Monday Musings...

Another week in the Summit City, and that means a whole new crop of crap to be staring at...and that's the GOOD news.
Fort Wayne is one of those cities that is trying it's damndest to become a MAJOR city, and unfortunately, wanting such things brings with it a lot of "baggage", most of it bad.
You see, major cities these days are besieged with their own particular and peculiar problems, and we can blame the PEOPLE for most all of it.
It's always the people that bring in that baggage, be it educational in nature, criminal, sociological..well, you get the idea.
We'll speak to that in just a bit, but FIRST, here's proof positive that you never know WHAT you're going to find stashed in your shrubbery...
*** Wifey happened to find this little "trinket" placed along our fence yesterday...a FOLDING CHAIR.

A MAC SPORTS chair to be exact, and those aren't really a dime a dozen.
The chair was INTACT and totally USEABLE...imagine that.
So, I gave it a spray with some cloth cleaner I have, and checked it for "cooties" (in this ghettohood THESE days, you can never be too careful).
Now, the bottle holder in the arm rest has no bottom, but that can be easily remedied.

Other than that, the chair WORKS, which is more than I can say for most everyone ELSE around this neck of the woods...LOL.
If anyone comes looking for it..tough sh*t...finders keepers, and since possession is nine tenths of the LAW, they're pretty much screwed anyway.
At least it wasn't a handgun used in a robbery that was tossed there...that I can't get to keep (damn).
And it sure beats the black porn video tape and broken 8mm camcorder that was tossed along our property line, as well as the bottle bomb from a decade back. (that the FWPD didn't seem all that eager to investigate then)
Anyhow, moving on and getting back to this city (rolls eyes)...
*** I suppose that people who were wanting to apply for a position at TRAA (Three Rivers Ambulance Authority) and having a few "second thoughts" after what went down early Sunday morning around 0300 hours.

Here's one of the story links:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120910/LOCAL07/309109948
An altercation at Piere's nightclub on the NE side of town resulted in ONE person stabbed and then being transported to hospital.
But wait, it gets "better"...
On the way to the hospital, the friends of the victim, who were following the ambulance came UNDER FIRE from a third vehicle, whose occupants ALSO fired UPON THE AMBULANCE...!

((...WTF???...))
Yep, you heard me right...the ambulance was struck by gunfire from the pursuing vehicle.
Now, the 4 perps in that white car were arrested shortly after a brief chase, and the three occupants of the Impala that was following the ambulance to the hospital were treated for wounds.

One of the personnel in the ambulance was treated for cuts resulting from shattered glass.
Here's an update from WANE:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/crime/bullets-riddle-ambulance-in-transport

You think we have a CRIME PROBLEM NOW???

When a freaking AMBULANCE gets ambushed by rolling thugs, it's time to back up and reassess the M.O. being used to PREVENT crime...and not just show up AFTER the facts.

Still, 4 arrests are 4 arrests...maybe the prosecutor could grow a pair and charge them ALL with ATTEMPTED FIRST DEGREE MURDER, instead of some lame-ass possession of a weapon w/o a permit or driving left-of-center and resisting charges.

(yeah, I can dream,.,..the price is always right, isn't it?)

I wonder if the TRAA will begin issuing LEVEL III body armor to it's paramedics?
(They can always borrow MY latest QUARTERMASTER catalog for some good prices.)

Or better still, how about they "upgrade" it's transports to something like...a STRYKER.
This is the kind of stuff that happens in MAJOR cities...or 3rd world nations...
The utter BOLDNESS of the perps speaks volumes as to the state of where crime is headed in this city.
I know, because I've seen similar patterns back in Philly...about 25 YEARS ago, and it hasn't gotten any better THERE.
Granted, this "might" be just one of those unusual situations, and may NOT happen again for quite a long time, but why take that chance?
If it happens ONCE, it will happen again, because it doesn't take much to empower these thugs.

And, it doesn't bode well for Piere's, considering it bills itself as the "largest nightblcub in the Midwest"...
This is what can occur when you have places like this open to all hours. (3AM on a freaking SUNDAY MORNING???)
If it were closed just ONE hour earlier, all this might have been avoided...'ya think?
Personally, I'm all for reinstating those "blue laws" we used to have back in the 50s and 60s...at least we had a helluva lot LESS crime thanks to those.
Then again, we had a helluva lot more RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE back then, too, and no welfare system...everyone carried themselves one way or another...legally!

There are days I wish the police could find some way to go door-to-door, looking for active warrants and illegal drugs and guns.
Wouldn't bother us none...we've got nothing to hide and don't go causing trouble for others.
But, it would probably blow the minds of the city leaders and police brass to find out HOW MUCH crime is around just in my part of town.
We already know not much is done to quiet boomcars, or shut down "party houses", and drug houses take quite a few months to establish that perfect case for the prosecutor and be shut down (only to be rented back out to another group of vermin).

Hell they don't even have PARKING CONTROL patrol for wrong-way parking on residential streets (but they DO DOWNTOWN...imagine that).
ALL these departments are "complaint-driven"...pretty sad.
Drug USE around here is off the charts. I'd wager close to 80 percent of all the houses have some form of illegal drug usage inside, and most all the houses also have small childern there, to boot.
Indiana's child protection services has come under fire of late because they drag THEIR heels, so that's a wash..

HUD doesn't give a rat's ass WHO they place in their houses, and neither do these deadbeat landlords renting them out.
Just as long as everyone's palm "gets greased"...everyone's happy.
But NO ONE'S Safe..."aye, there's the rub!" (as Shakespeare would say).
Time is fast coming when something will NEED to be done regarding the level of violent crime, and tossing more laws at the "tools" used in the commission of the crimes should never be the driving force.
Finding some way to manage the PEOPLE...those willing to commit the crimes, those choosing to propagate violence to the masses is what needs to be addressed.
At least doing THAT would make the normal folks (myself and Wifey included) feel a lot more at ease...and that would also apply to ambulance drivers in this city.

Have yourselves a great week.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...

Stay SAFE out there, America.