756*

So, Barry Bonds has… No, I’m not really going to write about that because I know that where ever you happen to look today, it will be posted all over the interweb, and you come here to escape boring news and get the real dirt.

The following is not confirmed, and is mostly speculation, but I thought I would let you all in on the drama of Clearbrook Road.

$30, what would you do for $30? Would you run a mile? Would you look after somebody else’s kid for 3 hours? Would you stand on your head for 5 minutes? Would you sit in the driver’s seat of a truck and run down your Uncle? Apparently that is what happened on the afternoon of August 7^th 2007 in the sleepy community of that my family lives in. Now for all of you out there who worry that we live in some crack community, I assure you that this is the worst crime wave that we have experienced since we have moved in (I’ll fill you in on the other crime wave in a bit). Here is the low down on how it all went down.

Jenn and Zack were spending some quality time together on the glider in the red room gazing out the window as Jenn attempted to get Zack to calm down a bit and enjoy life. At this time, Jenn saw a police car roll past our house and nothing seemed out of place. Then about 45 seconds later, she saw a second police car. That was a little strange. Then a third police car. What is going on? Next came some a fire engine, and some paramedics and more emergency vehicles. Now this was strange. Thoughts started racing through her head hoping that everybody was ok and that this was just a false alarm. Jenn picked up the phone and started calling the neighbors asking if all the kids were alright and if everybody was safe. At that time, nobody knew any different, and said, “Yep, kids are great, I’m good, and all is well with the world, but I’ll go check it out and see what I can find out.” A few minutes later, the phone rang and it was one of our neighbors saying that apparently somebody fell off a roof while doing some home repairs, but they could not get close enough to really find out what was going on. Satisfied that everybody was going to be ok, and still attending to fussy Zack, Jenn’s mind was put to rest and she when on with her day. I got home and was filled in with the details that Jenn knew and we went about our evening.

The next morning, I got in the car with Gareth to head off to the gym and he asked me if I had heard anything more about the accident. I told him all I knew and the he really let me have all the dirt. A man up the road from our house (about 9 or 10 houses up the street) is having some work done on his yard to level it out a bit and make the yard a bit more hospitable for people. In order to complete this task, he hired somebody (at this point it is not clear if it was a contractor or day laborers, but I think it was a contractor who then hired day laborers) to complete the task. It was quitting time and the men working on the project were headed home when two of the men began to have an argument. What were they arguing about? Nobody really knows for sure, but apparently, it was over 30 bucks. The transition is a little fuzzy, but in the end the nephew got in the truck while arguing with the uncle who was standing on the street corner. While still arguing, the nephew took a run at the uncle standing on the corner and hit him. The uncle was thrown all the way across the street and landed next to the curb. At this point it is not known if the uncle is going to make it as he was in pretty bad shape when he was rushed away via ambulance. An argument over $30 and two lives are changed forever. One man will go to prison for either assault with a deadly weapon or some form of manslaughter or murder depending on what happens to the uncle and the other will have to undergo massive treatment to get his life to a point where he will be able to function again without assistance, if ever. TOTALLY NOT WORTH IT!

Ok, now for the second worst crime wave in our little neighborhood. This one happened at the beginning of summer right after all of the high schools got out. For a few weekends in a row, some of our neighbors would go out to their “beer fridge” in the garage and find it totally empty, when the night before there had been at least a case of beer chilling. The kids have been “neighborhood shopping.” Apparently this is not new, or just local to our area. Kids will go around a neighborhood and look for open garages and then go in and take any beer that happens to be in there. One couple had this happen to them and not only did they take beer, but they took left over pizza as well. That must have been one heck of a party for the kids. Just goes to show that no matter where you live you too can be a target!

Sleep well!