Tales From The SOUTH Side...

Yes friends, you can sure notice how FAST things return to "normal" down here...almost like they never stop, in fact.
It's the day after Memorial Day, and things are "typical" again in this part of the city.
Our Hooiserland weather will have us with a mild start to the day, with increasing clouds, rain showers later today, and a possibility of a thunderstorm tossed in for good measure. The high today will be whenever the locals get up, shoot up, or light up...for the REST of us, look to around the 80 degree mark.
So, with that taken care of, let's get our morning drink alongside us as we see what's going on elsewhere...
*** First out of the urban blight is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
May 26 -
---Today is SALLY RIDE DAY

A tribute day to America's first woman in space. Here's a WIKI for the details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ride
*** Next is our homage to those morons, idiots and imbeciles with firearms that infest this city:

SHOTS FIRED and ARMED ROBBERIES - 5/18 - 5/24
===========================================
MAY 18 - 
15F060311 01:15:07 113 SHOTS FIRED 2500 PONTIAC ST E
15F060905 23:59:18 113 SHOTS FIRED 500 CREIGHTON AVE E
15F060300 00:26:24 53 ARMED ROB 3300 BEAVER AVE & KINSMOOR AVE
15F060340 06:01:50 53 ARMED ROB 1500 GOSHEN AVE
MAY 19 - 
15F060910 00:27:21 113 SHOTS FIRED 1800 WAYNE TRACE E & ANTHONY BLVD
15F060916 00:39:31 113 SHOTS FIRED 1100 HUGH ST & CHUTE ST
15F061302 18:38:38 113 SHOTS FIRED 3300 COUNTRYDALE DR
15F061390 23:00:07 58 SHOOTING 2200 RANDALLIA DR
15F061367 21:36:15 53 ARMED ROB 2900 GOSHEN RD
MAY 20 - 
15F061442 03:12:09 113 SHOTS FIRED 2500 EDSALL AVE
((NO armed robberies)_
MAY 21- 
15F061939 01:05:01 113 SHOTS FIRED 600 LEWIS ST E & HANNA ST S
15F061974 04:33:19 113 SHOTS FIRED 3000 CLINTON ST S & ESMOND ST
15F062393 21:08:05 113 SHOTS FIRED 1000 PONTIAC ST E
((NO armed robberies))
MAY 22 -
15F063038 22:58:29 113 SHOTS FIRED 3200 OSWEGO AVE
15F063048 23:13:45 113 SHOTS FIRED 1400 HUGH ST
15F063058 23:32:25 53 ARMED ROB 4100 PARNELL AVE
MAY 23 - 
15F063249 11:14:21 113 SHOTS FIRED 1100 HUFFMAN ST
15F063629 22:34:52 113 SHOTS FIRED 400 RUDISILL BLVD E & AVONDALE DR
15F063604 21:49:16 58 SHOOTING 3600 BOWSER AVE
MAY 24 -  
15F063702 00:17:19 113 SHOTS FIRED 5500 OLD DOVER BLVD
15F063720 00:52:37 113 SHOTS FIRED 1300 SPRING ST
15F063732 01:07:31 113 SHOTS FIRED 6100 BUNT DR & CHEVIOT DR
15F063738 01:32:52 113 SHOTS FIRED 5300 EASTWICK DR
15F063742 01:38:36 113 SHOTS FIRED 2700 CHICHESTER LN
15F063753 02:10:52 113 SHOTS FIRED 600 LAFAYETTE ST S & MAIN ST E
15F063755 02:15:20 113 SHOTS FIRED 2800 SCHELE AVE
15F063822 07:14:21 113 SHOTS FIRED 8200 FIELDCREST CT
15F064004 15:06:13 113 SHOTS FIRED 300 DEWALD ST W
15F064188 21:28:21 113 SHOTS FIRED 1200 ANTHONY BLVD N & COLUMBIA AVE
15F064198 21:53:31 113 SHOTS FIRED 100 CREIGHTON AVE W
15F064216 22:32:20 53 ARMED ROB 6200 BLUFFTON RD
==========================================
Guess where the majority of calls took place...give you THREE, and the first TWO don't count...lol
*** Next up,and speaking of shooting,  HOMICIDE NUMBER TEN hits the Summit City thought we were at eleven - my badhere we go again).

Here's the story link (so far):
http://wane.com/2015/05/25/police-on-the-scene-of-oliver-st-shooting/
This took place last night around 2300 hrs in the 3500 block of Oliver St (smack dab in the ghettohood), on the city's wonderfully dysfunctional SOUTHEAST SIDE.

A male was found in the middle of the street and was unresponsive. After taken to hospital, he was pronounced dead.
A "person of interest" was taken into custody after police spotted a man matching a clothing description (a few blocks east) given by witnesses on Oliver St. A brief foot pursuit took place before the person was apprehended.
(anyone taking bets on the ETHNICITY of those involved???)
Police also found a firearm in a nearby alley.
No charges have been filed against the man in custody.
Hey, it could be worse...like in Baltimore, where they had TWENTY EIGHT shootings over the Memorial Day weekend...with NINE dead.
Here's the link to that:
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2015/05/25/police-26-shootings-9-fatal-over-memorial-day-weekend-in-baltimore/

For those keeping score.

My ONLY question about THIS...WHERE ARE THE PROTESTS???
(I thought that black lives MATTER?)
Guess they ONLY matter whenever POLICE are involved?
Moving on...
*** Well, we are seeing "some" improvements on the SE side of Ft. Wayne...or ARE we?
Here's the story:
http://wane.com/2015/05/24/fort-wayne-mosque-makes-history-around-the-world/

That's right - a new MOSQUE has gone up on the (where else?) SE side to accommodate ALL the BURMESE we have taken in.
And, it's a SHIITE mosque at that...how "quaint".
It's located behind the Harvest Food Bank on Seddlemeyer Rd (near Tillman)
On the UP side, the Burmese haven't been driving around BOOM CARS yet...
(Wait until they get illegal firearms)
On the DOWN side, Burmese gangs (in South Side High School) are reputed to be the WORST.
Never catch a damn break, can we?
*** Next up...if you ever stop by the FWPD website you might have noticed that they have a "discussion forum"...or at least they USED to have one.

For the last MONTH, a prompt comes up (when you click on the link) saying "It's under REPAIR"...LOL!
What a crock of BS...
They took it down, because people (like me) were asking questions specific to OUR neighborhoods...and never getting answers.
The LAST post answered by the four officers moderating the board was in AUGUST of 2013...!!!
Hardly "up-to-date"...was it?

But the website DID add a "report a drug house, gang activity or illegal firearms" form to fill out.
Not that these are making any difference either (that I can see).
Besides, how do people KNOW if firearms are illegal at a house down the street?
No one likes to advertise such things, but when you see a handgun in a waistband of some saggy pants, you can bet good money it's not a legally PURCHASED firearm...right?
(that's what holsters and belts are for)

I look at all this as yet ANOTHER way to "blind the public"...don't patrol, don't allow citizens listening to the police radio, and don't allow citizens to ask questions EXCEPT in specific and monitored venues like "coffee with a cop" (took place last week nowhere near the SE side).
Yeah, that just endears law-enforcement to the public (only in nice neighborhoods).
And they call this "COMMUNITY-Oriented" policing???
(not hardly)
*** Next, OUR Memorial Day weekend went okay...for living in the crotch of Indiana's 2nd largest city. It wasn't as bad as usual.

GOTTA fly the flag...!

Grill-Sgt Bob reporting for duty.

Hot dogs, hamburgers, and Smithwick's Irish Ale...good eats!|

We had a cookout Sunday, watched the Indy 500 (pretty good race for the times), and had our patio "friends" stop by.

"Can I haz cheezburger too?"

Patches stops by to wet his "whistle".

Watched the National Memorial Day Concert on PBS...damn fine show, too.
That was the GOOD part of it.
The bad part was the "locals" acting up as they usually do any OTHER day...

After all, since none of them really WORK, EVERY day is a bloody holiday for them.
It's sad to see people not even know what Memorial Day is all about...or even care.
*** Last back to the gas pumps... there was a story about Fort Wayne's Memorial Day Parade, and the reporter stated that ATTENDANCE WAS DOWN...SIGNIFICANTLY over the past few years...

Now, granted the parade itself seems to have gotten smaller, but that's not what I'm seeing.
I recall a time when the parade in Philly was right down Ben Franklin Parkway...and it was HUGE.
We had soldiers from every armed service, color guards, vehicles of many types, and even some tanks rolling past. I remember the ground shaking as they went by...kinda scary but at the same time iinda cool for a grade-schooler.
Usually I went with Dad and Uncle Bob, and they took turns putting me on their shoulders.
In our neighborhood, every kid have red white and blue bunting on their trikes and bikes, and we would walk to the corner for the local activities...and it was always a crowded place to watch the proceedings.
Same used to be said HERE, I understand.

I think I might know WHY things have changed....WE have changed, as a people.
We are so "entertainment-driven" these days...instant gratification via SOCIAL MEDIA...everyone seeking their 15 minutes of fame on YouTube, or whatever else comes down the pike.
Plus, war isn't as "popular" as it USED to be.
My late Father said as much as far back as 'Nam...and he was a WW2 vet
In fact, he was all set to send my ass to Canada to keep me OUT of combat...he disliked that war that much.
It always looked at it as better to kill the bad guys THERE rather than HERE on OUR shores.
That's the way we USED to do it...and it worked out pretty well.

But the PEOPLE became unsettled with warfare...they wanted to see hostilities cease after a week, and they would get "bored" with us fighting someplace else...for the freedom Americans enjoyed at the expense of our troops and their sacrifices.
TV shows would depict combat that would resolve itself in a mere 60 minutes, and the movies would end the conflict of war within two short hours, or less. And our nation's people took THAT to be FACT, hence all the protests against the Vietnam war...THAT was our downfall and NOT every combat engagement WE HAD WON in those years. We NEVER lost a major engagement.
These days, we don't have conscription...we're an ALL-VOLUNTEER armed services military, and that takes an even MORE special individual to willingly sign up to face things average people will NEVER get to see or experience (thankfully).
In many ways, it's much like our police and fire departments...they ALL volunteer to sign up and promote the safety of the public in our cities and towns.

You tell  'em, Duke!

Yet, again...we see social media taking precedence over reason whenever the public feels slighted.
We want to win, but we don't want to have it take too long...we've other more "important" things to do, like selfies, or video some jackass stunts, or a fast food fight in public.
Our "priorities" have become misplaced, turned ass-backwards, and have become an INDULGENCE, rather than a necessity in our lives.
If we can manage to change that way of thinking, and return to a more sane and sensible behavior, we can get our nation BACK to the greatness we used to have in a greater abundance.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.