A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Columbus...

Friday, I had my yearly check-up with my cancer/kidney surgeon in Columbus. All is well for another year.

However, just as Stacy and I were walking into the lobby of his office my cell phone rings; it was an unusual call.

It was Representative Mark Romanchuk's office.

I met Mark a few years back while working a football game at Lexington High School before I retired. Mark was making his initial foray into politics and was out meeting people as part of his campaign. He and I chatted for a few minutes and I found Mark to be a pretty affable, friendly guy; he got my vote that year, and has every election since.

A few weeks ago I emailed Rep. Romanchuk's office about the growing heroin overdose problem we are facing, expressing my frustration over heroin traffickers receiving probation on a first conviction even though they may have knowingly/unknowingly caused a death which law enforcement couldn't charge them with. People die because of this drug, mainly because in recent years its been 'cut' with other, more potent drugs. A user can lose his/her life the very first time they ingest heroin, and traffickers getting mere probation on a first offense is unacceptable.

First offenders can get prison time if there are enhancing qualifications, such as selling within a thousand feet of a school zone, in the presence of juveniles, selling bulk amounts or possessing a firearm during the transaction; many times this is the case but most offenses are not. Along with the email I included the post I wrote about attacking the traffickers with harsher sentences.

I couldn't stay on the phone long last Friday, but I did call back yesterday and spoke to his legislative aide, Beth Florence. I learned that Mark is currently formulating legislation to address the issue of heroin trafficking and enhancing penalties for trafficking convictions, which pleased me greatly; he also scheduled a meeting with me in a few weeks to explain the framework of proposed legislation.

Being personally affected by opiate abuse has made me passionate on this issue; I am not a Great Crusader on too many things but this is one of them. If you, too, feel strongly about opiate addiction and stronger sentencing guidelines for convicted traffickers, I urge you to contact your legislators and express your concerns and views.

I'd also like to say that my beliefs are not an indictment of our judges, probation or judicial systems; most of those involved are very good at what they do in spite of the difficulties they face; I just want them to have a sharper sword with which to dispense justice through our legal process.

Another Episode of 'What Were They Thinking?'

You're a burglar; you've got your black mask, clothes and gloves on. You're carrying a flashlight, screwdriver and a wrench.

Your target? A jewelry store, inside of which riches await you. You park your car on a suburban side street and walk to the store's back door. You pry away at the door but, try as you might, it won't budge. Frustrated and in a state of despair, you trek back to you vehicle while deciding what to do next.

Just as you're about to enter your car, you notice something alarming: you parked in front of a house that has exterior security cameras! The jewelry store owner will most certainly see the damage you caused to his door, and now a homeowner has your car on camera! What if the police obtain the security video? They'll identify your car as having been in the area! So, you do the only (il)logical thing....

Eric Michael Stevens of North Charleston, SC, who has a history of burglary arrests and convictions, was taken into custody by NCPD early yesterday, marched out to police by the armed homeowner whose house Stevens had broken into. It seems Stevens, in an effort to enter the home and destroy the security video recorder, had pried open a bedroom window and climbed inside...falling onto the bed where the homeowner had been sleeping. However, hearing the noises at his window, the homeowner pulled his gun out of a drawer and was waiting for Stevens.

After firing a shot at Stevens and then holding him at gunpoint, the citizen called police, who arrived to find Stevens being marched out of the house by its armed occupant.

Stevens was charged with first-degree burglary of the home, attempted burglary of the jewelry store and possession of burglary tools, all of which are felonies.

It is unknown if the security cameras caught footage of Stevens or his car.

Eric Stevens

Social Justice or Stupidity?

Oberlin.

Ever been through it? If you haven't, Oberlin is a sleepy little town of just over eight thousand residents and a hair under 5 square miles in size, located in Lorain County southwest of Cleveland.

It is also home to Oberlin College.

On the ninth of November a student from the college was in a small 'Mom and Pop' store close to campus, Gibson's Market. It's a family-owned business which has been in existence for decades, due mainly to the college's student/customers. The student, 19-year-old Jonathan Aladin, decided to buy a bottle of wine, which in itself would have been illegal since he's not twenty-one; an additional problem was, Aladin had concealed two other bottles of wine under his shirt in an attempt to steal them. The clerk told Aladin that he knew there were concealed wine bottles under his shirt and, as the clerk attempted to take Aladin's picture with his cell phone, the suspect slapped it away, causing it to strike the clerk in the face.

The clerk came around the counter and attempted to stop Aladin from leaving with the shoplifted  wine; Aladin threw the bottles to the floor, began struggling with and striking clerk Allyn Gibson, the owner's son, managed to break away and flee across the street, where two female Oberlin students were waiting. Gibson chased Aladin and was then assaulted by all three students. As Oberlin police arrived, they observed Aladin on top of Gibson, punching and kicking him; the two females were also still engaged in assaulting the victim.

Jonathan Aladin was arrested for robbery, which was a result of using physical force while committing a theft offense. Robbery is a felony. The two female students were also charged with assaulting Allyn Gibson, a misdemeanor offense.

A simple case, right?

Not so, according to the Oberlin Student Union. Several other students were apparently in the area outside the store and witnessed Allyn Gibson chase Jonathan Aladin across the street. It was Gibson, they say, who was the aggressor, never mind the beatdown Aladin and the two women were administering or what had occurred inside the store. They claim Aladin was just a victim of racial profiling because he is a black man, that Gibson had no right to stop Aladin for the theft from his family's store.

Since the afternoon of November ninth, the Oberlin College Black Student Union and their sympathizers have been protesting outside Gibson's Bakery and Market, holding signs and chanting slogans denouncing Gibson's as being racist.

Gibson's cashier Trey James had this to say about the incident: "The guy got caught stealing and got arrested for it. It was a pretty clear-cut case. If you shoplift, you get prosecuted, regardless of your orientation, race, background, political viewpoint or anything else."

Trey James is himself a black man. He gets it.

The Oberlin students protesting still today do not, choosing rather to play the 'race card' without knowing the facts or the law. According to a source out of Oberlin...and this is mind-blowing to me...the protesting students are getting class credit for missing class to protest.

Unbelievable.

I am seriously considering making a trip to Gibson's Bakery and Market this coming week, just to buy something from them as a show of support. Included in that purchase will be, of course,...

...a donut.

The Aftermath

I do believe that Hillary Clinton finally understands what difference, at this point, it makes.

Donald Trump's shocking victory in the presidential election, one which virtually no major news network deemed possible ( aside from Fox News ), has this country's LibLeft spinning, crying out to the heavens, "how could this happen??!!"

It's very simple, if you think about it: America is fed up.

Fed up with the Obamacare fiasco, which announced 25% rate hikes two weeks ago. Fed up with our border floodgates being cranked wide open. Fed up with a twenty trillion dollar ( and rising ) national debt. Fed up with the presidentially-encouraged influx of Islamic refugees who in no way can be 'vetted' by the Department of Homeland Security. Fed up with eight years of circumvention of Congressional powers via executive orders from Obama's office, blatantly telling America that he would enact his decrees "...with or without Congress...". Fed up with the Clinton Syndicate, otherwise known as a 'foundation', which accepts enormous foreign donations of cash supposedly to be used for humanitarian reasons; Bill and Hillary's daughter's wedding was paid for using funds from the Clinton Foundation, as well as paying the newlyweds' expenses for the next ten years.

All that is just the tip of the crooked crony iceberg we've endured for the last eight years.

And now, just this evening, I read that some college mid-terms were postponed due to students being so distraught over election results that they just couldn't bear the effort of taking an exam. Another university has activated crisis counseling for its collegiate cream puffs because they can't handle the reality of a national presidential election that didn't quite turn out the way they wanted.

Donald Trump said and did many things during his campaign I didn't agree with; I said before that he wasn't even my THIRD choice as a presidential Republican candidate but there was no way I wanted Hillary Rodham Clinton leading this country further down the path to socialism/globalization.

On another note, U-Haul's business should soon be picking up, what with all the celebrity threats to leave the United States if Trump was elected. Now that it's happened, I'll gladly stand at the border and wave goodbye to them.

But we all know they will never leave.

 Just ask Alec Baldwin.

Just Wondering...

...how a presidential candidate can be a self-proclaimed champion of women's rights, yet align herself with the likes of Shawn Corey Carter; how she can constantly hammer her male opponent over remarks he made twenty years ago that were very disparaging of women, yet have a husband the likes of Bill Clinton, a philanderer of epic magnitude?

I know, you're still wondering who Shawn Carter is. Well, he's the fella that rapped these lyrics:

'You know I thug 'em, (expletive) 'em, love 'em, leave 'em
Cause I don't ( expletive ) need 'em
Take them out the hood, keep 'em lookin' good
But I don't ( expletive ) feed 'em'

The rest of the lyrics are just as bad or worse, so I won't waste the space printing them; the point is, Mrs. Clinton plays both sides of the fence. Carter, known by his stage name Jay Z, and his wife Beyonce performed at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland last night, being joined onstage at the end by Mrs. Clinton in an obvious play to gain black votes.

'Hillary digs Jay Z and Beyonce!'

Next time you see one of her commercials deriding Donald Trump for remarks he made in 1996, just remember who she used in attempting to sway certain segments of the voting public.

She is a phoney.

Mind you, I am NOT a fan of Trump. I'd much rather vote for Mike Pence if it were possible, but Trump is the conservative horse in this race so I'll hold my nose while voting. Trump shouldn't even be in this election due to those remarks so long ago.

Then again, he didn't indirectly cause the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, by ignoring repeated pleas for increased security a month or more in advance of the attack that killed them.

As then-Secretary of State, those deaths ultimately land on Hillary Clinton's doorstep.

Time Goes By

Has it really been over three years since I last took off my uniform, gun belt and badge? It seems like just last week I was sitting in my cruiser, in the lot of Richland Bank in Lexington at 0300 hours, amazed that the bank's time/temp sign displayed '-9' degrees.

It seemed much colder.

I don't have to do that anymore. Now, when it gets that cold, I'm snoozing away in our cozy home at Ram Field Ranch, snuggled in with an extra blanket as my redheaded angel slumbers next to me. Well, not right next to me because Roscoe, our lovable pit bull, prefers to sleep between us.

Under the blankets.

Early in the morning, and 'early' usually means around 0430 hours or so, I dress, creep out of the bedroom and begin my day, punching the 'start' button on the coffee maker first thing. Tim Horton's black gold gets things rolliing.

After breakfast is when I do the bulk of my writing, both for this blog and another I have that concerns my other passion: metal detecting. You can find that link here:
https://searchingforhistoryblog.wordpress.com/

I browse news websites, mainly concerning items about law enforcement and crime, formulating a blog entry as I go. This morning was no different...except I couldn't find a topic that jumped off the laptop at me. So I sat, thinking and remembering events that took place just this past week and several decades ago, running endlessly through my mind, events that I will forever remember...or forget tomorrow.

I've written about my pal Troy Weaver, now a Captain at Lexington PD and my partner on night shift for the last six years of my career. I had the opportunity to spend about an hour with him a few days ago at LPD's pistol range; Troy is a firearms instructor and it was time for my yearly qualification with the Smith and Wesson M&P .40 caliber compact I carry. Retired coppers can carry concealed as long as they complete this annual requirement and my year-long permit was approaching invalidation.

We chatted about various topics as I shot the course, recalling certain incidents and humorous anectdotes we'd experienced, generally catching up on life since the last time we'd spoken. He told me about an incident that involved a police officer in another jurisdiction and an unannounced pursuit that ended with the officer crashing his cruiser. No one had any idea he was chasing another vehicle; why he wouldn't call it in on the cruiser radio is inexcusable. Another LPD copper I used to work with, Jon VanHouten, arrived and he also caught me up, telling me his daughter Addyson, now fourteen, was a high school freshman. She'd gone from 7th grade to 9th grade, completely bypassing one grade; that's how intelligent she is. I was still hearing '14', though....unbelievable, since I recall plain as day when Jon told me his wife Amber was pregnant with Addy.

Time stops for no one. I know it's an old adage but it bears truth.

Then there was last week, when I'd gotten a call from Capt.Shari Robertson of Mansfield PD, asking if I could assist the Detective Bureau in locating a buried metal item that was connected to a serious crime. She knows I am a pretty dedicated metal detectorist and former policeman who will help my brothers and sisters out whenever I can.

I can recall clearly the first time I ever met Shari, too, in roll call at MPD; there was a remark made that first day as she sat amongst the otherwise all-male shift, something uncalled-for that was insulting.

She stood up for herself and called the other officer out. Right in the middle of roll call.

That, in my book, made her all right with me. Shari has gone on to become a good cop, one I trust without question. Some say she doesn't deserve her current position, one which she attained by appointment, and to those naysayers I say 'bunk'. I can think of a few others who'd risen in rank quickly who were much less qualified for their rank than Shari. A couple of those people had no business even being police officers, people who are/were great at taking tests but inept and unsafe on the street, people who just punched the clock and put their time in. They just answered calls, did nothing proactively, have/had no major arrests on which to hang their hats.

Yet they are in positions of command.

If the general public only knew of the types of cops these test-takers were/are they'd be grievously concerned.

I certainly am.

Though I no longer wear a badge, I am out there in spirit with my brothers and sisters. Inwardly, I worry for their safety, both from within the departments they serve and from the increasing dangers they face daily in this world gone mad. It isn't the same world I knew even three years ago.

Not even at 0300 hours on a very cold night.

Another Installment of 'What Were They Thinking?'

Love can make people do irrationally stupid things.

Take Deniz ( pronounced 'Denise' ) Martinez, for example.

Martinez lives in Lake Wales, Florida with her boyfriend, Jason Drake. Drake is on probation for an unspecified crime and has to submit to urine testing when he reports to his probation officer. Martinez dropped Drake off for a scheduled meeting last month at the County Probation and Parole office in Winter Haven, where Drake told his PO that he couldn't summon enough fluid from his bladder for the urinalysis; the PO told Drake that he would have to detain him until he could pee a sufficient amount for testing.

Enter Martinez. Drake had communicated to her that his urine sample would be 'dirty' and was delaying the process. Martinez, in an effort to get her lover out of having to submit urine, then called the Winter Haven Police Department and told them a man was standing outside the probation building with a bomb, who intended to detonate it inside the building.

She called from her personal cell phone. The same cell phone that's listed as an emergency contact on Jason Drake's probation paperwork.

The building was evacuated and searched by WHPD's bomb squad and given the 'all clear'. Martinez was later located at the residence she shares with Drake and arrested on a felony bomb threat; her boyfriend was also arrested for probation violation due to failing to submit a urine sample.

Then there's Brian Crume, also of Winter Haven.

Crume entered a local WalMart and shoplifted several packages of wiring. Store security caught him leaving without paying for the items and he was arrested.

When asked why he'd committed the crime, Crume responded by saying he was trying to raise enough cash to post bail for his jailed girlfriend....

....who was in jail for shoplifting.

                                                                    Crume

Martinez