A Few of FR's Finest...Every Day...08-26-03...A Charming Disaster

8/26/03 | FreeTheHostages

[lonestar]

CHIRP to you, too!

Weinie

[lonestar]

I love the colors in this one!

[Aquamarine]

Hey, I totally understand about driving in DC. It's a bear.

Trying to get across the Potomac can make grown men cry (trust me I've seen it happen:)) The expressway didn't have a sign telling us of our exit (the one that crossed the river) and we kept winding up at the Pentagon.

[Billie]

I love the colors in this one!

I tried to find colors that would fit Freezie - you know, soft, calm, soothing. :)

[FreeTheHostages]

That's an easy one. 'Cause if DC let you inspect your car in VA, they'd lose $. And it's all about collecting $ from the taxpayers to support the very bloated DC government. I believe the stats are that the size of the city government is something like 6-8 percent of the population!! City taxes are about 10 percent.

[FreeTheHostages]

Yup!

[FreeTheHostages]

Good morning!

[FreeTheHostages]

I bet you miss having all those people mistakenly commenting to you on my text.

Sigh, well, I miss your exellent design judgment. As you can see, I have a long way to go!

[FreeTheHostages]

Thanks!

[Diver Dave]

... 'Cause if DC let you inspect your car in VA, they'd lose $. And it's all about collecting $ from the taxpayers to support the very bloated DC government....

Soooo, if half of the vehicles in DC are government vehicles, and thereby exempt from fees, seems the local citizenry (those who actually pay taxes) are getting the shaft - again.

Seems the time is right for history to repeat itself with a good old fashioned "Tea Party." Dump the politicos in the Potomac and see if anyone complains. Wait, that won't work. Gross pollution of the river.

[FreeTheHostages]

Nope, they're not safer in Baghdad. Because frankly they're the targets in Baghdad. Here, it's random if you get shot, more or less, although certain parts of the city bear the brunt of the crime.

The news media should cover crime in DC: the victims of homicide are overwhelmingly black and often poor and it's as if no one cares. Another way in which the liberal media is so elite. The Washington Post has shamefully little crime news. Mostly, they talk about police brutality, which is out-of-touch with the reality: the police are unmotiviated and unsupported by Chief Ramsey and pretty much aren't doing anything. Meanwhile, many young lives are snuffed out.

The silence is intolerable.

[FreeTheHostages]

awwww

THANKS! :) I'm definitely free.

[tgslTakoma]

And parking in DC can be a bear, too. Remember this thread about the trials and travails of our good friend, Gore War Vet, when his car was towed from a legal spot and lost for two weeks in DC? He finally got it back, but it was only after John McCaslin's "Inside the Beltway" column in the Washington Times took on his cause that it was found. What a black-eye for Chief Ramsey that little fiasco was; and typical, it seems, of the chief's leadership skills. OK, now back to MPDC Chief Ramsey's "crime emergency" declaration, and its resultant effect on how a call to the MPDC dispatch center is handled...

In fairness to the MPDC, DC Emergency Ops, and DC Fire and EMS, I will begin with my first - and definitely most positive - "interaction" with the system yesterday...

On my commute home yesterday at around 5:30pm, I was one of the first on-scene to a spectacular auto accident. A Nissan Pathfinder ran a fully red light and was hit broadside by a 1997 Chevy Suburban that had started (from a stop) into the intersection. I had been in the through lanes going in the opposite direction, waiting for the green light, and heard the first sound of the crash. I looked up in time to see the Pathfinder flip up in the air and onto its (driver's) side and spin like a top.

I immediately grabbed my cell phone and dialed "911", and was put on hold... for approximately 30 seconds... I gave the call-taker the information as I parked my vehicle on the side of the road and ran over to the vehicles to offer what help I could. The guy in the Suburban (airbag had deployed) was shook-up but said he was OK, the girl in the Pathfinder was conscious but stuck in the on-its-side vehicle. A nurse in a passing vehicle had also stopped and we talked to the girl, asking questions, got her to look at me through the windshield so I could see her eyes and check her face for any obvious injuries, and tried to keep her calm and talking until help arrived.

DC Fire and EMS responded fairly quickly for rush hour; I don't know what station(s) they responded from, but they did good work. So, kudos to them.

DC Police showed up shortly after and they did their part of the job well, as EMS set to the work of cutting the girl out of the Pathfinder.

Now, to my experience later in the evening - with MPDC's "311" non-emergency police dispatch line...
It was almost 8:30pm, I was with Kristinn as he and several of his co-workers were working late at their office, and he called the 311 line to tell them about several ne'er-do-wells hanging out in the service alley between his building and the neighboring one. As are many parts of DC at night, it's not the most inviting place to be for the law-abiding souls, if you know what I mean... and the area is full of various federal agencies and museums (potential terrorist targets); it's not unusual for folks to get mugged in the area; so he felt that the police should at least check the guys out.

Well, the dispatcher didn't seem to think so, and he spent nearly five minutes arguing with Kristinn about why he wasn't going to dispatch the call! The dispatcher's final answer was that Kristinn wasn't the building manager, so he couldn't report the trespassing vagrants/troublemakers! Ain't it grand, in a "crime emergency", when a citizen is not allowed to report a suspicious situation?!

I got the phone number of the police station (located only one block away, BTW) and called them. After I recounted the story to her, the officer who answered the phone transferred me to the dispatch supervisor, and I told the story yet again! By this time it's now 9pm... the dispatch supervisor tells me that she will dispatch the call and as soon as a car was available, they would respond. (I also gave her the name and badge number of the useless dispatcher, and suggested that a "come to Jesus" session might be in order for him).

At 9:30pm - I, Kristinn and another of his co-workers left his office; the group in the alley was still hanging out in the shadows, and not a single cop had arrived to check them out.

If we depend on DC Police Chief Ramsey's stellar leadership for protecting the citzenry from criminals and terrorists - we're all in deep doo-doo.

Somebody please remind me, why did Chief Ramsey get his big pay big raise recently?

[FreeTheHostages]

{{{{Billie}}}}

I love the colorful graphic. It goes so well with the page!!!

[FreeTheHostages]

The children of DC are held in bondage and few of them will ever be freed.

But we can't accept that. President Bush's voucher program for DC is such a great thing: the president won't accept this social reality either. Good Christian, that man.

[FreeTheHostages]

{{{ohioWfan}}} What a GREAT photo!

[MeekOneGOP]

Howdy ! Glad you enjoyed your vacation ! ...

[FreeTheHostages]

I had nightmares about it all night long. :-(

Sue me!

[MeekOneGOP]

Is there a contest for this stuff that I haven't heard about ?? ...

Woman accused of running down ex-lover with SUV -
yes, Texas again (San Antonio) ...

[Calpernia]

Unbelievable!