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Domestic Violence..
Thursday, 02 September 2010, 7:09 AM
Domestic Violence.. should what goes on behind closed doors stay private?
Where is the line we should draw between a threat to hurt someone and the protection needed and just a fight between two people who say things out of anger? By the time we see the answer, it is to late. How many people suffer domestic violence and never report it out of fear or even, if they do report it. they have second thoughts after the police show up and the person abusing them says "I'm sorry.. I'll never do it again?"
Meet Loni Amber Taylor..
At 22, she was getting her life together. She had a good job in a nursing home and was also going to cosmetology school. I met her as a customer a couple times where I worked and she was always nice and had a friendly smile..
Last year she dated Erin Ross, he was a "bad boy" sort.. hung out with the wrong crowd, he was into the "gangster" lifestyle that is so popular in the "hood" where they lived.
In April, Amber told Erin it was over.. she ended their relationship because she wanted to move on. Erin didn't accept it and he would show up at the beauty school she was attending, follow her around, wait in the parking lot where she lived and he would send her pictures of what she was wearing on her cell phone. He terrorized her.
Finally, last week a friend convinced her to get a restraining order against him. So she wrote to Circuit Judge William A Parsons that she is "really afraid to come out of the apartment". She was denied her restraining order because the Judge said that "Turner had failed to prove she was in danger"..
Why did he deny it? Perhaps it was because she had tried to remain friendly with Mr. Ross after the relationship was officially over.. However, the Judge did set a hearing, without granting a temporary injunction. So, Erin Ross would be notified by the courts of her accusation without having any restrictions placed on him..
okay.. this means one day last week he woke up to find a Sheriff's deputy knock on his door and hand him a letter that says this woman he has been stalking is taking him to court to make him stop.. What do you think the first thing is he wanted to do?
Saturday morning Amber left for her job at the nursing home.. she never made it.. By Saturday evening, the place I work at had posters of her in the windows asking people if anyone had seen her (her family lives blocks away).. Everyone was looking for Erin Ross but he too, was missing.. The police called him a "person of interest in finding Miss Taylor" but never a suspect..
Tomorrow, Friday September 3rd.. was the date of her scheduled court appearance the Judge gave her and Erin.
On Sunday morning I walked into work to see the missing pictures of Amber in the window.. Then, within an hour of me being there.. her body and that of Erin Ross was discovered together at the Town & Country Motel, only 4 blocks away..
It was a sad to have to take down her poster for that reason.. Erin had murdered her before shooting himself.
Could the restraining order, had it been granted, helped? likely not seems to be the local opinion. He was going to kill her if he couldn't have her anyway..
I, myself.. don't believe having a sheriff knock on his door two days earlier and inform him about Amber requesting the order was a good thing, I feel it gave him the motive to kill her..
This is a poll I found that was given to victims of stalking regarding how helpful Law Enforcement was..
yet the question remains.. did the justice system fail her? I do believe had Erin Ross been in jail for harassment then perhaps Amber Taylor would be alive today.. But other than telling her friends, Amber never told anyone in Law Enforcement about the stalking and when she did write to the judge she never gave the judge evidence he needed to have Erin Ross arrested or even restricted..
and then.. on the radio.. I heard a caller say this... "I believe when a woman, who can not defend herself against a man, reports such crime as what happened to Amber Taylor, then the courts should immediately issue her a state owned firearm and enroll her in classes how to use it.."
I also talked to the officer who was first on the scene.. He said that there are hundreds of requests for restraining orders every single week and by far the majority of them are just couples who are fighting and they scream hurtful things out of anger.. we can't waste our taxpayers money and police resources on these sort of claims.. the Judge did the right thing in NOT granting the restraining order without more proof..
unfort. it seems to me the only time we know when is the right time to issue these things is when we find dead bodies..
I feel bad for the families.. both families, even although Erin caused the murders, he had a family that at one time had hopes and dreams that he could leave the poverty of the hood behind and make something of his life.. My heart goes out to Amber's family.. my co-worker lives only a block away and she said that she could hear Amber's mother crying and screaming all night.. I feel bad for the Judge.. in 9 out of 10 cases, his decision would have been fine.. had he granted the restraining order.. would that have stopped the murder? Could, had he known what was to happen, he had found enough hard evidence to lock Erin Ross up BEFORE he killed Amber??
And mostly.. my heart goes out to the next victim.. the woman today whose ex-boyfriend won't leave her alone. Keeps showing up at her work and makes her scared to leave her house.. If she goes to the authorities, will they believe her? or will it set her stalker off as it did Erin Ross?
there is no clear answer to this problem.. We can't allow authorities to lock us up just because someone points their finger at us (remember the Salem Witch Trials?) however we must protect those who are being stalked. It seems to me, however, that if there was a preventive answer it should have been with the way Erin Ross was raised.. He should know how to respect a woman's decision when she says "no" and go on with his life.
just my openion..
~ Daniel
Posted By: Sir Daniel 1 Comments comment here
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A Historical Cover-up
Tuesday, 24 August 2010, 17:00 PM
Everyone in the English speaking world has heard the rally cry "Remember the Alamo".. It's the great battle for Texas freedom when General Santa Anna and 1500 Mexican troops surrounded a little mission defended by around 250 Texans and friends. They fought bravely and the only survivor was a horse.. This story is well told by Hollywood and history and the Alamo today is a major tourist attraction that is considered sacred by the people of Texas..
What if I told you about another battle, thirty years later (during the Civil War) that resulted in the slaughter of over 50 percent of the defenders who had already surrendered?
This is a story you won't read in US history books, visit the battle sight and you won't see any signs of this injustice and even in the months after the slaughter the men who murdered these people won praise from their leaders. why? because the men slaughtered were murdered because they were mostly black.
This is the story of Fort Pillow..
On April 12 1864, Confederate sharpshooters were deployed on the higher ground that overlooked the fort, giving them direct line of fire into the fort. Seeing how hopeless the situation was, the Union forces holding the fort declared a surrender and threw down their arms and held up their hands expecting to be taken prisoner but instead the order came to show no mercy. There were some reports that Confederate soldiers buried some wounded Union soldiers alive and crucified others by nailing them into tent frames and then setting the tents on fire.
The Confederate leader, General Nathan Bedford Forrest, bragged to his superiors "The river was dyed with the blood of the slaughtered for 200 yards... I hope this will demonstrate to the Northern people that Negro soldiers cannot cope with Southerners" His second in command wrote that this "taught the mongrel garrison of blacks and renegades a lesson long to be remembered."
Not only was the black soldiers murdered, but any whites who surrendered and were found to have commanded them were put to death. What makes this murder so bad is according to the rules of war a nation goes to war with another nation, not a people. The point of war is not to eliminate the people- that is genocide, not war. This means that when an army has eliminated a person as an opponent- by death or by capture- it has accomplished the aim of removing him as a fighting force. That is why captured soldiers are not killed..
yet at Fort Pillow these rules were violated. The Confederacy never charged anyone with any wrongdoing and three weeks later, on June 10th, these same Confederate soldiers again shot down African American soldiers who had already surrendered.
Today.. in an effort to "white-wash" the whole massacre.. at Fort Pillow a visitor will be handed a brochure that claims the following..
* After the Confederates successfully assaulted and occupied the main fort, Gen. Forrest lowered the Union flag and ordered all firing stopped.
* Wounded on both sides were treated by Confederate doctors.
* Forrest ordered equipment and firearms be collected, prisoners be secured, threat wounded federals be transferred to first available steamer...
In the gift shop today you can buy souvenirs, flags, and items of clothing, all Confederate. One T-Shirt pictures Gen. Forrest against a faded Confederate flag with the words, "Keep firing until nothing stands from ground to sky.." at the bottom is the legend "Nathan Bedford Forrest, Ft. Pillow, Tennessee, April 12 1864.."
It's sad today to see that in t-shirt sales alone, Nathan Forrest shirts sell five times better than Robert E. Lee shirts. And the people who buy these shirts know exactly what happened at Fort Pillow and may be choosing his likeness precisely because they like his "solution" to the "race problem"..
While the Civil War split the country in two, I have to wonder if we have ever recovered? We have come a long way with Equal Rights and today we have a black man in the oval office, yet the sad fact is when Obama was elected president more people joined the KKK in higher levels than have been seen since the 1920's.
What I wonder is why isn't Fort Pillow taught in schools? Why do they go thru such measures to hide the truth to visitors at the Fort today? The cry "Remember Fort Pillow" one which Americans need to hear so it won't happen again! History will repeat itself.. Just ask any Holocaust survivor.
History is written by the winners.. however Fort Pillow seems to be an exception as the Union forces won the war yet this cover-up still is carried out today.
~ Daniel
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Too Many Pets
Sunday, 22 August 2010, 16:01 PM
Is there such a thing as too many pets?
How many pets do you have? As for me, I have four. I wish I had more time to spend with them all as I know the time I do spend with them they cherish.. But what about people who have no one else to love and nothing to offer but time?? There is nothing wrong with them having pets? Is there? And what if even their time was limited..
This is the story of Theresa Benke. Mrs. Benke lives on public assistance and has lost contact with her "surviving siblings in Michigan." She has no family and is very poor. But she does have a house. However, because of no money, she has no electricity or water. No refrigerator or stove.. Yet she has cats. Many many cats. They are her only company now that no one visits her. She cares a lot for these pets of hers however in September 2007, animal-control officers removed more than 20 animals from Benke's home. "It appears she has reverted back to animal hoarding” wrote the officer in charge of the case, Dave DeKruif, he said he did consider the pets "criminally neglected."
The home was a disaster. The cats were not being fed and there was animal feces everywhere. DeKruif wrote to the state attorney’s office to file charges against Mrs. Benke but then, after a later visit, he had a change of heart..
“Benke had cleaned the home, fed and watered the remaining pets and opened her doors to provide cross-ventilation… Ms. Benke exhibited genuine concern and love for all of her aforementioned pets. Her misguided actions were not of a criminal intent..”
Part of what changed his mind was the fact that Mrs. Benke “has Stage 2 colon cancer and was diagnosed with a year or less mortality if not punctually medically treated by chemotherapy. Benke's pets are her solitary source of companionship."
From here the story goes forth to June 16th 2010. Mrs. Benke is now in the hospital for a short stay, it is over 100 degrees outside, one of the hottest days of the year.. Mrs Benke asks a nurse if she will “check on my pets for me and make sure they are fed..”
The nurse did not expect the sight that awaited her.. Countless pets, starving and in very sick condition.. No food or water.. Junk everywhere and the smell inside the house was over powering.. She managed to rescue nine kittens and one mother cat that day but she had to leave the rest of the pets behind as she couldn’t take the smell. She called animal control however at this point Mrs. Benke did not allow any more rescues. All of the rescued kittens died within a couple weeks.
After a lengthy fight in court, the city has decided to allow Mrs. Benke to keep three pets and they helped collect money to get her electricity turned back on.. But that isn’t good enough for some people who feel she should not be allowed any pets at all.. Regardless of the fact she is dying of cancer.. As she has proven over time she can not take care of them.
The city claims they are trying to make the best of a bad situation..
However, the one of the woman who was involved with the first rescue says she knows what the city thinks.. “'This is gonna fix itself. Mrs. Benke is going to die.' But that's not good enough for me."
Is it right to tell a dying woman she can’t have as many pets as she wants because she has shown she can’t take care of them? Are we hurting the pets by allowing her to take them in or would they be just as good off in an animal shelter waiting to be euthanized?
I know those poor animals deserve a better home and that poor lady deserves a family to keep her company.. I know tonight, when I talk to my pet, I know how lucky I am to have him and how lucky he is to have me. I know if I were in this ladies situation, I would want to spend my last hours with someone that loved me.. Regardless if it had has claws or barks...
~ Daniel
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Inspirational Animals
Thursday, 19 August 2010, 16:50 PM
Our pets are very important to us.. They give us love and devotion and the only thing they ask is to be fed and perhaps scratched behind the ears once in a while. If only people were like that (although the scratching behind the ear might be a bit annoying when your in the supermarket check-out lane..)
Historically, pets have always had a special place in our hearts. Even some of histories most evil men held a soft place for their pets.. Incitatus was the favored horse of Roman emperor Caligula. Its name is a Latin adjective meaning "swift" or "at full gallop".
According to Suetonius 's Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Incitatus had a stable of marble , with an ivory manger, purple blankets, and a collar of precious stones. Others have indicated that the horse was attended to by eighteen servants, and was fed oats mixed with gold flake. Suetonius also wrote that Caligula planned to make Incitatus a consul.
Incitatus was named not only a citizen of Rome, but a member of the Roman senate..
How could a simple horse calm someone known to once at some games at which he was presiding, he ordered his guards to throw an entire section of the crowd into the arena during intermission to be eaten by animals because there were no criminals to be prosecuted and he was bored?
Because horses are inspiring, they give us courage and the help us heal..
Meet Molly..
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused a lot of havoc for animals as well as people. Nobody knows how many pets died or were displaced as a result of the storm.
Kaye Harris loves animals and lives on a pony ranch in St. Rose, Louisiana. She willingly participated in adopting some of the homeless pets and, among other animals, took in an appaloosa that had been found wandering in St. Charles Parish. She named it Molly.
One day Harris arrived at her ranch to the shocking scene of Molly being attacked by another adopted animal, a pit bull. She said Molly’s lip was torn, she had a gash in her side, and all four legs had been severely injured. She thought Molly was going to die.
She sought the help of veterinarian Dr. Allison Barca who treated Molly but knew that the horse’s right leg was too far gone and a few weeks after the attack Molly’s hoof fell off. Both Dr. Barca and Harris made a passionate appeal to experts at Louisiana State University to consider fitting Molly with an artificial leg. It was an uphill battle but after being with Molly for a couple of days, Dr. Rustin Moore, a veterinary surgeon, was impressed with the horse and began to feel like an artificial leg was worth a try. After surgery to remove the leg below the knee, Molly was introduced to the folks at the Bayou Orthotic and Prosthetic Center, which had never before made prosthesis for an animal. They succeeded, however, and Molly uses the artificial limb on a regular basis. She is able to get around on three legs but has been known to communicate some of the times when she wants to use her new leg.
Today Molly has a new “leg” on life inspiring children who have, like her, gone though the trama of loosing an arm or a leg. She has adapted to her prosthesis very well and her recovery has inspired everyone effected by Hurricane Katrina to believe that yes, we can heal.
Molly is not alone in inspiring people to heal, dogs and cats all over are..
Working with abused children and women--.
Helping to ease the fears of patients in hospitals --
Being a friend to HIV/AIDS patients and giving them a positive focus --
Forming a bond with children with autism --
Comforting the elderly and working with Alzheimers patients --
And not only dogs and cats..
Let me introduce you to Peepers the duck..
Peepers is a four month old Mallard duck who is happy making house calls to cheer people up. He’s not so good with regular “duck duties” but he loves children and helps bring good feelings to people who are stuck in wheelchairs.
These pets are more than amazing, they seem to be able to connect with us in ways other humans can not. Sometimes they even seem to have a special gift..
Case in point.. This is Lilly. Lilly is an eight-year-old long-haired orange and white cat, is one of three felines residing at Benedictine Health Center at Innsbruck in New Brighton.
All three were adopted from the Humane Society of Coon Rapids with Lilly arriving at the health center on Feb. 4, 2009. Two days later, a terminally ill patient named Eunice Westby arrived at the facility.
As soon as Eunice was settled in her room, Lilly entered., "She jumped right up on my bed and looked into my eyes... and it was like we had known each other all of our lives."
From that moment, Lilly spent most of her time in Eunice's room, snuggling and purring, but being careful not to touch the parts of Eunice's body that would cause the elderly woman pain.
While at Benedictine, Eunice and her family suffered another tragedy: her son David, 52, died unexpectedly on Feb. 10, 2009. Lilly stayed nearby to offer comfort.
"I thank God that Lilly was there to help Mom through this ordeal also," Steve said. "My mother would have spent a lot of time and a lot of nights alone if it hadn't been for Lilly." As Eunice grew weaker, Steve noted that Lilly became even more gentle and caring. "Lilly would lie so their bodies were touching, sometimes with a paw laid across my mother's arm," he wrote. "When I came into the room Lilly would come over to warmly greet me, and then return to my mother."
The entire staff at Benedictine was absolutely wonderful and couldn't have done a better job of making my mother's final days as comfortable as possible," Steve added. "But Lilly was able to provide 24 hour non-stop love and comfort ... I honestly feel that Lilly was a miracle providing a special love and gentle comfort that nothing else could have in those sad, final days."
Ebert recalled Eunice telling her, "Lilly has given me happiness, I don't know what I would do without her company."
Eunice died two weeks after her son. Lilly was there..
Then there is Oscar..
Oscar seems to be able to predict when a patient will pass away. So far he has been right in 25 cases, leading staff at the home to alert relatives when he is seen settling on a patient's bed. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.
Staff at the home say most families are grateful for the advance warning, although one wanted Oscar out of the room. The cat began pacing and crying outside the door.
Dr Dosa described how Oscar once settled on the bed of a patient. Relatives began a vigil.
When a grandson asked why the cat was there, his mother replied: "He is here to help Grandma get to heaven."
The patient died half an hour later.
So.. How do our pets do this? Can they sense feelings in us and react to what they sense? To answer this question you must first understand the amazing will of animals.. One might not think of a chicken when one thinks of courage and survival but one of the most amazing stories I have ever read about involves a chicken named Mike..
Yes, that is right. Mike has no head. On September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado had his mother-in-law around for supper and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring back a chicken. Olsen chose a five-and-a-half month old cockerel named Mike. The axe missed the jugular vein, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact.
Having a change of heart, Mr. Olsen saw a chance to make money and decided to care for Mike and take him on side shows all over the Country. Mike was fed thru and eyedropper and seemed to take well to his new situation. Mike became famous in the US, featured in both TIME and LIFE magazine.
People payed 25 cents each to see Mike, in 1940’s dollars.. Mike died in March 1947 after the Olsen’s accidently left their feeding and cleaning syringes at the sideshow they had just left. Mike the Headless Chicken is now an institution in Fruita, Colorado with an annual "Mike the Headless Chicken Day", the third weekend of May, starting in 1999. Events held include the "5K Run Like a Headless Chicken Race", egg toss , "Pin the Head on the Chicken", the "Chicken Cluck-Off", and "Chicken Bingo", in which chicken droppings on a numbered grid choose the numbers..
In conclusion, pets are the most amazing, loving and courageous creatures on the planet. They inspire us to heal and show us love when it doesn’t seem like anyone loves us. I must mention my own pet, a loveable yet sometimes naughty parrot who I call “Kiki” as he inspired me to write this article today.
~ Daniel
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The Florida Triangle
Sunday, 15 August 2010, 18:37 PM
Triangles.. we all know what an isosceles triangle is? it's when two sides are the same length. We all know that a lovers triangle involves three people where two of them will win and one will loose.. Everyone has heard of the Bermuda Triangle where from 1950 planes and ships have just simply disappeared off the face of the planet..
Todays blog is about another triangle.. Locally we call it "The Florida Triangle" and it stretches from Jacksonville, to Tampa, down to Miami.. Unlike the Bermuda Triangle, the Florida triangle doesn't effect planes or ships but instead people..
I happen to live right in the center of this weird paranormal phenomenon. Case in point this is my third attempt to write this article yet for some strange reason the first time my computer froze up and the second time the electricity quit.. But I'm going to ignore those greater forces that don't want this story to be in print because it's important everyone understands why there are so many crazy people here in Florida..
Let me first introduce you to Raymond Lewis Shepard..
Raymond has been a bit down on his luck lately so he and a friend decide they need to steal a car so they can sell it and get some quick cash. Raymond has a gun and the right attitude to do the job.. All he needs is a victim..
This is where 69 year old Carol J. Costello enters Raymond's life.. Carol just finished shopping at my neighbored Walmart and was backing her car out of the parking space when suddenly a black Chevrolet Impala pulled in front and forced her to stop. Carol watched as Raymond got out the passenger side door and walked over to her window. Carol couldn't help but notice that Raymond had a gun in his hand that was halfway covered with a towel..
Raymond wanted Carol to roll down the window but Carol didn't want too.. So Raymond decides to do the next best thing, he tries to break it with his gun but the darn window just doesn't want to smash.. This is when the Florida Triangle hits Raymond full force.. He decides to climb onto of Carol's hood and starts jumping up and down. Carol then watches as Raymond takes his gun and swings it full force against her front window. Lucky for Raymond that window breaks.. however unlucky for Raymond when it does, his gun goes flying out of his hand and lands in Carol's lap.
Raymond may be a bit frustrated, but even he can see that his car-jacking attempt is in serious trouble and it just might be time to give up and get the heck out of there before Carol uses his gun on him. So he climbs back off Carol's car and he makes a break for his own car.. However Carol puts her car in reverse and backs right into Raymond's car, doing a bit of body damage. She is also clever enough to copy their license tag as they flee the parking lot.
At this point, had Raymond wanted to call his buddies in the hood for help, he would have discovered his cell phone was also in Carol's car along with his gun as it flew into the car when her window broke. Lucky for Carol, Raymond had just taken a couple pictures of himself on his phone so he was pretty easy to identify and all the police had to do was call the phone number marked "home".
If he hadn't died back in 1999, Raymond could have asked a drifter named Daniel about the Florida triangle as he was being booked at the city jail.. Daniel knew alot about the triangle as his last moments on life were reflecting how he chose such a stupid way to die..
Daniels story started when he went to Miami and joined a Hare Krishna temple. He had a great love of nature, writing in his journal and feeding wild birds in the temple garden. The problem began when Daniel had difficulty adjusting to the religion's 4AM wake-up time, their dietary prohibitions, and their abstinence from liquor, drugs, sex, and gambling. He preferred to dodge work and meditate in the chapel listening to heavy metal music.
Suddenly, Daniel announced to his fellow Hare Krishna brothers he was going to take a vow of silence.. which was odd considering it was not part of their religion but they accepted it and life went on till summer came when Daniel decided he wanted to explore Florida a bit more.
Somewhere along his travels, Daniel got caught stealing a candy bar and was arrested. Instead of pleading his case, Daniel stuck by his vow of silence. After serving a couple days in jail, Daniel wound up in Orlando where he decided he wanted to spend the night swimming with killer whales. This is when he was fully under the effect of the Florida Triangle. So Daniel hid till after closing time, climbed over a wall and slipped off his clothes and snuck into the large tank with the whales..
needless to say things didn't go so great for him.. In the morning his nude body was spotted on the whales dorsal fin by a SeaWorld employee..
Speaking of large fish.. down near Miami a man was fishing in the water off Riviera Beach when a 6-foot spinner shark took the bait. The man swam farther in the water to cut loose the shark, but that turned out to be a very bad idea.
"I'm looking at him and I'm thinking, 'Geez, I wouldn't do that,'"one witness told WPTV. However it was too late, the victim was under the influence of the Florida Triangle. As a result, he grabbed the shark with both hands as he was trying to get the hook out. Bad idea No. 2.
The thrashing shark, none to happy with his predicament, spun and bit the fisherman on his lower leg after it was freed. According to a witness on scene, he had about six puncture marks on him. So as you see, there is a perfectly good explanation for all the crazy people here in Florida. We can't help it (did I just include myself?)..
Let me conclude by introducing you to Melanese Asia Reid and Katrina Mari-Alyce Bryant..
they happened to be hungry and went through the drive-thru at my local Wendy's restaurant a couple months ago. Perhaps not the best place to eat but much better than McDonalds.. Anyway, it seems they were under the impression that the restaurant would get their order right the first time and when they found out it wasn't, Melanese got into a verbal argument with the manager right there in her car. She tried to slap him but the reach was just beyond her so instead she parked her car and her and her friend went inside the store.
As they were walking up to the store, The Florida Triangle had done it's damage and Melanese remembered that she had a pink taser-gun in her purse. She then proceeded to chase the manager, Jason, around the restaurant with her taser gun in front of all their customers.. Once Jason made it clear he was calling the police, the girls decided it was time to do without lunch and left in their car.
The Police did not have to worry about finding the girls because as it turned out the girls called the Police first wanting to file a complaint against the restaurant. Honest, you can't make this stuff up.. It seems they forgot about the many witnesses and the video surveillance cameras on site..
So now you know.. If I happen to one day flip out and run for congress or wrestle an alligator.. it's because of the Florida Triangle..
~ Daniel
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Children & Drugs
Saturday, 14 August 2010, 19:53 PM
Drugs.. we all know they are illegal, we all know they ruin lives, we all know if we get caught with them then we can go to jail..
yet why do so many young people fall into their spell? Is the risk worth the temporary "high" they get? It would seem so..
but today's blog is NOT to counter act an adults decision to do or not to do drugs, that is something you need to decide on your own.. like religion and your political viewpoint..
however, what we do NOT get to decide is what is good for our children..
meet Rachel Stieringer..
Rachel is only 19 but she has an 11 month year old baby who, like all babies, is curious about what he finds around the house..
One day her baby found his mothers bong..
for those of you who are not "up" on the latest drug paraphernalia, a "bong" has a large tube in which people fill in with some water, a place to put their drugs and a mouthpiece.. It's pretty much a large pipe..
Micheal Phelps, the American Olympic gold metal winner, was caught smoking one of these last year and lost several endorsments..
Rachel's baby found his mom's Bong and proceeded to imitate his mother and pretend to smoke it.. Do you know what Rachel did? She didn't take it away from him, instead she took a picture of him pretending to smoke it and sent it to a couple friends..
honest.. how dumb can a Mother be? She claims she has NO IDEA how this picture wound up on her facebook page..
regardless.. she was arrested on one count of possession of drug paraphernalia, a first-degree misdemeanor.
The affidavit says Stieringer failed a drug test and had traces of marijuana in her system. The Department of Children and Families is still investigating Stieringer.
Stieringer's mother, Sharalyn Harris, said the picture was a wake up call for her daughter, who is going through drug counseling and parenting classes and says the grandparents are now caring for the baby.
Unfortunately, I know someone else who had something similar happen to her..
She was my ex-girlfriend, Ginger. the one woman I moved to Florida to live with. Her Mother and I have stayed friends although Ginger and I have not spoken in 16 years.
Life after me spun out of control for Ginger, who I always knew had a serious drug problem as she had to be high or on pills all the time.. To make a long story short, she moved back to Texas and I stayed here and except for phone calls to her Mom, I know nothing about her life..
but I do know Ginger had a child.. his name is Zack. One day when Zack was five he went to school and the teacher found Gingers marijuana stash in his coat pocket where Ginger had hidden it the day before and forgot..
Zack was taken away from her and thankfully, given to her Mother (who loves her grandson deeply) and Ginger did a couple months in jail. Now that she is out, she started dating another drug dealer and she had another baby.. this time by him.. Zack still lives with his Grandmother but Ginger has nothing to do with him, she spends all her time spoiling her youngest child instead..
This story is so tragic to me.. and I know it hurts Zack to that his mother doesn't seem to care enough to come visit him.
In these two stories, one I personally know and the other I read about on the internet.. it's the children who are hurt the most.
So if you MUST do drugs.. that is your choice. But keep your children away from that part of your life until they are old enough to make the choice if they want drugs in their life too.
just my two cents..
~ Daniel
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Vigilante Justice?
Monday, 09 August 2010, 12:09 PM
Imagine, if you will.. a trip with me to my childhood.. From 1974 till 1985 I grew up in a farmhouse in rural Missouri. Just how rural? The closest neighbor lived a half mile away.. The gravel road leading up to the farm was so rarely traveled that ANY car driving by got everyones attention. We never took the keys out of the ignition in the car and never, once.. locked the front door to the house. Everyone knew everyone else and if there was strangers in town, then they must have gotten lost..
I don't know if the correct word was trust or not.. it was just the way things were..
I do recall once, in a field visible only from the farmhouse.. one night staring out at the barn on the neighbors property and seeing lights.. which was unusual after dark as they didn't work the fields that late.. The next day I heard someone had dropped a dead body off there behind the barn and I happened to be the only one who may or may not have "witnessed it" but that was the exception. Pretty much I learned you could trust people and naive little me moved away to the fourth largest city in the US with that mentality..
and had my car stolen with-in days..
I still have a bit of that trust in me however, I may not leave my keys in the car anymore but rarely do I ever lock it.. And I don't think I've locked my house up in five years regardless if anyone is home or not..
but perhaps I should.. although there are no statistics for home robberies, I would think it would be a pretty large number. On my street alone I know of four houses that were "broken" into this last year and there is only 40 houses on the street..
There are some tips for preventing burglaries while you're on vacation
A house that's empty for a longer duration of time is an easy pick for any experienced burglar and seeing how they'll have all the time in the world to get inside, a dedicated burglar will be able to bypass a lot of home security systems. Seeing how your house WILL be empty for a longer period of time, it seems we have an issue we need to resolve. The trick here is to try and fool burglars into thinking there's actually someone home, through a series of measures you should take before leaving on your trip:
· Lock all your doors and windows, including upper story windows, garage doors and so forth.
· Use timers or Internet-controlled switches to turn lights on and off, in order to create an occupied look.
· Ask a neighbor's kid to mow your lawn on a regular basis while you're gone and give him a bonus for his trouble.
· Don't close all the blinds to your windows when you leave. Seeing a house that's "armored" with closed blinds all the time, even during daytime, tips off burglars that it's a vacant house.
· Ask a friend or neighbor to check your house every now and then and also leave him a spare key so he can check inside as well (make sure it's someone you trust, obviously).
· Leave your car in the driveway. If you're going on a trip with your car, ask a neighbor to park his car in your own driveway instead of his.
Protecting your home with a home security system
A home security system can prove invaluable in situations like these, where you leave your house for several days. Even the fact that you will simply know that there's a security system up and running, protecting your house, will be important, as you will give yourself the chance to fully enjoy your vacation without any concerns.
Setting up an alarm system, securing your locks, maybe even installing some home security cameras should prove enough to stop most burglars, but you can never be too sure unless you check the status of your home with your own eyes. With the help of modern home security technology, you can actually see through your security cameras from the Internet. These special cameras are called IP network security cameras and they are plugged into your computer, which allows you to stream exactly what the camera is recording live, from any location.
Even if we take all these precautions.. there is still a chance that someone desperate enough will break in anyway and rob our house while we are gone.. It doesn't take much for them to post a lookout and have an escape plan ready should a police car show up..
But.. what if you came home and CAUGHT the robber still inside the house?
That happened to Adrian and Tiffany McKinnon..
To their dismay they discovered their home had been plundered.
"Tears just rolled down my face as I walked in and saw everything gone and piles of trash all over my home," Mrs. McKinnon told her local newspaper the Montgomery Advertiser. When her husband walked into another room to check what was missing he came face to face with the burglar, who was wearing one of Mr. McKinnon's hats.
"My husband Adrian caught the thief red-handed in our home. And what is even crazier, the man even had my husband's hat sitting right on his head," Mrs. McKinnon said. Mr. McKinnon held suspect Tajuan Bullock at gunpoint and made him sit down until he decided what to do. "We made this man clean up all the mess he made, piles of stuff, he had thrown out of my drawers and cabinets onto the floor," Mrs. McKinnon said.
When the police arrived the work-shy burglar had the cheek to complain to them - about having to clean up his mess at gunpoint. "This man had the nerve to raise sand about us making him clean up the mess he made in my house," said Mrs McKinnon. But the police officer laughed at Bullock when he complained and told him that anybody else would have shot him dead.
The MiKinnon's were not the only ones who it seems "turned the tide" on the people trying to rob them..
meet Richard Bussey..
..who says he drove up to his father's rural residence last summer and found a man loading furniture and other items into a pickup truck. Bussey held a gun on the would-be thief and ordered him to return the furniture. Bussey didn't have a telephone, so he made 45-year-old Roy Andrew Gendron mow the lawn with a push mower until he could think of a plan to alert authorities.
Bussey ultimately took Gendron's driver's license and turned it in to police. Assistant District Attorney Brian McVeigh says Gendron had been arrested 19 times and was on parole when Bussey caught him.
At sentencing Tuesday, Circuit Judge Samuel Monk says the case stands out for its comical twist, calling it "one of the better ones." And McVeigh says if he ever gets in that situation, "I'll try to get some yard work out of the guy."
I tip my hat to these three wonderful people who found a way to get a small amount of revenge on those who would rob them blind. Perhaps these crooks learned a lesson? Although I doubt it.. I'm glad I never had to deal with people breaking into my house when I was younger but I can only imagine the yardstick whipping my Grandmother would have given them had she caught them..
and trust me.. that woman knew how to make sitting down for the next week a very painful experience.
Vigilante Justice? I'm not sure.. but I do know it's a small victory for the victims..
~ Daniel
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Sour Lemonade
Sunday, 08 August 2010, 14:40 PM
Back in medieval times.. The King would have an official "taste tester" to make sure all the food that the King ate wouldn't kill him.. Of course, that didn't always work but it did put into the minds of everyone around the dinner table that food safety is an important thing.
forward around 500 years.. Here in America we have the US Food & Drug Administration. The job they do is priceless.. They make sure the meat we buy in the supermarkets won't give us salmonella and they only allow so many bugs in our produce (per pound) or the companies must recall their products..
Here are some of the latest recalls the Food & Drug have put out for this month..
August 06, 2010 - EZVille, Ltd. Issues a Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Solo Slim® Found to Contain an undeclared Drug Ingredient12
August 06, 2010 - South Bend Chocolate Company Announces Nationwide Recall of Bountiful Blend Chocolates Due to Undeclared Tree Nuts13
August 06, 2010 - EZVille, Ltd. Issues a Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Revivexxx® Extra Strength Found to Contain an Undeclared Drug Ingredient14
August 04, 2010 - Product Recall – Eugenio Brezzi Truffle Puree15
August 03, 2010 - Merrick Pet Care Recalls Texas Hold'ems 10 oz Bag (Item # 60016 Lot 10127 Best by May 6 2012) because of Possible Salmonella Health Risk16
They are even at the Gulf Coast right now, doing all they can to make sure the fish caught there is safe for human consumption. This is a copy of the fact sheet they have put online so we won't worry..
► To date, every seafood sample from reopened waters has passed sensory testing for contamination with oil and dispersant.
► Scientific data indicate that the dispersants used to combat the oil spill break down rapidly and become highly dispersed in Gulf waters.
► Scientific data to date indicate that dispersants do not accumulate in seafood.
► Dispersants were not applied in areas currently being considered for reopening to fishing.
► Of almost 2,500 water samples analyzed for dispersants, only two samples showed a dispersant component, and they were in an area not being considered for reopening.
So YES, I must give a BIG hand to the US Food & Drug Administration for the service they provide.. But however this little girl may not want to join me..
Meet Julie Morgan. She was an enterprising young girl of 7 years old who set up her very own lemonade stand at the Portland's Northeast Alberta Street fair, an event that happens every July in Oregon. Julie was so excited to set up a stand and her Mom helped her organize everything she would need and they settled into a booth between a couple who sells handmade bags and kids clothing and a painter.
Business was looking good. In the first 20 minutes she sold a cup of lemonade for 50 cents.. Then a lady with a clip-board walked up to them and asked Julie if she had a license.. When her Mom said "no", the lady informed them they would have to leave or face a $500.00 fine.
This, needless to say, irritated the vendors around them who suggested Julie give the lemonade away and instead take donations.. Someone announced the entire thing on the loudspeaker and business really picked up.. which brought the health inspectors back..
Julie started crying..she is only seven years old.
Technically, any lemonade stand - even one on your front lawn - must be licensed under state law, said Eric Pippert, the food-borne illness prevention program manager for the state's public health division. But county inspectors are unlikely to go after kids selling lemonade on their front lawn unless, he conceded, their front lawn happens to be on Alberta Street.
"When you go to a public event and set up shop, you're suddenly engaging in commerce," he said. "The fact that you're small-scale I don't think is relevant."
Kawaguchi, who oversees the two county inspectors involved, said they must be fair and consistent in their monitoring, no matter the age of the person. "Our role is to protect the public," he said.
As for Julie, the 7-year-old still tells her mother "it was a bad day." When she complains about the health inspector, Fife reminds her that the woman was just doing her job. She also promised to help her try again - at an upcoming neighborhood garage sale.
But Multnomah County's top elected official realized the county was overzealous in fining the 7-year-old. Chairman Jeff Cogen apologized Thursday for health inspectors who threatened to fine a 7-year-old for opening a lemonade stand last week at a local arts fair without a license.
"A lemonade stand is a classic iconic American kid thing to do," county Chairman Cogen said. "I don't want to be in the business of shutting that down."
Cogen said he called Julie Murphy's mom to say he was sorry and that she appreciated the apology.
Inspectors need to use professional judgment, he said. "This isn't something we need to be using our limited resources to crack down on," he said.
So while I believe the FDA does a wonderful job in keeping us safe, perhaps they need to step back and be more realistic in what is a threat. How could a seven year old paying for a license to sell lemonade make her lemonade safer for us? In this end, was this about money?
Something to think about..
~ Daniel
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A Rose By Any Other Name...
Saturday, 07 August 2010, 17:24 PM
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1600:
JULIET:
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
What is in a name? It seems alot..
Someone can judge what they think we might be like if they have never met us by just reading our name.
Here are a few recent facts..
Top 10 Names for 2009
Rank-----Male name-----Female name
1...........Jacob..........Isabella
2...........Ethan...........Emma
3..........Michael.........Olivia
4..........Alexander.......Sophia
5...........William.........Ava
6............Joshua........Emily
7............Daniel.......Madison
8............Jayden.......Abigail
9.............Noah.........Chloe
10............Anthony........Mia
I'm a bit surprised to see my name on the list although I have to say I have my name because my parents named me after my Dads cousin.. they never checked any list.. Yet it's been one I've lived with and learned to accept as I've gotten older..
however when I was young.. I hated "Daniel" with a passion and the boys on the school bus knew it so they would make sure to taunt me with it. One poor kid however didn't notice that once I joined band I carried a drum case with me on the bus and I'm ashamed to say I showed it to him head first one day and he needed stitches but he, or anyone else, never bothered trying to upset me by calling me Daniel after that day..
yes.. I will admit it here and never again. My name is not Daniel, but Danny.. Ironic, now that I'm much older.. I hate the name Danny as much as I hated Daniel when I was young.. (Fair warning.. anyone who runs the song "Danny Boy" by me will NOT make it to the chorus)so it seems I lived one life as Danny and the next (and current) as Daniel. I am sure this is normal for Bobs (Robert), Bill (William) and many other names..
right Foggy?
But back to the topic..
Some parents give their children "strong" names like "Brick""Canyon" or "Fortney", some choose "hippy" names like "Summer" "Cherish" or "Peace", some choose names like "Kenyatta" or "Shiethia" just to be different..
then you have the religious.. babies named "John" or "Mary" or "Christian".. and then there are many who are in my boat.. named after a relative or someone famous in the family..
now I want you to meet this guy..
When this poor kid was three years old, his Mother tried to order a birthday cake for him from the local supermarket with his full name on it.. They refused to make it.. His parents were upset and complained to the paper but by far the majority of people took the supermarkets side of the issue.. They DID get their cake made at a Walmart, but the Walmart got so much press over the issue that they have decided they needed to "review their rules for cake decorating.." This poor kid didn't do anything wrong.. it was his parents who named him Adolf Hitler Cambell.
The Campbells' other two children also have unusual names: JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell turns 2 in a few months and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell will be 1 in April. Their parents have no idea why people would hold anything against a child just because of his name "It's not like hes going to grow up and do what Hitler did" his Mom is quoted as saying..
Hopefully that is true.. but still..
Hitler was a monster people, he is NOT someone to name your children after! People lost their families to the Nazi movement, and I don't mean lost by they misplaced them.. they were murdered!!
This poor little 3 year old boy has NO clue what a shameful life he is being forced into. At his age, our parents are suspose too be the ones who teach us right from wrong!! They are suspose too be our example.
These people are NOT good parents. and it's only fitting that this week the law has stepped in and taken the child out of their home. Although the reasons are secretive (rumor is abuse) according to court records, both parents are unemployed and both suffer from unspecified physical and psychological disabilities.
"Tis but thy name that is my enemy"
So yes.. as Shakespeare wrote.. "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.." but some names are not roses and will forever hurt any future mankind has of living in peace.
Something to think about..
~ Daniel
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Get Out Of My Car
Saturday, 24 July 2010, 19:36 PM
imagine this.. you save up, take out a loan and finally, with your trade in.. you can afford a new car. Imagine how happy you feel in the drivers seat, that "new car smell" and even how carefully you drive it and every time you park it anywhere, you always glace back it and smile..
flash forward ten minutes, when you come out of the store, or look out your window at your driveway.. that new car is missing..
in America 2006 Theft Statistics: According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s Uniform Crime Reports, a motor vehicle is stolen in the United States every 26.4 seconds. The odds of a vehicle being stolen were 1 in 207 in 2005. The odds are highest in urban areas.
In 2006, 1,192,809 motor vehicles were reported stolen.
Western states accounted for the largest share of thefts-36.8 percent, followed by the South at 34.6 percent. The Midwest accounted for 18.5 percent of thefts and the Northeast for 10.2 percent.
So we buy complex car alarms (that go off when we are inside the store shopping) and we make sure we lock our cars..
Believe it or not.. one of the things we can do to help prevent our cars from being stolen has to do with what color our car is..
In the Netherlands, students believe if they paint their bicycles pink or yellow, that they won't be stolen as no thief would want to be seen riding a pink bicycle.. sound funny? guess what, the statistic's support their theory..
a car thief interested in making money can be expected to go for cars with the highest resale value, i.e. cars in the most popular exterior colors. Color is key in the car market. A car in silver or yellow goes for the same price at the dealership, but the resale value greatly differs between the two. The National Auto Auction Association estimates that on average a used car in a popular color sells for $1,000 more than the same car with a less desirable color.
The preference for common colors may be strengthened by the fact that a stolen car with a common color is less easy to spot by police officers that have been alerted a car theft has occurred. That may be particularly important for those using a stolen car to commit another crime such as a robbery.
more cars colored black, grey or silver have been stolen than any other color.. and there were zero reports of pink cars being stolen last year.
if your like me, then you really didn't have much choice of what color your car is.. your driving it because it was the one the dealer had on the lot that he would let you make payments on.. so with this in mind I have to come up with other ways to keep car thieves uninterested in my car..
#1 - I ALWAYS park next to a better looking car than mine.. which isn't to hard to find.. In hopes the thief won't even notice little ole me..
#2 - The proper amount of clutter in the car makes it look unattractive to the thief who is looking in the window..
#3 - Having a bumper sticker that says "I love the Police".. this isn't something a car thief would want to show the homeboys as he's driving my car to the hood.. (this sticker will also hopefully gain me a little symphony from a traffic ticket)
So far, I have never had a car stolen although in truth that is prob. because I've never owned a car someone would want to steal..
however.. I do recall one time my ex-girlfriend had a car which barely ran, didn't even have tags on it (she had it given to her) and our friend "borrowed" it without asking permission one night so he could go out drinking.. I discovered it in the parking lot while he was inside and decided to teach him a lesson by driving it away to someone elses house where it sat till she sold it. But I never told my friend I took it.. He believes to this day the Police had it towed off and he lost it..
trust me, that was the last time he ever took anything without permission..
however, it is not only friends or thieves who can steal your car..
allow me to conclude with this true story about a peanut butter sandwich, a 2008 Toyota and a black bear..
Douglas County (Colorado)
Sheriff's deputies early Friday got a call about a honking car and a commotion inside. Perhaps it was teenagers or a thief, they thought as they approached Ralph Story's 2008 Toyota Corolla.
It turns out it was a thief, albeit the furry variety.
Imagine their surprise when they turned on their flashlights and got a peek inside.
It was a full-grown black bear, also known as ursus americanus.
The deputies had earlier received a call from a neighbor. She had heard honking and came up to the Story home, where the family was asleep. She noticed the car was rocking back and both and she called deputies shortly after 3 a.m.
Story said the bear was probably drawn to a peanut butter sandwich left inside by his 17-year-old son Ben. He said the family didn't realize what was going on until deputies arrived and the neighbor came back and called them. By then the car was no longer in the driveway.
The bear had left a foul-smelling "present" on the front seat.
The Toyota was trashed, with its air bags, seats and stereo torn to shreds. It's a total loss.
poor thing, probably couldn't figure out how to turn on the radio.. Perhaps he was trying to get the seat to go back, they can be rather tricky.. I feel sorry for the person who had to file that claim.. can you just imagine...
~ Daniel
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About Sir Daniel
Joined
Tuesday, 02 December 2008, 16:54 PM
Location
Daytona Beach, Florida
Occupation
writer
Interests
making a difference
Shoutbox
Sher49
Wednesday, 18 August 2010, 7:03 AM
OUTSTANDINGLY WONDERFUL WRITES DANIEL!!!
Sher49
Sunday, 15 August 2010, 11:00 AM
BRAVO DANIEL
Sher49
Thursday, 12 August 2010, 7:18 AM
Daniel you write better than a pro! Awesome. But I think you missed your calling dear! Think reporter! Really!!!
Momma P
Wednesday, 11 August 2010, 19:48 PM
How terrible an act. I am crying with you Daniel. My heart is heavy. So many lives wasted. So much pain and grief.
Guest
Sunday, 08 August 2010, 16:30 PM
Unbelievable. Where has all the common sense fled? *shakes head*
Thanks for posting this one Daniel. I still can't believe it. 
Sher49
Sunday, 08 August 2010, 9:44 AM
Oh Danny Boy, the pipes the pipes are calling! From glen to glen and far across the.....
wild-alice
Saturday, 07 August 2010, 15:30 PM
Daniel: This is pretty great. How did you do this? I loved the Stolen Car and Bear one and the Korean War Hero one. Keep it up. Later Sue
Sher49
Sunday, 25 July 2010, 11:00 AM
Just the "Bear" fact sir!
Done da done done!!! 
Sher49
Thursday, 22 July 2010, 20:09 PM
Wonder why no one write in this? These are GREAT!!!!
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