May 2: There are many things which happened this past week!

Baltimore during the week!

Police had to struggle this past week with the city officials, unruly crowds, and rule following marchers.

What started out as a peaceful demonstration overwhelmed the police department, the administration of Baltimore, and those who tried to keep the peace.  Many mistakes were made by the Mayor and others who tried to direct the response to rioters.

As the week progressed, the officials finally got their act together and declared curfews to stop destruction and injuries.  It worked!  Then as the week went on it became apparent that trying to appease meant the rush to judgment against six police officers.  The range of crimes from 2nd Degree Murder to failure to follow rules should have been bought before a grand jury.  It would have made a lot more sense to have fresh sets of eyes bring out the charges rather than a person who had been on the job for 4 months without much criminal law experience in her background.  I thought that she did a fine job of speaking and laying out the facts as she saw them, but when others realized that she was talking without much substance and a biased point of view it became a situation where she laid herself into a lot of criticism.  Far better it would have been to take the matter before a grand jury and let the indictments come from there.

Questions were raised by the police that their lives were put in jeopardy and also the destruction of property stemming from Monday night riots where the police had instructions not to interfere.

Justice systems vary, but the truth is that the Constitutions of the United States and that of Maryland need to be followed whether the rules are for the police or citizens.  Additionally, if there is a question of conflicts of interest because the State's Attorney has relationships with attorneys, aldermen, or the family of the deceased, an independent counsel might be in order so that the police involved can get fair and unbiased trials.

Naked May 2nd?  

Someone sent me a photograph of a person tending a garden and that person was naked!  It was the backside and nothing obscene was shown, but the idea was that on May 2nd, tending gardens was to be a naked time!  Funny for sure.  One of my neighbors said "Richard will not be tending to the garden today!"  I replied, that I would be, would you care to come and watch?  I did not say or infer that I would be sans clothing.

We have a weekend of vintage cars!

This weekend is the annual event here in Kingman on Route 66 where vintage autos of yesteryear are brought out by their owners to drive the existing route of Route 66 from Kingman to Seligman Arizona.  Events are planned along the highway where the drivers stop, get refreshments, BBQ, and the like.  In Kingman itself there are places where they all can show off their pride of ownership and gawkers can see what all the hullabaloo is all about!  A fun day for all and it is a celebration Americana which is peaceful and great sport.  The cars as they age get more and more valuable!  Prices on these relics of the past exceed $20,000.00 each.  If you are of the older generation, you might kick yourself when you think about that car of the 1950's you once owned and if you kept it what it would be worth today!

Enjoy the first week in May.   Get out and look around!

During the past week on Facebook there were a lot of discussions about Baltimore. 
Also, some statements about cell phones.  One of the things that I was discussing was the fact that I do not use a cell phone.  There are a lot of people who do and I am getting the feeling that I am now in the minority!  Probably true.  In the 1970's I had the first proto type of cell phones.  It was quite interesting because they worked mostly through the AT&T lines.  The size was about the same as they are now and you had to keep them charged.  Then came along the FM phones which were through local towers.  The cost was about $350 per phone (that is the wholesale cost).  Then resale was $700.  I started a company to do this and we sold one phone!  The buyer was a man who did repossessions of cars.  One week after he had the phone he called me.  Told me the phone saved his life because when he was repossessing a car the owner came out and started shooting at him.  From behind his tow truck he called the police for help.  They came and saved him!  That was the only sale every made by me.  We folded up the company and watched as the cell phone of today came into existence.

Have a great week...until next time...