If it is Friday in Hooterville, it must be time for a Ned the Crime fighter, update.

Yesterday afternoon, a young fellow snatched up a armful of merchandise and ran out the front door of the store.  Ned sprang into action and gave chase.


This despite the counseling he received earlier his week from the manager against one-man crime fighting.

Ned very nearly caught the thief just a few feet from our front door.  The crook dropped a couple of items and stopped to pick them up, giving Ned a momentary window of opportunity.  But,  just as Ned reached to grab the thief, he righted himself and his loot and took off, with Ned pursuit.

Ned's next big opportunity came when the thief had to stop at the five-lane street in front of the store and wait for a break in traffic.  Ned almost got him again, but the fellow dashed into traffic amid the blare of horns and the screech of tires.  Ned did the same.

All the time this pursuit was ongoing, the manager was yelling at Ned to stop, but of course, he was powerless to stop himself.

When hunter and hunted reached the safety of the other side of the road, the young criminal kicked it into high gear and left a huffing and puffing Ned in his dust.

As he walked back to the store, a dejected Ned radioed the manager, "I guess that talking to you gave me didn't work."

Watching Ned and his prey dash into five-lanes of mid-afternoon traffic, it is easy to imagine the possible tragic outcomes for one or both.  Not to mention the liability on the store.

This is not the suspect.  My little doll is turning 2 on Sunday, though.

 I'm not sure how the management will handle this latest episode with Ned the Crime Fighter.  The warning clearly didn't work.

This time the police didn't even make a pretense of showing up.  We have become a society where criminals know they can get a pass on anything short of bodily harm.

Much of what government does is an illusion.  Once you understand the illusion, the magic isn't magic anymore.

Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky