Making it easy for the police

You gotta love it when the criminals catch themselves. It makes thing so convenient for the authorities.

A routine traffic stop turned into a police chase after police ran the car's plates and realized it was stolen.

...

Officers tried to pull the suspects over when the registration came back as a stolen vehicle out of Corpus Christi. They didn't get too far. The passenger was arrested as soon as he jumped out of the car and tried to run. As for the driver, he ran right into a mailbox and knocked himself out.

(from WOAI-TV)

Cuffing him probably wasn't very hard. Thanks, clumsy crook!

Someone who should think a lot before doing drugs

This is a whole lot of WTF from just one man.

A wild string of events on the Southeast Side led to a man's arrest Wednesday evening.

Police said the incidents started just before sunset when a couple of kids riding their bikes were approached by the 20-year-old suspect.

"He told us if we wanted to go smoke with him in his clubhouse and we took off," Julian Salazar said.

Police said the suspect chased the kids and also asked them to "have sex," but then headed back to the road and started to throw punches at moving cars.

"Apparently our suspect was acting aggressively and irrationally towards vehicles driving by, swinging at them, trying to hit cars," Sgt. Trey Roussel with the San Antonio Police Department.

Police said the man even jumped into someone's vehicle. "As I was getting out he jumped in and asked me to take him somewhere and I was not going to. In self-defense, I punched him and he jumped out," said Raymond Gleason.

(from KSAT-12)

The police eventually caught him. And guess what? He had been doing drugs.

Surprised?

Someone who should be a little more suspicious

If your friend asks you to drive him to an apartment complex to pick up some things, and then he asks you to wait by a dumpster (you know, kind of hidden away in the parking lot), and then he returns with a couple of major electronic pieces, you might want to ask him -- perhaps -- what the hell he is doing.

Police say a burglary suspect conned his driver into giving him a ride to his next crime.

According to an arrest warrant, 21-year-old Michael Gonzalez asked a woman take him to the 10300 block of Sahara on Nov. 29 to pick up some belongings. The driver told police he had her wait near a dumpster at the apartment complex.

A short time later, Gonzalez came from the apartment carrying two large televisions. The driver told police she didn't think anything was suspicious, since it was in the middle of the day.

Unbeknownst to her, she was his get away ride from an apartment break-in.

(from KENS 5)

Next time, tell him to take a cab.

Turning off the lights

Maybe the tree rats hate the new, ugly, Seuss-like River Walk lights, too.

Pesky rodents are chewing through the city's Riverwalk lights display, leaving some visitors disappointed with the views.

According to Paula Stallcup, the city's director of downtown operations, a city contractor is replacing faulty or damaged lights twice a week, in an effort to maintain the popular display.

The city recently finished a $580,000 [*choke* --ed.] switch to LED lights on the Riverwalk, and has already had problems with light banks shorting out because of moisture.

"The people that come down here, the tourists, they come for the lights, and since they switched to the LEDs, a lot of them have been disappointed," said Carlos Delgado, a manager at Rio Rio Cantina on the Riverwalk.

Stallcup said the squirrels weren't a problem before the switch to LED lights because the traditional lights dangled from the ends of branches. The LED lights are wrapped around tree trunks, which makes them more accessible to wildlife, Stallcup said.

(from KSAT-12)

Or maybe the tree rats like the new lights better. Perhaps they are more tasty than the pretty ones that came before.

Calling B.S. on a fundraiser

I hate to be a wet blanket, especially when the charity seems so worthy, but I doubt that these beasts are truly artistes.

A rescue organization inundated with animals suffering because of the drought is getting creative for its upcoming fundraiser. The animals Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation has nursed back to health are creating works of art to raise money for the organization.

The first ever "Artistic Animals" fundraiser earlier this month was so popular, organization employees decided to have an encore show. The first show sold out in 20 minutes.

Domestic and wild animals have been playing with non-toxic paint to create 41 pieces of art. The animals are attracted to the smell and texture of the paint, explained supervisor Kimberly Stephens. She said it's an "enrichment" activity that the animals enjoy while they are in captivity.

(from WOAI-TV)

I notice "enrichment" is in sarcasm quotes. Or are they scare quotes?

You decide.

Not paying very much attention

Didn't something like this happen not too long ago?

Traffic in the downtown area came to a halt Monday morning after an 18-wheeler got stuck under a bridge at Roosevelt and South St. Mary's Street.

The rig's driver told police she was looking for her CPS unit [sic] and failed to see the warning signs, causing her to crash the top of the truck aginst [sic] the railway bridge around 4:30 a.m.

(from KSAT-12)

Why, yes. Something like this did happen not too long ago.



Lesson #1 for driving a truck on the South Side: Be careful on Roosevelt Street, and pay attention to the signs.

And trade in your CPS unit for a much more functional GPS unit.

Protesting ... what, again?

Somebody please remind me what the Occupy folks are supposed to be protesting. Or standing up for. Or whatever.

Because it sure seems to me like they just can't stand success. Anybody's. And they don't seem to want the Alamo City thrive.

The local [Occupy] group said Saturday that it will march to the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce for a peaceful demonstration at 3 p.m. Monday. Its purpose is to show solidarity with movements including Occupy Oakland, which shut down its local port in early November and called the latest blockade to support longshoremen in Longview, Wash., in their dispute against Export Grain Terminal.

In a general assembly meeting, Occupy San Antonio voted to take a local union's suggestion to protest where it can.

“Even though the Chamber of Commerce supports local businesses, they spend a lot of time supporting the bigger corporations,” said Meghan Owen, 30, an Occupy San Antonio facilitator. “Large corporations are gaining footholds in our community, and that's not necessarily a good thing.”

(from the Express-News)

It's not necessarily a bad thing, either.

In fact, I'll say it is a good thing. It means that other companies find the San Antonio area a good place to invest their businesses in. Which brings jobs. And growth. And general prosperity for the city and the governmental entities that rely on growth for more revenues.

Don't get me wrong, the success of local businesses is a good thing, too. But we also need big businesses. Do you really think the city is going to keep growing if we just ask for more taco trucks and bike rental places and tell any potential Toyotas that we don't want their kind around? Really?

Tell me I'm wrong about this. Because it sure seems that the Occupiers just don't give a damn about anyone else, which makes it hard to argue that they represent the 99 percent of whatever.

“Even though the Chamber of Commerce supports local businesses, they spend a lot of time supporting the bigger corporations.”

So, damn them. I guess.

Feuding with the neighbors

With dog poop.

And pepper spray.

Candice Singh says the feud started three years ago when she caught her neighbor tossing dog poop into her yard.

Ever since, Singh said there have been rocks thrown, more poop tossed, vandalism, spit and numerous calls to police. ...

On Tuesday, Singh said she was sweeping the poop out of her yard and into the street [Into the what? Where? --ed.] outside her Joseph Phelps home [Her what home? --ed.]. Video from a surveillance camera shows neighbor Leticia Rodriguez walk up to Singh with a broom in hand. But Rodriguez wasn't only carrying a broom. She was also holding onto a can of pepper spray.

Surveillance video shows Rodriguez spray her neighbor right in the face.

"It burned," Singh said. "I could not breath [sic]. I was immediately throwing up."

Then Rodriguez put her broom to work.

"I couldn't see, and she's still sweeping poop on me while I'm in pain from the mace," Singh said. "And she got it in my mouth, also."

(from KENS-5)

I hope she means pepper spray got in her mouth. That would be uncomfortable, for sure, but the alternative would be quite gross.

But possibly not surprising.

Getting fired

Isn't this a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't kind of situation?

Natalie Johnson is a 27-year-old student and, until last week, worked at the River Center Macy's.

On Nov. 30, a teenager shopping caught her attention.

"I made sure to keep an eye on him because he was shopping for women's clothing," remembered Johnson.

She said she was convinced the shopper was a man. So when she saw him in the women's dressing room, she told him he couldn't change there.

...

But the group of people he was with supported the shopper, arguing Macy's policy allows transgender people to change in the fitting room of the gender they associate with.

...

Johnson said she was let go.

...

A response from the retail giant said, "Macy's does not comment on personnel matters. At Macy's, we recognize and appreciate the diversity of our customers and associates."

(from KSAT-12)

All my life I grew up with the notion that if a man tried to enter a restroom, locker room, or any other space set aside exclusively for women, that man would be soundly mocked, ridiculed, and possibly arrested. But now, apparently, all a man needs do is identify himself as transgender and he can go anywhere. At least in Macy's.

I feel a bit sorry for the employee. If she had adhered to company policy (which she was well aware of) and allowed a man into a women-only area and something bad had happened, then she would have been vilified for that. And the company as well. Instead, she ignored the policy and acted according to her beliefs and convictions.

And she got fired for it.

But at the same time I'm not sure how sorry I feel for Ms. Johnson. Her actions were carried out with full knowledge of the possible consequences, and that's a choice she made. But one thing this incident does show is that Macy's doesn't seem to want her kind of diversity.

Car crashes into house

This just goes to show, you cannot -- I repeat, cannot -- rely on the vehicle to take over for you while you take a nap. They hate houses too much to care.

Police said the 30-year-old woman who was behind the wheel told them she fell asleep around 4:30 a.m., causing her vehicle to go out of control in the 600 block of North Colorado Street.

The SUV took out a chain link fence and cut a path through the front yard of one home, then came to rest against the front wall of the house next door.

A woman who lives there said her bed is located on the other side of the wall that was hit.

While the crash startled her, she said she was not hurt. Her front steps stopped the SUV from entering her home.

(from KSAT-12)

And they hate fences, too. Though apparently the front stoop proved too much for this particular SUV.

Milk!

Did someone order a shake on the South Side?

Rainfall wasn't the only thing making roads slick Monday morning. One major street was covered in milk, as well.

About 15 plastic crates full of milk cartons apparently fell from a delivery truck.

It happened on eastbound Southcross underneath I-35 at about 5 a.m. Monday.

Apparently no one was crying over the spilt milk. Police couldn't find the truck that lost the milk delivery.

(from KENS-5)

I think the driver of that truck just plum forgot about the mishap.

He was drinking Milk of Amnesia.