Monday Musings...
Well, here we are...a brand new WEEK, AND a brand new MONTH.
For MOST of you, that is...
For US, it's another week and month (in the ghettohood) of the "same old", thanks to the city of Fort Wayne in particular, and society in general.
But before we go any further, let's hit on the breaking news.
BIN LADEN IS DEAD!
(about fracking time, too)
Here's the skinny if you weren't up to hear about it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/02/osama-bin-laden-dead-pakistan
If it were me, I would have cremated the body, spread the ashes in a pig wallow, and then beat the mud and ashes with a shoe...now THAT is an insult!
Naturally, U.S. bases and embassies around the world are now on high alert for reprisals, and travelers are being advised to exercise extra caution and avoid areas that are presumed to be "active", so we're far from the end in this "war on terror".
And don't be surprised if we have a new "wild card" in the mix to take Bin Laden's place soon enough.
Of course in our fair city, there are those that have been busy as well...
*** (( Two people shot on Winter Street - Both victims are in serious condition
Updated: Saturday, 30 Apr 2011, 7:54 AM EDT
Published : Saturday, 30 Apr 2011, 2:40 AM EDT
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Fort Wayne police are investigating a double shooting Saturday morning.
It happened around 2:15 a.m. in the 2400 block of Winter Street.
Police said both victims have been taken to a local hospital in serious condition.
News Channel 15 crews on the scene said it looked like the shooting happened inside the VFW at that address. ))
*** Here's an update that demonstrates the "OOPS" factor and also shows some media sources don't always "get it right":
(( Published: May 2, 2011 3:00 a.m.
1 man injured at VFW wasn’t shot - Jeff Wiehe The Journal Gazette
Fort Wayne police have released a few more details about a shooting Saturday at the VFW, 2441 Winter St.
Initially thought to be a double shooting, only one person, a man in his 30s, was shot.
Another man injured at the same time, also in his 30s, was somehow battered during the incident. Both were taken to a hospital in serious condition where they were later listed as stable.
Police did not release the identities of the men.
An hour before the shooting, which apparently happened inside about 2:10 a.m., police were called to the VFW in reference to people refusing to leave, according to police dispatch logs. ))
And to continue the trend in our fair city...there's this:
*** (( Two shot during car chase - Alert issued from IPFW to students, staff
Updated: Sunday, 01 May 2011, 1:40 PM EDT
Published : Sunday, 01 May 2011, 1:29 PM EDT
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Two men were shot while being chased by someone they had an argument with outside a Fort Wayne club Sunday morning.
According to the Fort Wayne Police Department, the argument began around 5:00 a.m. outside a W. Coliseum entertainment club. As the men drove away, the other party began to chase them in another car and eventually started shooting.
The victims, who police only said were in their twenties, were found near the St. Joe and Stellhorn Roads intersection.
Police said they have very little information about who was all involved in the incident and are not sure if there were other people in the car during the shooting, or if they were injured. They do know the victims survived the incident and are at worst, only in serious condition.
Due to the proximity to the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne campus, the school did issue an alert to students and staff. ))
Here's another link to the same story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110502/LOCAL/305029933
In many ways, it sort of DOES seem like more of the same...
I suppose that's one perverse aspect of having to live among the dregs of humankind as they're planted all around your once nice area of the city....time seems to all blur together, until, one day, you turn around and see that YEARS have passed with absolutely NO change for the better...only for the worse.
And, as is the case in this city, THAT seems to be fine with the "leaders" down at City hall, as well as the chief of police.
It must be nice to always have a city police car in FRONT of YOUR house, watching to see if anything "unusual" happens, so it can be nipped in the bud.
Wish I could say something similar.
As is the case with the end of the month, I send along my "report" to our captain "in charge" of this quadrant...and this month, she got a LOT of pictures (about 16) to "chronicle" the happenings JUST on our block, to which nothing will probably be addressed...again.
You know, I've been told by our good captain, that she "VALUES my assistance". Well, if that MEANS that I can be relatively brushed aside with ALL the information and pictures I provide, I'd MUCH rather NOT have ANY of my assistance valued IN THE LEAST...that way maybe the department would look into all this crap around us.
I mean, that train of logic would seem to be correct.
But LOGIC, along with COMMON SENSE is something that is in very short supply around this city.
So it would seem.
Just to keep you all abreast of the sheer AMOUNT OF MONEY this city does NOT collect when it has the capability to do so, here are some facts and figures of just this PAST month of April...see if YOU think something's amiss here.
-- Noise violations: (due to boom cars) = 343
-- Speeding: 10 per day x 30 = 300 (conservative est.)
-- Illegal parking or u-turns at intersection: 5 per day x 30 = 150 (conservatively)
-- Inadequate vehicle lighting (non-functioning bulbs): 20+ per night (approx)
Now, let's say EACH of these violations is worth $150.00 (I think that's the going rate currently in town here), so let's make ourselves a TOTAL, shall we?
We're looking at about 813 OFFENSES (give or take)...which amounts to about (I KNOW you're sitting down)...
$121,950.00...!!!
All that is just what comes past OUR house and includes BOTH 4-wheeled AND 2-wheeled varieties.
And the LAST time I checked, our intersection was NOT at center of the ghetto-universe!
Well, it's no wonder our property has been so marvelously DEVALUED, especially when the police aren't being instructed to ticket ANY of these mooks (most caught are by chance).
I forgot, we're all too busy chasing the radio these days to actively PATROL and CATCH some of these offenders.
And we wonder WHY the city doesn't have the money they SHOULD have...amazing sh*t, huh?
Doesn't take much in the way of "resources" to make ANY of this happen, either...that's the catcher in all this.
Don't need any federal "grants" or special funding from some outside agency...just a redeployment of an officer (or two), with a special assignment tag attached to it. Think of it as something like a B.A.D. team (burglary-auto-detail), or those operations they conduct every so often to nab people NOT wearing seat belts, or a DUI "checkpoint".
Not one thing different with my "proposal", except the LACK OF DESIRE on the department's command staff's part.
Funny how that ELKHART officer managed to get EIGHT-HUNDRED busts for things like DRUGS AND GUNS while conducting NOISE VIOLATION stops.
ONE officer...just ONE, in a smaller town with less resources, making a bigger difference than all but a handful of sector 45 officers down here.
THIS is the kind of thing the local media sources should be asking a crapload of questions about...seriously!
And it's been preying on my mind of late to do such...just because I CAN.
MY reason for wanting to make that happen is simple...I want the TRUTH to be told, and I want everyone else that never knows what goes on down here to BE AWARE of how and where THEIR hard-earned money goes (other than into thin air in this city).
I want ALL those that have done nothing over the last decade to be called OUT on this.
Believe it or not, similar scenarios like ours are happening with greater frequency and in a lot more cities that you would know.
Look at the demographic shift in our nation - that ALONE should clue us all in.
An immigration system that would allow those here illegally to become citizens, safe passage for law-breakers...yeah, that works for me.
How many murders of U.S. citizens have we had along our southern border BEFORE the year 2000? Before 1980? 1970? And how many neighborhoods had NOT devolved into slums in those same decades.
Think this can't happen in YOUR neighborhood?
Think again.
All it takes is just ONE house to go Section 8 and that starts the ball rolling.
Then you might get to participate in one of the greatest EXODUSES since Moses led his people from Egypt!
But what if you CAN'T just up and move, or maybe want to keep that house YOU (and your spouse) worked to get?
Well, you can always try and do what I'm doing, but it's not for the faint of heart, and WILL test your resolve, as well as your patience and fortitude...and that's on the GOOD days. You don't want to know about the bad ones, trust me.
And, as long as YOU have some sort of real COMMUNITY, you can always take a stand.
In MY case, that dog ain't gonna hunt.There IS NO community to speak of...at least none that would WANT this area to be nice and clean, and a lot more free of crime and dubious people.
In some ways, it's like living in South Africa, except the people THERE have better accents and you can actually UNDERSTAND most of what they say...lol.
You just have to watch out for the "uprisings" from whatever "tribe" comes to the area.
And unlike over there, we don't carry sub-machine guns to protect ourselves from such tribal outbursts.
But you get the idea...
You know, I really detest having to start off a new month and week with a "downer", and yet I feel I have to explain why I can't always be full of sunshine and lollipops with my demeanor.
It's just the TRUTH...and the FACTS, not as I perceive them...just as they ARE, plain and simple.
You people always deserve that much from this blog (and from me), and God knows that I will never shirk that duty.
Let's just hope we all live long enough to see things like my neighborhood, as well as our nation get BETTER (or at least back to where it belongs)...instead of worse, eh?
Have yourselves a great week!
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.