Thursday, July 06, 2006

Punks

Some people's kids...

So, Carrie and I decided to take a spin around town, on a bike path and through a park on the afternoon of the 4th. As we turned onto the bike path, we could hear some profanities being yelled. Slowing to a stop near two thirty something male walkers, we observed a fifty or sixty something male and four teen males yelling at each other. I asked Carrie to hold up for a minute and asked the walkers what was going on. Apparently the four youths had been vandalizing a sign in the nature style park next to the bike path and the fifty/sixty male was confronting them about their misdeeds. We decided to stick around to see how things were going to pan out.

The fifty/sixty male didn't look completely helpless and I had him pegged for a former member of Uncle Sam's Misguided Children. He wasn't going to back down at all until these creeps had vacated the area. If the youths had decided to throw down on this man, there would have been some van-dammeage on both sides. My sticking around was less of a curiousity and more of a safety net for the fifty/sixty male, though it was entertaining to see these four profane little creeps back down from one man like that.

When the youths had backed far enough down the path, fifty/sixty male broke contact and walked towards those of us who were observing. The youths kept backing out of the park, but their volume increased along with their hand gestures and crotch-grabbing. What also increased was the issuance of racially motivated epithets, along with cries of racism. What was even more strange is that theyse angry youths even began directing their cries and finger-pointing at those of us who were just observing. The hypocrisy was hysterically funny and Carrie and I just laughed at it all.

The fifty/sixty thanked me for sticking around until the situation was diffused enough to not become a physical confrontation. Carrie and I then pedaled down the path to the park and almost immediately saw two police cars parked close by. I told Carrie we should go tell the officers what had just transpired and we did. The officers thanked us and then headed out of the park to contact those silly little creeps.

Later, we saw one of the police cars parked where the path intersects the street the youths had been headed for. The officer appeared to be doing some paperwork, hopefully a few FIR cards to accompany his vandalism report. Angry little buggers like those kids need to be identified. It's akin to shining a light on cockroaches.

JD

Independence Day

To celebrate Independence Day 2006 and my independence from the car culture, I rode my bicycle home from work with no hands on the handlebars. The streets were empty and I managed to catch every traffic signal green. It was nice.

JD