best of the blotter: rednecks, crackers, and polka convention arsonists

DINE AND DASH, PEARL ROAD: A patron didn’t leave any cash to cover his $90 bill before leaving a restaurant at 11:55 p.m. May 21, but he did leave his phone number with a waitress. Officers planned to return to follow up on the situation.

DISTURBING THE PEACE, ROYALTON ROAD: A man was asked to leave Giant Eagle at about 3:30 p.m. May 20 after he was seen singing to the potted plants.
The man agreed to leave the store.

THEFT, DOULA DRIVE: A woman reported on May 20 that her mother’s lower dentures were stolen some time in early May.
The woman admitted that the dentures could have been lost or misplaced.

ROAD RAGE, PEARL ROAD: Apparently angry that another driver had blown her horn at them, two men in a Chevrolet truck with deer horns and “redneck” stickers on the back window threw garbage at her car through their window at 6:05 p.m. May 20. The woman then followed them into the Walmart parking lot, claiming that they had cut her off twice on the road. Both parties had different stories when officers arrived at the parking lot. The woman chose not to press charges against the men, but asked that officers advise them of their actions. Officers did, and both went on their ways.

RACIST DISTURBANCE, ROYALTON ROAD: The corner of Royalton and Prospect roads became the site of an impromptu white pride demonstration at 11:55 p.m. May 19. An employee at Sheetz called police and said at least five people had gathered in the corner of the parking lot, set up lawn chairs and were yelling “white power,” and customers were complaining.
When officers arrived, four or five pickup trucks were leaving.

Weekend at Bernie's' Situation

A motorist on I-71 reported May 26 that a passenger in a truck she was following on I-71 looked dead.

The truck exited on Royalton Road, and police stopped the vehicle in front of David's Bridal about 1:30 p.m.

"Everyone in the vehicle is alive and well," a report said.

Dispatchers called the woman back to let her know the passenger was fine.

Car Fire May Be Arson

A Vermilion man staying at the Holiday Inn for the recent polka convention came out to find his car on fire early May 27.
Janowski said a man pumping gas at the Shell station about 3:20 a.m. saw the car in the lot next door in flames.The fire appeared to start near the gas tank, indicating a possible arson, Janowski said.

The victim told police he had no idea who would target his car.

NEIGHBOR TROUBLE, SUNSET ROAD: A man said May 31 his neighbor yelled at him because she said he left a cup in the street. He said the cup was left by landscapers. He was told to call back if the neighbor gave him any more problems.

HARASSMENT, WALLINGS ROAD: At least one neighbor of St. Albert the Great has had enough of the church’s bells.
A woman confronted church officials numerous times this year to complain about the volume of the church bells and also contacted police about the issue.
At one point, the woman accused a church official of committing murder, because, she said, the church bells were killing her.
On May 31, the church received a postcard from an anonymous source complaining about the bells and pointing out that “I wouldn’t walk across the street to hear you perverts!”
While the church decreased the volume of the bells earlier this year, police have found no cause to alter them.

 Berea police escort woman from bingo hall

Berea police arrived at St. Adalbert parish Sunday about a bingo player who refused to leave the hall when asked.
The woman, according to the report, created problems for two weeks at the bingo games and was asked to leave. She said she would leave only if police told her to do so.
When police asked her to leave the facility, she said she did not have to and gave the officers her attorney’s name but not his phone number.
The woman finally agreed to leave the property if the officers made a report about the matter. Police then escorted her out of the bingo hall. She was told not to return to the facility.
The report also said another bingo player thanked police for their actions.

springbroken

The Kids are reprieved from their studies this week, Randal is a-darkthroning through Parmastan, and yours truly is continuing on the daily grind with the usual inherent after-work straungeness and such. I'm finding this whole daylight savings time a bit of an adjustment, though I like that extra hour for my wanderings, and it's never made me as ragey as others.

Still, the caffeine consumption has continued to rise, there's snow blowing outside, I'm digging through piles of 1980's local newspapers full of strange ads and figures from a different time... Rick James, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Tawana Brawley, World B. Free, a Cavs team with Mark Price and Brad Daugherty, vaguely remembered names and faces from my toddlerhood, now-disgraced Clevelandia politicians.

But last night, my neighbor and another college radio DJ was in the mood for a mini roadtrip and some live tuneage and so we ended up driving out to Oberlin to see Cult of Youth, pondering punk rock and politics on the drive there and finding it supremely ironic that a neofolk band was booked by the college to play in their student union within a week of certain, well, incidents. 


Oberlin's got a fascinating history and aesthetically it's a beautiful little college town. One of my friends from high school got married underneath the arch commemorating martyrs from the Boxer Rebellion, the village green is beautiful, the architecture lovely, the free art museum is quality. On the other hand, it sometimes feels a bit like a Portlandia episode in its overcompensating earnestness and general rich hippieness that reminds me of the targets of Camper Van Beethoven songs.

I learned from my previous roommate and her brother that black residents on the outskirts refer to the college itself as "the plantation," and the school itself has a secret list of people who aren't welcome, which makes me wonder if things aren't quite so kum-bay-yah to begin with. So while I think racism and other -isms are as bad as the next person who has any empathy, I find things like this a bit over-the-top, given the overanalyticalness and the presence of uber-helicopter parents. Most of us can point to something in our background that marginalizes us but sometimes this seems like firstworldposturing more than anything else. Those of us who live in craptastic neighborhoods and don't have rich parents and aren't hermetically sealed deal with these issues way more.

Part of this maybe has to do with working at a very racially and economically diverse place where we  have to peel off National Alliance stickers from the black history books and deal with all sorts of clownery, and some people did get shot here a few years back by some neo-nazi freako who wanted to start a race war.

Still, most of these clowns want attention and making a big stink only gives them what they want and while I appreciate the ideals of The Kids, it's hard for me not to roll my eyes at the usual tropes of 1960s protest with the bongo drums and whatnot. Perhaps we Clevelandians are tougher? Or just not as enlightened? Who knows?


Anyways... neofolk. We've had the new record up at the station, and I've played a few cuts that I liked and didn't find any red-flag moments in the liner notes, and they don't seem to play that up as much as certain other parties, but my compadre told me that there were a lot of shaved heads at their last jaunt through our city and the songs translated to a live setting were definitely more punky, or shoegazing with dubby basslines and some stomp to it that I enjoyed. The girls in front of me seemed a little freaked out, it seemed like more people were there to be there than anything else but what do I know except I was feeling pretty damn old and like I'd walked into an H&M commercial. Still, sometimes it's nice to get out and be somewhere else.