County Crime Roundup

It's been awhile.

• An ex-convict wants a second chance in the form of the ability to be a bus driver. Depending on the crime and what he's been up to since, I actually think I'm down with this. People change. Sometimes. A little. Then again, there was that former bus driver who raped a girl.
• A woman forged a prescription, which I'm pretty sure I've said before is hardly news here.
• A man is accused of punching his baby daughter in the stomach, leading to her death. This story has also been covered pretty extensively, including articles regarding the autopsy and neighbor reactions, which I'm sure were hardly newsworthy and horrified. Except for the one dude who said the family is "good people," and I'm sure they were nice enough and obviously one man's crime doesn't make them all guilty, but once you punch your baby daughter in the stomach and kill her, you lose your good-guy status. Sorry, not sorry. Meanwhile, his hearing has been set.
• A man has been charged in a two-year-old car accident.
• Charges against a man were dropped regarding him shooting at a woman.
• A South Union man is wanted for swindling $4,000 out of a little old lady.
• A suicide is being investigated further after some evidence was discovered suggesting it may not have been a suicide after all. I'm not sure how we haven't made it on any of Discovery's ID shows yet, but this might do it.
• Uniontown police are investigating a string of shootings. Reminds me of a dream I had this one time about a sniper in Uniontown.
• Police are also investigating a home invasion.

So basically, we're really gonna break in that fancy new prison by the fairgrounds!

Help Save Fayette Friends of Animals!

Caring for the rescued pets of the Nam is no cheap or easy task--especially considering the habit of abuse around here, but we'll talk about that some other time. A rough economy and expensive but necessary vet bills don't help, so now Fayette Friends of Animals has turned to the community to make up the difference.

They've started a campaign to raise $50,000, including the ultimate goal of expanding the shelter. It's already received over $1,000 in its first day--and trust me, as soon as I get paid or sell more of my old junk on eBay, I'll be adding to that total. FFOA is the only no-kill shelter in the county, but it's also where my family adopted our two dogs. Dandy has since died, but despite diabetes and cataracts, Duke is doing very well. We all love him. He still runs and smothers me with kisses when I go home, at least until I've been around for a few hours and he's used to me and goes back to his usual routine of ignoring me (and everyone else) until I have food or get up off the couch so he can go steal the warm spot.

The Nam on Facebook: Full Moon

This would would be dramatically enhanced by an epic anecdote, but for now, that's all she wrote.

The Pickle Parrot

If you're not from here or are having a brain lapse, then "Pickle Parrot" is confusing as hell. Don't worry! The parrot is just the mascot of radio station The Pickle. And there's a good reason it's a parrot and not a pickle, excitement and potential lewdness aside.

“We started to make it look like a pickle, but it didn't look right,” Baker said. So, based on the Froggy 94.9 mascot Mr. Froggy, station officials decided to make The Pickle mascot an animal and chose a parrot.

But that's not the point. See, the Pickle Parrot was stolen on Friday and was promptly found on Saturday.

The costume was stolen from the porch of a woman I'm pretty sure is a friend's mom who plays the mascot after she'd hung it out to dry. Let this be a lesson to us all--while our random junk is totally safe on our porches, cool things like the Pickle Parrot are not. Neither are your Thanksgiving leftovers, but that's another story that involves using the cold weather to your advantage and hungry raccoons.

Props to the thief, though, for not only getting the Pickle Parrot but a freshly laundered one at that.

The radio station responded by going on Facebook to alert fans in the area. “The Pickle Parrot's ‘body' has been stolen! This is no joke! It was lifted off the porch of someone in the Connellsville area. Be on the lookout for it and if you see it notify the Connellsville Police Department.”

So everyone was on the lookout for this parrot, because seriously, unless you're just hiding it in your house, someone was bound to know something. I mean, why do you steal a Pickle Parrot if you have no intention of wearing it, even if wearing it is guaranteed to get you caught?

And what better place to get caught than Sheetz in Connellsville?

The parrot was taken into custody at Sheetz.

However, the male teen wearing the costume was not the thief. 

The juvenile told police he didn't know the costume was stolen. He was at a friend's house and that juvenile asked him if he wanted to wear it. 

That friend, a 16-year-old male, admitted to police he took the costume from Mitchell's porch. He said his friend took no part in the theft. 

The Nam on Facebook: Freeloading Feces

This is part two of a previous rant about the welfare system, and we all know we're not getting out of this blog post without me telling you a welfare check does not laziness make, but people defecating in public is a thing we're good at around here. So we have a shiny new "feces" tag for the blog!

Geibel Student Suspended for Racial Bullying

Details are pretty much unavailable, but a Geibel student was suspended for racial bullying after an African-American student filed a complaint against said bully for using racial slurs multiple times.

I'm not particularly surprised this is coming out of Fayette County, especially considering the things I've heard people say in person (and that one time I witnessed blackface at a party), but I am surprised this is coming out of Geibel. I'm curious as to who it is, but if anyone knows, they're not telling me--not that I'd share, I'm just wondering if I know them and if they're someone I know to have a reputation for bullying.

“It’s unfortunate that this happened, but it does not reflect the student body or the student culture at Geibel Catholic,” said Principal Don Favero.

Hence my surprise. Granted, Geibel is by no means immune to bullying--as I said, I know of a few reputed bullies, and experiences with my fellow Seniors '07 weren't always great. I once spent an entire volleyball game having to listen to a classmate make fun of me right behind me the whole time. The last time I saw him over the summer, he tried to hug me at a party. I'm told he's a much nicer guy now and I don't want to go holding grudges, but I'm not about to be all BFFs with someone who was mean.

Anyway.

Favero says the incident was dealt with per the Safe School Act of 1995, which requires an immediate 10-day suspension, a call to state police and a note on the actor’s permanent disciplinary record.

The school also went a step further and asked its religious education teacher to add a discussion about racial bullying to the lesson plan.

“We wanted to put a component in and reemphasize the sensitivity to each other, mutual respect, mutual tolerance, loved and concern as Christians for one another,” said Favero.

 Definitely good to see the appropriate steps were taken. The bullied student has since changed schools, which is unfortunate, but I can't say I blame them.

So here's the deal, my fellow Fayettenamese: be kind to each other. I'm not going to give you a reason to because you don't need one.

The Nam on Twitter: Halloween

Soooooo. This is happening right now. #FayetteCountyMakesMeProud pic.twitter.com/JTNDBhVMGk

— Justin Wilson (@Justinn_Wilsonn) October 31, 2013

Just Some Quick Updates

1) If you haven't been to Nguyen's since, say, summer, you might want to head back--they've changed their menu. There's all sorts of neat new stuff on it, plus a bigger selection of lunch dishes, including my beloved pad thai. Just don't do what I did and rationalize that since the lunch portion is smaller than the dinner portion, surely you can eat a little more. Nope. You'll still tap out way too early and have pad thai for days.

2) If you're on the prowl for a good but reasonably priced psychic for shits and giggles, look up Charanne at Magic Treasure Box in Uniontown. She didn't blow me away, but she did know some freaky things she couldn't have. And if her predictions come true and my boyfriend and I both get new jobs and are engaged this time next year, I'll be more impressed. She does fill up fast, though--I went with a small group, and we made our appointment about a month in advance and I overheard the woman answering the phone when we went Wednesday that she's booked until sometime in December.