Category: News

Radio contest death trial starts today

Jury selection begins today in the trial to determine whether Entercom, the radio giant who owns 107.9 The End (and 98 Rock, and 96.9 The Eagle, and KSSJ, and 106.5, and AM 1320…) is responsible for the death of Jennifer Strange during a radio contest in 2007, which of course I blogged about back then. Since I really haven’t thought about it much since then, I still feel pretty much the same as I did back then: I still maintain that “personal responsibility” doesn’t protect a company asking people to abandon their common sense. I’d rather err on the side of protecting people who should know better than protecting organizations without a discernible conscience.

I also hope as a side effect of this trial that somehow NBC will be forced to stop airing “America’s Got Talent” — hey, I’m no expert, it’s up to the lawyers to figure out how to make that happen.

Slam! Crash! Plow!

The aftermath
The crime scene, er, aftermath, er, ground zero!

If you live here (this is mainly for you new readers), you know that cars find their way into buildings. Home, businesses, you name it. Young drivers, old drivers, and elevated drivers alike, we have it all in the 916. What is fascinating to me, however, is how we report these incidents and what information we reveal.

For example, on Sunday morning in Natomas an off-duty sheriff’s deputy “crashed” her sport utility vehicle into a Starbucks.

Police charged an off-duty Sacramento Sheriff’s deputy with felony DUI Sunday after she plowed into an open Starbucks coffee shop in Natomas, injuring an elderly woman … Brown said the driver of the car continued to push on the accelerator even after the car had come to a stop … Authorities believe Gargano, 37, was taking prescription medication, Leong said. He declined to name the specific medication, citing health confidentiality.

Sorry, the officer “plowed” into the coffee shop. What, no “continued to gun it!” And we are OK with her name but not her medical condition?

More details surface and the Sac Bee offers up a new article, SUV slams into Starbucks; deputy charged. We learn the deputy’s name and of course her personal tidbits in the comments section.

Then, two more crashes occur … Continue reading “Slam! Crash! Plow!”

Watch out for crosswalk sting today

Sac PD are out today in a sting to nab drivers who don’t stop for pedestrians at crosswalks:

Plainclothes officers will be attempting to cross between the white lines of crosswalks at different intersections in the city. Nearby, motorcycle officers and officers in patrol cars will be watching for motorists who don’t yield the right of way to the pedestrian cops.

Are plainclothes officers really needed for this? Couldn’t the pedestrians in this operation just be … pedestrians? I suppose it’s possible that would make it seem like they are “putting the public in danger,” though unless they are banning pedestrianism entirely until the scourge of right-of-way-refusal is smote from the land, they aren’t really doing anything either way, harms-way wise. Bottom line: stop for pedestrians.

Continue reading “Watch out for crosswalk sting today”

RT service changes: Tahoe Park getting the shaft

neighborhood rideIn the upcoming September service changes for RT, my beloved Tahoe Park apparently drew the shortest straw and will be hit with 2 cuts out of 11 total changes.

  • 37 – Tahoe Park – 21st Avenue – Weekdays – Eliminate; Route 8 provides alternative service.
  • 83 – 14th Avenue – Weekdays – Decrease service frequency from 30 minutes to 60 minutes.

I’m not really sure how Route 8 can provide alternate service to Tahoe Park as their routes (8, 37) don’t intersect.

Continue reading “RT service changes: Tahoe Park getting the shaft”

Sacramentans getting lucky abroad

No, this is not about sex tourism. First, we had journalists accused of spying in Korea getting freed by Big Dog Bill. Now we have a local musician narrowly escaping imprisonment in Iran.

Former Cake bass player Shon Meckfessel was traveling with the three backpackers who are being detained for espionage for crossing the Kurdish border into Iran. Meckfessel likely would have joined his traveling companions, but he had a cold and decided to recuperate in his hotel.

All Sacramentans who plan to travel abroad are advised to purchase this shirt, available exclusively from your culturally savvy friends at The Sac Rag in the language of your choice:

shirt front shirt back
front back

Bee starts water waster witch hunt

Bee water witch huntThe Sac Bee has a new “photo gallery” solicitation on the Web site — a “community reporting project,” they’re calling it — asking folks to send in photos (registration required to look at the photos) of “the city’s biggest water wasters.”

Include a brief description of the date and time the photo was taken and where it was taken, including street address and nearest cross street.

Sounds an awful lot like the Bee wants us to rat out our neighbors. I’m not sure where to start with this, but I think I’ll start with this: breaking the city’s watering rules is not synonymous with “wasting” water. One could easily follow the letter of the law in a wasteful way, just as one could water on off-days in a conservationist way.

Continue reading “Bee starts water waster witch hunt”

Where’s the Dope?

Ah, there it is...
Ah, there it is...
From the Sacramento Bee’s Crime Blog we learn that a CHP pilot spots marijuana garden in Folsom.

Authorities seized 96 marijuana plants worth more than $76,000 after a California Highway Patrol helicopter pilot spotted them growing along a popular bicycle and walking trail in Folsom. In a Thursday news release, Folsom police said the plants were found along the trail in the Sibley Street and Glenn Drive area. (See photo below supplied by the Folsom Police Department.)

Thanks, Folsom Police Department. I see it now!

Thursday afternoon headline comedy

I know this is not necessarily a laughing matter but I can’t help, well, chuckling a bit whenever a headline has the word “sickened” being used for its literal meaning:

1 Sickened By Odor In Rancho Cordova Building (KCRA)

Are investigators considering the person who tipped them off as a person of interest, on the legal theory of He who smelt it, dealt it?

DUI killer sues restaurant for serving him booze

In other crazy lawsuit news, convicted DUI manslaughterer Roberto Vellanoweth is suing the Camino Real Restaurant for serving him a “boozed-up mystery drink” that he claims caused the fatal crash in which he killed 4 people one horrifying and tragic day in South Land Park.

Obviously this is another insane what-is-this-world-coming-to lawsuit, but am I the only one who thinks it wouldn’t be a bad thing if somebody put that place out of business? In California there is really no excuse for bad Mexican food. The Yelpers back me up, using phrases like “HUGE mistake,” “thrown up,” “funny odor,” and “fat jerky was that brown ooze it had been swimming in” in their mostly 1-star reviews. If you’ve been to Camino Real Restaurant, you might wonder whether the mystery dosage in Vellanoweth’s drink was Hepatitis A. (This joke was brought to you by Mrs Cool.)