Evans writes bs letter to parents about school saftey

Evans writes a letter to parents ensuring them that their school district is safe from harm.

Grimshaw and Evans blame parents for disruptive children; wants them to monitor their Facebook activity

Here is the article in question.

http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/Fighting-CP-120912

This is a very interesting read.  In the first page of the article, Evans and Grimshaw blame Facebook for having drama and other problems that students are posting about.  Evans failed to bring up at least one incident of anything linked to Facebook.  Both Evans and Grimshaw agree to having the students' Facebook accounts monitored by parents.  Talk about huge privacy issues.  

The second page of the article splits off into blaming the parents for the students' disruptive behavior.  Both Evans and Grimshaw blames that the problems start at home and that the parents and students would need to work with their school in order to resolve the problem.

Smooth move, Burlington Community School District.  Same goes with the 4+ students who committed suicide in the West Burlington School District.

Hoelzon talks about how students wouldn't be fighting if there is no crowd watching them.  That is crap.  Students will dish it out whether there is anyone there or not.  Someone aggravated enough would be willing to attack them whether in a crowd or not.

As for the 'bathroom moderating', get the hell out of the bathrooms, punk.  There is no reason for this person to 'investigate' an opposite sex's bathroom.  That goes beyond policy.

Stupid Saturday: 11/03/2012

Here is today's stupid person.

The story:

Link to story: http://www.kwqc.com/story/19990584/former-knox-county-auxiliary-deputy-charged-with-misconduct-and-theft

My take on it:

This guy has to be a complete moron.  How would he assume that he wouldn't get caught?  Why did he spend $3000 worth of stuff with stolen money if he's working at a job that pays him much more than that?

  

I hope the judge goes through placing charges on this idiot.   

Surveys shown that Burlington High School is unsafe; proof that security cameras aren't helping

According to the 2011 and 2012 Burlington Index Report, the Burlington High School's safe school index is at a low.  You can find the reports here.  http://www.burlington.k12.ia.us/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=42&Itemid=58

2011

2012

Despite having cameras all around the school and the doors of classrooms and entrances are locked down since 2006, the safety index is still at a low rate.  

Its questionable whether there is any enforceable actions done to reduce the violence.  Its also questionable about whether these statistics are accurate or not.  For example, the 2012 version of the states that student's physical and emotional safety are high.  

Another thing to consider is that there is a statement within the documents that says that these are surveys.  In 2012, only 71% of students filled out a survey while in 2011 data shows no statistic of how many had participated.  The problem with surveys is that not all the students are always accurate and truthful.  Some rush the survey while some others lie in some of the answers.  

What makes this interesting of a statistic is the fact that despite the surveys being inaccurate in the most part, the safety index of the school is still low.  

I'm curious about the documents from before 2010.  Unfortunately, the BCSD's website has no statistics showing the safety from previous years.    

Third shooting occurred earlier this morning nearby Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot

Another shooting was reported earlier this morning at 12:00 AM

I'll bring more updates soon. 

Burlington Community School District website censors contact senators list; creates an incomplete list

I was randomly browsing the BCSD's website and I noticed that on their website that there are only three senators listed as contacts.

Link to the webpage.  http://www.burlington.k12.ia.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=297&Itemid=252

There is no excuse as to why the others were left out.  If they were listed based on how close they are in town, that wouldn't be a case either.  Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley are no where on the website, as well as the others in the other districts.

I know that one of the senators Dennis Cohoon had use to work at the Burlington High School.

Personal politics perhaps?

Shooting happening at 1600 block of South 12th Street.

Another shooting was reported earlier this morning.

Suspect is a black male wearing blue jeans with a black hoodie.  He is 6 feet tall.  News will be updated soon.

UPDATE: 3:30 PM

Suspect was shot and has tried fleeing into a house.

UPDATE #2: 10/29/2012 : 10:00 AM

The shooter was caught yesterday.

http://www.kwqc.com/story/19938165/burlington-police-make-arrest-after-shooting

Stupid Saturday: 10/27/2012

Thought I missed the day to post for Saturday?  Well, here is today's entry.

The story:

http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/Girlfriend-beating-10-26-12

My take on it:

That woman who attacked all those people must be pretty damn strong and well coordinated when it came to attacking and being intoxicated at the same time.

I'm confused why the hell there were two underage children out at this area at around 3:30 in the morning.  Not only it was passed their curfew, they weren't allowed to be at Sam's Speakeasy.  Sam's Speakeasy is basically a combination of a bar and a strip club.   Minors are prohibited from entering.  For some reason, the 14-year-old daughter and the boy were in the area and that Murphy tried pushing the daughter into the closet, which had to be in the strip club.

Either the children were there because their mother was there or they were doing some sexual-related acts.  I think its most likely the first choice.

Why in the hell did she pursue to attack the officer?  Was she trying to make herself look intelligent?

The story:

http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/Attack-102312

My take on it:

Talk about one hell of a dysfunctional family.  I'm curious as to what had started the conflict in the first place. 

Why the hell did a man attack his own sister by punching him in the face, especially in the middle of the night?

Why did it escalate of having Sawaan hitting Robert repeatedly with the bat, then attacking his vehicle?

Overall, they are all in the wrong, maybe including Leanna as well.  Leanna could have done something that wasn't listed in the story.  Then again, it had to be something serious enough so that she would have been charged for it.  Since it wasn't listed in the paper about her being charged, it may be more likely that she didn't do anything wrong and that she was attacked by her violent brother.

The Hawk Eye didn't submit article about shooting in today's newspaper

I checked into today's newspaper to see if the shooting was published in the newspaper.  There wasn't anything published.

The website still hasn't updated to the incident.  This is a snapshot taken at 5:57 PM today.

The Eastern Iowa Fireground complained about the lack of updates presented on their website.  They weren't sure whether it was presented into the newspaper or not.  The answer is that it was never published.

Recent shooter had checkered past

37-year-old Jermaine Carr of Burlington was captured by police after attempting to shoot two people and having a standstill in his home.  This is the man who was captured.

Carr had a criminal past.  He was charged as a sex offender in Cook County for two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault.

It was unclear whether he had other charges made against him in the past.

He is currently held in Des Moines County Jail and will be put on trial later this morning.

The Hawk Eye and KBUR failed to warn locals about shooting

During the shooting, The Hawk Eye website never reported it at all!  This was taken at 12:00 AM this morning.

The Eastern Iowa Firegrounds facebook page complained about The Hawk Eye about them not updating this information on their website when it was happening!

Not only The Hawk Eye failed to deliver the information, KBUR was floating the same boat as well!

Because of this, there was a lack of information being provided quickly enough to alert the public that live in the area about the dangerous gunman.  The only way people would find out about it is if they were informed by the Eastern Iowa Fireground Facebook page, a police scanner, or the word of mouth.

Two people are currently hospitalized.  More could have been in danger due to lack of information that could be provided to them on time.  Both the radio and newspaper industries has the best way of alerting the public through their website and on radio.  It's sad to think that these two areas aren't responsible enough in alerting the public in time.

Apollo school vandalist makes stupid comment; hilarity ensures

I was going through the account that uploaded the videos of the three teenagers that broke into the Apollo school when I came across a comment from the user.

There were so many problems with the comment made by the uploader of these videos.  

It was still governmental property because the building isn't owned by anyone and that is now technically owned by the city.  

The things they were doing in the area was indeed a combination of paranormal investigating and vandalism.  I don't believe that these individuals were solely 'exploring' the entire area.  Instead, they broke in, vandalized the building, and talked about paranormal-related stuff.

I liked how he didn't deny the fact that they got themselves lost.  In the videos, each of them had difficulty finding their way out.

Half of the comment that he made didn't make any sense.  Maybe those stupid stunts he had done could have impacted his intelligence more.  

Stupid Sunday: 10/21/2012

Here's the next installment of Stupid Sunday.

The story:

Although this isn't the entire story, I still wanted to link it.  http://burlingtoniowa.blogspot.com/2012/10/burlington-man-shot-two-people-on-loose.html

My take on it:

What the hell was this guy thinking?  He walks down a street and shoots a person, then travels down another street and shoots another person.  Why did he do that to innocent civilians?

I'm curious on the fact that he was able to find a house to take cover at.  I'm not sure whether he broke into a house or he owned it, he wanted to get inside for cover.  Thankfully, there wasn't anyone inside that was taken as a hostage, judging by the news that I have ingested so far.

What made this guy do it is unclear, but it didn't make sense in thinking that he would outlast the police, the tactical squad, and the detectives that surrounded both areas of town.

Hopefully the victims from the shooting would recover soon.     

Burlington man shot two people; on the loose with long gun

On Facebook, I noticed that the Eastern Iowa Fireground had submitted two posts earlier today.

The incident is occurring nearby the location of Grimes School at 1021 S. 10th St.

It isn't determined yet of what the man looks like, but he is carrying a long gun.  Long guns tend to be either a rifle or a shotgun.  It isn't clear whether he's carrying a rifle or a shotgun.  The suspect is currently at large and is advised to avoid the area.  He was last seen walking north.

 Its not determined whether the victims were killed or injured.

Some individuals provided details of what was being observed.

Updates will be provided soon.


UPDATE: 3:49 PM

An update from the Eastern Iowa Fireground Facebook page.


The suspect is located on the 500 block of Elm Street; one block away from Tom's Food Market.  The suspect is sitting on top of a house in the area.

UPDATE #2: 3:55 PM

It was confirmed that it is indeed a stand off.  Detectives and tactical team are responding to the scene.

UPDATE #3 : 4:14 PM

The detectives and tactical team are close to their location.

UPDATE #4 : 4:16 PM

The detectives and tactical team are nearby Central Avenue.

UPDATE #5 : 4:18 PM

Both of the victims from shooting are current at the hospital.  The suspect is at large and is sitting on a house. He was last seen running into the 500 block of Elm St.

UPDATE #6 : 4:27 PM

Both areas of 500 block of Elm St. and 1000 block of South 10th St. are blocked off.  Perimeters in these areas are blocked off.

Police scanner reports a 25 year-old male victim.  Shot 1 hour ago. He's pale, cool, and his pulse is cold.  Heart rate is 120.  Complaining about severe pain.  3 units of medicine delivered to the patient.  ETA in 13 minutes.

Here's the audio from the police scanner talking about the victim.

UPDATE #7 : 5:27 PM

The standstill is still continuing on.  Information was provided on what would happen to the fugitive once he is captured.

UPDATE #8 : 6:03 PM














It was confirmed that the tactical team is on scene and that both them and the officers have their guns drawn in the general perimeter.

UPDATE #9 : 7:15 PM









Most of the on-shift officers are back on regular patrol while some are at both locations with the tactical team.

UPDATE #10: 7:20 PM 

The dispatcher asked for all Burlington units report in as Code 1.

UPDATE #11: 7:45 PM






Suspect is in custody.

UPDATE # 12: 7:47 PM

Information about the suspect in custody is unknown.  Information won't be available until tomorrow.  Officers are still on both of the locations and probably will continue to be on location all night.

UPDATE # 13: 10:47 PM






The current condition of the two patients are unknown, but it is known that both of them were hit in certain areas of the body.

The police left the South 10th St. area recently.

UPDATE # 14: 4:51 AM

Suspect was identified.  Link to news story on website is provided.  http://www.kwqc.com/story/19877045/one-shot-a 

The 25-year-old man was flown to Iowa City hospital.  As for the woman, she was taken to the hospital and that she was grazed by either shrapnel from the bullet or wood from the door.

Stupid Saturday: 10/20/2012

Its been awhile since I last submitted something for this particular section.  Let's begin.

I would like to first take part on something that hasn't been reported anywhere.  I have observed some interesting details about this particular incident while waiting in the emergency room.  Keep in mind that the entry listed above was about the closest thing that I could find about a report made nearby a restaurant   The time could have been earlier and that he could have been listed as a Mental Subject listing.  Not all the details were given out on location.  Some pieces were missing.

Story:

I brought someone into the emergency room to have looked at.  As I waited, I overheard a phone call given to the desk that an officer is on route to the hospital with a patient.  The officer tells the staff over the phone that the man had a head injury and that he was handcuffed.  It was suspected that he could have fallen and hit his head against the curve.

About 10-15 minutes later, the man mentioned that he was cuffed against the inclined rolling bed.  He was accompanied by an officer, two nurses, and an doctor.  There was a suspicion that the man has a head/neck injury and he was bleeding all over.  The man was suspected to be intoxicated.  He pleaded that he didn't want to go back to jail.  The officer made it clear to him that he was under arrest.

The man's name was Mike.  He was about 6' 1'' to 6' 2''.  He had short blondish hair.  He had no shirt on and wore jeans and black tennis shoes.  He had black tattoos across his shoulders on his back.  He lives in the general area.

Mike tried escaping but failed because both his hands were cuffed on either end of the bed.  He occasionally screamed and cursed.

For a while, he refused to talk to a doctor nor cooperating with them in being taken care of.  He sat up mostly from his bed instead of resting.

Although Mike had taken his Tetanus shot just a couple of months ago, they have given it to him anyways. The nurse gave him one and told the man that it would be good for 10 years.  He resisted.  He became aggressive when the nurses were trying to give the man his shots. A nurse or the officer suggested tying him down because his legs weren't secured and he had been resisting.  The nurses weren't able to hold his legs down. One of the nurses mentioned that they had to slam him down on the bed. After the shot was delivered, Mike experienced pain from the shot.

Later on, there were some suggestions about having blood tests done on the man.  When they went in to test him, he refused to relax while it was happening.  They held him down and eventually had some blood drawn. Mike accused one of the nurses of hurting him while the blood was being drawn.

After the blood was taken out for testing, Mike said to the officer "Unlock me, dude."  He then said "Let me go, dude and I'll be cooperative."  The officer refused.  The man replied, "That's wrong, dude."

The officer made a suggestion about a "psyc transfer".  The officer then goes further into detail that he may or may not be wrong for him in needing one.  The ETA of when he was suppose to leave was 2 hours.  There was a mentioning about psychotic medication, but its unclear whether he takes them or needs them.

Mike later talked about wanting brown hair, then darker hair.  Eventually, he began to calm down.  The nurses may have satiated the man in order for him to calm down.  He then became more talkative.  He then says, "Two more left and we are done.  I can feel it, dude."  It wasn't clear whether it was the medicine he was talking about or something else.  The man cursed a lot, mostly the 'f'' word.

Later on, Mike was wheeled away to have a CAT scan done on his head and neck.  He came back within 10-20 minutes later.

Mike asked the officer to take off his gloves.  The officer wore blue plastic medical gloves.  He asked the officer over and over again to uncuff his one hand.  The officer refused.

The officer placed his phone and his ID back into his jacket.  It was then bagged up.

The officer later asked whether Mike wanted a band aid for his head or not.  Mike refused.  The officer then asked whether Terry Johnson was his emergency contact.  Mike refused to have the man contacted.

Mike asked, "Am I a convict?  You treat me like a convict."  The officer didn't respond back.

The officer talked to one of the nurses and wasn't sure whether someone else was involved or not.  According to Mike's story, there was a man involved.  The man was described as being white, stood between 4' 4'' and 5' 4''.  The incident supposedly happened nearby a restaurant, which could have been by Arbys.

The results came back.  His neck and head was fine and free from other injuries.  There was a suspicion that Mike may had a seizure outside the hospital.  They discussed about him being suicidal and something on the lines of cattle medication.  He eventually warmed up with some of the nurses and soon they began to talk and joke with one another.

The officer was called into the hallway to talk to someone on the phone.  After he was finished, he got off the phone.  He told the nurses that there was a lot of blood at the scene.

Mike later said, "You can't do this to me."  He then makes a statement saying, "I'm ready to die.  Not today."

The doctor entered the room and told Mike that he had some stitching done to his head and that he can follow up with his doctor in 7 days to have them removed.  The stitching could have been done shortly before or after the x-ray was completed.  The nurses then cleaned the blood off of Mike's face.

Mike asked the officer, "Am I going to prison?"  The officer replied that he was going to jail.  Mike then asked what his bail would be.  The officer said $300.  After the entire conversation was over and Mike was finished, all of them left the area.

Later on, the desk area reported that the man was still listed as being transferred to the psych ward.  One of the women then told the woman that was typing the information out that they had forgotten to have the entry removed and that the woman should have it removed.  The woman on the computer then asked about why it was listed as forensics and whether he should be listed as being cuffed or not.  The others replied that it was forensics because of the incident and that he shouldn't be listed as being cuffed.  The staff talked about the man being very weird.

My take on it:

I found it very strange that the officer was giving orders to hospital staff about submitting Mike into a psychiatric ward.  The officer isn't a trained psychologist that would be able to diagnose Mike properly.  The details about what happened at the scene were vague and incomplete.  The man had admitted out loud about wanting to die, which is a possibility that he was suicidal.  Because of the lack of information that was being collected by Mike's mental status, it was most likely dropped.

Since Mike has shown some resistance, there shouldn't be any acknowledgement in giving him much sympathy.   If he was drunk, had a cut on his head, bleeding everywhere, cuffed to his bed, resisted having his blood drawn and shots taken; he most likely had done something that he shouldn't have.  He could have either be involved in a fight with someone or even with himself.  It wasn't clear whether his story was true or was a lie.  It could have been a lie since he was intoxicated.

The nurses seemed a bit disorganized in cancelling the psych transfer for Mike, given the fact that they cancelled it about 20-40 minutes after he had left the hospital completely.  

Overall the entire situation was weird and bizarre.  

Story:

Here's the link from The Hawk Eye.  http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/Horn-pleads-to-meth-charge-101612

My take on it:

The children were removed from their house from a DHS.  The question comes down to:  how long did this worker know about the report and how was he/she involved with the children and the parent's case?  Was this reported a long time ago or a short time ago?  Who referenced this worker to have the child speak with this worker?  It was very unclear of how much time had passed before the girl spoke to someone, forwarded to a DHS worker, and action was taken.

Most DHS workers in this town tend to be very picky, irresponsible, and lazy.  When a report is made for a home full of children (like a run-down place), its most likely that it would never be investigated.  If it was investigated, most of the time the children would stay in the area.  Hell, this is the same department that recommended children in being babysat with an abusive babysitter named Betty some years ago.  That however is another story.  

I'm wondering why the hell the prosecutors had dropped some of the charges on the woman.  If she had all of these things pressed onto her, why the hell is she being let go for some of these serious charges?  Its safe to say that Judge Brown doesn't think things through in prosecuting people appropriately instead of half-assing it.

Although the woman is getting 14 years in prison, I believe that she deserves to be charged with the rest of the charges that were dropped.  That way, she would stay in there longer and would be out of society's way.

The Hawk Eye planning to start website subscription services on November 12

I came across to a column in today's article from The Hawk Eye.

http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/Delaney-101312


I find this rather annoying for them to do this.  We have to pay for every access of news on their website through the use of 'subscription services'.  The writer of the article basically compares The Hawk Eye with The Wall Street Journal and how The Hawk Eye should start doing subscription services despite individuals who can hardly afford anything in this town already.  That means no one without a free subscription cannot access the website, except for subscriptions and searching for an article that would be later used to be paid for (with only have one access use of it before you have to pay again to access the link).

Many people in the city cannot afford to pay for a subscription so they rely on the website.  Others use the website because they don't want to pay an extra subscription to their service because we are paying for the paper version and would like to have a electronic copy of an article or set of articles as well.

How much is a subscription?  How long would it last?  Would it grant access to past articles or do we have to pay extra to obtain each article?

I don't believe The Hawk Eye is doing this for the general public's favor.  I believe they are doing it for their own corporate greed.  Removing every access point for people who want to read the news for free is wrong.

Tim Scott blasting city council for lack of public non-agenda discussions, Fleming disagrees with the idea

A newspaper article was published in The Hawk Eye in regards to a comment made by former mayor Tim Scott.  http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/City2-100212

The entire conversation can be listened through this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bypvHHf-o8

The Hawk Eye never acknowledged about Robert Fleming's comments in regards to Tim Scott's discussion nor as the article discussed anything else about the conversation other than what was listed
.
After Mayor Davidson agreed with Tim Scott and the problem the City Council has with not giving feedback to the public about concerns, Fleming disagrees of it entirely.

Flemings opinion about people's discussions.
http://youtu.be/1bypvHHf-o8?t=5m37s

Fleming disagreeing with Scott's discussion entirely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bypvHHf-o8&t=6m29s

It makes me wonder why The Hawk Eye didn't add the disagreeing comment Fleming had made.  Maybe for re-election purposes?

Stupid Saturday and Sunday issues

I had some issues accessing The Hawk Eye website so I could find some articles.  Rest assured that I will submit them a bit late once I can get everything to work again.

Stupid Sunday: 9/30/2012

Its interesting given the fact that my first article that I was going to talk about was never published in The Hawk Eye.  I'm only assuming that the paper is covering up much of this ordeal.

http://theintelhub.com/2012/09/27/9-year-old-autistic-child-beat-up-by-police-then-arrested-for-aggravated-battery-to-a-police-officer/

My take on it:

First, my take on the fact that The Hawk Eye never covered this police brutality story about a local child that was assaulted by an officer.  Given the fact that this has been publicized for a few days, there is no excuse why this story was never run.  

For the teachers that reported it, that was stupid of them to do.  If the kid has a tendency in doing that, how did the teachers use to take care of the issue in the past?  Calling for an officer for help is downright idiotic.  Find a different way to deal with a student rather than calling the police on them for something like this.  Hell, this is even a special education class, which that stuff may happen in the past or even the present with other students.  What's worse out of all of this is the fact that the teachers never told the mother about what had happened to his son, where he was at, etc.  The mother would be worried sick if no one gives her any notice of his whereabouts.

As for Police Chief Robert Copley, he's a complete idiotic moron when it came to attacking the kid like that and then having the kid go through all that mess.

I hope to God this piece of filth of an officer is punished for his actions.  I hope the mother files a suit against this idiot of an officer.

If you feel like telling this officer your thoughts and opinions of the situation, his contact is found on the Qunicy Police Department's website.  http://www.ci.quincy.il.us/police/contact.htm

Story:

Here's the article from The Hawk Eye.  http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/Vehicular-homcide-021312

My take on it:

Levi did a stupid thing, thinking that he would get away with it scott free.  Not only he was trying to outrun the cops, he also risked the lives of others on the road.  He even had his best friend killed as a result.  

After reading the hearing information from the article, I thought it was best that he was convinced rather than running free in fear that he would do it again.  

Stupid Sunday

I decided to have Stupid Sundays too given the fact that there are plenty of stupid individuals in the local area.

Stupid Saturday: 9/29/2012

Story:

http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/baby-ran-over-by-mom-in-lee-county-092912

My take on it:

What I don't understand is this: How could a mother forget their child outside nearby a vehicle if she was leaving him/her alone on the property?  There were no details about the father or anyone else that would have watched this child properly.  Not only that, she didn't bring the child with him seeing that she already knows that this kid can walk.  Why leave the child alone on the property if there was no one that could prevent the incident or if a kidnapping were to happen?

Another thing that I was thinking was why she wasn't looking behind her as she was backing up?  Was she in a hurry?  We don't know the answers to these questions, but its a tragic that a mother of her age was too irresponsible to take care of a child.

I'm betting that Department of Human services would  be involved after this incident was published in the paper.  After all, the mother has another child that she is taking care of.

Story: 

http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/custom-rotom-scam-070512

My take on it:

I don't understand how the mother was able to detect that the loan the daughter was looking at was fake, but didn't take the $1500 scam seriously.  Having a scam asking to pay for $1500 worth of items first is one of the many red flags that would have been obvious that it was fake.

What I don't understand here is the fact that the daughter believes that she didn't provide the scammers any personal information to the online website.  That is total bullshit in her part.  She had to communicate to them in some manner in order to share her service that she had received, not to mention had to share her address in which the check had came into their mailbox later in the month!  The picture above even has the address to the person it belongs to.  She had to give them an address, name, and other information in order for them to physically receive the check.  I don't see the reason why the daughter is making this excuse.  Maybe she doesn't want to be the fault of everything that she had done incorrectly.

Where would the information go?  It would be stored and be used to advertise more spam to this student, not to mention that her information could be used in fraudulent uses.  Not only that information is collected by the victim themselves, the website can even steal her credit card information that is stored on the computer.  Seeing that she and the mother doesn't know beans about security and spam websites, it wouldn't be a surprise that their credit card accounts are being used by other scammers.

I'm curious where the hell she had received the $1500 within the month to use to pay for purchases in the first place!  Did her mother give her the money willingly or did the daughter have money from somewhere?  Its unknown from the article, but it raises questions to where the daughter was able to get the money from to spend on something that she ironically needed money for in her student loans and for a student loan.

I think the both of them need to do is this:  Either stay off the computer or find computer security classes.  Research websites effectively and properly before making stupid judgements like that again.  Find work out in the real world in the local area.  Its not hard to go to a business and pick up an application. Online jobs are the biggest scams on the face of the Earth and shouldn't be taken seriously.

Stupid Saturday

I decided to have a Stupid Saturday posting for this blog.  Every Saturday, I will post about local people that have done something stupid that is listed in a newspaper article.

Burlington School District Promoting 'No Bullying' Signs

For a while, I've been noticing these signs scattered in people's yards and school grounds.

It came to a surprise that the school district is now creating signs to the public to use to promoting anti-bullying.  But I believe that these so-called 'efforts' aren't doing enough.  I believe its more of a way to remove the bad image the Burlington Community School District or BCSD has with dealing with bullying, as well as other issues that they try to cover up.

They don't admit fault to it, but instead promote this kind of stuff so that they can fool people that they are changing for the good, even though the school suicides in the area have been going on for a long time.  In fact, shortly after the string of suicides in 1994, both the West Burlington School District or WBSD and BCSD  have claimed that they were working on taking care of the bullying issues and that they would be changing policies in order to help students with their issues.  Those changes were either insignificant or never placed.

I believe that because enrollment is decreasing down and that more people are going against these school districts.  From students who placed fliers on the cars  to students who stand up against the school. 

There was a system in place in having bullying records recorded and placed through a computer system. http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/BC-IA--Bullying-Database-1st-Ld-Writethru

The problem is that none of these schools in the Burlington School Districts were using this method for a long time.  I don't even believe that West Burlington School District uses this method either because both of these schools waste their money on selfish needs rather than helping to prevent bullying and promoting better education standards.

I don't believe that schools like BHS will change their philosophy and selfishness of taking care of the issue.  All that is important to them is the money and the manipulation of one's mind in believing into their crap.

Chopped wood being dumped at the manor; sign waivers to collect wood

This post isn't about Burlington and the city's disruptive policies, but I felt the need to post this to clear things up from the recent blog post by Burlington Derailed.  I would rather tell the truth rather than stretching it.  Its not to say that the blog website does this all the time, its just this particular article that I read seemed a bit far-fetched.

Sometime back, there was a discussion on the Burlington Derailed website about trees being cut down at the manor and being left there.  A reply to the discussion suggested that someone may have sold the rights to someone to do so.  http://burlingtonderailed.com/index.php?itemid=9041

That wasn't the case when I visited the manor for the first time since before the houses were demolished.  Here are some photos of the area of interest.

The sign that was placed nearby the logs talks about that the person(s) involved in cutting down and leaving the logs at the location works with Burlington Parks Department Forestry Division.  Since the location isn't own by a specific person, its instead owned by the city's government, which still owns the empty Manor property.

After calling the phone number and talking with a representative of the phone line, I found that the post coming from the Burlington Derailed website seemed to be stretching the truth.  The logs that were chopped down was from other locations from around the city instead of in the general area.  The logs that came from trees were caught down as part of maintenance work.  Wood is then brought into the area and is left down.

A person can request to sign a waiver in order to pick up the word and use it for any means.  Its not clear whether there is a cost with signing the waiver or its free to pick up the wood.

From driving around in the area, there didn't appear to be any stumps or holes left behind from chopping down the trees.  It was clear as well that the wood wasn't removed from its drop-off location.

There is no single person involved in chopping the wood nor is there one that has the rights to chopped down the wood around the area.

Neighborhood Watch

Recently, an article was published by The Hawk Eye about neighborhood watches and how they are becoming more ineffective in the area.  The article's title seems to insist that the neighborhood watch is defeated.

http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/Neighborhood-Watch-071212

While there are many reasons why neighborhood watches are failing, there are still other factors in play as to why the neighborhood watches aren't holding up.

Many neighbors are often unreliable or too busy:

Living in an town with severe inflation for more than 40 years has created many individuals to either leave the city or stay behind and work their butts off to make ends meat. This can go with the factor of which people are constantly moving away, thereby leaving houses open to someone new.  

When someone new comes along, it would be difficult to earn their trust and become reliable or not to help support the cause.  Since crime in this town has been rising and new individuals are moving in from another state, its difficult to know whether the neighbor has a clean-slate record or just got out of jail for beating someone up.  

Too much crime is happening all at once; police aren't reliable enough to handle the situation properly:

Another factor that I see as to why neighborhood watches are failing is because criminal activities have been constantly increasing.  There is a scarcity of individuals being caught who have committed illegal acts. 

This is often due to the lack of funding, training and apathy from the Burlington Police Department and its affecting the way they are catching criminals.   

For example, officers usually unwillingly pursue someone to the extreme of arresting an individual, like looking into surveillance tapes or releasing the tapes to the public to help identify the criminals.  This also includes high speed chases.  

Without proper cooperation with law enforcement, neighborhood watches would be as useless as tits on a bull.  

Officer Grimsaw is incorrect when it comes to limited resources.  They have plenty of officers.  IF they are willing to do neighborhood watches, they can cover a small portion of an area for a period of time followed by the next new area.  The problem is many of the officers aren't willing to do that and that they want to instead do as little work as possible.  That way they would be paid just as much as if they were to do the extra work.  I don't see in buying three new squad cars would mean they are lacking resources. 

Solution: 

The only realistic solution in dealing with criminals breaking into ones home, mugging ones self or any other activity is by owning a firearm with proper licensing.

Another solution is moving out of Burlington and West Burlington completely.  

There have been plenty of reports of thefts and muggings going on in the city that are getting away with stealing one's things.  Criminals do this day and night without any fear of officers patrolling the streets regularly,  like Osborn Street, GreenWay, or even South Hill.

Police are out manned and ill-trained to find a good chunk of criminals involved in the city to put behind bars. 

BurlingtonDerailed.com

A couple of weeks ago, I was scanning through old film rolls from The Hawk Eye, looking for specific articles.  I ran into a Letter to the Editor from around 2004, talking about the website BurlingtonDerailed.com.  The author of the letter sounded disgusted about the way it talked about the City of Burlington and continued rambling about it.

Personally, the website has a right, like any American citizen, of speaking freely.  That's why I organized this blog to speak a mix of opinion, personal experience, and facts.  The letter the author made had just as much of a right to speak against it as the website does for the entire city.

DrumminBoy and Alexjohnson16

Earlier today, I ran into more hate toward the website.  This time, this particular individual in a forum thread about wanting to know more information about the website.  The one thing that he requested that stood about the most was wanting the site owner's name.  http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1477850

Three days after the thread and post was made, another user asks for the same thing.  http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1479976

Why would some anonymous individuals on a computer tech thread want to look for the name of the site owner?  The answer is unclear, but it could be a number of different things.  What these members posting of the thread realize now is that the guy who owns the website has his name completely blocked from access.

Its good that his name was blocked off from anonymous amateurs who could think of ways to identifying who it is exactly.   I'm curious of who these two users are who made the threads and posted requests in the first place.  It would most likely be somewhere in town, perhaps even West Burlington.  It may be some people who works for the city or even random individuals.  We don't know, but all we can do is assume who they could be.

Speaking of who it could be, one of the users who wished in finding the identity of the website owner expressed that the other user who requested the same bit of information is the son of the head honcho of The Hawk Eye.  http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1064179&page=2

The same user spills some beans about his personal experiences in Burlington.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1411952

The other user spills the beans further about his personal life.  Both of them have openly admitted in a few thread discussions that they both live in Burlington.  However, this particular user did admit of moving to Cedar Rapids earlier in March 2004.  He also mentioned moving to Florida in 2005.  He then mentioned that he moved to California in 2008.  Its unclear where the hell he is exactly.  http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1354693&page=5

The posts that I found from this particular user is very unusual and not really intelligent.  I found things like threads asking people that if can sneak vodka into his checked luggage, leaving a car door unlocked in a crime-infested neighborhood and having things robbed out of it, hardly knowing anything about buying some stranger's car from Ebay without checking online for research and only asking for advice on a tech forum, and even asking everyone in a thread post if it was stupid for him for calling the police on a girl who left a vague message that sounded like a suicide threat.

I do feel that these couple of morons are looking for someone, who owns a website to express his opinion, and finding out his name.  Personally, this user and the previous user would be idiotic enough to not only express enough detail of their personalities through idiotic posts and Q/A threads, they leave their accounts open for everyone to see and nitpick their shortcomings.

The Burlington Derail

I do have a possibility of knowing who the site owner is.  However, I feel that he shouldn't have his name plastered for everyone criminal, potential criminal, and crazy nuts who would be willing to do something stupid against him just because his opinions and facts are more different than theirs.

The other guys looking for his name, on the other hand, is an exception.  It doesn't have their full names plastered, but there is enough information that shows that both DrumminBoy and Alexjohnson16 are both idiots when it comes to spilling the beans too much.

I did try to email him for the past two days, but I wasn't able to get through to him.  Apparently his email mailbox is full, according to the reply email that I had received.

I did try to contact a radio broadcasting company that sponsors his website on their website, but replied that they don't know who he is and that they don't know how else to communicate with him.

I would like to communicate to him to help him with fixing possible information of his identity, as well as make a small request in promoting something.

Burlington Steamboat Days doesn't allow cameras; isn't technically correct

I attended the Burlington Steamboat days for the first time in several years.  What I have never done before was to take pictures of the event.  I brought my camera with me and went down to the main gate.

When I was entering through the gate, I was stopped by a very large man who helped staff the event.  He asked me if I was from The Hawk Eye newspaper.  I told him no.  When I gave him the answer, I was told not to take any photos on the grounds because cameras aren't allowed.  He let me go into the area with my entire DSLR in hand.

About 20 minutes later, I noticed one of their staff members taking photos of a band stage right next to the gate entrance.  He was wielding a DSLR with a long-lens attachment.  It angered me of how even though cameras weren't allowed on the property, but staff members from BSD and The Hawk Eye were allowed special treatment to take such photographs and video.

I then began looking online to see what information I can pull up.  To my surprise, there is much irony set forth for the events and that this 'oral' and 'written rule' was both manipulated and accepted into a new false ruling.


Cameras are allowed on the grounds:


I contacted The Hawk Eye and asked about the policy BSD had with not allowing photographs and videos to be taken.

To my surprise, the phone operator of the The Hawk Eye told me that for years she was taking photos inside of the area.  She also said that they knew that she had a camera and that she was allowed to take photos.  She explained to me that she has been doing this for years.

Shortly before I made the phone call, I came across to this particular piece on the website.  The Hawk Eye was encouraging the public to submit photos from the Steamboat Days event, as well as other events.  http://www.thehawkeye.com/ss/bsd/#viewer


Ironically, in the special section of The Hawk Eye newspaper, there was an indicated note suggesting that no recording or photography equipment is allowed at Steamboat Days.

I then contacted the Burlington Steamboat Days hot line and was put in touch with a young woman who works for the establishment.  She told me that cameras are allowed on the grounds, except for cameras with interchangeable lenses.  I proceeded to ask her why these types of cameras aren't allowed on the grounds.  She replied that she doesn't know why, but is willing to contact the supervisor and get back to me with the answer.

UPDATE: I called back the next day and was put in touch with another person.  Supposedly, there is some kind of a "contract agreement" that some concert performs sign for in order to prevent such cameras from being used.  When asked which ones, she then says something different, which was that all of them signed it.

Proof of contact will be uploaded once the supervisor or a staff member gets back to me on the answer.


BSD attempts to stretch their power over property space:


Now that it is clear that the BSD does allow most cameras into the facility, I can now talk about the overgeneralized stress one photographer had with the BSD security and staff.

Photos and information by Iowapix.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/iowapix/

A photographer was taking pictures of a concert last year that was being held inside the event area.  He was outside of the area, taking photos from within a gap space.  A security staff from the faculty was harassing the individual, telling him that he isn't allowed to take photographs.  The problem was that the area the photographer was taking these photos were on a public road and sidewalk route.  The security staff was told by someone to call the police if he wish to pursue this complaint further.

The photographer was then contacted from the Iowa ACLU and was told that:
It is unlikely that a concert promoter can enforce any private right in a public place. In the absence of a law enforcement action or arrest which did not happen , there is not much more that can be done. 


He then received a letter from the City Manager before he retired.

  























However, the restrictions the manager was giving was not authorized to restrict access to the public of sidewalks and curbs.  Photos are allowed at these specific areas. When the letter was sent out, the photographer had his lawyer involved, as well as the National Press Photographers Association.

Two nights ago, he received a similar harassment from one of the staff members, but this time asking if he had credentials.  He replied that he is standing on a public sidewalk and don't need credentials or permissions.

Information in regards to property space being leased with the City of Burlington can be obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Update with water fountain

I have a few key updates from my previous post in regards to the water fountain located next to the Memorial Auditorium.

There is more than one warning sign:


What I noticed after returning to the fountain was that there are actually two signs in front of the fountain instead of one.  This means that it would be unlikely to miss both of the signs.  Although I may have missed viewing one of those signs, I was still able to come in contact with the other.

Larger image of what the sign says:


One of the things that I had forgotten to place in my previous post about the fountain is an image that is in better quality to read.  This way, instead of having to zoom into the image to view the wording on either sign, I zoomed into the specific area for anyone to read clearly.

Electrical wiring, lights, and Chlorine:


When I went to visit the fountain again the other day, I noticed that it was turned off due to the weather being cool.

Entering in the area, I toke some pictures of the inside and outside of the fountain to show what the sign is trying to explain to people about what kinds of hazards the fountain possesses.

Looking down into the fountain, it looks safe to jump in.  However, there are a few things that is being shown in the image that helps to explain why it isn't safe to be in or on the fountain.

First is these things.  I'm not entirely sure what they are, but it could be related in draining the fountain.  When the fountain is on, the water levels are much higher than what is shown in the overview image.  I don't know if it is manually or automatically able to open or close with either electronics components or by human action.  Either way, it still posses a danger to an individual playing inside the fountain, being either an electrical or a tripping hazard.

Also, the water located in the pool is covered in Chlorine, which is specifically used to purify the water from any contaminants.  It isn't clear how much is put into the system, but if the signs say that the Chlorine that is in the water is part of a hazard for the fountain, it would only mean that there is larger-than-normal doses being put into the water.

This particular thing is located all around the inner ring of the fountain.  This helps provide more water to move into different directions at the same time.  The hazard of this item can be from falling into it while inside the water area.  As for the outer edge nearby, it can be extremely dangerous since the white material surrounding it is slippery and someone could be impaled or have any similar injury as a result of falling.

Speaking of slipping, if a person were to slip from that particular edge, they would either fall forward into the water, or fall backwards in a 2-3 foot drop on the cement or grass.  This can lead into different scenarios of injuries or even death as a result of poor judgement.

This particular thing is display lights.  They are located within the fountain, nearby the main spout of water in the middle of the fountain.  A wire is shown attached to the device.  This shows as proof that there are wires located in the bottom of the fountain.  It isn't clear how secure they are to the fountain, but they are placed there.

Here is another image showing the main spout, as well as the many wires leading to specific ports.  This shows how dangerous the fountain is with all the electric wiring flowing through it.  If someone were to somehow severed any of the wires, it would electrify the hell out of anything that is in or around the water source.

Located just outside the water area are more lights.  They are located within the outer ring of the fountain.  This shows that the entire fountain, both inside and out, contains electrical circuits, plumbing, and wiring necessary to make more of a hazard and less of a public pool.

The idea of playing in or on the fountain is idiotic.  The people who does this kind of thing want to find a way to cool off for the summer, swim at a water park.  If they can't afford to go to such a place, buy a plastic pool and, followed by filling it up using a water hose.