Robbery and Safety

Just had a robbery call. The woman was leaving her condo and walking toward her car. She wasn’t paying attention as she was fumbling with her cell phone. When someone stepped in front of her she stopped and looked up.

She found herself at the wrong end of a handgun. Four men quickly surrounded her, pistol whipping and punching her with their fists while trying to grab her purse. Even though they were armed, she ran after them trying to get their license plate number which took a lot of guts. We were on the scene in under four minutes but the robbers were gone.

We were so close because they had struck a house just a few blocks away so there were plenty of police in the area. Thanks to this lady and her getting a partial tag on the fleeing gunmen, we think we have identified at least one of the robbers.

This call reminds me – and I’m reminding you all – to please be safe – be alert – be diligent – don’t put yourself in dangerous situations – keep your cell phone handy – and please, give up the purse…it just isn’t worth possibly losing your life for.

911’s Today’s Top Five

Why do we let things worry us so? Silly stupid things. I have had so many calls tonight from people worried about things so far out in left field that I want to ask them how they manage to get through life day to day. It’s kind of scary. Personally, I blame television…LOL.

I know you are dying to hear some of tonight’s calls so here are the top five silly calls:

1. A man (yes, an adult) called because he has a bird’s nest outside his window. The mother bird flew off, presumably to gather food for the chicks. This man worried that one or more of the chicks might fall out of the nest before the mom returned. His request – could we send an animal control officer over to check on the chicks? Yes, I’m serious and no, we didn’t go.

2. A man called because a possum he saw outside was walking in a circle.

3. An anonymous caller advised that people were drinking to the point of being drunk at one of the local pubs. They wanted law enforcement officer’s to come collect their keys so no one drove impaired. Sorry guys, we aren’t babysitters. We haven’t the force to put police at every bar in the county.

4. At the local grocery store someone left their small grilling propane tank beside the exchange box while they went in to make arrangements for a full one. A caller called in that they were concerned because the exchange box was too close to the liquor store. What if one of the little tanks blew up? Alcohol burns hot and quickly you know. The whole store could burst into flames and trap the people inside and…you get the general picture.

5. A man called advising he saw a guy who was too clean to work in construction carrying some copper wiring. Now to understand this, you must realize that copper is a hot commodity right now – drug lords will become copper lords in no time at all. But to accuse someone of stealing it simply because they were too clean was a new one for us.

I could add more but what the heck – that pretty much shows you the type of calls we had. Scary, isn’t it?

Lets Get Sharky!

Everyone who knows me well knows that I have a love of sharks that started in the fifth grade after reading a short blurb in a textbook about the ocean, its creatures and, of course, its treasures.

Loving sharks does not mean I don’t entertain a fear and healthy respect of their ability to rip me to shreds if they so desired. Having admitted to that, let me share some facts about sharks and their “attacks“.

Worldwide there are approximately sixty to eighty reported shark bites each year. That is WORLDWIDE. That means, statistically speaking, you are more likely to be murdered, struck by lightning, killed by killer bees or win the lottery then to be bit by a shark. Fatalities from shark bites are rare.

For every human killed by a shark – roughly ten million sharks are killed by humans. The scoreboard is a tad bit uneven, wouldn’t you say?

The sea sustains all life on earth, controlling our climate and atmosphere, generating the air we breath and the water we drink. Sharks are critical to the health of our seas, without them life would eventually cease to exist.

Oceans have an average depth of two miles with mountain ranges taller then the Himalayas. We know so little about the ocean itself or the creatures that live within it. Had “Jaws” not over-dramatized the dangers of Great White sharks, would most people even know they existed? Can you name every species of, let’s say, frogs? Don’t think so unless your field of study happens to be frogs.

Sharks breed late in life – some not until they are 25 to 30 years old. Of the few young they do have, most do not make it to maturity. Do you see why I get upset when a shark is needlessly slaughtered?

For those “Pirates of the Caribbean” fans, according to the International Chamber of Commerce Crime Services there were 469 attacks by pirates in the year 2000. Seventy-two people were killed – six times the number reported killed by sharks.

Nature is very careful with her apex predators. Only enough needed to keep the balance in the ecosystem are allowed to survive. Nature never over-stocks just in case a few extra are needed here or there.

“We mustn’t let ourselves be distracted from the genuine problems that exist in the sea, problems that can be solved only by us and only if we will reexamine our place in nature and rethink our conduct in the natural order.” Peter Benchley

Facts and tidbits of this were gleaned from Peter Benchley’s book “Shark Trouble”.

Beware of Gator

You need to get up in the morning and say, “Boy, I’m going to – in my own stupid way – save the world today.” –Carol Bellamy

So yesterday a man on vacation from TN decides to play a round of 18 holes at one of our many beautiful golf courses we are known for here in Florida.

On the 6th hole, he overshot the green sending his ball down a small incline before it plopped into the picturesque pond. When he looked into the water, he could see his ball and figured why lose the twenty-five cent ball and lose a point for having to drop a new one on the grass? He could have used his golf club to retrieve the ball but didn’t want to get it wet so what does this genius do? He reaches into the pond.

An 11 foot alligator happened to live in that pond – had been living there for years according to the owner. When it heard the “plop” of the ball, it naturally came over to explore this new wave in it’s environment. Then, when the man started moving his fingers around, why the gator probably thought it had hit the jackpot. The gator was hungry, it hadn’t had it’s supper yet, and couldn’t be blamed for chomping down on something in it’s territory.

What pisses me off is once again a reptile must pay the price due to human arrogance, greed and stupidity. The ponds are all clearly marked “Beware of Gator” but the man chose to ignore the warning and for what? For a golf ball? How absolutely asinine is that?

Now the gator had to be trapped and “removed” from it’s habitat – they won’t say “destroyed” because too many people protested after the last moron did the exact same thing.

Who knows how old that gator was – at 11 ft he was probably pretty old. It had lived peacefully in our ponds and canals that entire time. People had come to take it’s picture and marvel at him swimming around. Can’t tell you how many times you’ll hear people get excited when they see a gator sticking it’s head up out of the water – cameras click as everyone tries to get the best picture possible. But now, thanks to that moron, he has to be removed. Yes, it really pisses me off.

So many humans go around thinking they have some sort of entitlement to ravage and rape our environment and all the creatures it supports. Do we really forget that we are one of those creatures? Man may be near the top of the food chain – but we are still on it. We always have been. Because we are a part of it, we are responsible to ourselves and the other creatures both above and below us.

If nature had to decide what it’s weakest link was and mark it for extinction – humans would be the 1st to go. We are by far the most destructive creature in the chain and the ones least in harmony with nature.

Please people – let’s all try just a little harder to be good shepherds of our environment. Please use common sense – if a sign says “beware of humans”…oops, I meant “beware of gator” then stay the hell out of the water!