Living & Working in Wichita Falls, Texas - Morning Briefing
Wichita Falls has a "sister city" by the name of Fürstenfeldbruck, located in Germany. It sounds like an intersection to me.
An officer was sent to the La Posada Apartments on East Scott on some type of complaint. I don’t remember what it was, but apparently things were going downhill. He wasn’t telling the complainant what she wanted to hear, and she was verbally going "up one side of him and down the other".
He called for my assistance and intervention. I arrived and observed that the woman, of Middle Eastern descent, was very upset. I asked her to explain the problem to me. She pointed to the other officer and said "This son of a bitch - - -" and I immediately started laughing. I think it was a combination of her demeanor, knowing the other officer, and who knows what else, but I just broke into laughter. She started laughing, the other officer started laughing, and before long, we had the problem solved. "Ice breakers" come in strange packages.
Back during last winter’s dark early evenings, I was leaving the Allred Unit, heading for home. I stopped at the end of the Unit drive (does it have a name?) to wait for a DPS patrol car, headed south on FM 369 to pass by. When it did, I got in behind him. He was traveling below the speed limit, and between the time I got in behind him, and the time he reached the highway (U.S. 287), he drifted over to the right, crossing the solid white line, twice. He crossed under the highway, turned left, got onto the highway, and headed toward Wichita Falls. He got up to about 55 MPH, and soon drifted across that solid white line again. I accelerated up to the speed limit and went around him. As I did I could see that he was fooling around with his computer! Now, you and I would have received a ticket for something or another if he had spied us committing the same offense!
I don’t know if it’s a good, bad or indifferent sign of the economy, but this morning I noticed that there were 5 or 6 people standing outside of the Easy Pawn on Seymour Highway, waiting for the business to open.
Saw a post on face book about someone throwing up in a public swimming pool. The posting party said they "shocked" the pool but it was still not ready to reopen. Now, as a kid, I used to swim day in and day out when we lived at Lackland Air Force Base. That was many years ago. Now, I avoid pools like the plague. Someone threw up in the pool? That’s just the stuff you can see! What about all the pee and snot that you can’t see? How do you sanitize stuff that was "just deposited" by someone swimming at the same time you’re swimming? Not me, buddy!
A few days ago the wife and I went to a nice Mexican style restaurant with a buffet. We patronize this place about 3 or 4 times a year. Yesterday, however, I was shocked, shocked to learn that this establishment participates in those horrible birthday skits, or whatever you want to call them. Employees were assembled, sparklers were lit, cheers were delivered, and mass dining was interrupted. Birthdays are like (insert favorite body part here), everybody has them! What’s the big deal. Want to have fun with your meal then take your ass to Chuck E. Cheese! Now, if you’ve reached your 100th birthday, and you can still down a Margarita, then by all means, let’s light the sparklers. But until that time, shut the heck up and let me enjoy my meal!
"Do you know if we have the Hillshire Farms Sausage with the Miller Beer in it" Overheard while scanning the WalMart radio frequency. Speaking of scanning, I’m listening to the Clay County Emergency Net on the 146.680 MHz repeater. I don’t know if it’s the reaper or my scanner but the net is so "tinny" sounding that it’s hurting my ears.
It looks like a Northside motel is undergoing a name change. It’s the one with the red roof just south of Maurine Street on the west side of the road.
The old service station in the 2700 block of Old Iowa Park Rd. in the Wichita West Shopping Center is undergoing a major renovation. I’m told that it will house a check cashing operation, possibly the existing one located in the strip at the same location. There’s a drive-thru window on the west side of the building, which has housed several auto detail operations over the last several years. It looks as though the incoming business plans to stay awhile.
A news report out of Tampa, Florida says that thousands of laptop computers were stolen from the Florida office of a private contractor for the U.S. military's Special Operations Command. The report said that surveillance cameras recorded 7 people loading two trucks for nine hours. How do you have enough time to load two trucks for nine hours at a building containing items that valuable?
Listening to all the fireworks last night, I got to wondering if airline pilots and passengers can see fireworks displays from above. I would think that they could.
Driving on Burk Road near the base brought back memories of long-gone businesses as well as some that have been around for a long time. The Missile Club on Burk Road has been in operation forever. Well, for a long time, anyway. It was there in the 1960s and it looks like it will probably live on to be a centenarian.
I remember a small pizza parlor in the shopping center just north of the main gate. It was in the portion now occupied by A Different Drummer Tattoo studio.
Amy’s Cleaners, near the Sheppard AFB on Burk Rd. has been around for many years, too! I had a few alterations done there way back when.
Some things we need on the north side of town:
First, what we DON’T need are more "chain" restaurants. It’s okay if you love chain restaurants, but you’ll have to promote them on your own website.
Another go-kart track to replace the two that used to exist years ago. One was on Sheppard Access Road just south of the Hubbs Animal Clinic. The other was just across the freeway from Hubbs.
A motorcycle rental business. There was one back in the mid 1960’s at a service station just north of the Sheppard AFB main gate. I think the building houses a tattoo studio now.
And how about a drive-in theater. There used to be one (The Twin Falls) on the south end of Sheppard Access Road, on the west side of the street. There was also one in the 4200 block of Old Iowa Park Road on the north side of the street. I don’t know the name of that one. What say, entrepreneurs? Anybody up to it? I wonder if Prez Obama is giving out stimulus money for drive-ins?
Nitpicking: Why do Amateur Radio Operators give their callsign, and then say "For ID" or "For Identification"? Example: "This is WW5XXX for identification". I'm thinking that the only reason a callsign was issued by the FCC was for the purpose of identifying your station. Sounds kind of silly to me.
Lana Sweeten-Shults’ "City Pool leaves Wichita Falls with summertime blues" was an excellent article in the 6-28-2010 edition of the Wichita Falls Times Record News. I had not given much thought to the need for another city swimming pool because I got my swimming done when I was a kid. I used to "live" at the swimming pool at Lackland Air Force Base during the summer. I won’t go over the details of the article but anyone can see that one pool, open for 6 hours for "open" swimming, is not enough for a city of 100,000. Solution: another city pool on the north side of town! How about that old Hawk Ridge Weed Farm on Loop 11? There’s plenty of room there for a pool surrounded by a nice picnic area with ponds.
"Suspect shot, killed during burglary" says the headline of the same edition of the Times Record News. Looks like they picked the wrong house to break into, if in fact that is what happened.
This Sunday’s (6-27-2010) contains an article on the continued efforts of WDSGlobal to staff it’s new call center at Airport Drive and I-44. Another job fair was held on Saturday and apparently the turnout was good.
At their website, WDSGlobal describes itself as the wireless industry’s leading provider of managed services dedicated to optimizing the mobile user experience. The company delivers technical support on behalf of many of the country’s largest wireless carriers and handset brands.
Wichita Falls is the company’s third site in North America.
Most will remember that the WDSGlobal building was the former home of the Budget / Avis car rental call center.
Even with the "good" job fair turnout, it sounds like the company is still short of its desired staffing goal, and I’m beginning to wonder if they will meet that goal. They may be getting plenty of interest, but working at a call center of this type is not for everyone. It takes someone with a little "snap", and I’m sure not every applicant is bringing that quality with them.
Heard an air traffic controller giving an airline pilot the latest World Cup soccer update. Nothing wrong with that, I guess.
Monitoring the aviation frequencies has revealed nothing particularly interesting over the past few weeks. It's business as usual at my local small fields - Kickapoo Downtown Airpark - 122.7 MHz (nowhere near downtown) and Wichita Valley Airport - 122.8 MHz. I never get much interesting chatter out of the military frequencies used by Sheppard Air Force Base , either.
I'm laughing at the people of Chicago, Illinois, a city with one of the highest crime rates in the world, who keep in office a man who is against the idea of allowing citizens to carry firearms for protection. I believe it's true that every community has the government it deserves.
Seat Belts vs. Texting While Driving - In my opinion, there is no doubt that the expenditure of time and money currently devoted to seat belt enforcement should be redirected totally to the enforcement of traffic violations caused by inattention due to texting.
Texting while driving clearly poses a danger to other drivers, pedestrians and property. Driving without a seatbelt clearly does not. The time and money expended in protecting citizens from themselves is clearly criminal in itself.
While there may be no current law restricting any type of cell phone use while driving, there are laws regarding the failure to control the direction of one's vehicle, as well as the failure to drive in a single lane. It is a rare occasion for me to witness someone who is texting while driving fail to commit one or both of these violations.
It's your police department and your tax dollars. YOU get to decide how both are utilized.
Many years ago I discovered that Formula 409 makes a good "contact" insect killer. I say "contact" because you have to hose down the critter with it for it to do him in. It's not something you spray around your baseboard, unless, of course, your intention is to clean the baseboard! I've seen this stuff stop Black Widow and Brown Recluse spiders in their tracks. It will zap a fly on the wall, or even drop him in mid-flight if your aim is good. Formula 409 spider-killer has got to be a great alternative for those who are members of the anti-pesticide crowd. You can spray away and not worry about poisoning the house, and if you accidentally, or on purpose, get it on a wall, just wipe it away and you've got a cleaner wall!
A recent article in the Wichita Falls Time Record News reports that the Wichita Falls Independent School District is facing a shortfall of over $300,000 this year. Hmmm, how much did the city pay for the Curtiss Jenny airplane that practically no one sees? Wasn't it in the $300,000 range? I’m a pilot and I have an interest in this sort of thing but I haven’t taken the trouble to see this airplane take its regularly scheduled flight around the city (yawn). How about a nice "artist's rendering" of the plane placed in the museum and also at the Municipal Airport for all, or most, to see? I think it would be a much better use of our tax dollars.
Arizona, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, Virginia and Colorado are all having difficulties with their pension plans. All are working on ways to salvage systems that may run out of money within a decade. The details of the trouble is not the point of this article. The point of this article is that we all better be thinking one, no, many steps ahead of any possible problems with our individual financial futures. One solution is to become involved in a home-based business. If you read the "extra income" magazines and tabloids such as The Biz-Ness Gazette, Shore to Shore, Ben Frank’s Almanac and others, you know that there are a world of possibilities when it comes to earning extra income. Sure, there are a lot of scams out there, but there are also a lot of legitimate opportunities.
I just found out that City View School (Wichita Falls, Texas) is now providing early training for those who want to be Correctional Officers at the James V. Allred Unit. At this time, the training focuses on only one aspect of being a Correctional Officer at Allred, and that is the "Highway Gate" position. It's one of my favorite positions and I'm happy to see such an interest in it. I've attached a photo of the City View Highway Gate Training Facility. More
I saw another report of a hiker killed by a Grizzly Bear. Why would anyone hike in an area frequented by Grizzly Bears, unless you have a proven, large-caliber Grizzly Bear neutralizer? An unarmed human has no chance in a tussle with a Grizzly. The outcome is always the same. I've seen the photos and they're not pretty.
Amateur Radio - How about hams communicating more with the public? The general public may know that ham radio operators do storm spotting, but they probably don't have a clue about work done for the so-called "served agencies" like the Red Cross or the County Emergency Management folks. Why not make the public your "served agency"? Individual hams can make their local neighborhood their served agency.
A convicted killer was executed by firing squad in Utah. There haven't been too many of these over the years. I remember the execution of Gary Gilmore in 1977.
The days are heating up and the snow cone stands are coming out of hibernation. I'm not mentioning any names or places, but if you see one of these establishments with an unsecured water supply container outside of their portable building, let them know that, until they get it secure, you will not be ordering any yellow snow cones.
The days are heating up and the snow cone stands are coming out of hibernation. I'm not mentioning any names or places, but if you see one of these establishments with an unsecured water supply container outside of their portable building, let them know that, until they get it secure, you will not be ordering any yellow snow cones.
Not too awful long ago, I saw a "tweet" from a person passing through Wichita Falls who happened to stop at our local Arby's. He reported that it was "Old, built in the 1800s, brutal!"
Drive-thru at the cleaners - Men, have you no pride? Just because they offer this service doesn't mean you have to use it. Get out of the car and get some exercise. Save the drive-thru service for those who need it!
According to an article in the June 5, 2010 edition of the Times Record News, a new KFC restaurant is opening near the Wal-Mart on Greenbriar. The owner of 35 KFC restaurants in the nearby 4-state area says "We saw the whole city was needing another KFC. We are hoping going in next to the Walmart is good to service that area of town." No sir, what we need is more locally-owned mom and pop restaurants that serve good home-style meals. The last thing we need is another chain restaurant. How does another chain restaurant enhance the uniqueness of Wichita Falls? It doesn't. But, that's just one writer's opinion.
I'm sitting at my favorite table in the lobby of the Downtown YMCA doing my post-workout blogging. The Y is installing security cameras in key areas of the building. The monitor for this system is located at the desk in the lobby. The weak point in the system is the location of the monitor. It is located behind and above the receptionist.
The receptionist is a busy person. To have to (1) remember that there is a monitor to look at and, (2) to have to turn around and look up at it, means that the monitor will not get the attention that management probably had in mind. There's a nice big spot on the desk that would be a perfect spot for the monitor, but they didn't ask my opinion. I'm not claiming to be a security expert, but this is just all wrong.
While I'm blogging away, a young man comes up to the desk and asks for an employment application. He is handed the application and then asks for a pen. He's not dressed for an interview. What if the "decision maker" walks by and sees this young man with his shirt out and pants all wrinkled? What if the receptionist is the decision-maker who is just sitting in while the real receptionist is on a break? Why would anyone show up without a pen for an event that is known to require writing?
Sitting at a table in the lobby of the downtown branch of YMCA this morning following my strenuous (not) workout. I've seen one each of my favorite slam targets already. One was the common Pot-Bellied "Clip Nerd", those people who can't complete a workout without a clipboard with their routine attached. The other is the Text-Toothed Bluetooth Geek-Nerd, who can't navigate the city streets, or the YMCA, without that gadget stuck in their ear. If only they were half as indispensable as they think they are.
The very best cake in Wichita Falls will be found at the Circle M Bakery on Old Iowa Park Road. This can be verified by my wife who suffers from a form of OCD (Obsessive Cake Desire). The bakery offers a one-serving size piece of cake, with delicious icing, for $1.25. So today we've decided to allow ourselves one piece each, every two weeks, as a reward for eating "right" for the rest of that period. We'll see how that works out.
So, a lot of schools across the US are going to 4-day weeks in order to save money. A recent newspaper article says that over 120 school districts have adopted this plan. This has got to be a parent's nightmare. I mean, many schools are tax-supported day care centers, aren't they? What will parents do about that extra day they have to figure out some sort of supervision for their kids? Glad I don't have to worry about it.
Fashion Police Needed at WFPD - Today I drove by a scene being investigated by several Wichita Falls police officers. One of them was wearing the traditional 8-point style police hat. I was surprised, what with so many of the WFPD officers wearing the tacky baseball caps. And then there's the bicycle cops. For some reason, I just can't make the "shorts / law enforcement" connection. The two just don't go together, in my mind. And those helmets? There's not too many things in the fashion world that are uglier than those bike helmets. Oh, well.
Received this invitation to a scam today : Dear Friend, My name is Mr Vincent Hong I have a offer which I need your assistant, your share will be 40%; please if you are interested do contact me for more details. my personal email:ec.vincent06@yahoo.com.hk - Vincent Hong.
Why everyone should have their own website - I get to write whatever I want, within the limits of the laws governing libel, of course, without asking the permission of any newspaper or magazine editor. I don't have to worry about any online service's Terms of Service. I can put my work in my words and not worry about having it edited by any other person. I'm not bound by any word limits, other than those imposed by my readers, who are free to stop reading at any point in one of my stories or articles. You may think you have a right to free speech on Facebook or some other social media site, but you don't. They can cut you off at any time they wish and send you packing to your own website to exercise your constitutional rights.
A newspaper article reports that Mexican drug smugglers are selling a very potent form of heroin for as little as $10 a bag. This "ultrapotent" heroin is so pure that it can kill the user instantly, sometimes even before they remove the syringe from their arm. So, what's the problem?
I like the Drudge Report and it's one of my daily stops on the World Wide Web, but I had to laugh at the way Drudge sensationalizes some of his headlines. Recently there was one that read "Man gets life in prison -- for stealing $4 package of socks". I didn't have to click on the link to know that the man didn't get life in prison for stealing a $4 pair of socks, but I clicked anyway. Sure enough, he was convicted of using a gun during the theft of the $4 pair of socks - something we call "robbery". He had just been released from prison not long before the $4 socks episode. What he was really convicted of was a serious lack of target selection skills. If you're going to risk life in prison, make it for a multi-million dollar heist and not a $4 pair of socks.
Fashion Police Needed at WFPD - Today I drove by a scene being investigated by several Wichita Falls police officers. One of them was wearing the traditional 8-point style police hat. I was surprised, what with so many of the WFPD officers wearing the tacky baseball caps. And then there's the bicycle cops. For some reason, I just can't make the "shorts / law enforcement" connection. The two just don't go together, in my mind. And those helmets? There's not too many things in the fashion world that are uglier than those bike helmets. Oh, well. I made one of a zillion "family disturbance" calls one day. When we arrived we found the husband laying down on the sofa. The wife was complaining that he wouldn't do any work around the house and wouldn't even try to find a job. I talked to the husband, who by the way, never left his supine position. He said his the wife just didn't understand that he did in fact do a lot of work, but that most of his work was "mental". All we could do was wish the wife good luck and move on to the next call.
One thing that sort of surprised me, during my short 20-year tour of duty with the WFPD, was the number of young men that killed themselves over a woman. A gunshot to the head was the most common method, but there we also a few who hanged themselves. A very sad situation, indeed. Actually, I think most people would be surprised at the number of people who commit suicide, for whatever reason. The obituaries in the newspaper don't reflect this type of death, and we only hear about the very newsworthy cases. Let me assure you, though, that it is a very common occurrence.
I remember a hotel manager calling to complain that an officer had issued a handicapped parking violation ticket to an out-of-town guest, and the guest was very upset. She added that this is why people don't want to come back to Wichita Falls. In so may words I said "Sorry, can't help them, the parking places are for handicapped people!". What I didn't say was that handicapped parking signs are easily recognizable in any city or state, and if our visitors are that stupid and uncaring, let them visit elsewhere.
Days after the 1979 tornado, a suspected looter was shot and killed by a police officer in the downtown area. The details of that incident are all fuzzy to me now, since I was not involved, but someone thought it was appropriate to write "Looter Death Squad" in the dust on the side of a patrol car. Oh well, I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Back in the days before "individually assigned vehicles", I was riding with another officer on the "Eastside" beat. The PA (public address) system on the regular car for that beat was defective, and emitted a high-pitched whine when you turned it on. The volume control would vary the volume and pitch of this shrill noise. We discovered that the noise drove dogs wild! The response of the dog-victims was varied. Some would bark like crazy. Some would chase after the patrol car. Some would seem to writhe in pain. One dog was running alongside the car, barking away, but still on the grassy area next to the sidewalk. He was so engaged in his pursuit that he ran into a tree. Sorry, but it was hilarious. I remember one officer, not me, placing a sticky note on the steering wheel asking the officers on the day shift not to have the PA repaired.
It was always frustrating dealing with people who wanted you to invent, then enforce, a law to cover their unique situation. They would feel that they had been wronged in one fashion or another and the police were the first agency they would call. I can understand that part. But when they were informed that their case was strictly a civil matter outside the authority of a municipal police department, and that small claims court, or even an attorney, would be the correct route to a solution, many times their answer would be "I can't afford to file a small claims case", or "I can't afford an attorney", isn't there something you can do?
People automatically think all police officers are experts on guns and cars. I can't count the number of times that I was asked about reloading handgun ammunition, or what's the best revolver, or pistol, or what size engine or type of carburetor does your patrol car have in it? Sir, I can shoot with the best of them with my sidearm, but that's all I can tell you. My patrol car? It get's me to calls in good fashion, chases down fleeing felons, and the air conditioner, heater and "good times" radio all work great. I keep it clean inside and out, and put "Armor All" on the tires. Of course the PD was full of officers whose lockers and homes were full of all types of firearms. They could tell you, without hesitation, the muzzle energy, muzzle velocity, feet-per-second and anything else you wanted to know about any ammunition or firearm. Many of these same officers were accomplished shade-tree, or better, mechanics who knew how to get that last smidgen of horsepower out of an engine. Sorry, but that wasn't me.
And then there's the donuts. How cops-donuts connection came about is plain to see, I guess. Donuts and coffee are a fast, if not so healthy, snack. It would seem logical that cops would stop at a donut shop for a short break, and if they had to suddenly get up and run to a call, not too much was lost. I even had a T-shirt that read "To Protect and To Serve - After Coffee". It depicted two cops leaning against their patrol car sipping coffee and munching on donuts.
Warning to Correctional Officers - Don’t eat in restaurants while in uniform. Don’t order fast food while in uniform, if they can tell which order is yours before the absolute last second. Don’t order food to be delivered to the prison. Tampering (to put it mildly) with the food of law enforcement and corrections personnel is a well-documented occurrence. How many of those food service workers either recently got a ticket, were arrested, or had a friend or relative who had an unfavorable "contact" with law enforcement?
How many of these folks have a friend or relative in the prison system? It’s not that they are food service workers that make them bad. After all, a lot of cops and correctional officers have friends and relatives in prison, too, but they aren’t the ones preparing your food!
Now, if you are a food service worker, you’re probably saying that you would never tamper with anyone’s food. I’m sure you, and most of your co-workers, wouldn’t. But just as in police work, where it only takes one bad employee to taint the rest of the occupation, it only takes one snot-burger to ruin a Correctional Officer's day. Trust me on this one!