This has to be a relief to read. Scott Peterson, are you listening?
“He looked at both me and my partner right in the eyes and took his life,” said El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department representative Tim McNulty. “Apparently, he was going to surrender, to be honest with you.”
I have to think those deputies didn’t really rush to stop him either.
I present to you Roto-Rooter’s Top Five Drainpipe Recoveries of 2005. And we done good, Sacramento. Ladies and Gents, number 5 on the list :
Sacramento, CA – Roto-Rooter’s Brek Ritzema and Scott Chapman were called to a business with a backed-up sewer main. Toilets and sinks were over-flowing so the plumbers went to work on the clog. Finally, their equipment started pulling out myriad of empty miniature liquor bottles – the kind they serve on airlines. An employee was apparently in the habit of drinking on the job and flushing the evidence.
But that’s not all. Let’s take a “trip” up to Grass Valley, shall we? Elsewhere on Roto-Rooter’s site:
A Slippery Situation – Grass Valley, CA
A four-foot family pet python slithered into the bathroom and seemingly disappeared. The family called a pest control company, the fire department and others, but could not get any help. A Roto-Rooter technician located the snake with a fiber optic cable camera used to inspect pipes. Once locating the snake, the owners were able to lure the snake out with a mouse for bait.
Of course, these are just the things they found in our local toilets. Imagine what’s been flushed and not gotten stuck.
That SMiller guest post at Heckasac got me going like a three-chord Nar song. But I’m kickin it family style in the 820, so all I want to do is open a forum for discussion of the craziest local spots to watch the rivers rising. I nominate the Northgate offramp on 160, which, if you notice on your way back to midtown from returning that sweater at Sears, is almost completely covered.
I recently returned from a vacation to Southern California. There are many annoying things about SoCal (starting with that overused term, but we NorCal’rs are just as guilty) but there was one thing that really sent me over the top and made me miss good ole Sacramento; the local news.
For example, have a look see at the news team over at abc7.com. Seriously, are these broadcasters or the current cast of the Bold and the Beautiful. And the weather people? Put on your darkest oversized sunglasses and check out Dallas Raines. Haven’t seen teeth like that since that episode of Friends when Ross had the blacklight going, huh? Oh, and wait til you hear him speak. Mark Finan, take me away!
The first thing I did upon returning to the 916 was flip on channel 3. Edie and John welcomed me back and caught me up to speed on the flooding situation and shared a wonderful of story of a rescued cat. Not once did Edie or John mention themselves or make some snide personal comment.
Appreciate what you have, Sacramento. Sure this city has it’s share of faults (as noted here daily,) but, overall, I loves me some Sacramento and am glad to be back.
P.S. Props to SinghCity for minding the store while most of us were out of town. Looks like the folks over at heckasac took notice, too.
Yikes! All of a sudden we’re getting all this talk about the threat of flooding in Sacramento. While the streets could use a big cleaning, it does sound rather ominous.
This morning, I was listening to the interviews that radio stations were running with local flood control officials. With the talk about significant rising of local water levels, I’m wondering if I should be concerned about what these officials are not saying, rather than about what they are saying.
Nonetheless, while I may be a little extra sensitive to the issue just because of the south Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, it occured to me that perhaps it might be prudent to make sure my household will be ready for such events here, just in case. Lo and behold, the Sac Bee printed an article today about preparing for potential floods here. It’s a lot of common sense, but it certainly makes for a good checklist.
They always say that punishment should fit the crime. But what they don’t say is, punishment justifies the crime.
A judge out in Nevada wants to punish rowdy New Year’s Eve party goers by either giving law breakers 10 days in jail, or by making them take an ad out in their local paper confessing their crime. This is not to shame them, of course:
“By allowing their friends, their sorority sisters, everyone else to find out what the consequence is at Lake Tahoe, it might sting for a minute but it’s going to prevent somebody else from getting arrested or injured the following year,” Glasson explains.
That’s right sorority sisters, shape up or ship out! The ironic thing is, this punishment could be seen as a reward:
Many of those in their 20s were critical of the concept. “I think it’s ridiculous,” Brittany Putich told News10. She thinks the ads might actually serve as a badge of honor for young troublemakers. A companion agreed. “I wouldn’t have a problem writing an ad in my paper saying I got a drunk and disorderly,” said Thomas Cordova.
Classy, for sure. Put it in your resume, kid!
I’ve long lamented the fact that traffic reports/reporters in this city are almost useless to the regular driver. They don’t help you much really, when you’re already stuck in traffic. They’ll tell you you’re stuck, which you know, but don’t tell you how to get out of it, which you’d like to know. Sometimes, you just gotta learn on your own.
Recently, I found a bit of a “shortcut” – I use quotes because the route is actually a longer way around distance-wise, but it takes less time to travel during rush hour. The culprit that I try to avoid? The I-5 South connection off eastbound 50 coming from West Sacramento.
This is one spot that typically jams up, as the one lane branching off 50 East to I-5 South clogs up. What’s worse, many people won’t let you merge once the traffic comes to a standstill. If you ever find yourself in this scenario, try this solution:
Continue reading “What traffic reporters don’t tell you”
Hope everyone is enjoying/enjoyed/will enjoy their holidays and associated festivities. Here at the Rag, we’re still partying like it’s 1999.
Came across this story yesterday. What are the odds that you’ll hear about a scandal where a local Congressman hires his wife to raise money for him, both of whose last names happens to be “Doolittle”?
The coincidence is nice, but I don’t like having my sarcastic work done for me. But, you know what would really be funny? I would crack up to no end (really, I would) if, somehow, US senator Trent Lott was involved with the Doolittles in some sordid scandal. I’m not saying that he is, but the sarcastic humor would just be awesome.
I present to you the two worst holiday house lighting displays I could find. The first, pictured at right, features large surreal geometric shapes, and not one but 2 Santas both in a pose that reminded me of the dude at the end of “Blair Witch Project.” The second has Batman in it.
I received an odd e-mail from SacBee.Com wishing me happy holidays, blah blah blah. It even included this, ahem, crudely animated non-denominational holiday greeting card. Good job on that one, fellas. Most of all, I felt the warmth and good tidings from our SacBee friends glowing through the festive subject line of the e-mail:
Tookie Execution: Coverage, Photos, Audio — Today on sacbee.com
Nothing says holiday cheer like public executions! Perhaps they should have saved this one for Easter.
The Sac Rag 
