Thief takes car's rubber duckies
By Andy Steinke, Dells Events
wde-news@capitalnewspapers.com-->
The Lake Delton Police Department has no suspects in a case involving the theft of rubber ducks from atop a woman's car.
Officer Michael Horkheimer was sent to the Kalahari Resort around 12:30 p.m. Saturday for a theft from vehicle complaint.
The Madison woman who owned the vehicle told Horkheimer that six rubber ducks had been stolen off her car.
Horkheimer
asked the woman if the ducks were magnets or stickers, the report said.
The woman responded they were neither, and said she would show
Horkheimer what she was talking about.
The two walked to her
vehicle, and according to Horkheimer's report, approximately 12 to 16
large rubber ducks were glued to the roof of the car and another 20 to
30 smaller ducks were glued to the hood.
The ducks on the roof
were mounted with glue and had silver balls glued around them. The ones
on the hood were glued to greenish-blue glass to appear as if the ducks
were on land or water.
The woman said two of the larger ducks and
four of the smaller ducks were stolen sometime between 7 p.m. Friday
and 3 a.m. Saturday.
One of the ducks, she reported, was an antique valued at about $20. The value of the other five ducks was approximately $26.
Horkheimer reported no damage was done to the vehicle when the ducks were taken.
Security
cameras that cover the portion of the parking lot where the woman was
parked were not functioning at the time of the theft.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Dream Journal 2-1-09
Last night I had an odd dream. There's a buddy of ours who works at Kwik
Trip in Onalaska at night so we go in there and talk to him every now
and then. His name is Todd.
Well Nicole and I were at Kwik Trip and she had been stealing like candy bars and small things when Todd wasn't looking when we were in there. Somehow the police had set up a sting operation to catch her in the act and I remember going in there and seeing Officer Proctor and Officer Jahr in a SUV in the parking lot. I had been in on this sting also, Officer Proctor asked me to go in to the pay phone and dial 0 when we were in KT and it would put me directly through to his squad phone.
So I get in there and tell Nik I had to use the phone and I saw her slip some candybars into her pocket while I was on the phone. We had driven her car up there and part of the sting was for me to leave the keys in the car while we were inside. I was talking to Proctor on the phone and then I told him we were getting ready to leave and he told me to come outside.
I walked outside with her and I noticed the two officers in the SUV driving as they were leaving the parking lot, and we walk towards where I had parked the car. We walked all the way to the end of the parking row, and then asked Nik where her car was because it wasn't there where I had parked it. We started walking back towards the door to Kwik Trip and all of a sudden Officer Danou comes cruising up in Nik's car in front of us and the other two in the SUV come up and block us from behind. Proctor and Jahr yank me out of the way and Danou grabs Nik and throws her over the trunk of her car and puts her in cuffs.
She screamed at me that I turned her in, and I said I had nothing to do with it, and she's screaming at Danou to get off of her as he's trying to arrest her... and that's about all that happened before I woke up.
Well Nicole and I were at Kwik Trip and she had been stealing like candy bars and small things when Todd wasn't looking when we were in there. Somehow the police had set up a sting operation to catch her in the act and I remember going in there and seeing Officer Proctor and Officer Jahr in a SUV in the parking lot. I had been in on this sting also, Officer Proctor asked me to go in to the pay phone and dial 0 when we were in KT and it would put me directly through to his squad phone.
So I get in there and tell Nik I had to use the phone and I saw her slip some candybars into her pocket while I was on the phone. We had driven her car up there and part of the sting was for me to leave the keys in the car while we were inside. I was talking to Proctor on the phone and then I told him we were getting ready to leave and he told me to come outside.
I walked outside with her and I noticed the two officers in the SUV driving as they were leaving the parking lot, and we walk towards where I had parked the car. We walked all the way to the end of the parking row, and then asked Nik where her car was because it wasn't there where I had parked it. We started walking back towards the door to Kwik Trip and all of a sudden Officer Danou comes cruising up in Nik's car in front of us and the other two in the SUV come up and block us from behind. Proctor and Jahr yank me out of the way and Danou grabs Nik and throws her over the trunk of her car and puts her in cuffs.
She screamed at me that I turned her in, and I said I had nothing to do with it, and she's screaming at Danou to get off of her as he's trying to arrest her... and that's about all that happened before I woke up.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Just Here
I have not been on here in awhile... but that's okay I guess because too
much of my time is spent on the Internet. I really have nothing else to
do, and it keeps me out of trouble so it could be a good thing, however
it's making me lazy.
With it being winter it's hard to get out and walk since it's pretty cold out recently, and no way am I going to ride my bike in this stuff... and the hockey rink usually has a ton of people on it and the park is closed at the times I'd rather be there skating LOL The last thing I need is ANOTHER citation for being in the park after hours! But since it was so nice out tonight, a friend and I did take a nice long walk around Onalaska... since there's sidewalks there we can't get accused of walking in traffic as seems to happen every time we walk elsewhere around the island. So we parked the car at Center 90 parking lot and walked up Main St to 2nd Ave and down to Kwik Trip at Oak Forest Drive, then walked back the same way. It was a little cold, but like 25 degrees and a little windy so it wasn't too bad.
And there were traffic stops like mad tonight in Ona! I swear there had to be 10 officers on duty there tonight.... on our way to KT there were 2 officers who had someone pulled over and hooked him and towed his car, and on the way back another officer had someone pulled over and was doing field tests on him.... hot and heavy up there... cracking down on DUIs it looks like, which is actually awesome! ZERO tolerance for that!
Anyways, I'm trying to get my old job back in the Dells working in security. I went back and talked to the boss the other day and he can't figure out why my security license was never sent to me because he paid for it to be renewed last August before I left. Told him I never received it, and he said if I had it in my possession he could have put me to work that night. So now I am in contact with the state Dept of Regulation and Licensing to find out why they never sent it to me, but absent minded me forgot to give them my credential number when I emailed them about it, so now I have to wait another few days to hear back about it.... I hate playing the waiting game. But I have a job as soon as I receive it. The morning I was down there I got called and asked for an interview at Northern Engraving in Holmen.... thought about that and decided that the manufacturing sector is not something that's very reliable right now in this faltering economy so I'm not so sure I wanna call her back or not. Wanted to wait and see what's going on with my security license first, because I'd like to stay in La Crosse but I have to go where a job is, and honestly, being here is not the best thing for me right now. I think it would be better to go back home and work through the summer and save as much as I can and when I settle on a choice for school, go from there.
Pretty much I'm just sitting idle right now. I'm working on my application for UW-L for the fall semester this year, and am going to plan a campus visit to UW Superior whenever my Dad wants to road trip with me, and I am still waiting for info from UW River Falls. Now it's just a matter of coming up with the money for the application fees; it's $44 per application.
I am so tired but haven't been able to sleep yet.... it's 530 on Sunday morning and I have been awake since 415 pm Saturday. Not sleeping much or well right now... dunno what's up with that. The friend I am staying with at the present time said it sounded like I was choking in my sleep this morning and asked if I have sleep apnea. My mother and brother both do and sleep with the apparatus thing but I haven't been tested for it... not having insurance kinda puts a hindrance on things like that... same with my teeth. I have NEVER been to a dentist and I need braces severely bad, and my wisdom teeth yanked out... the local free/reduced dentists around here all say they're not taking new patients right now and the one in Wautoma down by my parents told me I could come in at 8 am Mon-Fri and be seen as an emergency patient, but it's first come first served and she said there's no guarantee I'd be seen. So I've been dousing the wisdom teeth with Anbesol and Orajel and that usually numbs it for about a week til it starts bugging me again.
Yep.
With it being winter it's hard to get out and walk since it's pretty cold out recently, and no way am I going to ride my bike in this stuff... and the hockey rink usually has a ton of people on it and the park is closed at the times I'd rather be there skating LOL The last thing I need is ANOTHER citation for being in the park after hours! But since it was so nice out tonight, a friend and I did take a nice long walk around Onalaska... since there's sidewalks there we can't get accused of walking in traffic as seems to happen every time we walk elsewhere around the island. So we parked the car at Center 90 parking lot and walked up Main St to 2nd Ave and down to Kwik Trip at Oak Forest Drive, then walked back the same way. It was a little cold, but like 25 degrees and a little windy so it wasn't too bad.
And there were traffic stops like mad tonight in Ona! I swear there had to be 10 officers on duty there tonight.... on our way to KT there were 2 officers who had someone pulled over and hooked him and towed his car, and on the way back another officer had someone pulled over and was doing field tests on him.... hot and heavy up there... cracking down on DUIs it looks like, which is actually awesome! ZERO tolerance for that!
Anyways, I'm trying to get my old job back in the Dells working in security. I went back and talked to the boss the other day and he can't figure out why my security license was never sent to me because he paid for it to be renewed last August before I left. Told him I never received it, and he said if I had it in my possession he could have put me to work that night. So now I am in contact with the state Dept of Regulation and Licensing to find out why they never sent it to me, but absent minded me forgot to give them my credential number when I emailed them about it, so now I have to wait another few days to hear back about it.... I hate playing the waiting game. But I have a job as soon as I receive it. The morning I was down there I got called and asked for an interview at Northern Engraving in Holmen.... thought about that and decided that the manufacturing sector is not something that's very reliable right now in this faltering economy so I'm not so sure I wanna call her back or not. Wanted to wait and see what's going on with my security license first, because I'd like to stay in La Crosse but I have to go where a job is, and honestly, being here is not the best thing for me right now. I think it would be better to go back home and work through the summer and save as much as I can and when I settle on a choice for school, go from there.
Pretty much I'm just sitting idle right now. I'm working on my application for UW-L for the fall semester this year, and am going to plan a campus visit to UW Superior whenever my Dad wants to road trip with me, and I am still waiting for info from UW River Falls. Now it's just a matter of coming up with the money for the application fees; it's $44 per application.
I am so tired but haven't been able to sleep yet.... it's 530 on Sunday morning and I have been awake since 415 pm Saturday. Not sleeping much or well right now... dunno what's up with that. The friend I am staying with at the present time said it sounded like I was choking in my sleep this morning and asked if I have sleep apnea. My mother and brother both do and sleep with the apparatus thing but I haven't been tested for it... not having insurance kinda puts a hindrance on things like that... same with my teeth. I have NEVER been to a dentist and I need braces severely bad, and my wisdom teeth yanked out... the local free/reduced dentists around here all say they're not taking new patients right now and the one in Wautoma down by my parents told me I could come in at 8 am Mon-Fri and be seen as an emergency patient, but it's first come first served and she said there's no guarantee I'd be seen. So I've been dousing the wisdom teeth with Anbesol and Orajel and that usually numbs it for about a week til it starts bugging me again.
Yep.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Need A Title
I've been wanting to go back to school basically since I graduated from
WTC in May of 2007. Several people I was in contact with had told me
that it wasn't worth my time and money to go on to school because I will
never work in law enforcement. I barely made it through my degree
program at Western to begin with... I was told several times by my
instructors in my final semester that if I missed ANY more classes they
wouldn't let me graduate. Then came a time when I knew I wasn't going to
work in the CJ system anywhere, but wanted to finish school just to say
I finished something. I was also the first one in my family to attend
college, let alone graduate from college. When I was in high school, I
had no direction for a future whatsoever. So just to go and finish
something that was an overwhelming struggle at times was a HUGE
commitment and honor.
But now I would like to go back. I've been through several struggles in my lifetime, and I'm only a quarter of a century old but I have so many interests and dreams and ambitions I feel like there's not enough time to do it all so I just give up and say why do any of it?
What the heck? I'm gonna do it anyway. I would like to major in Sociology and minor in Criminal Justice because even though I may never be able to work patrol or as an officer as I had originally wanted to do since I was 7 years old, with a Bachelor's in Sociology I can still work alongside these careers just not in the same capacity.
I am also interested in Journalism and photography (I miss my camera BIG time!!!) and would love to maybe find a college that I can do a double minor in with journalism and CJ, it's a possibility since I already went to TC for CJ, many of those credits may transfer. Honestly I have no idea what I am doing because again, I somewhat have no direction except from what I've been praying about. Just trying to take one day at a time and let God lead where he wants me.
I've also been researching looking in youth services. I decided last year that I would like to work with at risk youth in some way although not sure how. I have figured out that the La Crosse area would truly benefit from a place for young adults who don't drink to go and hang out at night to keep them out of trouble. Think about it... for 18-21 year olds first of all, those who are old enough to be out of the house at night but not old enough to be in a bar. Second, for those of age who do not drink, where is there to go just to hang out in this town after say, 10-11 at night? There is none. The YMCA is full of little kids and families (in my experience) plus they close at 9-10 pm, all the coffee shops in the area are closed by 11 pm, there's the skating rink on the south side of town that's also closed early at night, the mall is closed by 10, what's left to do? Cause trouble... and the local agencies wonder why there is such a large problem with underage drinking in this area.... drinking in general is a major issue around here.
So some friends and I got to talking and feel this city would benefit from a non alcoholic night club. Or considered having a roller rink during the late afternoon/evening hours and dance floor at night. Just a safe place to go to hang out, relax, enjoy yourself with friends, listen to awesome music, have a good time. And be open til 2-3 a.m. every night. I think it would be awesome.
But now I would like to go back. I've been through several struggles in my lifetime, and I'm only a quarter of a century old but I have so many interests and dreams and ambitions I feel like there's not enough time to do it all so I just give up and say why do any of it?
What the heck? I'm gonna do it anyway. I would like to major in Sociology and minor in Criminal Justice because even though I may never be able to work patrol or as an officer as I had originally wanted to do since I was 7 years old, with a Bachelor's in Sociology I can still work alongside these careers just not in the same capacity.
I am also interested in Journalism and photography (I miss my camera BIG time!!!) and would love to maybe find a college that I can do a double minor in with journalism and CJ, it's a possibility since I already went to TC for CJ, many of those credits may transfer. Honestly I have no idea what I am doing because again, I somewhat have no direction except from what I've been praying about. Just trying to take one day at a time and let God lead where he wants me.
I've also been researching looking in youth services. I decided last year that I would like to work with at risk youth in some way although not sure how. I have figured out that the La Crosse area would truly benefit from a place for young adults who don't drink to go and hang out at night to keep them out of trouble. Think about it... for 18-21 year olds first of all, those who are old enough to be out of the house at night but not old enough to be in a bar. Second, for those of age who do not drink, where is there to go just to hang out in this town after say, 10-11 at night? There is none. The YMCA is full of little kids and families (in my experience) plus they close at 9-10 pm, all the coffee shops in the area are closed by 11 pm, there's the skating rink on the south side of town that's also closed early at night, the mall is closed by 10, what's left to do? Cause trouble... and the local agencies wonder why there is such a large problem with underage drinking in this area.... drinking in general is a major issue around here.
So some friends and I got to talking and feel this city would benefit from a non alcoholic night club. Or considered having a roller rink during the late afternoon/evening hours and dance floor at night. Just a safe place to go to hang out, relax, enjoy yourself with friends, listen to awesome music, have a good time. And be open til 2-3 a.m. every night. I think it would be awesome.
Monday, January 12, 2009
I Just Feel Like Ranting
Yep. I do. So I'm gonna.
I broke it off with Josh last night. Well, I guess it kinda went both ways. He said to me on Saturday night that he thinks our relationship is going too fast and he wants us to still be friends and all but we need a break from each other. OK I said, and then last night he was seeming rather down and out so I asked him why he thought that and I got the truth out of him. He says everyone he knows thinks I am using him because he offers to pay for things and I don't pay him back. Recently he said he understands that I am not working and he don't mind putting gas in my tank so I can come pick him up so we can see each other and all, and he's taken us out to dinner a couple times. But I never asked for ANYTHING from him, and he's expecting re-payment for all this, saying I owe him like $400 for everything. Um, I'm kinda confused.
Then he said his family hates me and he's never given me a chance to meet any of them and he said they hate me because I'm using him. Then he said everyone in my family can fuck off and so at that point I said I wasn't going to argue with him anymore and I logged off line. He was also saying that I can't stay out of trouble for more than 20 minutes, even though I haven't been in trouble in over a week because I got pulled over last Sunday so I guess a week is 20 minutes to him, and then my roomate started texting him and he said I involve everybody and that's why he's done. I didn't even know she was texting him, but he didn't believe me. Whatever, I'm sick of arguing with him all the time and I'm always afraid when I talk to him that I'm going to say the wrong thing that sets him off like I apparently did tonight. Anyways, I've always said about any guy who I date that once they cross the family line they can expect to not be a part of it and once he said my family can all fuck off I told him that how can he say he will always love me if he treats me and my family like shit?
Oh well. Enough of that. On to my next rant: Stupid landlords.
When I got out of rehab I was staying with Nicole over on the island and her landlord didn't know I was staying there, but was getting too many noise complaints from the bitchy neighbor. So the landlord drafted an addendum to her lease saying she could not have guests over between 9pm and 9 am and everyone in the building would know about that and let him know of any violations and the violators will be cited for trespassing and she would be evicted. The night he had her sign that a friend of mine and I were there, he said he would come over at 11 pm he shows up at 10:30. So we hide in the shower and he asks her if he can look around her apt and make sure no one else was there and she said NO. He went ahead and did it anyway and found us hiding in the shower so I got in his face and yelled that he was trespassing and for Nicole to call the police. So she did. The Campbell officer arrives with a deputy and they basically made her sign the addendum in front of them because he said if she didn't sign it he would evict her. Then the officer said he would write up areport and send it to the DA's office for charges of trespassing because he was. A couple nights later I called the officer to get a copy of the report and he said HE NEVER WROTE ONE and hung up on me. Asshole. I told Nik to move out and just be done with the landlord and all his shit. She is moving out this week.
And now the friends I'm staying with are having a similar issue with their landlord. She comes into the apartments and does "cleanliness inspections" once a month or something like that and throws a fit if the apt isn't clean to HER expectations, basically spotless. So I told them the same thing, just move out and be done with it because this lady is just the on-site manager, not the landlord, and she wanted to come in and take pictures to send to the landlord and my friend said no way so she yelled at us and slammed out of here and came back with a letter saying she was going to do another inspection this week and if the place wasn't clean she was going to evict them. Trying to tell them that if their apt is dirty it affects the health and well being of the neighbors. OK, um, it's not like there's rats and mold crawling up in here! If there were, then she'd have room to bitch. So same thing here. We're looking for a new place to live.
I think I should be a lawyer. The night before NYE Nicole and I were walking across the spillway and she didn't want to walk across the flowing water so she attempted to walk on the frozen lake. I told her not to because that was flowing water right there, it probably wasn't frozen solid right there next to it. So she steps onto it and CRACK! Down she goes into the lake. She went in kinda sideways up to her chest, grabbed my leg with one arm and I pulled her out with the other. She didn't want me to but I had to call for help because I was concerned about hypothermia and sheesh, she just fell in the lake!!! She was a popsicle by the time we got back to Fisherman's Road and the 1st Responders and ambulance got there almost 20 minutes after she was pulled out. It wasn't pretty. So the Campbell officer (same one I hate) shows up and said we were told earlier that night that we weren't supposed to be back there. I told him that wasn't true, because yes, the airport policeman DID stop us shortly before 11pm and ask us if we were going back there to help someone who's truck was apparently stuck in the snow. We said we didn't know anything about that, and he asked us where we were going and we just said for a walk, he told us to have a good night and went on his way. He never told us we couldn't be back there and also two other officers have told us last summer that we can walk back there after the gate is closed as long as we don't have a vehicle back there. The sign at the gate says "Road closed 10:00 pm to 5:00 am. Violators will be prosecuted." That's all the sign says.
So they take her into the ambulance and get her checked out, say she wants to go home she don't want to go to the hospital and since she didn't go all the way down that was okay I guess. Well then the Campbell officer tells us that a La Crosse officer is going to come up and write us some tickets for being back there after hours. He comes out and tells us that the airport cop told us we couldn't be back there and we said he didn't, told both officers exactly what he told us and he called the airport cop to verify it. Then I told the La Crosse officer that we've been told in the past by TWO other airport police officers that we can be back there as long as we didn't have a vehicle back there, also the sign does NOT specify that the road is closed to vehicles AND pedestrians. We told him to show us exactly what the sign says, and he did, that's what it says, so then he calls his commanding officer to ask him about that. He looked up the ordinance and said the same thing, that yes, it does not specify specifically to vehicles or pedestrians so he gave us a ride home and didn't cite us. We told him he could go ahead and cite us, but he was wasting paper and his time cuz we would fight them. So we got off on a technicality. :)
So then he asked why we were walking to Onalaska across the spillway. Told him because every time we walk on the highway we get turned in by cab drivers who are pissed because we don't pay them to drive us. We've also been told in the past that if we continue to walk on the highway we are going to start getting arrested, but there is no law against walking on the highway. FREEWAY, yes, that is illegal. Granted, walking on the highway isn't safe, but it isn't illegal either. I can't win.
Maybe it would be better if the busses ran that way all night, instead of just during the day working hours. Not everyone works 9-5 jobs. Or maybe it would be better if there was a bike path that went from the northwest side of La Crosse to the south side of Onalaska, instead of the one that winds all the way through the industrial park, which isn't well lit, well traveled, is very narrow, and heavily traveled by semis at night. Let me tell you, if something happened I would much rather be on the highway instead of back in the industrial park area where I may never be found LOL
So what's there to do in the La Crosse area at night? Everyone goes downtown. Well, what if you don't like to be around the crowded fighting-your-way-through-drunken-college students crowds? Where else is there to hang out at? The coffee shops that are all closed by 10 pm? The mall that closes at 9? The parks which all close at 11?
Then everyone says "stay home and watch TV." There's nothing on! 150 channels that I'm paying $80 a month to watch and there's NOTHING TO WATCH but then I feel bad that I'm not watching it because I'm paying for it.
And then there's "You have come to the end of the Internet..... please go back." I mean, there's only so much one can do.
So this city needs a non-alcoholic night club. That's open til like 3 a.m. EVERY night, not one that closes early on Sundays like everything else around here. Just a safe place to hang out and chill, that's not the street or a bar. Or have it be like a roller rink during the afternoon/evening hours and open to 16 or 18+ after curfew for a dance floor. The roller rink in the Rapids used to do that a couple times a month, have an 18+ night club with music and lights and games and just a fun safe place to hang out.
Honestly also, if you're between the ages of 18-21 you can't be in the bar. The YMCA and Boys and Girls Clubs all close early also, Perkins is open 24/7 but you can't just sit there all night without buying something so if you've got no money, where do you go?
OK that's enough for tonight.
I broke it off with Josh last night. Well, I guess it kinda went both ways. He said to me on Saturday night that he thinks our relationship is going too fast and he wants us to still be friends and all but we need a break from each other. OK I said, and then last night he was seeming rather down and out so I asked him why he thought that and I got the truth out of him. He says everyone he knows thinks I am using him because he offers to pay for things and I don't pay him back. Recently he said he understands that I am not working and he don't mind putting gas in my tank so I can come pick him up so we can see each other and all, and he's taken us out to dinner a couple times. But I never asked for ANYTHING from him, and he's expecting re-payment for all this, saying I owe him like $400 for everything. Um, I'm kinda confused.
Then he said his family hates me and he's never given me a chance to meet any of them and he said they hate me because I'm using him. Then he said everyone in my family can fuck off and so at that point I said I wasn't going to argue with him anymore and I logged off line. He was also saying that I can't stay out of trouble for more than 20 minutes, even though I haven't been in trouble in over a week because I got pulled over last Sunday so I guess a week is 20 minutes to him, and then my roomate started texting him and he said I involve everybody and that's why he's done. I didn't even know she was texting him, but he didn't believe me. Whatever, I'm sick of arguing with him all the time and I'm always afraid when I talk to him that I'm going to say the wrong thing that sets him off like I apparently did tonight. Anyways, I've always said about any guy who I date that once they cross the family line they can expect to not be a part of it and once he said my family can all fuck off I told him that how can he say he will always love me if he treats me and my family like shit?
Oh well. Enough of that. On to my next rant: Stupid landlords.
When I got out of rehab I was staying with Nicole over on the island and her landlord didn't know I was staying there, but was getting too many noise complaints from the bitchy neighbor. So the landlord drafted an addendum to her lease saying she could not have guests over between 9pm and 9 am and everyone in the building would know about that and let him know of any violations and the violators will be cited for trespassing and she would be evicted. The night he had her sign that a friend of mine and I were there, he said he would come over at 11 pm he shows up at 10:30. So we hide in the shower and he asks her if he can look around her apt and make sure no one else was there and she said NO. He went ahead and did it anyway and found us hiding in the shower so I got in his face and yelled that he was trespassing and for Nicole to call the police. So she did. The Campbell officer arrives with a deputy and they basically made her sign the addendum in front of them because he said if she didn't sign it he would evict her. Then the officer said he would write up areport and send it to the DA's office for charges of trespassing because he was. A couple nights later I called the officer to get a copy of the report and he said HE NEVER WROTE ONE and hung up on me. Asshole. I told Nik to move out and just be done with the landlord and all his shit. She is moving out this week.
And now the friends I'm staying with are having a similar issue with their landlord. She comes into the apartments and does "cleanliness inspections" once a month or something like that and throws a fit if the apt isn't clean to HER expectations, basically spotless. So I told them the same thing, just move out and be done with it because this lady is just the on-site manager, not the landlord, and she wanted to come in and take pictures to send to the landlord and my friend said no way so she yelled at us and slammed out of here and came back with a letter saying she was going to do another inspection this week and if the place wasn't clean she was going to evict them. Trying to tell them that if their apt is dirty it affects the health and well being of the neighbors. OK, um, it's not like there's rats and mold crawling up in here! If there were, then she'd have room to bitch. So same thing here. We're looking for a new place to live.
I think I should be a lawyer. The night before NYE Nicole and I were walking across the spillway and she didn't want to walk across the flowing water so she attempted to walk on the frozen lake. I told her not to because that was flowing water right there, it probably wasn't frozen solid right there next to it. So she steps onto it and CRACK! Down she goes into the lake. She went in kinda sideways up to her chest, grabbed my leg with one arm and I pulled her out with the other. She didn't want me to but I had to call for help because I was concerned about hypothermia and sheesh, she just fell in the lake!!! She was a popsicle by the time we got back to Fisherman's Road and the 1st Responders and ambulance got there almost 20 minutes after she was pulled out. It wasn't pretty. So the Campbell officer (same one I hate) shows up and said we were told earlier that night that we weren't supposed to be back there. I told him that wasn't true, because yes, the airport policeman DID stop us shortly before 11pm and ask us if we were going back there to help someone who's truck was apparently stuck in the snow. We said we didn't know anything about that, and he asked us where we were going and we just said for a walk, he told us to have a good night and went on his way. He never told us we couldn't be back there and also two other officers have told us last summer that we can walk back there after the gate is closed as long as we don't have a vehicle back there. The sign at the gate says "Road closed 10:00 pm to 5:00 am. Violators will be prosecuted." That's all the sign says.
So they take her into the ambulance and get her checked out, say she wants to go home she don't want to go to the hospital and since she didn't go all the way down that was okay I guess. Well then the Campbell officer tells us that a La Crosse officer is going to come up and write us some tickets for being back there after hours. He comes out and tells us that the airport cop told us we couldn't be back there and we said he didn't, told both officers exactly what he told us and he called the airport cop to verify it. Then I told the La Crosse officer that we've been told in the past by TWO other airport police officers that we can be back there as long as we didn't have a vehicle back there, also the sign does NOT specify that the road is closed to vehicles AND pedestrians. We told him to show us exactly what the sign says, and he did, that's what it says, so then he calls his commanding officer to ask him about that. He looked up the ordinance and said the same thing, that yes, it does not specify specifically to vehicles or pedestrians so he gave us a ride home and didn't cite us. We told him he could go ahead and cite us, but he was wasting paper and his time cuz we would fight them. So we got off on a technicality. :)
So then he asked why we were walking to Onalaska across the spillway. Told him because every time we walk on the highway we get turned in by cab drivers who are pissed because we don't pay them to drive us. We've also been told in the past that if we continue to walk on the highway we are going to start getting arrested, but there is no law against walking on the highway. FREEWAY, yes, that is illegal. Granted, walking on the highway isn't safe, but it isn't illegal either. I can't win.
Maybe it would be better if the busses ran that way all night, instead of just during the day working hours. Not everyone works 9-5 jobs. Or maybe it would be better if there was a bike path that went from the northwest side of La Crosse to the south side of Onalaska, instead of the one that winds all the way through the industrial park, which isn't well lit, well traveled, is very narrow, and heavily traveled by semis at night. Let me tell you, if something happened I would much rather be on the highway instead of back in the industrial park area where I may never be found LOL
So what's there to do in the La Crosse area at night? Everyone goes downtown. Well, what if you don't like to be around the crowded fighting-your-way-through-drunken-college students crowds? Where else is there to hang out at? The coffee shops that are all closed by 10 pm? The mall that closes at 9? The parks which all close at 11?
Then everyone says "stay home and watch TV." There's nothing on! 150 channels that I'm paying $80 a month to watch and there's NOTHING TO WATCH but then I feel bad that I'm not watching it because I'm paying for it.
And then there's "You have come to the end of the Internet..... please go back." I mean, there's only so much one can do.
So this city needs a non-alcoholic night club. That's open til like 3 a.m. EVERY night, not one that closes early on Sundays like everything else around here. Just a safe place to hang out and chill, that's not the street or a bar. Or have it be like a roller rink during the afternoon/evening hours and open to 16 or 18+ after curfew for a dance floor. The roller rink in the Rapids used to do that a couple times a month, have an 18+ night club with music and lights and games and just a fun safe place to hang out.
Honestly also, if you're between the ages of 18-21 you can't be in the bar. The YMCA and Boys and Girls Clubs all close early also, Perkins is open 24/7 but you can't just sit there all night without buying something so if you've got no money, where do you go?
OK that's enough for tonight.
Friday, January 9, 2009
It's Been 10 Years...
Since I was a sophomore in high school. Friday, Jan 9, 1999 is a day I will never forget.
As I stepped onto the school bus at the end of the school day, I could tell it was not going to be a good ride home. First of all, I had been shoved to the end of the line. Typical for me. Last one to do anything. Second, I could not find a place to sit. Every seat had 3 small children in it or two teens. There seemed to be about 30 extra students on the bus this night. As I was trying to find a seat to sit in, I heard students yelling at me to sit down and could feel someone unzip my backpack. Of course, the female bus driver was not doing anything about this, why would she considering she had began pulling out of the school parking lot before everyone (I) were seated?
The bus was loud, and I saw a young boy grabbing things out of my backpack and start throwing them around the bus. He was around 12 years old I think. I looked to my foster sister for help, and she was sitting with a younger girl, a cousin of the boy throwing my things around the bus. To no avail, she just kinda shrugged and looked away. Next thing I know someone grabbed my Taz stocking cap off my head and started playing keep away with that. I lunged for it as students were yelling at me to "Sit down!" Pissed with it all, I yelled "SHUT UP!" as loud as I could. The driver was still oblivious to what was going on 5 feet behind her and continued on down the road.
Next thing I know my face met a fist. 3 rapid strikes to the left side of my face, just above my eye, cutting my glasses into my face and sending me to my knees. Two children jump out of the way and I buckle forward in the seat, as this young man continues to send blows to the back of my head. 12-14 strikes to the back of my head and 3 to the front of my face before the bus driver stopped and yelled at him to sit down. She FINALLY stopped and pulled over. We were less than half a mile from the high school, right in front of the airport. The high school is across the street from the airport.
I did not get up. The bus manager came out and removed this boy from the school bus, and the driver continued on her way as if nothing happened. When it came time for us to transfer busses, my foster sister tapped me on the neck and I left without a word to anyone. When we got home, she ran into the house ahead of me.
Mom practically met me at the door: ice pack in one hand, telephone in the other. She called the bus manager (he is an old family friend who has known me practically since I was born) and the sheriff's department. A deputy came out and took the report and since it was a juvenile case said restitution had to go through Social Services and the juvenile system. We wanted him to pay for the damages to my glasses and a riped backpack and the calculator that was being thrown around the bus by his cousin. Then the bus manager called and claimed the young man told him he attacked me because I took HIS hat off his head and started throwing it around the bus. So... he gets kicked off the school bus for 3 days. I get transferred to a different bus route, luckily there were 3 that went past our house. I also remember that it was determined there were over 75 students on the bus that night with capacity for only 65.
But actually, that's not the best part. Monday rolls around, when I have to go back to school and face the evil jeers of my peers. I don't remember which period I had phys ed but we shared the gym with the varsity football coaches class. I was standing near the bleachers when Klaas walks by and asks about my black and blue face. I told him I was attacked on the school bus on Friday night. When he asked by who and I told him, he smiled and stated this student was in my teacher's 1st period gym class, when he also shared the gym with a senior class, most of who were varsity football players. He smirked and said that he would take care of it.
The next day by lunch, all I had heard about was how this guy was cornered in the gym by the varsity football team, apparently hung up by his underwear or dangled in some sort of way, and given the third degree about beating up on women.
A few weeks later I was walking to the softball field for practice and I heard footsteps running up behind me. I stop walking and it's the guy who attacked me and his best friend, who was a neighbor of mine. I used to babysit his siblings. He asked me how my eye was and said he was hoping to have the full restitution within a couple weeks since he was working with his mom afterschool to earn what he needed to pay back. He also apologized for what he did and when I asked him why he did it, he thought I was yelling at his sister to shut up. I just happened to be looking at her when I yelled it because she was sitting with my foster sister. Being a protective older brother, I can understand that, I have one also.
As did the tables turn... by Easter MY brother had moved in next door to this guy. He never told me what he did to him, all he said was that I didn't have to worry about him anymore. I told him I was never concerned about him but apaprently it had something to do with the entire trailer park ganging up on him... I have no idea.
However, with hanging out in that area with my brother throughout the summer, this guy and I did happen to become friends. Not close, but we hung out and did things together throughout the summer and it was the best summer of my life amid my teen years.
Yet the scars remain. His fist is imprinted into the left side of my head. My skull is permanently dented due to a big brother doing what he thought he had to do: protect his lil sis.
As I stepped onto the school bus at the end of the school day, I could tell it was not going to be a good ride home. First of all, I had been shoved to the end of the line. Typical for me. Last one to do anything. Second, I could not find a place to sit. Every seat had 3 small children in it or two teens. There seemed to be about 30 extra students on the bus this night. As I was trying to find a seat to sit in, I heard students yelling at me to sit down and could feel someone unzip my backpack. Of course, the female bus driver was not doing anything about this, why would she considering she had began pulling out of the school parking lot before everyone (I) were seated?
The bus was loud, and I saw a young boy grabbing things out of my backpack and start throwing them around the bus. He was around 12 years old I think. I looked to my foster sister for help, and she was sitting with a younger girl, a cousin of the boy throwing my things around the bus. To no avail, she just kinda shrugged and looked away. Next thing I know someone grabbed my Taz stocking cap off my head and started playing keep away with that. I lunged for it as students were yelling at me to "Sit down!" Pissed with it all, I yelled "SHUT UP!" as loud as I could. The driver was still oblivious to what was going on 5 feet behind her and continued on down the road.
Next thing I know my face met a fist. 3 rapid strikes to the left side of my face, just above my eye, cutting my glasses into my face and sending me to my knees. Two children jump out of the way and I buckle forward in the seat, as this young man continues to send blows to the back of my head. 12-14 strikes to the back of my head and 3 to the front of my face before the bus driver stopped and yelled at him to sit down. She FINALLY stopped and pulled over. We were less than half a mile from the high school, right in front of the airport. The high school is across the street from the airport.
I did not get up. The bus manager came out and removed this boy from the school bus, and the driver continued on her way as if nothing happened. When it came time for us to transfer busses, my foster sister tapped me on the neck and I left without a word to anyone. When we got home, she ran into the house ahead of me.
Mom practically met me at the door: ice pack in one hand, telephone in the other. She called the bus manager (he is an old family friend who has known me practically since I was born) and the sheriff's department. A deputy came out and took the report and since it was a juvenile case said restitution had to go through Social Services and the juvenile system. We wanted him to pay for the damages to my glasses and a riped backpack and the calculator that was being thrown around the bus by his cousin. Then the bus manager called and claimed the young man told him he attacked me because I took HIS hat off his head and started throwing it around the bus. So... he gets kicked off the school bus for 3 days. I get transferred to a different bus route, luckily there were 3 that went past our house. I also remember that it was determined there were over 75 students on the bus that night with capacity for only 65.
But actually, that's not the best part. Monday rolls around, when I have to go back to school and face the evil jeers of my peers. I don't remember which period I had phys ed but we shared the gym with the varsity football coaches class. I was standing near the bleachers when Klaas walks by and asks about my black and blue face. I told him I was attacked on the school bus on Friday night. When he asked by who and I told him, he smiled and stated this student was in my teacher's 1st period gym class, when he also shared the gym with a senior class, most of who were varsity football players. He smirked and said that he would take care of it.
The next day by lunch, all I had heard about was how this guy was cornered in the gym by the varsity football team, apparently hung up by his underwear or dangled in some sort of way, and given the third degree about beating up on women.
A few weeks later I was walking to the softball field for practice and I heard footsteps running up behind me. I stop walking and it's the guy who attacked me and his best friend, who was a neighbor of mine. I used to babysit his siblings. He asked me how my eye was and said he was hoping to have the full restitution within a couple weeks since he was working with his mom afterschool to earn what he needed to pay back. He also apologized for what he did and when I asked him why he did it, he thought I was yelling at his sister to shut up. I just happened to be looking at her when I yelled it because she was sitting with my foster sister. Being a protective older brother, I can understand that, I have one also.
As did the tables turn... by Easter MY brother had moved in next door to this guy. He never told me what he did to him, all he said was that I didn't have to worry about him anymore. I told him I was never concerned about him but apaprently it had something to do with the entire trailer park ganging up on him... I have no idea.
However, with hanging out in that area with my brother throughout the summer, this guy and I did happen to become friends. Not close, but we hung out and did things together throughout the summer and it was the best summer of my life amid my teen years.
Yet the scars remain. His fist is imprinted into the left side of my head. My skull is permanently dented due to a big brother doing what he thought he had to do: protect his lil sis.
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