Sunday Morning Coming Down

Coral Gables does it again. Two humans living on the shore of a waterway go for a late night swim and get bitten by an American Crocodile.  According to reports by the Miami Herald there are signs warning folks about the crocodiles and not swimming in the area. Official response is that we must find the crocodile and evict him and move him to a wildlife sanctuary where both he and humans will be safe. Maybe some of this is a reaction to all the reality shows about alligators, a little research indicates that the crocodiles are a less dangerous than alligators.  I wonder how long the search for the offending crocodile will last.  He's been successful avoiding capture for a few days. This is South Florida.  Alligators get relocated all the time, or become belts, shoes, and according to some they taste like chicken. It's not like the croc invaded a Cocoplum swimming pool.  Sometimes humans are the victims of their own behavior.

Early in my work career I was chosen to serve on a Federal Grand Jury in Miami.  We really weren't called very often and when we were they were usually drug cases with video tapes of deals going down in hotels near the airport or indictments of people who were having a bad day, drank too much, and started acting out on the airplane.  Fighting with Flight Attendants or another passenger can be dangerous.  Given how crowded planes are these days, I'm surprised that these incidents are not reported more often. The latest widely reported incident involved a devise that prevents the seat in front of you from reclining. Customer A threw a cup of water on Customer B who used the devise to inhibit Customer A's seat from reclining after Customer B refused to remove the devise after being asked to by the Flight Attendant.  The flight makes an unscheduled stop in Chicago to offload these miscreants and is delayed about 90 minutes on its way to Denver. I'm of about three min...

Kate Hale (County Emergency Management Director 1992) was having a bad time coordinating relief efforts three days after Hurricane Andrew.  The damage was widespread and South of Kendall Drive the damage was serious.  It looked like a war zone.  Kate asked where the calvary was?  The poor lady had not slept for days.  The scope of the damage was just beginning to be understood, Homestead and Florida City were almost flattened, Goulds, Naranja, Perrine, Country Walk, Culter Ridge, Redlands, Key Biscayne and lots of other places had buildings with serious structural damage. One of my first jobs was to take Florida Secretary of Labor down to Homestead so she could see what happened and what was or was not happening on the ground. Doral to Homestead, the Turnpike all the way with the Florida Highway Patrol clearing the way.  A three car convoy.  I don't usually drive 80 mph.  The FHP guy said to stay close to his bumper.  Sirens blasting we w...

There was a call for volunteers at the Traffic and Transportation Office of Miami Dade County right after Hurricane Andrew.  A battery operated radio and my land line phone was working The house had only lost a few shingles, there was no electricity, my car had a full tank of gas and I had enough ice for a couple of days.  I called my office, they were waiting for instructions from Tallahassee and Washington DC.  We would be busy but not for a day or two.  People would be hired to help in the clean up after the hurricane.  They were happy I had no big issues.  They told me to stay off the roads.  Good advice, immediately ignored. I got in the car to go to the T&T Office.  The drive was an adventure.  Going north there was tree damage, and most intersections with lights were out of commission.  Those yellow traffic signals seemed a lot bigger laying on the ground.  Most but not all had been pulled out of the intersections. ...

David Neal has a nice column today about the Little League World Series in the Miami Herald.  Where does all the money go?  ESPN and ABC were able to fill some time while waiting for college football to start. I think a bag with some swag for the teams that make the finals is in order.  I know Little League isn't the NCAA but I hope the kids that played in these games have some quality souvenirs for their service this weekend. Mr. Neal makes a good point that everybody wants to get paid for what they do.  Makes sense to me. Washing the dishes, cleaning the bathroom or doing some other chores was the price I paid for an allowance, and I really didn't feel very exploited when I got a paycheck for a summer job and my Mom thought it would be a nice thing if I contributed some money for all the milk I was drinking and extra laundry I generated, gasoline and car insurance that was paid for.  In retrospect it was a trivial amount, but it was important. I think I ...

"We do not see things the way they are, we see things the way we are."  I saw this post on Facebook this morning and it said something to me. It's Sunday and I'm tempted to lift something from the Bible:  Matthew 7:4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? And that's the way it goes on the internet.

It's been an interesting Little League World Series no matter what team finally wins or loses.  I've watched more of the LLWS this year than probably forever.  I think Mo'nes story is great.  The last time my fast ball was clocked it was about 50 mph and it wasn't wind aided. ESPN almost went over the top covering this year's games and some will probably think they ended up exploiting a 13 year old for some ratings bump. Good luck to Jackie Robinson West team from Chicago as they move forward. The Bucket Challenge phenomenon continues and the money keeps rolling in. These two good news stories really provide some relief of the scarier stories out there.