Tales From The SOUTH Side...
Now, you know we couldn't let this week slip on past without having another venture into the marvelous environs of Fort Wayne's favorite "crotch", right?
We'll be taking care of THAT business anon, but FIRST, the answer to yesterday's military quote ("WHO SAID THAT?")
"For the first time in my life, I have seen 'History' at close quarters, and I know that it's actual process is very different from what is presented to posterity."
This quote is attributed to General Max Hoffman, War Diaries and Other Papers, 1929.
And he wasn't on OUR side during WW I.
Here's the *4-1-1* on him:
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_hoffman_max.html
General Hoffman criticized his fellow generals, and was said to have been the most intelligent member of the general staff, being regarded as one of the finest staff officers of the Imperial Period as well as a military strategist.
Of the German Army, Hoffman once said that "They were lions led by donkeys", referring to generals Ludendorf and Hindenberg.
How often the valorous become relegated to history's footnotes., hmm?
Meanwhile, back "at the front"...
*** Fort Wayne has this duplicity gig going on...been that way since I lived here, but the residents of this city don't seem to see it (as much), and I suppose it takes the eyes of an "outsider" like myself (originally from Philadelphia) to figure this out.
And, maybe that's why I see city workers cut down perfectly GOOD trees along the curb strips, ONLY to plant new saplings in their place.
But wait, it does get better.
Yesterday, I saw a 2-man city cherry-picker truck roll by and stop at our intersection.
What the hell could they be doing, I wondered.
Didn't have to wonder LONG...
They came by JUST to STRAIGHTEN OUT the STREET SIGNS...yep, you heard me correctly.
While I bemoan the FACT that we definitely need things like MORE police patrols, MORE Neighborhood Code Enforcement drive-throughs (especially in our ALLEYS, where the refuse rivals the residents and their flotsam), and an overall OVERHAUL of much of the area in general, the city "concerns" itself with some sort of "beautification" deal...
Yeah, go ahead and say it...
"WTF???"
I'm sorry, but putting "lipstick on a damn pig" doesn't make that pig ANY better-looking or makes the bacon ANY tastier...period.
But, at least we now have bold-upright street signs...big fat hairy deal.
*** More on the SW side shooting.
Here's the link to the updated story:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/police-say-residents-at-the-shorewood-neighborhood-are-in-no-immeidate-danger?ref=scroller&categoryId=20000&status=true
And THIS:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/crime/police-still-no-description-of-suspect-in-shorewood-shooting
Imagine that...the residents are NOT in any (immediate) danger...maybe because they're all pretty much DECENT, WORKING CITIZENS who look out for ONE ANOTHER and COOPERATE with the POLICE?
FWPD PIO Raquel Foster (a LIEUTENANT? Has to be a misprint. You gotta be kidding me, right? What has she done to EARN those bars, like others I know on the force?) said "We will have district cars, patrol cars in the area...that's what they do periodically."
Well, I guess those "periods" in MY part of the ghettohood are a lot FEWER and FARTHER between than areas of the city where NICE neighborhoods are, right, Raquel?
You will bend over backwards to acquiesce to those living in expensive houses with jobs and are law-abiding a lot more readily than what goes on down HERE, right? Believe it or not, we STILL have some folks (here) that DO pay taxes and expect a lot MORE than what's being done (or not done) currently.
Chief York says: "this is an isolated incident"...well, spank me rosy.
And yet, we now hear it was NOT a "random" event...Cripes, even I'm getting confused.
Isn't damn near EVERY crime of THIS type considered "isolated", in that it was ONE house that was targeted and ONE perp doing the nasty?
THAT sounds like what entails an "isolated" incident...like ONE guy stealing ONE car.
*** Now, if you think all of this means something, there is THIS little gem from the...(...all together, gang...)...SOUTHEAST side of town:
Here's the story link from WANE:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/crime/two-injured-in-avondale-shooting
A "drive-by" shooting of TWO people in the 4100 block of S. Avondale Drive happened yesterday around 1500 hrs.
This area is about TWO blocks west and SEVEN blocks north of our "Fortress", but I never heard any shots fired (must have been the way the wind was blowing).
What's interesting about THIS event, was that it occurred around the SAME TIME that the SCHOOL BUSES were bringing the kids home.
(That's OK, these morons have NO regard for life anyway)
This story was conveniently "buried" back on page 4C of the Journal Gazette and adds a few details, such as the vehicle was believed to be EITHER tan OR silver (huge color variance THERE hmm?), and that WITNESSES (because none of these cretins work, so they hang out all damn day) didn't get either a vehicle description OR the shooter's description.
Here's the story as it appeared in the paper:
(( 2 wounded in drive-by gunfire - Journal Gazette
Two people were injured in an apparent drive-by shooting on the city’s south side Wednesday, according to Fort Wayne police.
Witnesses told police that gunshots came from a silver or tan-colored car driven by a home in the 4100 block of Avondale Drive about 3 p.m. Two male victims hit by bullets were taken to a hospital – one in fair condition, the other in serious condition.
Further details were scarce, as witnesses could not give police a description or number of the people in the car. ))
Lemme say up front, that the shooter was in all likelihood BLACK, okay?
(and that's ONLY because I KNOW it wasn't me...I drive a BLACK car anyway...besides, I MUCH more prefer they "come to me" instead...makes an EASIER defense in court.)
Again, we see witnesses on scene that saw...nothing.
A-F$cking-Mazing, folks!
But, I'm ALSO sure "it was just an ISOLATED incident", right, Rusty?
I'm positive that "the residents" are in "NO IMMEDIATE DANGER", right, Raquel?
And I just KNOW that an "added" police presence will be in THIS area, as well, right?
Hell, I didn't even see ONE FWPD cruiser roll through after the double-shooting, and that's why I didn't know about it.
Didn't hear anything on the radio, either (well, I'm not GLUED to the damn thing).
You can all CLEARLY see this "disconnect" the city has with public safety, especially in the ghettohood.
And it's NOT the fault of the beat cops or their immediate supervisors or shift commanders.
So, that doesn't leave THAT many further up the chain-of-command to point a finger at, does it?
(right, Rus?)
I find it appalling that it takes (in one case) close to TWELVE YEARS to get a neighborhood quieted down (like in Phil Marx's area farther north where it took a firebombing of HIS house to "get noticed" - one might consider that a "hate crime" against him for being white,...and for giving a damn), and that's not saying that crime has all but disappeared up there...it just abated somewhat, but at least there's none of the constancy that permeated the neighborhood.
I'm into YEAR SEVEN myself down here, and I'm only seeing it getting worse, but it's NOT like I DIDN'T tell the quadrant captain that this WAS coming, and to "prepare" for an increase in crime (with the decrease of home ownership and decrease in good residents in my area).
But I suppose that making traffic stops down along FERGUSON RD. (out by the airport in the early morning) is MUCH more "important" than having a patrol through OUR neighborhood for the curbside street pharmacy sales, or the missing license plate bulbs...or the speeders and boomcars.
Misdirected PRIORITIES will cause problems...that's a given.
I see it in the "neighbors" that live around us...all concerned with things rather than people (unless it's to shoot at them).
When a police department finds itself "at odds" with a city administration (and we are talking the rank & file here, rather than the top brass, who are in the hip pocket of the good old boys), it's little wonder that anything gets done where the REAL crimes persist, regardless of WHO passes along information that only AIDS the police in stemming the rising tide OF those crimes.
Hey, I'm ALL for law-enforcement and the police, but when I see resources misused or improperly designated in areas that NEED them, it makes me wonder....a lot.
If we were ever to have a scenario with some similarities to the Zimmerman / Martin case, every person who is NOT black would be summarily targeted, BY the blacks, because they can get away with it.
Hell, they get away with WAY too much now as it is...and the same goes for the white trash and any other ethnicity down here.
The CITY doesn't care all that much if they all off each other...THAT is "their solution" to this problem, or so it appears.
And again, with this double shooting, we hear NOT...WORD...ONE...from the black "community leaders"!
Guess they feel as long as THEY keep getting their perks, just let the sh*t hit any fan that's available.
Helluva way to run a city and promote a friendly living environment for everyone...not hardly.
I always say that:
"ANY city is ONLY AS GOOD as it's WORST neighborhood."
Given THAT premise, it doesn't bode all that well for the Summit City...does it?
But, we can always HOPE, because we're NOT being taxed for that...yet.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.