Not even talking about the WORLD...things are tough in our little town. MOST recently a home invasion that left a 94 year old man beaten on the floor until someone discovered him 12 hours later. And a homeless Mexican man found beaten to death outdoors. And now we have demonstrators making a commotion about a real thug killed in a traffic stop by two of our policemen trying to keep the lawlessness under control around here. Where is the balance between civil rights and law and order?
Things have evolved and gotten way more complicated since the days of Selma. Saw that movie yesterday with a gang of 5 women friends. Simplified emotions said that black people were good and white people were evil and hateful. I do not recall all of the events....I only retain the memory of how much I hated George Wallace.
Showing posts with label crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crime. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Temperature guages gone wild
Which is crazier?...the weather or the temperature gauges? A vast difference between our various measurements of the actual temperature. Phones, cars, TV give inconsistent temps....is it 2 below? or 6 degrees or 18? My car registered 18 when I left Bridgeton and 28 when I got to Greenwich. That is only a 20 minute drive. Also dealing with 6 or so inches of snow. Feel like the little kid in A Christmas story, all bundled up and having trouble walking. I am all bundled up and walking on ice and carrying many parcels. Sigh. Am getting slower and slower.
There have been many armed home invasions in my town. Must get better about locking my front door. I forgot to do it the other night and it snowed on my doorstep. Starting to lock also the door at the TOP of the stairs to further deter the robbers. My only consolation is that whoever breaks into my home will think it has already been ransacked! A home on the 100 block of Hampton Street was invaded one night. People were sitting on their porch at 10 minutes after midnight. Three women came down the street and started talking to them. They moved from the porch into the house and then three men joined them with handguns and robbed them. One of the six suspects was described as being four months pregnant and wearing a blue zip up jacket and braids. All I can say is there must have been drugs involved.
Finished a book by a "local" author. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The Fifty-first state is a novel written by Lisa Borders. Someone loaned me her "uncorrected proof" copy. The milieu is Millville and Bivalve. The author made up locations, such as a town called Floyd. I found this rather off-putting, although we do have a town called Norma nearby. Lisa lives in Boston and this is her second novel. The book begins with a car accident. Hallie Corson returns from New York to help her long-estranged brother after their parents die in the car crash on Route 55. Themes involve research of frog abnormalities, old boyfriends, teenage angst, city versus country life, and family histories.
There have been many armed home invasions in my town. Must get better about locking my front door. I forgot to do it the other night and it snowed on my doorstep. Starting to lock also the door at the TOP of the stairs to further deter the robbers. My only consolation is that whoever breaks into my home will think it has already been ransacked! A home on the 100 block of Hampton Street was invaded one night. People were sitting on their porch at 10 minutes after midnight. Three women came down the street and started talking to them. They moved from the porch into the house and then three men joined them with handguns and robbed them. One of the six suspects was described as being four months pregnant and wearing a blue zip up jacket and braids. All I can say is there must have been drugs involved.
Finished a book by a "local" author. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The Fifty-first state is a novel written by Lisa Borders. Someone loaned me her "uncorrected proof" copy. The milieu is Millville and Bivalve. The author made up locations, such as a town called Floyd. I found this rather off-putting, although we do have a town called Norma nearby. Lisa lives in Boston and this is her second novel. The book begins with a car accident. Hallie Corson returns from New York to help her long-estranged brother after their parents die in the car crash on Route 55. Themes involve research of frog abnormalities, old boyfriends, teenage angst, city versus country life, and family histories.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Sittin' on the "group W" bench
I went to Municipal court this week. I forgot to take a Xanax and I really needed it. Felt like Arlo Guthrie, sittin' on the" group W" bench, with mother stabbers and father rapers and the like (listen to the song/album called Alice's Restaurant if you don't know what I am talking about). I sat there for a deadly but entertaining and educational three hours listening to all the other cases. Finally got called in to the prosecutor and felt like she blew me off (actually I should have had a succinct statement ready). I had a one page document and a chart of all of my neighborhood annoyances, but a 15 word statement would have been more to the point. She referred my case to "neighborhood disputes" of which I had never heard. I guess it is some kind of mediation which I learned about reading a really fascinating book called "Neighbor law", put out by Nolo Press. ( I really should have read the one called "Dog law"). I signed a complaint against my neighbor who insists on having a pit bull live on her steps. I have lost the use of my yard and the peace and quiet of my home due to the barking.
It was horrible being in court, even though I was the filer of a complaint and not the perpetrator of a crime. They made everyone, complainer and criminal alike, wait in this tiny vestibule with no chairs for a half an hour before letting anyone enter the court. THAT was awkward, but I got the feeling that lots of these people do this very often. I was out on the porch listening to a woman and a man talk about their domestic violence history, where one person files a complaint and then the other person turns around and countersues. When the police come around to serve them with papers they just don't open the door. When they do get into court they generally say that they aren't going to press charges. What an unpleasant way to spend your afternoons! It is just a game and a big waste of time. The woman talked about just getting an ROR. What's that, I asked. Release On Recognizance, she said, (but she didn't pronounce it properly). Some of the people had multiple "crimes" at once....driving offenses, domestic violence, paraphernalia possession. One guy didn't know (me either) that on the third paraphernalia offense you get a mandatory 90 days in jail. He was wearing orange at the time. A really FAT white woman came up and declined to press charges against him. Then ANOTHER large white women was there with a black guy and as they walked out, having declined to press charges, I noticed a large hickey on her neck. Some of the people were polite, some had major attitude and some were snickering. I did learn of some unsavory individuals who live near me.
Below you will see a photo of a flower blooming at Giverny in July. I borrowed this pic from a blog I read called Eye prefer Paris (doesn't everyone?) He said that July was REALLY hot in France, just like it was here. I need to take time out of every day to enjoy beauty and calm and elegance. Thinking about my vacation in France is quite pleasant. I need to start thinking about the next stage of my life. Living in Bridgeton is getting pretty taxing, what with the changing neighborhoods. Too much coming and going around me and people who think the barking of pit bulls is not annoying.
It was horrible being in court, even though I was the filer of a complaint and not the perpetrator of a crime. They made everyone, complainer and criminal alike, wait in this tiny vestibule with no chairs for a half an hour before letting anyone enter the court. THAT was awkward, but I got the feeling that lots of these people do this very often. I was out on the porch listening to a woman and a man talk about their domestic violence history, where one person files a complaint and then the other person turns around and countersues. When the police come around to serve them with papers they just don't open the door. When they do get into court they generally say that they aren't going to press charges. What an unpleasant way to spend your afternoons! It is just a game and a big waste of time. The woman talked about just getting an ROR. What's that, I asked. Release On Recognizance, she said, (but she didn't pronounce it properly). Some of the people had multiple "crimes" at once....driving offenses, domestic violence, paraphernalia possession. One guy didn't know (me either) that on the third paraphernalia offense you get a mandatory 90 days in jail. He was wearing orange at the time. A really FAT white woman came up and declined to press charges against him. Then ANOTHER large white women was there with a black guy and as they walked out, having declined to press charges, I noticed a large hickey on her neck. Some of the people were polite, some had major attitude and some were snickering. I did learn of some unsavory individuals who live near me.
Below you will see a photo of a flower blooming at Giverny in July. I borrowed this pic from a blog I read called Eye prefer Paris (doesn't everyone?) He said that July was REALLY hot in France, just like it was here. I need to take time out of every day to enjoy beauty and calm and elegance. Thinking about my vacation in France is quite pleasant. I need to start thinking about the next stage of my life. Living in Bridgeton is getting pretty taxing, what with the changing neighborhoods. Too much coming and going around me and people who think the barking of pit bulls is not annoying.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Where I live at, you can't trust NOBODY
Overheard, at Wawa. I don't really WANT to trust anybody in my neighborhood. Feel sort of bad about my glee thinking that the dog next door may have run away yesterday. I saw her out the window with NO leash and NO people. That night I walked around the outside of my house picking up trash since it was trash night and noticed a LOT of trash on the one side of my house. Never have I had so much trash before those people moved in next door. Also saw two big piles of dog shit in their yard. They don't pick up after their dog. Must remember to add that to the letter I probably won't have the nerve to send to their landlord, who is a LAWYER.
Not much on my calendar today. After I get done using the computer, I am going to go home and STAY there. I need to do that more, but I don't really want to. Am much more comfortable running around the county doing errands of one sort or another.
A feel good story today about Charles Ramsey liberating the girls from their captivity in Cleveland. A black man freeing white and hispanic girls being held by a Puerto Rican guy and his two brothers. Charles said, "I knew sumpthin' was wrong, when a pretty little white girl ran straight into the arms of a black man!" (him) Americans are so desparate for good news that they stand out in the street and CHEER when they hear some. The three girls had been missing for ten years or more.
Not much on my calendar today. After I get done using the computer, I am going to go home and STAY there. I need to do that more, but I don't really want to. Am much more comfortable running around the county doing errands of one sort or another.
A feel good story today about Charles Ramsey liberating the girls from their captivity in Cleveland. A black man freeing white and hispanic girls being held by a Puerto Rican guy and his two brothers. Charles said, "I knew sumpthin' was wrong, when a pretty little white girl ran straight into the arms of a black man!" (him) Americans are so desparate for good news that they stand out in the street and CHEER when they hear some. The three girls had been missing for ten years or more.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Out of sorts today
Came out of my house to go to breakfast and found that someone had been riffling through my car and stealing things. They stole my makeup bag (new), my kleenex, $5, my snacks and sunglasses and tire pressure guage and the worst thing was...my AUDIOBOOKS. They can be really expensive and I will have to pay the libraries I borrowed them from. Since I am a retired librarian, I do not have the nerve to ask them if they have a special rate for victims of crimes. Luckily, they did not go into the trunk. I am into and out of my car a million times a day and 99% of the time I get the locking thing right. BUT: they smashed the window of my new neighbor's car, so perhaps it was lucky I left my car unlocked?! He has only been a resident for three weeks and is probably rueing the day he moved to Bridgeton. I could have told him to expect bad things to happen once or twice a year. I could make quite a list. Each time I call the police although it has never helped me. At least this time, they made a valiant effort of taking fingerprints, but said they thought the guy(s) were wearing gloves. So now I have fingerprint dusting powder all over my car.
The other reason I am out of sorts is that I went to THREE libraries until I found one with good parking spots available. (I know it sounds crazy to not want to walk a few extra hundred feet and then go to the health club to exercise, but....) So the Millville Public Library is good cause there is a lot of room to spread out and I haven't yet been here this week, but THE SEATS ARE HARD.
Finished the book The blind side, by Michael Lewis. The movie was much more engaging. You never hear much about Michael Oher, but he is still on the Baltimore Ravens and they won the Super Bowl so he must be doing something right. After the Super Bowl, I wanted to read the book. I borrowed it from the Bridgeton Public Library (796.332 LEWIS). It is the story of a black guy who gets adopted by a (Republican Evangelical) rich white family in Tennessee and becomes a football star. He has a real shy kind of personality. He came from a family of 13 with a crack addicted mother. He guards the quarterback's side of greatest vulnerability, his "blind side".
On my Nook, I finished a book by Walter Mosley called The man in my basement. It was not one of my favorites. I seem to be obsessed by this writer. This good-for-nothing black guy gets hired by some guilty white guy to keep him a prisoner in his basement and take care of him for a whole lot of money.
The other reason I am out of sorts is that I went to THREE libraries until I found one with good parking spots available. (I know it sounds crazy to not want to walk a few extra hundred feet and then go to the health club to exercise, but....) So the Millville Public Library is good cause there is a lot of room to spread out and I haven't yet been here this week, but THE SEATS ARE HARD.
Finished the book The blind side, by Michael Lewis. The movie was much more engaging. You never hear much about Michael Oher, but he is still on the Baltimore Ravens and they won the Super Bowl so he must be doing something right. After the Super Bowl, I wanted to read the book. I borrowed it from the Bridgeton Public Library (796.332 LEWIS). It is the story of a black guy who gets adopted by a (Republican Evangelical) rich white family in Tennessee and becomes a football star. He has a real shy kind of personality. He came from a family of 13 with a crack addicted mother. He guards the quarterback's side of greatest vulnerability, his "blind side".
On my Nook, I finished a book by Walter Mosley called The man in my basement. It was not one of my favorites. I seem to be obsessed by this writer. This good-for-nothing black guy gets hired by some guilty white guy to keep him a prisoner in his basement and take care of him for a whole lot of money.
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