Friday Follies...
End of another week, and the beginning of a curious weather pattern here in the Heartland.
After a dusting of snow yesterday, and with temperatures remaining in the lower double digits, we are supposed to get 1-2 inches (Fort Wayne area) between 1400 - 2000 hrs. But wait, we're not finished yet...
After midnight, we might be getting an additional 2-3 inches on top of that.
Well, that should make grocery shopping tomorrow QUITE "SPORTY" out there on the roads.
It's not that we really HAVE to go - we've enough food stocked for a few weeks, but some essentials always need replenishment (milk, lunchmeats, cheeses), we just prefer to go when it's NOT CROWDED (you understand).
Considering I drove in weather like this (and sometimes worse) for a living in another lifetime ago, it's always good to "refresh" your memory and stay in practice. Trouble is, not everyone feels the same way...more about that later.
In the meantime, there's this:
*** You MOMS out there (as well a DADS) will find this story a bit disturbing in more than a few ways.
Here's the link:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/wane-fw-mom--son-buying-spice-with-food-stamp-card
(good video, too)
See, here in Indiana, we recently passed a law banning that K2 "spice" crap (potpourri) that teens have taken to smoking (and getting damn sick as well as tweaking the hell out). This "synthetic" form of Mary Jane is still however finding it's way into the hands of those that aren't supposed to have it. It's still being sold at gas stations and convenience stores under NEW names and with slightly DIFFERENT ingredients in order to skirt the law.
We're NOT talking the kind of SPICE one finds in a Frank Herbert novel or movie, either...
Although the brains of those using it might LOOK about as barren and void of life as the dunes of Arrakis after a brief time.
(sand worms, anyone?)
Now this mom in the story was having her FOOD STAMP MONEY used to BUY such sh*t (by her son, who's in his TWENTIES).
And he claims addiction to the synthetic pot.
Uh, forgive me for being just a wee bit "insensitive" here, but WTH is he doing at home when he COULD (or should) be helping mom by working some JOB somewhere?
I mean, I was working when I was 16 at a restaurant (in Philly, Michelo's at Sheffield & Frankford Aves) several nights a week as a busboy, and doing so teaches one valuable lessons when it comes to EARNING a living, paying bills, and managing money.
But to swipe mom's DEBIT CARD for public assistance, and then say he was buying GROCERIES (lying) just compounds the problem.
Mom DID have the foresight to check the RECEIPTS from the store and caught sonny-boy's ass that way.
BTW, the spice is rung up as NON-TAXABLE GROCERY on the slip, so it can conform to welfare debit card guidelines.
I do find it troubling that the reporter that went to the same station was REFUSED a receipt when asked for one.
Didn't know a store could DO that...in fact, I don't believe they CAN.
I know I'd have someone with a shield and a gun with a warrant knocking on the door to THAT store.
*** This type of story always makes me smile...wonder why?
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120120/LOCAL07/301209924
It's nice to see good old-fashioned POLICE WORK pay off...isn't it?
Thank those on PATROL with sharp eyes who spot a perp vehicle from a robbery back on 5 January (in another town)...and then make the collar.
I love it.
The robbery occurred in Grabill, the man was from Fort Wayne (where else?), and he was arrested in Leo-Cedarville.
And the perp goes by a SINGLE name - VALANCE (isn't that like a type of CURTAIN???)
Anywho, Mr. "Valance", age 41, who lives in the 5400 block of Old Maumee Rd got to have the innards of his house "rearranged", courtesy of the local LEOs, who found a pellet pistol, clothes matching the description of the robber, and shoes with the same tread-pattern as those found on scene at the robbery site. Yep, we call that good policing for a REASON.
Bond was set at $20K...enjoy your stay, Valance...and NO curtains in YOUR cell...LOL.
*** More problems for the Broadway Joe's tavern.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120120/LOCAL07/301209923
Here we had three men, around 20 years old, who entered the bar around 2100 hrs. on the night of 15 January.
After one of the men jumped over the counter and shouted GIVE ME THE MONEY to the bartender, that's when a robbery decided to go wrong.
The bartender grabbed the gun, which discharged, but injured no one.
While this was going on, the other two thugs demanded patrons get on the floor.
The bartender gained control of the handgun, and it was then that all THREE robbers left the tavern...with NO MONEY and one gun lighter.
Obviously, they're all still at-large, so business owners beware of THREE men with TWO guns who might want to hold you up.
(how much you wanna bet they're BLACK, even if the story gives NO descriptions?)
If you check my archives from 28 & 29 November (last year) you find that one Antron Pearson was shot by police when he refused to drop a gun he was wielding AT Broadway Joe's.
And if anyone believes he didn't have a gun on him, well...the police were standing right NEXT to the piece alongside him (that had suffered a stovepipe jam)...I'm just sayin'...
He sure wasn't "clearing it for a friend".
EVIDENCE always trumps FEELINGS...remember that.
*** If you attempted to drive along I-69 yesterday...bet'cha wished you stayed the hell home, right?
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120120/LOCAL07/301209978
(this story involves ALL the accidents including the one mentioned below)
Yes...back to that nasty weather we had yesterday...and it was claiming novice and veterans alike on the roads.
The ONE major stack-up along the Interstate happened when a truck that was hauling all the accumulated METH TRASH from all the busts around here, of course, and it was being transported...(you're gonna LOVE this)...to MICHIGAN...(poetic justice of a sort - ROFLMAO!) when it succumbed to the hazardous road conditions and crashed.
Now, with about 180 BARRELS of assorted meth trash, it wasn't the chemical composition of the spill that concerned everyone.
It was all the WORK that was needed to RECLAIM the barrels, RE tag them and RE classify all the assorted flotsam.
And naturally, you don't want passing motorists to "borrow" any of that sh*t, do you...so you have to establish a good, healthy PERIMETER to keep the curious away.
The REAL problem came with trying to get the SECOND truck on scene for pickup...it had to travel I-69 (whcih was closed)...a real CATCH-22 indeed, but after 5 hours, all was back to relative normal.
In all, 37 crashes and 24 slide-offs were reported by the Indiana Stateys yesterday, and that was JUST along our portion of I-69.
*** And that brings me to our finale for this week.
I have seen my share of "stuff" along our highways over the years, and been caught up in a couple situations.
And that was when you DIDN'T have all the on board distractions you do today.
I cannot imagine how some people manage to remain ALIVE on the roads with some of the sh*t they pull WHILE driving.
I am always harping about we need MORE FWPD PATROLS down here in my part of the ghettohood.
And I do that with GOOD reason.
On ANY given day, we have speeders by the dozen, folks with blown out something (headlights, tail lights, license plate bulbs...you name it), scores of people talking ON THE DAMN CELL PHONE...overuse of the "ghetto door bell" (HONKING incessantly...for the uninitiated), along with some who (on purpose) SLIDE their vehicles into a turn or gun it so they slide up or down a street, and that's just in SNOWY conditions...
The list goes on, and even after YEARS of reports and complaints to our quadrant captain, this type of behavior NEVER slows down, let alone stops at all. But it's different in OTHER parts of town...THEY don't HAVE to deal with such chronic problems, because the police in THEIR areas don't have to go from one call to the next all during their shifts. THOSE officers have the time to actually PATROL, and LOOK for suspicious actions.
Granted, once in a while you'll hear an officer noticing something hinky, and he investigates...sometimes with an arrest, but just as often, without one.
See, we have a more "hands-off" policy down here (so it seems). Command staff has to deal with the minority communities, and THOSE factions always bitch about "being pulled over for driving while black", or unfair treatment because of race...
(gimme a damn break)
We're pretty much EIGHTY PERCENT black down here and whites ONLY account for UNDER 10%, so the ODDS of randomly pulling over someone (with probable cause) who MAY be black are better than anything you could EVER get at the lottery counter...OR at any casino anywhere!
A LEO's chances of "winning" are stacked in favor OF the player (the officer) and NOT the "house" (the suspect).
That's simple mathematics, and if more of these kids would stay in school, THEY could figure it out just as easily.
I'll be busy figuring out WHAT the weather will be doing for the next 72 hours, and I sure you might be doing likewise if you live in NE Indiana.
Regardless of Nature's "fury", DO have yourselves a great weekend.
Be well, make a difference to someone today, and as always...
Stay SAFE out there, America.