Last week, I wrote the Andy and Barney blog about my hometown's issues with it's one-cop situation and the auxiliary police force. To briefly summarize things....the auxiliary force had become a massive problem (all seven folks), and hated by the town. The chief of police (a one-man shop).....was on the list to be let go.....but the town council decided to keep him on (at least for now). The auxiliary folks? They were the terminated group. The auxiliary folks are upset and feel that none of this termination is right.
So the council opened last night and the entire meeting was a point for folks to dump their frustrations.....mostly in support of the council, but also some against the town itself. So at some point, according to my brother....there came the wife of the chief of police...and she summarized that the town had major issues......and then she said that the school simply wasn't safe period.
I stopped at that point and started laughing. I've been careful not to state the name of my hometown....mostly not to embarrass them with my blog or facts. You see I grew up there in the 1970s and went to the junior high school (it only goes to the ninth grade).
On a scale of one to ten on "safety"....in 1973....it was probably a "20". Other than lead in the pipes, and maybe asbestos in the roof....you were in the safest school in America. If any kid had threaten any other kid in the class....the class as a whole....would have come down and stomped the kid making the threat (they did just that)....and established a clear foundation about standing by the "team".
So thirty odd years have passed. Today? Well....they probably still have lead pipes....the asbestos probably got removed....but the school is likely rated a "15" on a scale of one to ten. Yes, I might lower expectations slightly....but frankly, if you viewed the local area and the environment....you just couldn't find a safer place to put your kid and feel safe.
You can say alot of little negative things about the town I grew up in. There is meth in the local area. Yes, the local Baptist mafia might be a minor threat to your sanity and your "thirst". The Dollar Store is finally opened and thriving, which stands down a piece from the local bank and gas station. The local restaurant is still a fine catfish joint.
The necessity of the roadblock scheme by the auxiliary police? This was one of the top ten things that the locals couldn't stand.....or understand. It was a seven-night a week episode and everyone was shaking their heads over the continued harassment. Course, if you examined the ticket scheme and the percentage that the cops took in....you might understand).
The seventy-year old woman who was grabbed by the chief of police for a $20 bad check in Birmingham? Well....after a year or two of messing with her....the agency holding the bad check in Birmingham turned in the arrest request....and the town police chief arrested her at the house....then drove her down to some middle point to get the Birmingham cops involved (they didn't want to get involved originally). The funny thing is that the police chief didn't call the family. So around the end of the day....the family was looking for "Grandma" and only then.....did they get this call from Birmingham (a good three hours away)....that she was being held down there. Did "Grandma" ever comprehend the bad check? I would have serious doubts. Thats the funny part to this story. It's almost worth making a Mel Brooks movie over....grabbing Grandma and running half-way across the state for a bad check situation amounting to $20 or less.
There are times that I'd like to write a book over this town where I grew up.....but the truth is....as my brother has often been told as he tells his stories....no one believes the town actually exists or could be this way.
So tonight....in my hometown.....as folks drive around at 10PM for whatever reasons or ill morals that they might have....they can rest assured....there are no roadblocks.....and their path to sin, booze, and trailer-trash women is wide-open. Jimmy, Uncle Karl, and Woodrow are all weeping as they drive and thinking of all the hassle they used to suffer through. Thank the good Lord....that auxiliary force is gone.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
It Was a Fender-Bender, for Ten Minutes
Last night, here in the DC area....two guys had this fender-bender. Neither was drunk. It wasn't much of an accident. But some damage occurred.
So both guys got out and were in the process of exchanging insurance information.
Around four to six minutes into this exchange....some drunk woman drove up from behind....hit and killed both guys.
You sit there and look over this accident, and shake your head.
Both guys did everything you'd expect and probably were just seconds away from concluding the event....when this occurred.
The news media is kinda quiet over the woman, but you sit and review this.....she's going to have to serve time...not months, but I'm thinking at least a decade in jail.
This is the sad thing about living in a metropolitan area. There's stuff like this each week. If I reviewed the Arlington, DC and local Maryland news.....there's probably two or three of these events each week.
There's a list in my mind that I'm building up upon.....reasons not to stay long-term in this DC situation, and this simply got added to the list. The potential in a high urban area for accidents like this? On any given night, after 10 PM? Maybe a ten percent chance that you might get hit. If you drove for three hours every night for 365 days? I'd say a 30 chance you'd get hit and damaged as a minimum.
The sad thing in this case is this woman is sitting there sober now....and thinking about the two guys and their families. She has six months before the court case likely arrives. She can't get much sympathy out of judge, and her life is kinda screwed up for the next decade or two. Life's not fair....in many ways....but she's going to find this out.
So both guys got out and were in the process of exchanging insurance information.
Around four to six minutes into this exchange....some drunk woman drove up from behind....hit and killed both guys.
You sit there and look over this accident, and shake your head.
Both guys did everything you'd expect and probably were just seconds away from concluding the event....when this occurred.
The news media is kinda quiet over the woman, but you sit and review this.....she's going to have to serve time...not months, but I'm thinking at least a decade in jail.
This is the sad thing about living in a metropolitan area. There's stuff like this each week. If I reviewed the Arlington, DC and local Maryland news.....there's probably two or three of these events each week.
There's a list in my mind that I'm building up upon.....reasons not to stay long-term in this DC situation, and this simply got added to the list. The potential in a high urban area for accidents like this? On any given night, after 10 PM? Maybe a ten percent chance that you might get hit. If you drove for three hours every night for 365 days? I'd say a 30 chance you'd get hit and damaged as a minimum.
The sad thing in this case is this woman is sitting there sober now....and thinking about the two guys and their families. She has six months before the court case likely arrives. She can't get much sympathy out of judge, and her life is kinda screwed up for the next decade or two. Life's not fair....in many ways....but she's going to find this out.
Observations of TV
It's been almost a month now since I've returned to America. It's been a curious thing as I come off work at five, and then witness cable news and all it offers.
News is not news....as I knew it in 1992 as I left America.
First, there is the Ed Show and Hardball....which are comical at times. I hate to categorize them as news because I almost get the impression that both guys are actors and simply working hard to make you think it's almost news, but it's not.
Then you come to the O'Reilly Report. It might be news but then you start to question the dialog and commentary.
Finally, I come to Beck. It is not news....but this week, I finally came to the idea that it's more of a college lecture than anything else. I had an hour of Constitutional discussion that unfolded this week, and I sat there amazed.
You simply don't get discussion or chat on the Constitution on TV....ever.
Beck has this put upon him at 5PM....which should be a dead hour of sorts....as most folks head home or shop. The thing is.....folks sitting there....are watching, and the rest are taping it to watch later in the evening. This means that they are skipping the 7PM hour to watch their Beck hour, or they are actually cutting out the viewing of some 9PM prime-time show entirely.
The effect of Beck? I've probably watched around four hours over the past two weeks of Beck. He is challenging people to read and think. Normally, in our dynamic 'know-nothing' society.....Beck should get nowhere. But he's forcing people to go back and actually read the Constitution and pull out history books to review what actually happen in 1776, and the 1930s.
This is a threat of sorts. If he were to get a million citizens to actually get intelligent and develop capable discussion....they just might go out and chat with neighbors, relatives or friends....and 'Beck-lecture' them. In some ways.....his art of laying history and the Constitution out in plain sight....is something that we haven't seen in decades. And where this goes.....I have no idea.
News is not news....as I knew it in 1992 as I left America.
First, there is the Ed Show and Hardball....which are comical at times. I hate to categorize them as news because I almost get the impression that both guys are actors and simply working hard to make you think it's almost news, but it's not.
Then you come to the O'Reilly Report. It might be news but then you start to question the dialog and commentary.
Finally, I come to Beck. It is not news....but this week, I finally came to the idea that it's more of a college lecture than anything else. I had an hour of Constitutional discussion that unfolded this week, and I sat there amazed.
You simply don't get discussion or chat on the Constitution on TV....ever.
Beck has this put upon him at 5PM....which should be a dead hour of sorts....as most folks head home or shop. The thing is.....folks sitting there....are watching, and the rest are taping it to watch later in the evening. This means that they are skipping the 7PM hour to watch their Beck hour, or they are actually cutting out the viewing of some 9PM prime-time show entirely.
The effect of Beck? I've probably watched around four hours over the past two weeks of Beck. He is challenging people to read and think. Normally, in our dynamic 'know-nothing' society.....Beck should get nowhere. But he's forcing people to go back and actually read the Constitution and pull out history books to review what actually happen in 1776, and the 1930s.
This is a threat of sorts. If he were to get a million citizens to actually get intelligent and develop capable discussion....they just might go out and chat with neighbors, relatives or friends....and 'Beck-lecture' them. In some ways.....his art of laying history and the Constitution out in plain sight....is something that we haven't seen in decades. And where this goes.....I have no idea.
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