Peoria Pundit

From my inbox:

PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16, 2009

For More Information: Contact Officer Doug Burgess
APPREHENSION OF ARMED ROBBERS
Case #’s 09-5430 & 09-5437

On Saturday, March 14th, 2009 between the hours of 3:45 pm and 5:30 pm two armed robberies occurred in the City of Peoria. In both incidents, the suspects in the robbery were identified and apprehended shortly after the crime took place.

At approximately 3:45 pm, a citizen was confronted by a male carrying a handgun in an alley in the 1800 block of W. Lincoln. The robber pointed the handgun at the chest of the victim and demanded money but was chased away when another male confronted him with a broom stick. Responding officers were able to locate the suspect nearby and he was positively identified by the victim.

At around 5:30 pm, the Top of the Hill Bar & Grill fell victim to a robbery where the weapon was implied but not seen. The suspect entered the business, sat at the bar and ordered a beer. When the bartender rang up the beer and the cash drawer was open, the suspect jumped over the counter, grabbed the bartender and informed her that he had a gun in his jacket pocket. The suspect then reached into the cash drawer and took an undisclosed amount of cash before fleeing. Officers in the area were able to identify the suspect while canvassing the area and he was later apprehended and positively identified by the victim.

From a press release:

RELEASED BY: Lieutenant Vincent C. Wieland – Criminal Investigations Division
DATE: March 12, 2009
SUBJECT: Home Invasion / Shooting –– 09-5225

Peoria Police Detectives are investigating a Home Invasion / Shooting that occurred at 11:35 PM, Wednesday, March 11, 2009, at 1827 N. California.

At the listed date and time officers responded to a reported robbery and a person shot at 1827 N. California.  Upon arrival officers found one male victim shot in the neck.  A witness reported that three masked males, all armed with guns, forced their way into the residence demanding money.  When the suspects were told they did not have any money, one victim was shot in the neck.

The victim was immediately transported to OSF where he was immediately treated for his wounds.  The victim is currently listed in critical but stable condition.

The Peoria Police Department urges anyone possessing any knowledge of this incident to contact the Peoria Police Department at 673-4521 or Crime Stoppers at 673-9000. At this time there have been no arrests and there are no suspects.

From the Peoria Police Department:

On February 23, 2009 at approximately 10:50 pm, a female driver was flagged down by what she believed to be a stranded motorist in the area of Willow Knolls and Allen Road.  Once the female stopped, the suspect produced a black handgun, ordered her to the ground and robbed her of an undisclosed amount of cash.  After the robbery, the suspect drove away in the vehicle he portrayed to be disabled.

The suspect vehicle is a white, boxy style, older car with an Illinois registration beginning with the numbers “816” or possibly “815”.

The suspect is described as a black male, approximately 6’1” to 6’2” tall and weighing between 180 and 190 pounds.  At the time of the robbery he was wearing a black hooded jacket, black pants and a Chicago White Sox hat.

Anyone with information regarding this or any armed robbery is urged to contact the Peoria Police Department at 309-673-4521 or Crime Stoppers at 309-673-9000.

The Peoria Police Department encourages safety first when assisting stranded motorists especially in the late evening or late night hours.  Please use extreme caution and only stop in well lit, public areas.  If you see a motorist or person in need of assistance, notify the Police of your location before stopping and give a brief description of the person or vehicle you’re stopping to help and request an officer stop by.

I’ve seen this scene before.

A young person is killed. The killers are (probably) other young people.

Friends and family gather and they demand change. They say this is tragedy that will start the change.

And each time I hope it is.

I don’t have any special insight into how to fix what is wrong. I think it’s going to involve a lot of tough love from moms and dads. I think its going to have to involve a lot of honesty and not so much posturing.

The numbers are showing that things are getting better. But Mario McGee is not a number. None of the victims are.

The people who run in the “No Love” gang are outnumbered by the people who attended this rally. When you count the police, “No Love” is both out numbered and out gunned. Add the court system to the fight, there is no way “No Love” could survive.

But the community doesn’t trust the police. The police and the prosecutors don’t get along. The criminals game the court system with ridiculous ease.

So “No Love” and others like them run the streets of Peoria. And there will be more rallies.

Peoria’s first murder victim of the year is Mario McGee, a Woodruff High School graduate. And that’s a big deal for the media, it being a milestone of sorts. Had this same man died inexactly the same way on two months ago, would it be less or more worthy of note?

I found his MySpace page, if anyone wants to take a look at it. Lots of rough language and pics.

UPDATE: Gang signs all over his MySpace page, and now the Journal Star is reporting that somone shot at a car he was in at least three different times. Oh, and someone beat him up too.

UPDATE 2: I am being told that:

1. Those weren’t gang signs at all.

2. That Mario was hated by gang members because he wasn’t one of them.

What I saw on the site was a lot of teen who dressed like the part (yes, I know it’s considered a style), flashed a lot of hand gestures, and copious use of the “N” word.

I might have jumped to conclusions, but the content of the Web site itself has a lot to blame for that.

Due to lack evidence (and many statements to the contrary) , I’ll apologize for implying he was a gang member. And I’ll let Emerge Peoria have the last word.

Mario’s messages on his MySpace page are riddled with the “n” word. Now, the average Peoria Pundit reader may not appreciate the way Mario communicated his thoughts, that’s their prerogative. However, Mario’s words to his friends, who he endearingly called “my n****a” are words of encouragement. There were reports of gang signs on his MySpace page. I must not know what a gang sign is – because I didn’t see one.

I annoyed some people with a line at the bottom of this post, which noted that a member of the Peoria Chiefs who tossed a baseball an oposing player and instead hit a fan could get 16 years in prison. The line I added was:

Which is longer than some college athletes get for killing their roommates with fire.

Sorry, critics. It’s true. The drunken Bradley s/soccer players students who killed their classmate/teammate/roommate served a few months each. And the loudest sentiment expressed so far is that all must be forgiven, it was an accident, and so forth. There was outrage that Bradley refused to let the killers re-enroll at BU. The often stated reason for this sentiment is they were “good kids,” a term usually applied to white teenagers from middle-class class families who’ve never gotten in trouble before.

And this, I believe, is why people are annoyed at that line, not because it didn’t apply. Obviously these are both cases of athletes acting badly and being made to face the legal consequences. My comparison of the two cases therefore is completely legitimate.

Still some people object. They say it’s unfair — to the former Bradley students. You know, the ones who actually DID kill someone. Not unfair to the pitcher, who didn’t kill anyone and yet might face a far longer jail term.

People never cease to amaze me.

Journal Star columnist Pam Adams is a bit of a race baiter. She can look at just about any issue, and describe it as an example of racism. This is especially true when the subject of Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis.

In today’s column, Adams looks over minutes from the September meeting of the Peoria Race Relations Commission. She excerpts sentences and paragraphs and “translates” them. Well, she calls them “translations,” but if any United Nations translator were to take the agenda-based liberties Adams does, they would be shipped back to their home countries:

For example:

“Mayor Ardis had hoped more commissioners would have attended today so he could have addressed the entire group but trusted his comments would be conveyed to all commissioners.”

(I didn’t come to listen to your dialogue, I came to make my own.)

Adams doesn’t like Ardis, so a simple statement that he wishes more people were there gets “translated” into Ardis being an autocratic ogre. I’ve sat in on council meetings ranging back to when Dick Carver was mayor. Ardis might be the least autocratic, although he does like meetings to move along.

From what I can tell, there’s a bit a coup attempt in program on this commission. Some folks don’t like that it’s being chaired by Amir Al-Khafaji. At the time he was appointed, the grumbling I heard was that some black people thought a black person should be in charge. Adams doesn’t mention the reason behind the discontent, which is too bad because it would be good if the Peoria Journal Star’s lone black columnist, and the only columnist who almost exclusively covers race issues, would in fact cover an issue involving prejudice against a person of color.

Last week, Adams brought Willie Horton into the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s race. She implied Republican candidate Darin LaHood was a racist. Why? Because he wanted to speak to the father of a white rape victim, when the other victims of the black man accused of the crime were black. Therefore, Adams somehow concludes, LaHood was planning Willie Horton-style ads against Kevin Lyons.

There are several problems with this conclusion, the most obvious of which is that Adams doesn’t possess the powers of precognition any more than she she posses the powers of telepathy in regards to what Mayor Ardis was thinking.

The other is that LaHood didn’t exactly pull the name of Monterius Hinkle from a hat. The vast majority of Americans had Peorians who pay attention to crime already knew about the guy and what he is accused of doing. I think that most Peorians assumed that because of the location of the crimes, ALL the victims were black. That’s what I assumed until I read Adams article. Not that it mattered to me as much as it does to Adams.

And here’s a point that Adams doesn’t mention. The basic facts of the Willie Horton ads were true. He was a convicted murderer given a furlough. He did flee to another state and commit rape and murder. Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, didn’t create the furlough program, but he did support it vigorously.

But then the facts don’t matter. Horton was black, therefore the ads were racist. It’s always that was with Adams.

And what are the facts of the Monterius Hinkle case, as they relate to State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons? He declined to prosecute the first time Hinkle was under arrest, saying he didn’t have enough evidence and willing testimony from victims. This last crime happened after Hinkle was released. Would LaHood have mentioned these facts if Lyons had not staged his disastrous press conference accusing LaHood of interfering with the case? Clairvoyant Pam says yes.

And since Adams is concerned about how Peoria’s power structure ignores the concerns of black people, including police brutality, I am wondering when she will mention that association of black ministers have endorsed a candidate for Peoria County State’s Attorney, saying they are convinced this candidate would listen to their concerns, and would actually diversify the office.

They endorsed Darin LaHood, the man Adams says implies is racist because cops like him.

Also, Jim Ardis has endorsed LaHood, which no doubt is further evidence of racism, as far as Adams is concerned.

Adams has always implied that candidates who run on anti-crime platforms are really just trying to scare white voters, never mind that most crime victims are black and that most of the people who are forced by economics to live among crack houses and gang violence are black.

Four years ago, then mayoral candidate Ardis and Eric Turner held a press conference in front of two crack house on Peoria’s South Side. She complained that Ardis was using black people.

There are two types of people who insist that in all discussion of crime, black people are somehow involved: White supremacists, who litter my Website and the Journal Star comments; and folks like Pam Adams, who cannot conceive that anyone who makes crime an issue is not, somehow, complaining about how black people commit crimes.

Perhaps one day, we will have a columnist at the Journal Star who is willing to engage in honest discussion of race from all perspectives, and not just be the organ for those who with one view on the matter.

Remember Peoria County Judge Scott Shore? I almost forgot about him.

He’s the jurist who came under some scrutiny for light sentences given to miscreants several years ago.

First there was Omar Porter, who Shore sentenced to 18 months in prison for unlawful possession of a firearm by hiding a gun outside Greeley School. With credit for time served and credit for “good behavior” he was out after a few months. His sentence would have been longer, but Shore decided that prosecutors didn’t prove that Porter used city streets and sidewalks to transport the gun from one location to another. Maybe us used teleportation or flew there, just like on “Heroes.”

And then there is poor, misunderstood Anthony C. Parker. He’s the one went hunting for humans and ended up firing a shotgun at an occupied car. Shore sentenced him to four years probation for aggravated discharge of a firearm, a charge that normally carries a 15-year maximum prison sentence.

As I wrote at the time, Shore’s six-year term is up this year. He faces a retention vote in November.

I don’t know Shore. For all I know, he’s the greatest legal mind of our time. For all I know, he’s a political hack who could argue his way out of a paper bag.

It doesn’t matter.

When Peoria County voters go into the voting booth, they can vote judges in or out of office for any damn reason they choose, same as state’s attorneys and Congressmen. And if voters decide that a judge who gives probation to a guy who fires a shotgun at an occupied car is a bit too soft on crime for their tastes, so be it.

Shore’s supporters — and he has many — will no doubt complain about this post. My position is that if this guy is a good attorney, then he’ll no doubt land on his feet.

And I’ll ask my readers: Are there any other judges who ought NOT be retained? Let me know.

Here we go again.

On the way home from work today, I stopped at Huck’s Convenient Store, 6818 N War Memorial Dr, located at the Willow Knolls shopping center in North Peoria, to buy couple of gallons of gasoline for the errands I needed to run.

The total price for 2.058 gallons of premium gasoline was $7.32. I used my debit card at the pump. I never entered the store. And no, smart asses, I didn’t drive off without paying this time.

I stopped at Walgreen’s and bought my medication ($97, it’s a good thing insurance coverage starts in December) and stopped at the Sav-A-Lot to get some groceries.

The debit card was declined.

Impossible.

I conceded the possibility that my estimate of how much I had left in my account might have been off by a dollar or two, but not by the more than $125 I KNEW I still had remaining on that card

Regardless, I felt about two feet tall, and there ain’t nothing worse than feeling like the most pathetic person in line at the Sav-A-Lot.

I came home, checked my balance and discovered a paltry $4.34 remaining. I checked the day’s transactions and found the cause: TWO separate charges from Huck’s, 6818 N. War Memorial Dr. The first charge was for the aforementioned $7.32. The second: $125.

Folks, my car won’t hold $125 worth of gasoline, premium or otherwise.

The transaction is listed as “pending” which I have discovered means two things: The charge might very well not go through on it’s own, but it’s gonna take a day or two for the problem to shake itself out; and my debit card company will not process any sort of dispute until the transaction is finished processing.

Naturally, I did what any red-blooded American consumer would do: Called the store to raise Hell with the manager. And if who the Hell ever is working at the place ever bothers to answer the phone, I’ll do just that.

So I did what any red-blooded American blogger would do. You are reading it.

Also, don’t you think this would make a great story on tomorrow’s evening news? I am available for interviews.

Since, apparently, they don’t believe in answering their phone.

UPDATED: Commenter Brent is correct. I finally got through and gave my tale of woe to the clerk, who was sympathetic, but could do little herself. She called the manager, who passed along this information: The debit card people did it. It was explained that the debit card company has no idea how much gas I am going to pump, so they took $125 out of MY account just in case I tried to buy more gas than I could afford. The money is supposed to be returned sometimes tomorrow.

UPDATED: It’s 5:39 a.m. on Saturday, approximately 38 hours after the transaction. The debit card still hasn’t credited the $125 back to my account. Were I between paychecks right now, I would be in deep trouble.

UPDATED: I had to talk to three different non-English speakers, but I finally convinced someone that I didn’t pump $125 worth of gas into the 10-gallon tank of my Ford Focus immediately before pumping an additional $7.32 worth of gas. Once I was able to pound some clarity into their thick skulls, it took three seconds for them to fix their mistake.

A South Peoria gasoline station was the scene of a shooting that left someone with a bullet wound in the groin. And how is this for irony: The shooter apparently goes by the name “Law.”

It’s the second recent incident at the station, located at 1016 S. Western. Which doesn’t count the empty lot across the street, which was the site of shooting and stabbing incidents.

It seems like this station is being used as staging area for assaults.

I’m sure it’s occurred to the fine folks at the Peoria Police Department to pay some special attention to the area, ‘kay?