by Rynski on Nov.06, 2009, under Rynski column, Rynski's Blogski, Stupidity, crime, danger, life
Bank robbery is one dumb crime
Robbing a bank is a quick, easy way to make some cash – for about five minutes.
Surveillance photo from bank robbery/Ryn Gargulinski
Well, it may take a tad longer for the police to catch you. But they most likely will.
“We are very successful in catching bank robbers,” said Tucson police Sgt. Fabian Pacheco. “The majority of the time they are caught.”
After all, he added, police are handed handy photos of the folks from the surveillance cameras.
Bank employees may get a bit suspicious if a customer saunters in wearing pantyhose over his head, so most robbers have their faces in plain view.
Unless the robber immediately soaks his face in caustic acid to eat away the features, there’s a pretty good chance someone somewhere is going to recognize the thief.
Pacheco added it’s even easier if you know where to look, which is around drug circles, as many rob banks to feed a habit.
Tucson averages two to three bank robberies each month. Police stats for 2009 put bank robberies at 22; we had 40 in 2008, perhaps a bit increased due to the recession; and 2007 totaled out at 33.
Surveillance photo from bank robbery/submitted photo
Folks think it’s easy to get away with the money – because it is.
“Some of the banks procedures are to have employees comply with robber demands,” Pacheco said. “To get them out of the bank so no one gets hurt.”
A panic alarm gets police on the scene pretty quickly and the money, even if it is never recovered, is covered by the FDIC.
Some robbers make it even easier for the police. How nice.
One incredibly smart dude in Tucson robbed a bank by writing out his robbery demand note on the back of his own bank deposit slip. So cliché.
Another Tucson bank robber was a bit more original. He used regular paper to write out his demand note, which read: “Give me $100, $50, $20.”
So the teller handed him a single $100 bill, a single $50 and a single $20. He took them and left.
Surveillance photo of bank robbery/submitted photo
Other dumb bank robberies across the nation, as noted on DumbCriminals.com, include:
One man who spent 10 months in prison for robbing a bank, only to get out and go rob the exact same bank. Guess he wanted to see if he could get it right the second time around.
A robber who needed to hitch a ride as his getaway after robbing a bank – which is dumb enough on its own – ended up hitching a ride from an undercover cop.
A nervous Nellie thief who was frazzled enough to leave something at the scene – his wallet.
Police found a treasure trove of info inside the wallet, including the guy’s driver’s license, his Social Security card and a criminal registration card.
One more genius robber was noted on BankInfoSecurity.com. This robber was especially brilliant because of his day job – he was a rookie cop for the New York City Police Department.
At least the bank he robbed wasn’t in the Big Apple, but rather in Muhlenberg Township, Penn. Christian Torres threatened two tellers with his gun, which may have been police issued, until they handed over $113,000.
Surveillance photo /submitted photo
They also hit the panic button, so police were on the scene to arrest Torres just as he was pulling out of the parking lot.
The bank got their money back and Torres was suspended from the police force without pay.
Now we hope the suspension was only temporary until the investigation is complete and he gets his butt fired. Otherwise we have something even dumber than the botched robbery here.
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Ryn Gargulinski is a poet, artist, performer and TucsonCitizen.com Ryngmaster who thinks going to a light fixture store is more exciting than going to a bank. Her column appears every Friday on Rynski’s Blogski. Her art, writing and more is at RynRules.com. E-mail rynski@tucsoncitizen.com.
Have you ever tried to rob a bank? What happened?
If you were going to rob a bank, would you wear bright pink stretch pants?
Have you heard other stories of really dumb criminals?
by Rynski on Nov.05, 2009, under Police/fire/law, Rynski's Blogski, crime, danger, life
Weapons as home decor keep you fashionable and safe – Slide show
We are an armed society. We have to be. There are too many goofballs out there.
A machete beside a dragon skull enhances any bedroom/Photo Ryn Gargulinski
One creative way to keep weapons at hand without feeling or looking like we live in an arsenal is to use weapons as home décor.
They can enhance the cozy feel of any abode – while serving a life-saving purpose.
Tucson police statistics from Jan. 1 through about the end of Sept. of this year contain a pretty hefty tally of crimes.
These include:
923 aggravated assaults
151 forcible rapes
14 attempted rapes
48 other sexual assaults
171 residential robberies
84 carjackings
43 “miscellaneous” robberies
3,258 burglaries with forced entries (that’s roughly 12 each day)
992 burglaries using no force to get in
23 attempted forcible entries
Please don’t take this as an invitation to live in fear – just live in awareness. And no, I’m not trying to depress you.
Please also know that most crimes are crimes of opportunity. So don’t offer any.
One of the most recent home invasions was on Sept. 13 when a guy attended a party in the 2800 block of North Tyndall Avenue, near East Glenn Street and North First Avenue.
He left the festivities only to return with three or four of his buddies – wearing masks and armed with handguns.
They proceeded to pistol whip and rob the guests. Have a nice day.
Suspect Manuel Nunley
Police issued an arrest warrant for the main suspect, 24-year-old Manuel De Jesus Nunley. He’s wanted for armed robbery, aggravated robbery, aggravated assault and first-degree burglary. Robbery is generally defined as taking something from a person, while burglary is taking things from a structure, such as a home.
Make sure that guy’s not any of your future invitation lists.
Now if the guests had been in a home with an interior design scheme that included an ornamental gun rack, machetes, sledgehammers and Medieval maces, the tale may have had a different ending.
Yes, some weapons can look creepy and ugly. But spruce them up by hanging them next to art. Better yet, hang art from them. Just make sure you attach the weapons in such a way they can be easily removed for use but are not hung too flimsily that they fall on your head.
Another clever tactic is to pick home décor that can double as weapons, such as a cast iron plate collection or candleholders that come complete with ornate, 10-inch iron spikes.
Just make sure you get to the weapons before any goofball does. Stuck for ideas? Check out the slide show with interior weaponry design ideas below.
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What do you think?
What kind of weapons do you have in your home?
How do you protect yourself?
Have you ever been robbed, mugged, assaulted or burgled in Tucson?
How has that changed the way you live or view society?
by Rynski on Nov.04, 2009, under Rynski's Blogski, danger, environment, life
O Christmas tree, dead Christmas tree: Arizona supplies U.S. Capitol Tree
November’s here and that means one thing – it’s time to hurl ourselves face first into the upcoming holiday season.
Photo Ryn Gargulinski
Arizona is doing that in a big way by slaughtering a mighty blue spruce as instructed by the federal government.
Yes, our state has the honor of supplying this year’s United States Capitol Tree.
No, it won’t be placed inside the White House, but rather outside in front of the Capitol Building.
The 85-foot beauty from the White Mountain area’s Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests will be chopped at the knees on Nov. 7, according to a news release from the National Forest Service.
Everyone is welcome to attend this historic event – as it’s the first time ever that a forest in Arizona has been chosen to deplete its resources in the name of tradition.
The tree slaughtering ceremony will feature White Mountain Apache Dancers, an Apache blessing, choral music and Arizona’s official historian Marshall Trimble commemorating the event.
That’s quite a funeral.
The dead tree will then “tour Arizona” and other parts of the nation on the way to its Nov. 30 delivery to the United States Congress in Washington, D.C.
A dead tree is taking a tour? Isn’t that kind of like pulling a casket behind a sled and telling the corpse to enjoy the view?
I am not anti-Christmas trees. They are a fine addition to holiday décor, with their stately stance and fragrant boughs.
With a population of more than 300 million, if only a quarter of the nation’s residents wanted a fresh Christmas tree, 75 million trees would be killed.
But fake trees may not be the answer, according to a report on MSN.com, as they will eventually rot in a landfill when they become too ratty for display.
In fact, the report goes on to explain that Christmas trees and other live holiday décor are grown as crops specifically for that purpose, and not raped from Mother Nature.
That’s good to know. That’s probably why we haven’t encountered any “Save the Spruce” groups, too.
But that still doesn’t excuse the 85-foot slaughter, which is indeed being taken from its natural habitat. But in the big scheme of things, does one dead tree from the White Mountains actually matter?
What do you think?
Are you honored Arizona was chosen to supply the Capitol Christmas tree or do you wish the feds would pick on another state?
Are you a fan of Christmas trees? Do you recycle yours properly when you’re through with them?
Should we forget Christmas altogether and just sit around grouchy like a bunch of Grinches?
by Rynski on Nov.03, 2009, under Police/fire/law, Rynski's Blogski, Stupidity, crime, danger, gross stuff, life
Two reasons why our border security stinks
Arizona has the fine distinction of being the weakest link along the Mexican border.
Photo Ryn Gargulinski
With agents like the two who were recently busted, it’s not hard to see why.
Two border employees were recently charged with accepting bribes to help drugs and illegal immigrants make their way from Mexico into the United States, according to news releases from the District of Arizona’s Office of the U.S. Attorney.
Former U.S. Border Patrol Agent Yamilkar Fierros, who was arrested Oct. 30, allegedly accepted bribes totaling $5,500 to help the drug trade thrive. A four-count federal indictment was unsealed the day he was arrested.
Fierros, from Tucson, reportedly accepted four separate bribes to give purported drug traffickers the following information and assistance:
* $1,000 for furnishing a law enforcement sensitive map of San Rafael Valley, which depicts road, trails, landmarks and terminology used by border patrol to track down drug traffickers on Sept. 30.
* $3,000 for giving out a list of 109 sensor location in and around Sonoita on Oct. 2
* $1,000 for handing over a list of yet more Sonoita sensor locations – 65 new ones – and
* $500 for agreeing to help sneak a load of narcotics from Patagonia to Tucson on Oct. 23
His $5,500 is a pretty paltry sum for a load of valuable information. The guy must not have been a business major.
On a scarier note, who knows how much farther all that information traveled. Maybe copies of the map and lists are hidden beneath rocks along the way.
Thanks, guy.
Photo Ryn Gargulinski
Another agent, a man from Yuma, recently pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to help smuggle illegal aliens into the country.
Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Jose Carmelo Magana was staffing a lane at the San Luis Port of Entry back in 2007 where he would reportedly not bother to perform proper inspections.
Ooops. Didn’t see that illegal hiding in the wheel well, sorry.
Magana admitted he was in cahoots with Brenda Covarrubias, Ana Bertha Calderon, Jesus Gastelum-Rodriguez, Guadalupe Milan de Gastelum, all of whom already pleaded guilty in this case to Conspiracy to Bring Illegal Aliens to the United States.
In addition to the bribe, Magana also said he got a portion of the smuggling fees charged by the smugglers.
We must thank this guy, too.
The maximum sentence for Attempting to Bring Illegal Aliens into the U.S. is 10 years in federal prison with a minimum mandatory penalty of three years in prison. It can also carry up to a $250,000 fine.
The bribery charges could cost each guy 15 years in the federal pen, a fine of $250,000, or both. Fierros faces four of those charges, which would make his maximum sentence, if convicted, 60 years and the maximum fine at $1 million. OK. But we have to wonder where he’d get the $1 million if he’s sitting around in prison.
Maybe he can rake in more bribe money.
What do you think?
Is there any bribe large enough that would propel you into illegal action?
How can such actions be better prevented in the future?
Have you heard other unscrupulous border stories? Do tell.
by Rynski on Nov.02, 2009, under Rynski's Blogski, art, life
Pumpkin uses, abuses and contest entries – VOTE for your fave
Pumpkins are great for a number of things that go far beyond Halloween. In fact, you can even kill a kid with one. Here are six ways of looking at these funky orange gourds:
Art and photo Ryn Gargulinski
As artistic expression –
Check out the artistry of some fabulously talented TC.com readers who sent entries into our Pumpkin Decorating Contest. The slide show below showcases their creativity and the poll is open for votes through Saturday Nov. 7. Winner will receive a yet-to-be-created piece of creepy Rynart.
As protection –
Jack-o-lanterns came about not because people wanted to enter pumpkin decorating contests, but rather as a form of protection.
Legend has it this guy named Stingy Jack played a few trick on the devil and, when Jack died, would not be admitted into either heaven or hell, according to History.com.
The devil gave the guy a piece of burning coal and told him to go wander the earth for eternity. Jack carried around the coal piece in a hollowed-out turnip. Europeans for years used turnips, potatoes and beets for jack-o-lanterns until they immigrated to America and found the pumpkin to be the perfect choice.
This guy looks dead 100 years/Art by Loews pastry kitchen, photo Ryn Gargulinski
As a killer –
A little German kid died after his 10-year-old sister hurled a pumpkin at him as a joke and it hit him in the stomach, according to an 1884 archived news report posted at NYTimes.com. “He became very sick and died in a few hours,” the report said.
An unattended jack-o-lantern is also being blamed for staring a Northwest fire that killed three dogs and two cats, according to a report in the Arizona Daily Star. Two dudes who lived in the house at 1200 block of West Giaconda Way reportedly lit candles in the decorative gourds – then left the house to go to work.
As a weapon –
Since we already know pumpkins can kill, perhaps the sight of one would be an ample deterrent for muggers, degenerates and unleashed dogs encountered on narrow Tucson pathways.
Please be advised it may take some ingenuity – and muscles – to walk around town with a pumpkin and may be much simpler to invest in pepper spray or a retractable baton.
As a healthy snack –
Pumpkin pie laden with whipped cream, sugar and other strange additives is not necessarily on the healthy menu, but plain ole pumpkin is. Pumpkin is rife with fiber, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants.
Canned pumpkin, with no additives, is also a great way to get rid of a pet’s diarrhea, as my dog Sawyer found out when he got 1 tablespoon per day until his ailment passed, pun not intended.
As a seduction method –
KoreyK. shared the story of the political pumpkin entries, which were used to seduce:
“One of my brother’s friends gave the pumpkins away, without my permission, to two sorority girls to take to their party, thinking it would get him laid. It didn’t. In fact, they wouldn’t even tell him the location.”
TC.com pumpkin decorating contest entries in alphabetical order (top four culled from hundreds of thousands submissions):
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Vote now through Nov. 7 for your favorite entry in the TC.com pumpkin decorating contest.
What do you think?
Did you carve or smash any pumpkins this Halloween?
Is pumpkin a part of your daily diet?
What other uses to pumpkins have?
by Rynski on Oct.30, 2009, under Rynski column, danger, death, environment, gross stuff, life, politics
Do you know where that candy came from? Child slave labor in the chocolate industry
Chocolate may be a tasty treat for most kids – save for those stuck as slaves in the cocoa fields.
Illustration Ryn Gargulinski
Hundreds of thousands of children in West Africa toil 12-hour days in sickening and dangerous conditions – at no pay – just so folks elsewhere can get some cheap candy and coffee, according to the organization Global Exchange.
I’m betting just the thought of chocolate makes those kids sick. That is, if they have ever been lucky enough to taste some or even know what it is.
Global Exchange does more than just fret and moan about it. For the third year in a row, its Reverse Trick or Treating program is in full swing, expecting to hit some 250,000 households throughout the U.S. and Canada.
The campaign is on here in Tucson at the Volunteer Center in Southern Arizona, 924 N. Alvernon Way.
Between five and 15 kids, ages 11 through 18, are expected to participate. They will hit the streets around 5 p.m. on Halloween armed with fair trade chocolate and information to hand out to folks who open their doors.
Before anyone starts panicking, no one is asking you to throw out that large, costly batch of candy you have in the decorative bowl by your door.
Nor is anyone telling you to boycott candy or coffee that doesn’t come from free trade certified vendors.
You’re just being asked to think about what it’s like for those kids, the ones who are permanently ripped out of school to pick cocoa pods all day just so their family can survive.
And those are the fortunate ones.
Other African kids are actually sold – by their own families – to traffickers with the promise of a cocoa job on the Ivory Coast where they will send home their wages, Global Exchange says.
Once the family is out of sight, however, the kids are put to work with nearly or absolutely no pay from about 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
We doubt they get a lunch break.
Tasks include cleaning machetes, playing with pesticides and scaling high branches to cut down cocoa pods, which are split open for the beans to be scooped out.
It takes 400 cocoa pods to make a single pound of chocolate.
Enjoy your candy.
Cadbury provided a huge leap for the industry when it became the first major brand to earn fair trade certification earlier this year. While the certification is thus far only for its dairy milk chocolate bars in the United Kingdom, it plans to follow suit with other products in other countries.
Hershey’s is in the process of being targeted by advocates to become the first big U.S.-based company to achieve fair trade certification.
In the meantime, you can make sure to buy only fair trade chocolate and coffee. I checked out the selection at the Global Exchange’s online fair trade store thinking the prices would be ridiculous. Some are, but others are reasonable.
Any individual effort can help, but the major changes will most likely take major companies, like good ole Hershey’s and major coffee firms, to join the fray.
Now go enjoy your Halloween. And don’t feel guilty about eating that candy bar – even though it may have taken some 52 starving slave children with scabby knees and machete scars littering their stick-figure arms to help make it.
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Ryn Gargulinski is a poet, artist, performer and TucsonCitizen.com Ryngmaster who doesn’t eat chocolate but enjoys her coffee. She likes the idea of fair trade products but has to yet to solely seek them out. Her column appears every Friday on Rynski’s Blogski. Her art, writing and more is at RynRules.com. E-mail rynski@tucsoncitizen.com.
- Photo Ryn Gargulinski
What do you think?
Is this a valid concern or just another way for people to draw customers away from big businesses?
Do you really care where your products come from as long as they are cheap?
Will you be changing your chocolate and coffee consumption in any way?
Rynski column
by Rynski on Oct.23, 2009, under Pets/animals, Police/fire/law, Rynski column, Stupidity, crime, danger, death, environment, gross stuff, life, politics
The case of the duct taped coyote – Does anyone care about coyote abuse?
Tucsonan Joe Gardner was on one of his favorite day trips to Lochiel, about 100 miles southeast of Tucson, where the air is clean and the land pristine – usually.
Except when he finds a dead duct taped coyote.
Duct taped coyote/submitted photo
During his trek about two weeks ago, the 62-year-old who grew up in the Lochiel area noted buzzards circling about and followed their feast to find a mutilated carcass.
The coyote was definitely dead, with a hole in his underside where something had chewed out his entrails. He had not been skinned, but the two front legs and two back legs had been secured with tape, leaving him defenseless, provided he had still been alive when taped.
“I was surprised and puzzled and wondered about mutilation stories I had heard in the past,” Gardner said, “but those involved livestock, not wild animals. I also wondered if it was some kind of sick message for human smugglers, who are also referred to as coyotes.”
He vaguely recalled stories of livestock’s organs and genitalia being removed with “precision-appearing incisions” some time back in Cochise County. Perhaps Jack the Ripper of the cattle world.
Yet he had never seen such abuse of coyotes.
Lochiel school house/submitted photo
“I have not an inkling as to who or why would bind a coyote and leave it out for the buzzards,” he said. “I was born and raised in the area, and as a matter of fact, this was right in front of the one room school I attended when I was a kid. I know just about everyone who lives in the area, and can’t imagine any locals doing this, as they live in the area because they love and respect the land.”
Nothing respectful about a duct taped coyote.
Arizona’s animal cruelty felony law, ARS 13-2910, slaps a felony on anyone that “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly inflicts unnecessary physical injury to any animal.”
Awesome law. But it may not apply in the case of the duct taped coyote.
“Law enforcement would have to successfully allege that it was cruelty,” explained Marsh Myers, spokesman for the Animal Cruelty Taskforce of Southern Arizona. “Since coyotes can be legally hunted, an investigation would have to rule this possibility out. Sometimes the animal is hunted and then the carcass is just left to rot. It’s a sloppy practice but it happens all the time.”
In that case, it’s OK.
Many hunters are respectful – even reverent – about nature and engage in the sport for much more than just the kill. But there are always the idiots.
In another coyote case earlier this year, six mutilated carcasses were found dumped in a creek near an Oklahoma high school.
The critters had been skinned, with their front legs chopped off at the knees and their remains unceremoniously hurled where teens could easily find them.
The animals were originally thought to be dogs and all hell broke loose. Necropsies revealed they had been a half dozen coyotes. Hell kind of subsided.
While Oklahoma, like Arizona, does have animal cruelty laws with severe penalties, it would probably not apply if the animals were being hunted for their fur.
Authorities in Ohio were going nuts in 2007 trying to find the sicko who apparently skinned and boiled a dog – while it was still alive.
The animal, identified by a vet as a chow/pit bull mix, was fully skinned except for fur left on its paws, had cuts on its legs and neck and had wire wound around one of the back legs.
Someone finally did come forward to confess – that the animal was not a dog at all but simply a coyote he hunted but didn’t dispose of properly.
Even though the vet had initially been wrong about the animal’s identification, calling it a dog, the doc was not wrong about the animal having been still alive when it was boiled and skinned.
No matter. It was just a coyote.
The case was immediately closed and all pending criminal charges promptly dropped.
| Yes – people who torture any animal should be tortured themselves. | 68% | |
| Yes – even if the coyote is being hunted, it should not have to unduly suffer. | 29% | |
| No – if the coyote is being hunted, it’s OK to torture it. | 0% | |
| No – coyotes deserve to be tortured. They are evil and they smell. | 0% | |
| I have no opinion because I watch TV and eat marshmallows all day. | 1% | |
| 426 users voted | ||
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Ryn Gargulinski is a poet, artist, performer and TucsonCitizen.com Ryngmaster who loves coyotes as much as she loves wolves but not as much as she loves her dogs. Her column appears every Friday on Rynski’s Blogski. Her art, writing and more is at RynRules.com. E-mail rynski@tucsoncitizen.com.
by Rynski on Oct.29, 2009, under danger, gross stuff, life
Screaming about sex offenders
Don’t take your kids trick or treating at any crack houses, yards guarded by dogs dripping blood from their teeth – or the home of any sex offender.
Photo Ryn Gargulinski
Halloween safety news releases have been screaming through my e-mail inbox all week, many warning parents to avoid these perverted predators.
The releases come complete with a link on how to find the offenders: http://www.azdps.gov/Services/Sex_Offender/
Out of curiosity, I entered my midtown zip code and found 24 registered sex offenders live within it, with 29 living just outside its boundaries.
The site does not list every convicted sex offender, only those who were determined to have an intermediate or high risk of repeating their deviant behavior, the level 2 and level 3 offenders.
The TucsonCitizen.com’s office, located at the corner of Park and Irvington avenues, has a zip code containing 19 registered sex offenders and 60 in the immediately surrounding area.
An additional 19 may live around there – their addresses have not been verified – and one guy was registered as a homeless sex offender. Records state he lurks in the area of Alvernon Way and Interstate 10.
I narrowed down the search to a 3-mile radius of the office’s exact address, a radius that overlaps different zip codes, and found 22 offenders. The map also pointed out that same area contained 21 day care centers and 14 schools.
Photo Ryn Gargulinski
“There is no law restricting where an offender may live,” the Arizona Department of Public Safety site said, “however, if an offender is on probation/parole, the respective probation department may impose restrictions on living arrangements.”
Perhaps the department would suggest he not move in next door to a day care or school.
Roughly 14,500 registered sex offenders are peppered throughout the state. With an overall population of 6.5 million, that would mean one out of every 450 people in Arizona is a registered sex offender.
Think about that next time you are at an event with 500 or more.
Just to make matters more interesting, the Arizona Department of Public Safety site also lists 212 sex offender absconders, or those who never bothered to register their whereabouts.
So where the heck are we supposed to go trick or treating?
While a sex offender handing out JuJu Bees may not be likely to grab a little ghost or goblin if his or her parents are standing right behind them – you never know.
Yes, a good number of the crimes were child molestation. And yes, this whole topic makes me sick.
What do you think?
Will you be checking the map before heading out trick or treating?
Is cautioning the public about the sex offenders in the area a valid warning or an unnecessary panic tactic?
by Rynski on Oct.28, 2009, under Rynski's Blogski, danger, environment, life
Forget candy and plastic costumes – Go green for Halloween
Yes, kiddies, even though Halloween is all in fun and frivolity, that doesn’t mean you have to ruin the environment.
DO decorate with organic pumpkins/Ryn Gargulinski
You can be green for Halloween – which means saving the Earth, not necessarily dressing as a frog or a witch.
Forget the Butterfingers. Many of you kids are too fat, anyway, since all you do is sit around and play video games.
Rather than candy, tell all your big people friends to mete out “organic, fair trade fruit snacks, raisins, juice boxes, snack bars, trial size packs of veggie chips.” Obesity and overweight statistics are already at a hefty 67 percent. Don’t make it 68.
Forget the stupid plastic costumes. Those store-bought atrocities are never original and wholly disposable. They are also made of thin, icky plastic that will eventually clog our waterways and feels gross against the skin. Rather than investing in yet another landfill item, borrow stuff from your adult friends for costumes.
If you know a beekeeper, I’m sure he’ll be happy to hand over his hat and netting. Belly dancers will be glad to let you wear their tasseled bikini tops and finger chimes. And don’t forget your neighbor, Mr. Policeman. You can borrow his hat, badge and gun.
A big, inflatable DON'T/Ryn Gargulinski
Don’t make dad inflate Frankenstein in the middle of your yard. Sure, those big, inflatable Halloween decorations may look snazzy, but all that air being pumped inside is wasting energy and probably screwing up our ozone.
They are also known to randomly deflate and rip. This becomes a choking hazard for any kittens, coyotes and babies that may randomly crawl across the lawn.
Instead make Halloween decorations out of recycled materials or something strong and durable so you can later hang them in your bedroom all year round. Use washable, re-usable pillowcases instead of plastic pumpkins to gather your loot.
Walk already. Don’t have your parents drive you around and idle the engine outside every house from which you will gather your organic, fair trade fruit snacks. Get out and walk. Have mom or dad park on the corner and walk around the whole block.
Better yet, carpool with neighbors so you can cram as many kids as possible into one vehicle. This will cut down on pollution and put fewer cars on the road, which means less chance of running over a child who haphazardly darts across the street dressed as a ghost.
It will also let a host of adults get out of the trick or treating gig, as they can claim they cannot fit in the car and the person driving will be stuck with the whole gaggle of children.
Source: Some original ideas but mostly highly embellished news release from the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality.
Are these durable enough to be used year round?/Ryn Gargulinski
Disclaimer: Although this was written with sarcasm, some of these are actually pretty good ideas. But please don’t loan a kid your police badge and gun. And we’re not sure how excited kids will get over organic, fair trade veggie chips.
This kid's got the costume right, but tsk, tsk, he's using a plastic pumpkin/Ryn Gargulinski
What do you think?
Should folks concentrate on going green and feeding kids fruit snacks instead of candy?
Is the “go green” movement something you try to embrace or is the whole thing getting on your nerves?
by Rynski on Oct.27, 2009, under Rynski's Blogski, art, environment, life, odd pueblo
TC.com VIDEO debut: Tour of Rynski’s wacky backyard
Our backyards can be just another place for the dog to poo – or we can turn it into a heavenly haven.
Pepe/Art and photo by Ryn Gargulinski
Mine happens to serve both functions, and it was snappily captured on video by the extremely talented Eric Heithaus.
Heithaus doubles as the dad of Mr. Angel, the cutest dog in the world, and also runs HeithausProductions.com. He’s good.
Having a backyard full of art is also wonderful, although it does have a couple of detriments.
One is the folks who think they have carte blanche to peek their nosy noggins above the fence just because they see a skeleton flapping in the wind.
Another is the HOA that gets cranky if any of the colorful stuff is visible enough to mar the overall beige-ness of the neighborhood.
My backyard wonderland was inspired by Valley of the Moon, although the style is quite different. It was also born of necessity, as I had no more room to put art inside the house.
Please enjoy TucsonCitizen.com’s debut video:
Please note: Video quality suffers due to the high compression currently necessary to view videos on the site.
Please take the poll and add additional comments below.
Also – I am eventually going to add video regularly to my posts, which means less time for writing. Do you care?
What kind of videos do you enjoy: Stories? Quick snippets? Clandestine shots? Fun stuff set to music? Comedic commentary? Horror?
P.S. You know you’re gonna get animal stuff.
by Rynski on Oct.26, 2009, under Pets/animals, Rynski's Blogski, Stupidity, crime, danger, life
Some neighbors (and their dogs) deserve a swift kick in the pants
We sometimes like to blame our neighbors for all the woes of the world – from the lack of parking to the garbage that blows in our yard. And sometimes they deserve it.
Proof Sawyer is sweet and doesn't deserve to be attacked/Ryn Gargulinski
After all, it is my neighbors’ fault my arm still hurts.
Sawyer, Phoebe, my beau and I were returning from our evening riverbed dog romp. The dogs were leashed and sauntering nicely.
The narrow path back to the house is crammed between a ditch full of thorny trees and a solid brick wall.
We were on that crammed path when we encountered the neighbors and their two dogs, whom we shall call Dumbo and Bimbo.
Dumbo and Bimbo, who are no small puppies, have a long history of distaste for Sawyer and Phoebe. The feeling is mutual and the dogs like to lunge at each other when we pass across the street. Everyone is leashed and the end result is lots of noise but no injuries.
But this time Dumbo and Bimbo were not on their leashes. And I ended up getting bit.
We rounded the corner to find the neighbors and their horror hounds, with enough time for the neighbors to leash up Dumbo and Bimbo. But they didn’t. They just stood there and watched as Dumbo approached us, acting dumb enough to merit his nickname, and set off a growl fest.
Bimbo, whose head is the size of a basketball and jaws are as wide as Montana, soon joined the fray.
Proof Phoebe is sweet and doesn't deserve to be attacked/Ryn Gargulinski
Sawyer, Phoebe, my boyfriend and I had initially moved towards the brick wall to let the foursome pass. Now were cornered against it by Dumbo and Bimbo while their owners stood back in the distance. Please note the dog dad was no small puppy, either, and could have at least attempted to restrain at least one of the hounds.
Dumbo was trying to sneak up on Sawyer’s hind end while Bimbo was going for Sawyer’s throat. Sawyer and Phoebe were still leashed and couldn’t really maneuver.
Yet Sawyer still attempted to defend himself while big, bad, barking machine Phoebe hid.
My dog mom instinct kicked in and I did I really dumb thing.
I stuck my arm out to push Bimbo away and ended up with my arm clamped in a dog jaw.
Once Sawyer realized it was my arm in his mouth, he let go immediately. But not before a nice pain set in. The pain was accompanied by a fine red mark that was only later alleviated by a pouch of frozen vegetables.
Dumbo and Bimbo were eventually restrained and led away by the neighbors, who didn’t even bother to apologize.
And I’ll bet it’s their garbage that blew in my yard.
Eager for input – please take the poll.
What do you think?
Do you have inconsiderate neighbors? What’s the worse thing they’ve done?
Have you been accosted by their dogs, cats, blowing garbage or children?
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