Sunday Reflections

 We buried Bill yesterday. It was a pretty good crowd.  Bill was a man o many parts, all o them good, steadfast parts.  He was an Eagle Scout, a basketball coach, a competitive shooter, a retired educator. His widow asked the shooting club to wear our regalia and serve as "honorary pallbearers".  Of course, we were honored to do so.

I am a decrepit old man.  A lifelong smoker with a body wrecked by years of service on armored vehicles, along with the attendant bad habits that characterizes cavalry service. Yet, when it came time to bear the pall, there were not six o his healthy friends who could lift a casket. I was pressed into service as a pall bearer.

Later that afternoon, stirring a roux, I was struck by the irony that I have recently carried three healthy men to their grave. I'm not complaining, you understand, simply stuck by the irony that "healthy" friends are dyeing off. The last two did it right.  They had a good day, enjoyed a pleasant evening, kissed their wives good night, then rolled over and went to sleep. No lingering, no drama, just went to sleep. That is the way to do it.

I hope, when my time comes, that is the way I'll go.  I also hope that I have enough chain-smoking, semi-alcoholic friends to carry me to the hearse.  Those "healthy" folks can't seem to carry the burden.

Resource Officers

 In the post below, where I said that every school should have a dedicated Resource Officer, one commenter made a common mistake.  

 If a bank can pay one or more individuals to be present during business hours, a public school with resources vastly more precious should be under protections as well.

The public school system should not pay one red cent for Resource Officers.  The funding should come 100% from the police agency.  There are several good reasons for this.

First, school administrators have no idea what cops do for a living, and frankly, most of what a Resource Officer does is sit on his ass. The good ones are moving most of the time, learning the school and keeping watch.  Wandering through the parking lots, or judging the fencing around the perimeter.  But, there is a lot of sitting on your ass.  Administrators hate this and will try to put the Resource Officer on duties that are not related to law enforcement.

Second, administrators hate bad press.  When a cop does his job, it generates reports.  Administrators don't like it when the cop assigned to the school actually makes an arrest in the building or on the school grounds. They think it reflects poorly on the school.

The Resource Officer needs the authority to make arrests in accordance with the law.  I worked in a high school and my basic yardstick was that if any other person could be arrested for the crime at Wal Mart, they could also be arrested for the same crime at the school. I did not arrest for every school yard tussle, but I had broad discretion to do so. The students knew this, and so did the faculty.

My assignment was in a high school.  I normally wrote 110 reports each year, and made 25-30 arrests per year.  Sometimes the principal like it, sometimes he didn't.  I always worked well with my principals, but they knew that I worked WITH then, not FOR them.

Third, cops cost more than teachers, at least locally. If the administrators had the option of hiring an additional cop, or an additional teacher, what might they do? We estimated that it cost the Sheriff's Office $75K per year to put an officer in a school. At that time, they could get a new teacher, fresh out of college, for about $45K per year.

Our Sheriff was smart about funding.  He asked the people for a 1-cemt sales tax to fund the Resource Officers. The voters approved it in a parish-wide ballot.  The school administrators didn't want it.  They were aghast at the idea. But the voters approved it and the school-house folks knew better than to resist. 

Casual Violence

 The news is buzzing with reports of a school shooting in Band, Oregon yesterday.  Three students and a teacher are dead, along with the suspected shooter.  This is a tragedy, but one that might have been amplified if not for the courageous action of a community member.  According to CNN:

A community member who saw the teenager entering Silver Rail Elementary School at about 1 p.m. followed him in before engaging him in gunfire, killing him before responding officers arrived, Krantz said.

Well Done, community member.  What we have here is a "good guy with a gun".  My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, along with deep respect to that "community member". Without that intervention, this could hae been much worse.

I spent the last 15 years f my career as a School Resource Officer.  It is my considered opinion that every school in the nation needs at least one Resource Officer, trained in this very demanding specialty of law enforcement.

Ruger Discontinues

 Belle clued me in to a rumor today that Ruger is going to discontinue a big part of their product line.

Guns.com has the skinny ,but if true, then the revolvers are gone, the 77 series rifles, the Ruger No 1, many of their carbines, and some others.  They list the Ruger Vaquero as gone, and those of us who play Cowboy games are wondering if the New Model Vaquero is also on the chopping block?

Wow.  It looks as if Ruger's catalog can now be printed on a leaflet.  What's left?  A few pistols and ARs? I guess we will have to wait and see.

UPDATE:  The American Rifleman says this about that.

Effective immediately, Ruger is ceasing production of its LCR, SP101, GP100 and Bearcat revolvers. The company plans to complete its final production runs of the following models for 2026: SR1911, LC Carbine, PC Charger, PC Carbine, LC Charger, Redhawk, Super Redhawk, Blackhawk, Super Blackhawk, Single-Series revolvers, Vaquero, No. 1, 77-Series rifles, Hawkeye and Ruger Precision Rifle.

That is two sources.

Eley Target

 I was ordering some cleaning brushes and decided to go see what was available in .22LR.  I found some Eley Target at a pretty fair price. It's about a third the price of Tenex.  What the hell, I dropped a brick in the cart and checked out.

When it came in yesterday, I was a bit surprised at the packaging.  I've bought a lot of .22 ammo over the years and bicks o .22 generally come in cardboard boxes.  Not this stuff.

Next time I take the .22 out, I'll give this stuff a whirl.  If it groups well through by barrel, I have a winner.  IF not, it will serve r plinking ammo.  I just thought it was weird, wrapped in plastic rather than cardboard.

Anyone have any experience with this stuff?

As a young Dad, raising sons and cattle, I remember buying Peters .22LR at the farmers Co-op for $10.00 a brick.  With three young sons, I bought a lot of that stuff.  It shot well enough for taking squirrels, rabbits, and the occasional stray cat.  That is a story my boys tell and we will leave that one for later.

UPS, Please

 I get packages, just like everyone else.  Sometimes UPS, sometimes FedEx, sometimes Amazon.

UPS is problematic.  Their drivers are lazy, ignorant, or both.

Today, for example.  I ordered some ammo and some cleaning brushes from MidwayUSA.  UPS sent me a delivery notice. "ON THE PORCH".  I have two porches, so I went out to the front porch.  The one by the front door.  No package.  I went out to the back porch. No package.  Honestly, I doubted that the driver would have left it on the back porch, because that requires opening a gate. Still, no luck.

Belle and I started looking, and she found it leaning against the garage door. Which is not a porch, nor is it near a porch, nor is it where they said they left it. So, the driver is either lazy, ignorant, or both.

When I picked up the package, I found a hole in the box.  Luckily, nothing had spilled out, but I doubt that Midway shipped it with a hole in the box.

MondayNotes

 It's been a wild weekend.  Belle got home late Friday afternoon. Her brother survived surgery and is doing well in recovery.  We hosted a club practice on Saturday. One of our oldest friends was there to shoot.

Bill is a founding member of the club.  If the doors are open, he is there.  He had a scare with prostate cancer a couple of years ago, but beat it with treatment.  It slowed his draw down a lot and he has been working on his speed. On Saturday, he was showing his old style, and making hits in the high 4s.  About one o'clock he took off his revolver and went home.

Bill's wife called on Sunday morning. Saturday night, Bill had a heart attack and died.  Just like that. Gone. It's been two days and I'm still processing the news.

It was a cray weekend.  I need to take my suit to the cleaners, and I'll do that tomorrow.  I'll soon have a funeral to attend.

Execution Date Set

 I'm only going to use his name once, so listen up.  Do you remember Nidal Hassan? He was a US Army officer and psychologist who perpetrated a mass casualty event at Fort Hood in 2009.  He killed 13 people and injured 32 before he was captured.

Yeahh, this is the asshole who abrogated his oath both as an officer and as a physician and decided to go all Aloha Snackbar at the Fort Hood reediness center, a place where soldiers and dependents get ID cards and register vehicles. So, he brought a pistol and started shooting people, because Aloha.

Well, it seems that the War Department has decided to Aloha his ass by firing squad at Fort Hood on December 3rd.  Rumors are that it is going to be a public execution. We're talking livestream here.

If they are thinking about a good old-fashioned stand-him-up- and-shoot-him, that is too good for him. I'd get a bit more creative.  Maybe a couple of kneecap shots just to start the party.  Or, maybe after a quick coup de grace, feed him to a herd of hogs. They could stake him out somewhere and eh would be gone in three days.

A standard killing and burial is too good for this asshole.

Coming Ashore

 Isaias is hammering Fort Walton/Destin/Pensacola right now.  I'm watching Ryan Hall, who does a great weather channel on YouTube,

I shared texts with Termite, a frequent commenter and good personal friend, who is currently on an offshore rig riding it out.  They couldn't leave the rig yesterday at shift change, so they are drawing overtime pay until the helicopters can get out to pick them up. Probably tomorrow.  Termite is fine, eating well, and drawing overtime.  Hopefully, he will drop by next week, drink a beer, and tell me all about it.

Cooler

 Awoke this morning, got coffee started then walked outside to the patio to let the dawg get his morning constitutional.  Chilly outside, almost brisk. Checked the thermometer, 57F.  Clear skies, low humidity.

Florida and Alabama are bracing for what looks to be a major hurricane. This thing has shifted east enough that I expect no impact from it at all.  That is fine with me.  While I don't wish disaster on anyone, it is okay with me if hurricanes go somewhere else.  I've lived through mine, some worse than others.

Belle has been out of town for the past two days helping her older brother.  She is due back this afternoon, so the dawg and I have been batching it here on the acre.  The dawg has not starved, but he is a bit concerned, wondering where she went.  He will be quite excited when she pulls into the driveway. I can't say that I blame him.