Post that deserves some thought

[WileEcoyote]

This originally began as a response to: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2476085

but as often happens with any of Wiley's scribblings it took off in various directions. Might not have been noticed so well as a simple reply. The following provided as what I want to call a Public Service Announcement.


Some thread I wrote a couple months back documented a new police search technique. It's not even clever, the search excuse that is. Not me. My posts are always interesting. Or at least provocative.

If i could review my old files here would re-post it. Am sure I discussed it before

Anyway what it was was this: My girlfriend and I are just killin time watching a DVD on a Saturday afternoon. Chillin, layin back and totally vegetating. Then some damn helicopter kept friggin CIRCLING my house.

Loud...

Over and over and maybe less than 300 ft. above the house. Annoying, distracting and giving me a headache. Not to mention that it made it nearly impossible to enjoy the movie.

About a whole hour AFTER the irritating noise began I get a knock on the door. Two Sheriff's Deputies, a man and a woman ask to come in and search for a missing and "abducted" twelve year old boy. They show me a photo of the kid.

It's a small Black child on a bicycle. I actually look at the situation positively: At least the authorities give a damn about an African American kid. Not just another teen age White blond...

I don't recognize the child as he lives a full block over. So the officers say anyway. Regardless I decide that the quickest way to get back to my movie and get these County Mounties the hell out of my house is to let them search the joint. Sure i could have bitched but WTF?

I want them gone. Had I demanded a search warrant they'd have brought in a whole posse, waited outdoors and made a stinking fuss for hours. Not to mention the bad P/R of having the Sheriff's dept in full force, SWAT team etc making me look like the dope dealer/bad ass of the neighborhood.

Publicity I didn't want. Also I reason that if I make a big fuss they'll bust me for not using turn signals the next time I'm at the mall. Or maybe just pulling into my driveway. I'm considered "uncooperative" at that point. An "undesirable".

And assuming there really is an abducted child missing this will allow the cops to check my residence off the list and go on with their search. Might help save the boy's life if the matter gets handled in a speedy manner. These were my thoughts anyway.

Glad i wasn't growing any of that whacky tobaccy like in my younger days. So I let them search fucking everything.

Linen closet

Laundry room,

All closets and all rooms.

Under all beds and furniture.

The water heater room.

Even the dog house in the back yard.


They then leave thanking me. Which is EXACTLY what i wanted: Make them believe I'm just an ordinary serf and of no threat to them. Probably a good definition of what i am anyway...

Tell ya what though: Next couple days I check the papers and internet for any missing kids, black or otherwise in the Santa Rosa area.

Guess what I come up with?

Nothing. No small twelve year old kids are reported missing in any local papers or crime blotter. Not even in the Press Democrat, The major newspaper out of Santa Rosa.

Here are the things I think COULD have been happening: They were looking for some other issue. Possibly a jerk down the street reported me for being a dope dealer. Of course I'm not but that woman is a certifiable nut case. A young alcoholic I used to hang with but we've since parted ways. Shortly after I learned that she calls 9/11 for someone just littering. And of course she drinks too much.

BUT... Maybe this is the new Homeland Security ruse: The Feds demand that ALL houses get searched once every couple years or so. The "missing Black boy on a bicycle" and effective ploy. Makes "Les Gendarmes" look sincerely interested in the welfare of the people. Hell even i was worried about the kid.

Problem is: No one one block over ever heard of the described twelve year old boy on the bicycle. While there are African American people in this 'hood, none of them fit the description of the child.

I smell a rat.

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Unbelievable

Which red state do you live in?

[WileEcoyote]

3. California isn't a Red State

but Sonoma County is.

Anyone want to check the Sheriff's blotter for Oct I can guarantee no small Black boy was missing in my neighborhood.

And it really happened folks.

Also, what is there to stop people from searching your pad? Demand your rights? Sure I'm capable of that

But under the circumstances of an abducted child who really wants to slow down an investigation?

[countingbluecars]

2. I find this hard to believe. eom

[flashl]

4. Its possible

Remember the U.S. Attorney General tips hotline that was set up for repair persons and truckers? Repairmen were "obligated" to report anything suspicious in a home.

[WileEcoyote]

5. That gives me an idea...

"Remember the U.S. Attorney General tips hotline that was set up for repair persons and truckers? Repairmen were "obligated" to report anything suspicious in a home".

Occasionally I get these yuppie type folks who hire me to do home repairs. Materialistic SOB's they work the hell out of me demanding that i work faster and cheaper. Total pain in the rectum.

And it's always for some status symbol type construction project to impress their friends. Even Democrats will do this from time to time. in Marin County especially.

They vote for Democrats but live like republicans...

Anyway every once in a while when these jerks want some bourgeoise project done (marble tile jacuzzi, $2000 shower head or forty grand skylight) they will intentionally stiff me for some portion of my final bill.

Even the former Mayor of San Francisco Frank Jordon commonly did this...

It's all done with money they robbed from the poor or working class. You know, landlords, family businesses that the kids inherited, trust funders etc.

OK now I won't bust them for their vices and the illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia kickin around the house.

But it's tempting. However i'm not a snitch.

Never-the-less these people live in glass houses. Wealthy beyond the imagination and yet they'll lose no sleep stiffing a working man like me.

[lonestarnot]

11. garbage people too.

[fed-up]

6. when I lived in Glen Ellen and had a peeping Tom, the sheriff's came in my apartment and searched

the end tables.

I kid you not, they took their flashlight and were checking places no human could have hid.

I later found out the peeper lived in the apartment kitty-corner to mine which did NOT help me sleep at night.

My BF at the time made me a nice weapon out of a broom handle with sharpened nails that I kept under my bed.


I figured they were looking for drugs, but I don't use, so there were none to find.

edited to add I also lived in Sonoma, Santa Rosa and Healdsburg in the early 1980's while going to SRJC-howdy old neighbor!

[WileEcoyote]

9. SRJC has a good jazz band

They should have let me join but they were on a seniority system then.

Ever get up to Twin pines Indian Casino? It's one of my favorite haunts even if it smells like cigarette smoke all day long. I play the tables and usually come out ahead. far better than river rock casino.

Where I live? Near the border of Rohnert Park. A mixed area. Some biker dopers, and some very conservative types. Not many liberals.

[fed-up]

10. I lived there before the Casinos, I remember walking precincts in Rohnert Park-talk about a stepford

town!

Now I live in Chico, last time back through Santa Rosa was almost 10 years ago and I couldn't believe the traffic!

I like Chico 10 times better than the Santa Rosa area. At least our Butte Creek water doesn't get the sewage dumped in it like the Russian River does.

I remember working on the Tuition Free in '83 when they first started charging for junior college (I was a student rep at the time) and the tip tax law...

[hootinholler]

7. Did they search a block of houses?

Or were you singled out?

-Hoot

[WileEcoyote]

8. Not sure

I went back to my movie. My guess is that they did do a door to door search.

The oddest thing though was that nothing showed up in the papers about it. Nor the net. That's what made me suspicious.

And it's the perfect ruse for Liberal America. Who wants to impede the search for a missing black child? Either way I'm screwed. They could even be telling the truth!