed me that they had an "incident" on the SE side, and radio traffic was being mum about details, so Wifey didn't hear about any shooting.
And still, the music thumped into our house incessantly.
It was SO loud that the kitchen utensils on the pegboard over our stove were VIBRATING...!!!
There was not ONE DAMN ROOM you could retreat to in our house where you couldn't hear that damn sh*t.
I suppose there was ONE room...which would have been any ROOM AT THE F$CKING RAMADA INN...!
There is simply NO sense to this crap...none whatsoever.
This bass thumping went on for OVER TWO HOURS, and even Wifey was starting to get a headache.

I could just SEE the city paying for my wife's day off for a frigging MIGRAINE...yeah, that's gonna happen.
But this is exactly the scenario you paint whenever those ethnic beasts are permitted a free run of the farm, at the taxpayer's expense.
Cripes, I was tired from the RESTRAINT I had to practice to NOT go outside and ADD to that damn homicide count.
And believe me, I was MORE than willing to do so...it was that bad for that long.
On the THIRD call into dispatch (over an hour and a half LATER), I was getting the apology song and dance...AGAIN, and in utter frustration, I hung up on the girl (another first for me, aside from the "triple-call").
I fully realize it wasn't HER fault...the call WAS on the "list"...BUT (once again) you have to know that calls like THESE (for loud music) get a LOW PRIORITY (and you have to "just deal with it" apparently)...sorry, THAT mindset doesn't work for me...that's why we HAVE LAWS and those to ENFORCE THEM...so I don't have my brain trying to burst through my cranium due to excessive NOISE.
It's a given that the FWPD is woefully UNDERSTAFFED...I've said that here often, and have my sources that have told me such.
Should it surprise anyone that we might ONLY have a mere SEVEN officers covering the entire SE quadrant during a shift?
Not after last night!
Hell, if you DOUBLE that number, that would STILL not be enough...
The FIRST shooting didn't even have a *113* attached to it (shots fired)...there was just a dead guy (from gunshot wounds) near a house.
Typically, there is a *113*, and then a *58* code (shooting) following close behind.

Now, you have TWO very DEAD people...not going to bother anyone or be bothered by anyone...while all the time, people like US have to "endure" law-breakers for hours on end...that doesn't seem all that fair.
The (still very) dead guys sure aren't planning to go anywhere (except the morgue or funeral parlor), and they're in NO damn hurry, either, so WTF is up with emptying ALL the resources from the quadrant into THESE TWO incidents, leaving everyone else to "go it on their own"?
Wish to hell I knew the answer to THAT one...I'd be running the damn city!
(and that ALONE would scare the bejeezus out of way too many people).
I suppose if I said to dispatch: "Would it help expedite matters in getting an officer here to shut this moron the hell up IF I went out and SHOT HIS (government-sponsored) ASS or pumped some rounds into his (government-sponsored) CAR STEREO?"

Ah,well...then I'M the "bad guy"...for taking the law into my OWN hands...and "dealing with it".
I'm the bad guy for wanting some PEACE AND QUIET.
I'm the bad guy for expecting that "quality-of-life" (too frequently denied to us down here) that (Mayor) King Henry mentions on the city's website.
No...I'm STILL the GOOD guy, dammit.
Where the hell DO you go when the people you're SUPPOSED to go to for help "aren't available"?
(that's ONE helluva scary premise, right?)
But you wanna know what part of all this REALLY pisses me off?
The APATHY from everyone within a 2 block radius that could ALSO hear this loudass.
Never heard ONE person shout "turn it down" once. But if someone ELSE did call it in, I would shake their damn hand!
Scared into apathy, complacency and desensitivity...that's NOT the American way, folks.
The loudass black males were screaming to the "music", too, and were encouraging the toddlers there to scream along with them...how "quaint".
Another "bonding night with the tribe?".
Gimme a break.
--The THIRD shooting occurred around 0300 today near downtown when a STATE TROOPER got into an altercation with a man involved in an argument with others.

Here's THAT story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120518/BLOGS01/120519530
Cripes, had to "recruit" the STATEYS for "backup" patrols last night?
Has it come to THAT now in this city?
Would appear so...

If I learned ANYTHING from last night, it's that this city has some major problems with the management and dispersal of the police resources in MY part of the city.

When lawlessness becomes a lot more "commonplace", and all the officers wind up doing is arriving on scene after the dust has settled and the victims have bled out and taken that long dirt nap, it's time to rethink such things as EFFECTIVENESS and EFFICIENCY on the damn streets.

And such things begin...AT THE TOP of the pecking order within the department, and NOT with the officers chasing radio calls all shift.
We just need a new police chief...there I said it...and I mean it.
We need someone who can deploy resources in a much better manner, become a LOT more PROACTIVE, and take no sh*t from all the groups that open their pieholes with racial bating and bias rhetoric...period.
Unless...you really WANT to become JUST like DETROIT...or CHICAGO (the other two shining examples of a major fail when it comes to handling crime) in this "Bermuda Triangle" of urban angst. Look at a map and you'll see what I mean.
And that's ALL I have to say about this...for the time being.
(( Editor's Update - 1400 hrs - A FOURTH shooting happened on the SOUTHEAST SIDE at the intersection of Pettit and Euclid Sts.
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/Fourht-Shooting-in-Fort-Wayne-in-24-Hours-152056835.html
The apartments on Stardale Dr. where the victim and two others wound up are between S. Anthony Blvd and Hessen Cassel. No homicide reported, just a gunshot wound. ))
*** Lastly today (and which was to be the MAIN topic) is the death of Disco Queen DONNA SUMMER at the age of 63 (talk about a contemporary).

She had one of the most beautiful voices that I have heard from a female "pop" star, and all that followed her were just copies of the original (imho).
Her music reminded me of some really nice times in my life, and it was pretty hard to not get teary-eyed when the news came across the airwaves.
I spent a part of yesterday afternoon listening to some of her songs...got kinda choked up, too.
And yes, I definitely had the "hots" for her...always did think she was gorgeous.

I remember closing the Fountainroom in Oaklyn, NJ on many a Friday night (actually Saturday morning at 2AM) with her song LAST DANCE, which I always chose this one girl there to share that song with (a co-worker from Philly)...
Barbara was a damn good dancer, and we had our own "routine" for that song. She was one of a very few that "got away"...not too many regrets there, but deep ones nonetheless.
Bittersweet?
Perhaps, but..all things considered, it was a nicer time...even in polyester and BRUT cologne...lol.
Dick Clark had her guest host American Bandstand back in the late 70s, and she was good at that, as well as her brief movie career (Thank God It's Friday).
And she definitely has her own WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Summer
A remarkable life and an equally remarkable woman...and singer.

To paraphrase another disco group from that era:
Heaven isn't missing an angel...it has GAINED one.
But her music will live long after her leaving, as will our memories.
Do have yourselves a great weekend.
Be well, make a difference to someone today, and as always...
Stay SAFE out there, America.