Two men tried to rob an Nashville Sonic restaurant, but an assistant manager pulled out a gun and fired shots, causing the suspects to flee. Police believe that one or both of the suspects was wounded.
Metro police Capt. Michele Donegan said that at approximately 10:30 p.m. Thursday, two men, one of whom was armed with a handgun, went inside the Sonic at 1410 Robinson Road, in Old Hickory.
Several employees were at the restaurant, and numerous customers were at the tables outside and at the drive-ups. The armed suspect showed the gun. The assistant manager then pulled out a gun and fired several shots, Donegan said. The two men fled out the door without firing. Police are still looking for them.
After police arrived on the scene, they followed a blood trail leading across the parking and ending at a car wash. Police think that there was probably a third person with a car that they fled in. Police searched the wooded area behind the car wash using the canine and helicopter units to be sure.
No employees or customers were hurt.
The assistant manager has a carry permit, according to police.
Police are following up on some leads in the incident, which happened in the Hermitage Precinct.
Detailed descriptions of the suspects were not available early Friday morning. "It happened very quickly ... It was extremely fast," Donegan said.
#1
I hope he doesn't get into trouble for shooting first. And Sonic may fire him for carrying on the job. I know that if I had a store in Nashville, this guy would be at the top of the list of people I would like to hire.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/05/2008 2:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Richard,
I can't speak for Sonics in TN, but here in SC they are all privately owned - all the franchisee pays for is the right to use the name, trademarks, etc. With any luck this gentleman will be keeping his job.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/05/2008 7:46 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Screw the job. At least he made sure he kept his life, along with that of all the other innocents involved. If the owner has any brains, he'll give this guy a raise and Nashville should give him a medal!
#4
A few years ago, Paul Reid murdered 7 people in Nashville at fast food restaurants. He is now on death row in Tennessee. It might be that fast food restaurant managers are wary as the result of these horrendous crimes.
#5
We had the notorious 'Browns Chicken massacre' here in the Chicago area -- as I recall, five people shoved into the meat locker and shot in the head. If I were a restaurant manager I'd seriously think of carrying.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2008 12:13 Comments ||
Top||
GREEN issues are causing tension amongst Brits in their personal and work life.
A survey of 2,046 adults across the UK revealed people are so environmentally-conscious that one in three has been put off a friend, partner or colleague due to poor eco habits.
One in five would be put off a love match if their partner did not have high environmental standards and instead of looking for GSOH (Good Sense of Humour) on personal ads on dating sites they now want GEH (Good Environmental Habits).
'Green rage' is also transferring to the workplace with 37 per cent admitting to getting angry with work colleagues for printing out unnecessary documents or leaving computers on overnight.
The figures published by EDF Energy show that more than a third, 35 per cent, of people in the UK are frustrated when someone they know acts disrespectfully towards the environment.
Peter Hofman, EDF Energys Director, Sustainable Future said: Its clear that British people are committed to tackling climate change and reducing their carbon footprint.
In fact, theyre so passionate that they expect their high standards to be shared by their family, friends and partners.
"We appreciate that its not always easy being green but its up to all of us to become part of the solution in helping combat climate change."
Eco issues also affect existing relationships, with the environment joining money and holidays as another battleground for couples.
The research found that the top five green bad habits which put Britons off their partner are: leaving lights on when they leave a room, leaving the fridge door open, not recycling plastic packaging, leaving appliances on standby and leaving the tap on when brushing their teeth. Knives would be a great way to solve this problem.
Quite regularly, as a home inspector, I see run-of-the-mill "bad" popping up. Occasionally "that was really dumb" makes an appearance. But you know you are in rare air when "Hall of Fame Stupid" presents itself. Now, gentle reader, is one of those times.
Do not adjust your glasses. Yes, that is a downspout drain from the roof gutter into the house. Water is efficiently directed from the roof into the crawl space. As one might imagine, the crawl space was full of water. Not just standing water, but A LOT of water. If this had been done on the other side of the home also, we could have termed it "sea trials," taken the bolts out of the foundation and checked the whole works for buoyancy.
My first thought, upon seeing this fiasco from outside, was that no one could possibly be that dumb, and there must be a piping system inside to carry the water away along the inside of the foundation.
I was keeping an open mind because on very expensive homes, internal downspouts are engineered for aesthetic reasons. Truthfully, given that it was a '70s tract home in Kirkland, I wasn't betting on it.
Alas, there was no such system. The pipe ended a few inches inside the screen vent, providing a variable 1-inch-to-3-foot gravity-powered water feature, depending on the crawl-space water level at any given time.
After recovering emotionally from the situation, naturally my mind wandered the way I am sure your mind is wandering ... toward that incredulous "What the heck were they thinking?"
This is only a working theory, but it's the best I've got: A low area in the yard between the subject house and the neighbor's house holds water. It had somewhat sloppy grass and needed better drainage, or better soil, or both. Presumably, the downspout dumping its load of water on the area filled up the low spot and made a little pond between the houses. And maybe the neighbor complained, "Your water is flooding my property."
In this situation, options are plenty a person could dig a buried drain line to carry the water away from the downspout, or bring in drain rock, or put in a yard drain, or use topsoil to build up the level of the yards, or just eliminate the standing water by digging a canal to the street. The and/ors are abundant.
But hold onto your hats! There is yet another option we hadn't considered. The easiest and cheapest way would be to turn the tail piece of the downspout pipe 180 degrees, poke it through the crawl space vent screen and get the water out of sight and out of mind. And that's what happened. Never underestimate cheap, easy or stupid.
The coup de grâce was that the crawl-space screen, after being pushed away for the pipe, was left off so rats could and did get in. That was priceless.
The good news is that several feet of water kills the rats that may happen to wander in.
Missed this yesterday, it's about a fundraiser to provide jobs and help to returning Vets. The goal is to raise $100 million in funds
Players will wear red, white and blue caps to commemorate day
All Major League Baseball players on this Fourth of July -- and then later for all Sept. 11 games -- will be wearing a very stylish and very symbolic Stars & Stripes baseball cap. Many of those New Era caps will show up sweaty and game-used at the MLB.com Auction to help a great cause in the weeks ahead.
It is all part of Friday's grandiose -- and often emotional -- celebration for returning troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the next step in the "Welcome Back Veterans" national fundraising and awareness campaign that was announced jointly last week by Major League Baseball, MLB Advanced Media and the McCormick Foundation.
All home teams over this weekend will be host to ceremonies honoring veterans in their community, with veterans throwing out first pitches. For games on the Fourth, "Welcome Back Veterans" will adorn the bases and ceremonial home plates. There will be custom lineup cards, with a place for a local veteran to place his or her signature. Among many fundraising activities, each MLB club will auction off a set of bases, game-worn caps and a specially designed team jersey to benefit Welcome Back Veterans.
It's not a war rally or demonstration, it's a tangible way of starting to really help those who are going to need it -- returning troops and their families. This is an apolitical initiative in the interest of helping some people who, according to one staff sergeant interviewed by MLB.com, "just wanted to get back home." Just consider how it will feel at Chase Field in Arizona, where the National Anthem will be performed by Jessica Schall, whose brother Army Sergeant Kenneth Schall was killed in Iraq during May 2005. Think that song will mean anything?
"Major League Baseball considers it both an obligation and a privilege to assist our troops in any way we can," said MLB president Bob DuPuy, a veteran who served a year in Vietnam and received the Army Commendation Medal for his service. "Welcome Back Veterans was created to help our brave men and women make a successful transition to civilian life when their service to their country has ended. We ask that all Major League Baseball fans join us on the July Fourth weekend and on September 11 in this grand-scale effort to raise funds and bring awareness to this vital cause."
"I congratulate Major League Baseball on this extraordinary act of compassion for our troops throughout our Independence Day weekend," said General David L. Grange, retired U.S. Army brigadier general and president and CEO of the McCormick Foundation. "With Welcome Back Veterans, Major League Baseball is providing financial support and, just as importantly, shining a light on the challenges facing our returning men and women of the armed forces."
Everywhere you look, there will be examples of this support. All of them can't be listed in this space, but MLB.com will have live coverage of the Welcome Back Veterans activities at every home ballpark on this day. In Cincinnati, all active-duty military members can get in free -- and the Reds' players will be wearing camouflage jerseys Saturday and Sunday.
In Philadelphia, where the Phillies will be hosting the Mets, a 16-foot by 10.5-foot flag will be unveiled before the game by impersonators of Betsy Ross and Ben Franklin. The flag will be on display in Ashburn Alley the rest of the weekend. Fifty state flags, plus P.O.W. flags, will be presented on the field, and Col. Mark Ferrara, commanding officer of Stryker Force, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
In San Francisco, it will be a rare 1:05 p.m. PT start for a Giants home game. It begins a three-game series against the rival Dodgers, and the first 30,000 fans in attendance receive American flags.
In Atlanta, a truly spectacular homestand slate of patriotism hits a crescendo with Friday's postgame "Salute to America Fireworks Spectacular," presented by Publix Super Markets. It will feature a dazzling display of pyrotechnics, choreographed to patriotic music, that will light up the Atlanta skyline in red, white and blue. Serving as the Braves' Honorary Team Captain for the evening's game against Houston will be Capt. Joseph Anthony, of Richmond, Va., a 16-year veteran of the U.S. Army. Anthony, a decorated soldier, is currently serving in Iraq, and was scheduled to return home to the States shortly before Independence Day.
It's much the same spirit everywhere else at home ballparks for this holiday. And those hats are what most people will especially notice as the theme, whether watching on TV or in person. Exact versions of those caps are available at the MLB.com Shop, and a portion of those proceeds also go to Welcome Back Veterans.
Please click to read more of what Baseball is doing. There's lots more to this -- jobs are already lined up.
#1
Went to the Seattle-Detroit game yesterday and this was focus of the pre-game on field festivities. In addition, each Seattle home game, they ask all Veterans to stand and be recognized. Color guards are from local military units as well as the various military-based fraternal organizations.
#2
Was at the Yankees-Sox game in the Bronx. They asked active duty and vets to stand while they were acknowledged, introduced about 15 guys from Wounded Warrior Project (one of whom threw out the first pitch), showed a video and generally did a nice job. Ronan Tynan singing "God Bless America" was great, too. Too bad the Sawx won.
Posted by: TIBOR ||
07/05/2008 23:27 Comments ||
Top||
A wax figure of Adolf Hitler had its head ripped off soon after the opening of a new branch of Madame Tussauds in Berlin on Saturday, police said. A 41-year-old Berliner had been arrested and faced charges of causing criminal damage and bodily harm after he hit another visitor who tried to stop him, spokesman Uwe Kozelnik said.
'He wanted to protest against Hitler's figure being on show,' Kozelnik said, adding that the model had been withdrawn from display for repairs.
The decision to portray the Nazi dictator among the 70 famous figures in German history in the museum has proved controversial in the country. In order not to give the impression that Hitler was in any way a figure to be revered, he appears as a broken man in a mock-up of his bunker just before final defeat at the end of World War II. Why did they settle for a half-measure display? A dead Hitler slumped on the couch, with a gaping hole in the back of his head and a smoking pistol in his hand, would have sent a clear message.
Ironically he is behind a table, with the aim of preventing visitors to the museum in central Berlin from damaging the waxwork, or posing for photographs with it.
'While we were planning the exhibition, we did surveys on the street with Berliners and with tourists, and the result was quite clear that Hitler is one of the figures that they want to see, ' spokeswoman Natalie Ruoss said. 'Seeing as we are portraying the history of Germany we could hardly have left him out ... we want to show the reality,' she said. Oh, please. The 'reality' of Hitler's Germany was not to be found inside the Fuehrerbunker.
Stephen Kramer, general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, believes some Holocaust survivors might find the exhibition offensive but said he was not opposed as long as it was done properly. 'Hitler should not become a tourist attraction but if this exhibition helps to some extent normalize the way of dealing with Hitler, as a kind of a demystification, let's try it,' Kramer told AFP in late May.
The other 74 waxworks are less controversial, although for foreign visitors many of the figures from German history, culture, sport and entertainment might cause some head-scratching.
Albert Einstein needs no introduction, nor does the current pope, and most people will have heard of Angela Merkel, Otto von Bismarck, Oliver Kahn and Ludwig van Beethoven. Others that many will have heard of but might not recognize include writer Guenter Grass, playwright Bertolt Brecht, post-war politician Konrad Adenauer, and the anti-Nazi resistance heroine Sophie Scholl.
Non-German waxworks on display include the Dalai Lama, Winston Churchill, US President George W. Bush and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
#2
I think it was a perfect setting. Just at that moment, all the hubris, the dreams, the hate came crashing down around him. A nation's dreams for revenge ended and the continuing humiliation of Germany would continue since the end of WWI.
Now the Germans are united and on a new path, with the option of going down trails already taken. This, IMHO, was a stark warning about treading that road again.
I can't blame the man for the outrage, but he needs to keep in mind this is another point of view for the protest he was making. Hitler failed. He was the end of a horrible chapter in the history of Germany and the world. The rise of far right parties in Europe today in response to the erosion of nationalistic identities and the influx of non-assimilating immigrants needs to be remembered as the path once trodden. Especially to the privileged elite that insist on cramming the loss of national prestige down the people's throats with the EU scam and the pandering of a minority. The people will rebel and pick someone that they think best represents their view. It very well may be a deal with the devil.
Remember Hitler, Europe. Remember the path you trod.
#3
Both tofu and yams are loaded with plant estrogens which are very close to animal estrogen. Importantly, while the consumption of tofu is quite high in Asia, it doesn't present these problems, because most of that consumption is of fermented tofu, which breaks down the estrogen.
And interesting comparison can be made with the hazards of milk products. When fermented into cheese, they also chemically change, and become much more heart healthy.
At least 2.5 million people have been killed in natural disasters over the recent 48 years. The number of casualties over the recent 20 years made up 1.6 million people, the UN said.
Rob Vos, the director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), said that the number of natural disasters taking place in the world nowadays has quadrupled in comparison with the 1970s. The disaster-related economic damage has increased at least seven times.
The authors of the report delivered at the UN headquarters in New York at the session of the UN Economic and Social Council did not specify the reason why natural disasters started happening more frequently in the world today. They said, however, that the frequency of catastrophes could be linked with the global climate change. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
07/05/2008 08:30 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Where to start? With a larger population, death *has* to increase, unless you're a big fan of immortality. And if more people live in a flood plain, there will be more "flood victims". Add to that the nutrient rich soil of a flood plain making it the best agricultural area around, and surprise.
Bangladesh has some of the *most* fertile soil in the world, so why are the vast majority of their not-overpopulated population living subsistence lives?
Three reasons: Islam, socialism, and international aid.
Were it not for those three things, Bangladesh could have a standard of living higher than Switzerland in a decade or two.
Unlike ten years ago, it is now obvious how Islam subdues and prevents prosperity, and socialism is about as bankrupt. This leaves the monster of international aid.
Bangladesh society is subsidized by the world to grow jute, a fiber nobody wants and cannot be eaten, on the best farmland in the world. Their government, per capita larger than the US government, has as its largest agency, "The Department of Jute".
Each year, billions of dollars of international money go into the rat hole of the Bangladesh government, on the condition that they only grow jute, not anything edible or useful. In return, the government of Bangladesh insures that its people do no improve their standard of living by one iota.
The international community does this kind act because they do not want to compete with successful Bangladeshi agriculture. How nice.
Yes, clearly, mother Earth is to blame for this situation.
#3
Pagans?
Send mail. I've been working the dayshift recently looking for the Virgin Connie Snail.
Posted by: Hairy Morgan ||
07/05/2008 11:00 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Oh please...Nature has nothing to do with Man's stupidity in choosing places like flood plains, skirts of active volcanoes, low lying areas prone to tsunami's and hurricanes and other spots where the weather and other natural events that have always occurred. To paraphrase my geology professor, "If you live on a volcano, you don't get to complain when it erupts."
#5
I should think the moonbats would welcome such a culling. They should shut up, sit back, and let the Earth fight back since most of them hate humanity anyway.
#1
So, fair is fair, force the students to attend passover and then take communion and top it off with some Buddhist chants and maybe a Kali Thugee scene or two.
For all Senator Barack Obamas success raising money and generating excitement among voters, he faces a daunting challenge as he prepares to claim the nomination in August: a Democratic convention effort marred by costly setbacks and embarrassing delays.
With the Denver convention less than two months away, problems range from the serious upwardly spiraling costs on key contracts still being negotiated to the more mundane, like the reluctance of local caterers to participate because of stringent rules on what delegates will be eating, down to the color of the food. At last count, plans to renovate the inside of the Pepsi Center for the Democrats are $6 million over budget, which may force convention planners to scale back on their original design or increase their fund-raising goals.
The convention is being organized by the Democratic National Committee, which is run by Howard Dean, with his chief of staff, the Rev. Leah D. Daughtry, leading the effort. Only in the last month has the Obama campaign been able to take over management of the convention planning with the candidate claiming the nomination, and his aides are increasingly frustrated, as the event nears, at organizers who they believe spent too freely, planned too slowly and underestimated actual costs.
The Obama campaign has dispatched 10 people to Denver to help get a handle on the budget and make hard decisions about what has to be done and how to move forward, said Bill Burton, a campaign spokesman.
With Democrats seeking to use the convention to move past the bitterness of their bruising primary fight, the gathering in Denver Aug. 25-28 is likely to draw intense interest as the Obama forces try to show a once-divided party rallying around the nominee. And their convention comes a week before the Minneapolis gathering of the Republicans, whose convention efforts have been much smoother.
Some of the Democratic missteps started almost immediately after planning for the event began. The Democratic National Campaign Committee turned down a chance to get cheap office space and decided to rent top-quality offices in downtown Denver at $100,000 a month, only to need less than half the space, which it then filled with rental furniture at $50,000 a month. And in a costly misstep, the Denver host committee, early on, told corporate donors that their contributions were not tax-deductible, rather than to encourage donations by saying that the tax-exempt application was pending and expected to be approved.
Overly ambitious environmental goals to turn the event into a green convention have backfired as only three states have agreed to participate in the program. Negotiations over where to locate demonstrators remain unsettled with members of the national news media concerned over proposals to locate the demonstrators with their loud gatherings next to the media tent.
And then there is the food: A 28-page contract requested that caterers provide food in at least three of the following five colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple and white. Garnishes could not be counted toward the colors. No fried foods would be allowed. Organic and locally grown foods were mandated, and each plate had to be 50 percent fruits and vegetables. As a result, caterers are shying away.
An organically grown, union-produced, recycling-monitored, green-directed, rainbow-diet debacle; and that's without hippies and retro-reds rioting in the streets.
#1
And in a costly misstep, the Denver host committee, early on, told corporate donors that their contributions were not tax-deductible, rather than to encourage donations by saying that the tax-exempt application was pending and expected to be approved.
IOW - they should've lied to them?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2008 15:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
IOW - they should've lied to them?
Given how they lie everyday to the citizens of this nation, it probably would have more accurate to stipulate - Someone for once was actually honest!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
For all Senator Barack Obamas success raising money and generating excitement among voters, he faces a daunting challenge as he prepares to claim the nomination in August: a Democratic convention effort marred by costly setbacks and embarrassing delays. 
