Tuesday Tidbits...

Welcome to what is starting out as a rather soggy Tuesday, folks. Had some showers roll through last evening, and they just did not want to leave.
Actually, the REAL rain comes later this week, so stay prepared.
Today's Hoosierland weather will see skies clearing later on with a high of around 55 degrees.
Those leaf-piles are pretty damn wet now, that's for sure.
We've some interesting things to look at today, so what say we get our morning drinks poured, take it easy for a spell, and see what has been occurring elsewhere, hmm?
*** First off of those rain-slicked streets is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
November 10 -
---Today is NATIONAL VANILLA CUPCAKE DAY

(It's got the word "cake" in it, so I'm on it like white on rice)
---It's also NATIONAL FORGET-ME-NOT DAY

(Many things and people in life are just not worth forgetting, are they?)
---And, most importantly, it's the 240TH BIRTHDAY OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS...!

SEMPER FI!

(and they don't look a day over 200)
Here's the WIKI for this proud group of "devil dogs":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps
I remember being in elementary school, and we got these "melody flutes" to play.
One of the FIRST songs we learned was the basic Marine Corps Hymn.
("From the halls of Montezuma...").
I can still play it on the recorder. Some things you NEVER forget.

I'll bet in schools TODAY, they stay as far from patriotic (and religious) themed things as MUCH as possible (for political-correctness sake) - a damn shame.
That kind of stuff builds character in young children. And that seems to be missing in current generations, does it not?
*** Also, it was FORTY years ago today that the EDMUND FITZGERALD, an ore freighter of the Great lakes sank in Lake Superior.

Here's the WIKI of the "Fitz":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Edmund_Fitzgerald

The history of the ore freighters is a very interesting one, and if you recall, Chris Martin visited the Great Lakes Museum in Toledo earlier this year and went aboard the SS Col James M Schoonmaker ship they have docked there as it's OWN museum.

It was a great tour Chris gave us, and you can look it up over at HIS blog (Tilting At Windmills), by doing a search.
And, the Gordon Lighttfoot song about the Fitz is a wonderful tribute to the ship and crew that were lost on Superior all those years ago.
*** Next up, as is the typical fare for today, it's time for ALL the calls the media NEVER mentions, because it's not AS entertaining as they would prefer.

And we NEED the population entertained, instead of INFORMED...right?
(Uh...no, I'd much rather be informed. Entertainment can be had almost anywhere at any time)
SHOTS FIRED / ARMED ROBBERY CALLS - 11/2 - 11/8
===============================================
NOV 2 -
15F145137 01:36:35 113 SHOTS FIRED 900 WASHINGTON BLVD E
15F145145 02:25:52 113 SHOTS FIRED 6600 LIMA RD
15F145197 09:03:48 113 SHOTS FIRED 5100 GOLFVIEW DR
15F145524 21:29:59 113 SHOTS FIRED 3600 WINTER ST
15F145212 09:36:25 53 ARMED ROB 6400 BLUFFTON RD
15F145518 20:57:52 53 ARMED ROB 2700 PAULDING RD E
15F145562 23:42:13 53 ARMED ROB 1000 CALHOUN ST S
NOV 3 - 
((NO shots fired))
15F145606 04:00:57 53 ARMED ROB 3000 COLISEUM BLVD W
NOV 4 -
15F146059 04:55:12 113 SHOTS FIRED 3300 COLISEUM BLVD W
15F146137 09:25:28 113 SHOTS FIRED 200 BURNS BLVD
15F146430 19:31:40 113 SHOTS FIRED 1800 LAVERNE AVE
15F146464 20:46:45 113 SHOTS FIRED 3700 PLAZA DR
15F146500 22:13:50 113 SHOTS FIRED 2700 OLIVER ST
15F146456 20:37:42 53 ARMED ROB 400 PONTIAC ST E
NOV 5 -
15F146557 03:18:48 113 SHOTS FIRED 3000 PITTSBURG ST
15F146863 18:45:46 53 ARMED ROB 1700 HIGH ST
NOV 6 - 
15F147010 03:05:17 113 SHOTS FIRED 4600 GAYWOOD DR & CAPITOL AVE
15F147341 19:32:01 113 SHOTS FIRED 3700 GRAYSTON AVE
((NO armed robberies))
NOV 7 -
15F147471 01:57:46 113 SHOTS FIRED 3500 HANNA ST S
15F147564 10:05:00 113 SHOTS FIRED 1900 WALLEN RD W
((NO armed robberies))
NOV 8 -
15F147941 02:05:07 113 SHOTS FIRED 600 LEWIS ST E & HANNA ST S
15F148266 21:56:21 113 SHOTS FIRED 3700 PARKHILL AVE
15F148269 22:07:38 113 SHOTS FIRED 2900 WARSAW ST
((NO armed robberies))
================================
FIREWORKS CALLS - 11/2 - 11/8
============================
NOV 4 -
15F146416 18:55:42 44FW 1900 MAIN ST W
((there just HAS to be ONE dumbass idiot))
*** Next up, a wonderful PAIR of arrest down near Atlanta, GA which concern TWO murders that took place earlier this year.
Here's the "4-1-1" from WANE on this story:
http://wane.com/2015/11/09/two-murder-suspects-arrested-in-ga-on-unrelated-cases-police-say-just-a-coincidence/

Underwood be BUSTED!

You have to hand it to our own FWPD chief, Garry Hamilton...for NOT being involved in EITHER arrest. (maybe he can at least get the extradition crap straight?)
I covered the two murders in previous posts (search the names of the victims to find my archive posts).
Both perps were caught in the same county in Georgia.
(imagine that)
The first perp, one Shakidi Underwood, 18 (of Fort Wayne) was caught because there was an OBSERVANT officer who pulled over Underwood's sister for a traffic violation - failure to signal a turn (yes, the police DO pull folks over for such things like that...in GEORGIA.)
Must have ENOUGH officers to do PROPER active patrols for violators down THERE...hmm?

Sultan be BUSTED, too!

Amazing what can be accomplished with the RIGHT type of policing, isn't it?
This other perp, one Hozyfa Sultan (also of Fort Wayne) was the recipient of a search warrant by local authorities and FBI agents in the arrest at a residence, also in Gwinette County, GA.
Guess it never dawned on OUR investigators to check into ALL the possible family relations and WHERE these two could have fled, otherwise the FWPD would have had some leads, and not have to wait several months for ANOTHER police department to do THEIR job for them.
Way to go, Garry...another nicely-dropped ball. Ever think of playing for the other side?
*** Next up, I want to show you folks what happens to good houses when the wrong people inhabit them, as well as the deadbeat landlords that acquire them.

These are some pictures of the house across the street from our "Fortress", and used to be one of THE most expensive houses in our immediate area.
It was built way back in 1928, so it predates OUR place by almost 20 years (Ours went up around 1945).
I knew Billy Usher, the Harley-riding, MIA flag-flying Vietnam vet who lived there - he'd been a friend of Wifey's family for a LONG time.
 He passed some years back from cancer and would be around my age. And he was a damn GOOD neighbor.
Bill and his girlfriend moved out a couple years before he took ill (he said the area was getting too much for him), and the place fell into the hands of a landlord, who proceeded to place some of the least amicable people in there, with the exception of one couple (mixed race). They were very nice, but they didn't last long.
 After that it was more of the wrong people with ALL their friends and family., One year, they had a get-together. Took up BOTH side of our block with all the cars that came over...and they were (as could be expected)...LOUD.
Suffice it to say, the house should have been holding up well enough.
Amazing how WRONG you can be, especially when there are scrappers who prowl the ghettohood EVERY single day, looking for patterns of habitation or times when people vacate a property. They know more than the city departments do.

This WAS the living room.

I know the house had been broken into at least TWICE, but I had no way of knowing what was taken from it, or the extent of any damage incurred.
Recently, the house came under a realtor - Perfect Pad LLC, and the woman selling the property has the cost listed as $9,900...!

There USED to be a CEILING in there.

That's right, a house with 2 bedrms, 1 bath, 2 car garage and full basement...with a .55 acre parcel of land attached. Property devaluation - keeps revenue from going back to the city.
But the current condition of the house leaves a LOT to be desired...

That's either water stains or mold on the walls.

THIS is what happens when you permit the WRONG people to move into a once nice house (or apartment)
These people could trash a f$cking MUD-HUT in Kenya, for cripes sake, so imagine how much "fun" they have HERE in such houses...and at YOUR expense, because HUD and Section 8 makes it possible for them to live all around you.

Yep, used to be a NICE house. Thanks HUD.

This is the kind of thing that pisses me off to no end...
*** Next up, I hear that while the unemployment rate is dropping in NE Indiana, the poverty rate in northern Indiana is ON THE RISE...
((...record-scratch...))
You ARE kidding me, right?

Lemme guess - a "REDISTRIBUTION of  WEALTH"?

Here's the story link:
http://wane.com/2015/11/09/brightpoint-study-poverty-on-the-rise/
Yep, THIS will get me shouting at the TV set...EVERY damn time.

We have the MOST prosperous "poor people" on the face of the damn PLANET, for God's sake.
They (Brightpoint, formerly CANI, who did this latest "study") have no idea what POOR means (too busy spending taxpayer money).
Okay, here's the perfect SOLUTION for this problem, because I know WHAT the problem truly is - LOWER THE POVERTY RATES by 50%.
We're already at $40K as the poverty level.
Hell, many WORKING people don't even make that much busting their ass on the job, and yet, some people get THIS much in gov't programs GRATIS, because they "say" they're poor...or to be more correct, we "make" them poor if they have LESS than $40K coming in.
That is totally ludicrous...AND very costly.

Allen County is LOWER...hmm. Another lie?

Hey, maybe it's due to ALL the illegals that are being shuttled up to OUR areas? Or perhaps all these "refugees" with NO skills whatsoever, who are leaching off the taxpayers?
You wait and see...sooner or later, the FEDS will AGAIN raise the threshold for the poverty level to say...I dunno...$50K, and then, we'll see a drop in poverty levels...for a while.
Then, we start the shell game all over again.
Insidious way to "redistribute wealth", isn't it?
*** Next, we have OUR version of THE CANDY MAN (with apologies to the late Sammy Davis, Jr, who was a remarkable individual and performer).
Here's the story link:
http://wane.com/2015/11/09/arrest-made-after-drug-raid/

He be busted!

Now, HOW did I guess he would not be a white man?
Joseph Redick, Sr, 42, of the 3200 block of Fairfield Avenue was taken into custody after selling some cocaine to undercover officers.
(hurrah for our side).
When police procured a search warrant and raided his house, they found all these nice "edible" items laced with THC, like peanut butter cookies and hard candy.
Guess THIS is what we can expect when certain states have "legal" pot and others do not.
This does not make the case for total legalization in my eyes, however.
What it tells me, is that children can get access to such product easier than we think, and that can never be a good thing...can it?
This asshole certainly doesn't look like the type of guy that used to run the candy stores when I was young...what say you?
*** Last back to the garage...the evidence of people being at the root cause of all of society's problems is much akin to working in a horse stable - the work KEEPS PILING UP every damn day.

Might need a BIGGER shovel.

Again, we see that WE are often our own worst enemies.
It always comes back to some people looking for that EASY way through life...and the results of such failed endeavors are obvious.
The lack of interpersonal skills is just as obvious, otherwise, we'd not have the level of gun-play, or other assorted violent behavior on our streets, and people would be more respectful.

Would we be so fortunate as to return to times that saw all of us act in more appropriate ways, and embrace something we used to call "manners".
I can only wish for such a time once again.
To not only survive, but thrive as a society, we here in this country NEED to become a better people, and better individuals.
We need to SET the standards, not make produce more DOUBLE ones.

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