Arkansas Blog

Have a good week, everyone...

mrs rosso won a trip so we are headed out to Cali for the week...and I'm gonna take a surfin' lesson, dude...

Laguna Niguel, or somethin'...

First time I've missed this one in a few years.

"It's competition time for the University of Arkansas solar boat team, and topics range from how much mechanical advantage a variable-pitch propeller would provide to how a wakeboarding tower might fit on the boat."

The Moron News doesn't state it but this is only kind of competition in the nation and is hosted at
Lake Fayetteville for several years. Smart kids. We will see much of their technology in our personal craft of the future.

story is clicky.

Here ya go tina et al....this is latest report I have read.

clicky

>.indicates the men may have been spotted driving trough Pemiscot County, Missouri near Bragaddocia <<

Map on eLwood. Move the sliding view bar up for bigger picture. Thanks for the report jazzy.

Any Jeopardy! fans out there? At my blue name is an archive of 25+ seasons of the game show. Click on a season, then a particular game, and the game board is displayed by category (all the "answers" are visible). Hover your mouse over the $ amount and it displays the "question" and the contestant who won that one. It's your own home version of the game!

How many votes did Ms Boyle get from Arkansas? And won't it be hard to download the dance troupe to yer iPod?

And aren't these nice looking killers loose on the country?

Have fun in LaLa Land rosso....you lucky sob.

Arkansas Girls State starts tomorrow!

Thanks Hugh. I'm a long time fan of Jeopardy but don't get to watch it very often so this will be a fun site to spend time browsing.

It was the dress, DBI. I personally look forward to buying Susan's one-and-only CD of old pop standards and showtunes, but it was the dress.

Plus, Diversity was fabulous.

And no, my sweetness, it's NOT difficult to download the video.

YouTube to your iPod? Tooble. Free and one-step.

It's clicky.

Some pharmo type guy in Oklahoma, shot a robber who fell face down unconscious on the floor of the pharmacy. The pharmo goes and gets another gun, returns and pumps 5 rounds into the robber laying helpless.
Some folks are mean sons of bitches. Even if someone is a dog, if you are human, you allow the system to work as it is supposed to. Otherwise, forget law and everyone start shooting at the first SOB who looks crossed-eyed at you.
Same thing our troops are getting prosecuted for in Iraq and other places. Looks like this guy will walk. Do the clicky.

"Arkansas Girls State starts tomorrow!"

Having no idea what's ahead of them, there will be a bunch of little home sick girls next week.

I thought I knew most of the food tricks that corporations use to replace healthy food with cheaper crappy food, but I had no clue that I needed to check my fruits/vegetables for food dyes. Food coloring added to fresh oranges is...a SIN. Artificial enhancements for our fruit as well as our bodies...we've just gotta get a handle on this cultural disaster. One more reason to love our local farmers' markets...and one more reason our food producers need regulated rather than trusted.

Have a great vacation, rosso!

We're having a perfectly wonderful boring evening of TV...after feasting on turkey sandwiches. Life is good. (And the fun I'm having watching the Republicans hilariously eat themselves while making Obama look like a political genius...is delicious.)

I remember Girls State...Is one of your daughters attending DBI??

If you want to see the dance group that beat Susan Boyle, clicky. You can watch their final performance as well as some of their qualifying performances from the link.

thanks for the updates, y'all. Now Jazzy, how is Frenchie tonight?

Arkansaw Travler, the "pharmo type guy" is a war veteran who wears some kind of a chest and back brace and cannot run. He's a pharmacist. as with most things, there are two sides to every story.

the version I read stated that he told all his employees to run, and they did, but he can't. He shot one of the would-be robbers but while the guy was lying in the floor, he started to get up again and the pharmacist thought he was coming after him. So he shot him again. that's the original version of the story I read the day it happened in the OK paper. but only the people who were there, of course, know what really happened, and the intruder who was shot 6 times obviously can't tell his side of the story now.

Ive been following a slightly less sensationalistic version of the story on the Daily Oklahoman website. I tried to post a link to this story, where the judge in the case, who also happens to be black, has been getting death threats. I copied parts of the story here in case my link doesn't work.

there are plenty of ways to spin this one, I suppose. my daddy always told me that anyone (who broke into your home) was worth shooting twice if he was worth shooting once. in other words, make sure it counted, so the attacker couldn't come shoot you with your own gun.

im not saying the pharmacist was entirely justified -- Im just saying I dont think he should be publicly condemned quite yet. This is a hard one. But I think you're being a little quick to condemn this pharmacist, who is a veteran with some type of permanent disability, for defending himself. I dont know the man and never will, but how can you say that he's a mean SOB without having all the facts? Of course the pharmacist had guns; pharmacy robberies aren't unusual any more.

this whole mess just seems a lot more complex to me than just shooting the first guy who looks crosseyed at you. I tried to post a link on my name but I dont know for certain sure how to do that, sorry.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The judge overseeing the controversial murder case against a pharmacist said Friday she received two telephone death threats.

Oklahoma County District Judge Tammy Bass-LeSure said she got the calls at home Thursday after a bail hearing for Jerome Jay Ersland of Chickasha.
The judge revealed the death threats during a conversation in court with Ersland's defense attorney, Irven Box, who was before her on another case. She then spoke briefly to The Oklahoman about the calls.

People upset about the case also have called or written District Attorney David Prater about his decision to file the first-degree murder charge. Supporters of his decision have praised him as courageous or left messages that they are praying for him.

The majority of the calls have been negative, though.

One upset voter, Jonelle Adams, 70, of Oklahoma City, wrote Prater, "You will not get my vote again. ... He should have shot them all. All ... were potential killers. You've made a vicious robber into a good ole kid. They were and are potential killers."

Someone else sent the prosecutor a single sheet of paper with the drawing of a gun silhouette and the words: "Notice. Have Gun. Will Shoot."

my son told me that nowadays, at least at our high school, if you want to go to Boys or Girls State, you just go to the office and sign up and that's it. there are very few kids who want to go; we have about 150 students going into senior year. most can't afford a week off from their summer jobs, but there may not be so many of those this year.

back in my day, when we all rode our dinosaurs to school, the teachers voted and chose 10-12 students for Boys and Girls State. it was supposed to be an honor. I was one of the kids who had to stay home and work, and also I didn't really want to go anyway. It was at Camp Robinson ? then?? does that sound right??

My iPod only plays 78 records, so I doubt I can download the sounds of a dance troupe dancing, plus I likes music better than hearing shoes scrape the stage. That's just my way of looking at things, I'm not trying to start a church. But I really think starting the Church of Mankind where we'd worship outstanding humans is a winner of an idea.

I got a kid going to Girls State, the washing and packin are going on now. She was chosen to go, so it was a complete surprise. She's kinda grumbling about putting up with 1000 teenage girls....if I was 35 years younger, I'd hide in her suitcase. Out of a thousand girls....well....you know some of em have to be loose as a goose, if you know what I mean, Vern.

I'm kinda worried and pleased, all at the same time. My daughter is a pure political animal...every cell in her body. We didn't make her that way....it just blossomed and we can thank Cheney-Bush for being so awful that little kids picked up on their crimes and took notice.

I don't know what the hell is going on right now, but you can bet that the 8 year crime spree of Cheney-Bush will send ripples through America for the next 20 years. Whether we like it or not the war between those who will stop at nothing to achieve country & world domination and the rest of us is well under way and I've got 2 kids that will not get lost in TV contests and forget that evil lurks around ever Republican Party headquarters. But rest assured if my youngest becomes the 51st President, she'll make out-Obama, Obama. I didn't raise no liars or crooks. (pats own back)

I don't know the facts in the case, and in general I'm not for emptying the gun into anyone, but I can't get too weepy about anyone who gets blown to hell while trying to stage an armed robbery. I remember last year some loser got shot to death trying to steal someone's gasoline out of their car. I think that's going a bit too far. But if you walk in with a gun pointed, I'd say you've ruined your chances of getting any sympathy out of me. Though I'm still proud of the Quicky clerk in Fort Baptist who gave his robber 40 bucks out of his own pocket when he learned the guy was robbing to get diabetes meds. That might be me in a few months, but I'll make sure the clerk can see I'm packing an extra large carrot. About half the time I get out my pistol the damn thing goes off by itself...so it's not even safe to rob with.

Since we're gonna have the house all to ourselves this week, I asked my wife if she wanted to join a swinger club. She swung something past my head, but it was going too fast for me to make out what it was. I've learned one lesson in life...never marry anyone about twice as smart as you are. You can't get away with nothing!

PS My oldest daughter called me today from a Kansas City Royals game and asked if I was aware that baseball sucked? I couldn't defend it much, last Kansas Royals game I saw back in 1976 was so boring we were hoping a stray cat would run out on the field or something.

This would be an embarassing story if this wasn't anonymous. During my junior year a note appeared on the school bulletin board instructing me to visit the principal's office. This was almost never be a good thing. I sucked it up and dutifully appeared. The first words from the principal's mouth were "Do you want to go to Boy's State?" I almost crapped. I asked what it was I was accused of that I needed to be sent to Boy Land, a home for wayward boys back in the day. He looked at me like I was insane and explained what Boy's State was. Whew. I didn't go because of my summer job.

Sorry, DBI. I just assumed it was a video iPod. Humility and Gratitude for My Blessings are on my To Do list.

Still, I must say, I agree with you.

If I were a disabled war vet working graveyard at a convenience store from a wheelchair and some armed punk walked into my store, not twice would I think.

Some idiot who's never served his country threatens a War Vet for $50 from the cash register, a carton of Marlboros and a 12-pack of Beast?

And I've got a weapon behind the counter?

One shot to fell you till the police show up.

You try to get up and aim that thing at me AGAIN?

Peace Be With You, Punk. Eat every bullet I've got.

And I mean that, as always, in a nice way.

tina, Norma,

So, let me get this straight. This pharmacist pumps an extra five bullets into a guy, and you're claiming being a veteran is part of his--what, exactly? Excuse? Justification? Extra set of rights the rest of us don't get?

The day you start giving the military, or the members thereof, or the former members thereof, the right to break the law in everyday life is the day you sign up for fascism.

That's not a word I use lightly.

You become the wingers who threaten us not to worry, because there are "strong men" (the usual phrase) guarding us. (Are we customers in a mall? Or inmates in minimum security? I'd rather be a citizen, thank you.)

I realize every action movie ends with the superhumanly competent bad guy getting up from having bullet after bullet put in him, getting up and taking one more shot at the hero, or the hero's girlfriend, or the hero's girlfriend's dog. You know what? Those are fantasy stories. They're lies. All the kill shows on TV, all the kill movies, all the kill books. When you watch them, you're drinking brain poison.

tina, Norma,

So, let me get this straight. This pharmacist pumps an extra five bullets into a guy, and you're claiming being a veteran is part of his--what, exactly? Excuse? Justification? Extra set of rights the rest of us don't get?

The day you start giving the military, or the members thereof, or the former members thereof, the right to break the law in everyday life is the day you sign up for fascism.

That's not a word I use lightly.

You become the wingers who threaten us not to worry, because there are "strong men" (the usual phrase) guarding us. (Are we customers in a mall? Or inmates in minimum security? I'd rather be a citizen, thank you.)

I realize every action movie ends with the superhumanly competent bad guy getting up from having bullet after bullet put in him, getting up and taking one more shot at the hero, or the hero's girlfriend, or the hero's girlfriend's dog. You know what? Those are fantasy stories. They're lies. All the kill shows on TV, all the kill movies, all the kill books. When you watch them, you're drinking brain poison.

Five shots! I would have taken the opportunity to empty my 12 round clip on him.

Lots of defenses for that.

He was still going for his gun-
Temporary hysteria-
couldn't tell if the bullets were hitting him-

The Okie prosecutors going after this fellow are making one helluva mistake. The NRA will raise
so much money and send some really powerful, skilled lawyers to Okla that I predict it will almost be a unanimous jury vote to acquit.

John A Arkansawyer, the only reason I mentioned that this pharmacist was a veteran was because he suffered some type of injury while he was in the military. all I know about his injury is that he can't run and he has to wear some type of chest and back brace. I haven't read anything about the details of his injury(ies) suffered while in the military.

So that's why I mentioned that the pharmacist was a veteran -- because he couldn't run to escape the robbers secondary to his military injuries.

I can't speak for Norma, but I'm not advocating the viewpoint that a veteran has the right to shoot people who are attempting to rob and possibly kill him just because he's a veteran. I was explaining why he didn't fire the first shot and then run to safety. Because he is physically unable to do so, due to his injuries suffered while in the military.

now let's see. My daddy was a World War II veteran. So was his brother. So were many, many of my friends' dads.

let me think. Do I think that a disabled veteran has more value as a human being than a teenager who is spending his time robbing a drugstore, looking for cash and Oxy, no doubt, or something along those lines -- it wasn't Tylenol he wanted, I imagine -- do I think that veteran has more rights than the teenage robber? More intrinsic value as a human being??

I think the robber left his rights at the door the second he walked into the store to rob it and shoot whoever stood in his way of doing that. Where is all this sympathy for the teenager who was attempting armed robbery coming from anyway?? He just needed to go to Sunday School for a month or so and then he'd be right as rain, a fine citizen?

he was a criminal. he was also someone's son, grandson, brother, etc. But as far as his civil rights or whatever, no, the pharmacist didn't have any more than the teenager did -- the kid just checked his rights at the door when he went through it as an armed robber.

It's not exactly sympathy, tina. Just the remnants of my respect for the rule of law and my disgust for watching people get off on someone getting killed. Two potent drugs, interacting.

And eLwood, lots of defenses? In court, sure. When you face your conscience? Pee on that.

Watch the video of the crime.

1) Does the robber who was shot actually have a weapon or was he just pulling on a balaclava to hide his face?

2) Is the quintuple tap to the head an action of someone in fear for his life?

I doubt the pharmacist will be convicted of premeditated murder, but he had better hope he finds people who are able to ignore what they see on the video on his jury. If I was called to jury duty, Mr. Erslund's attorney would have a horrible time of convincing me that Mr. Erslund didn't just fire five shots into the head of an incapacitated man because he had the weapon and the opportunity.

That is the crux of this case and the discussion about people carrying concealed weapons by state fiat after a short course on gun handling and safety. What training is required to have the capability of applying deadly force and are those who receive the state fiat aware of the consequences of misuse of their shiny new permit?

Oops! CLIK to see the video of the shooting and robbery, you have to sit through a 30 sec commercial. I recommend you watch it once with the sound off and once with the defense attorney preparing his case to the jury pool throught the media. Their was no sound recording on the origianl video.

Mr Arkansawyer,
I believe we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. thats fine with me and Im sure it's fine with you.

But please tell me you were NOT referring to me when you said, ".....my disgust for watching people get off on someone getting killed. Two potent drugs, interacting."

I certainly don't "get off on someone getting killed."

i think this is the type of problem for which there is no good solution. A teenager, evidently a would-be robber, is dead. A pharmacist who is also a disabled veteran is out on bail for murder and facing trial for that, unless the prosecutor decides he wants to make a deal and keep this one from being tried in the press. So far nothing good has come of any of this, and I don't see how anything good CAN come from this. but please tell me you didn't mean ME when you referred to people "getting off on someone getting killed."

Im not exactly the NRA type either. But I think you are entitled to protect yourself. We can't solve the rest of that here. Can we agree to disagree? thanks.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh, tina, but I think people are being a bit cavalier about this, you among them. Shooting someone in cold blood is not the same as shooting someone in self-defense.

And I don't approve of dwelling on the pharmacist being a veteran. That he's unable to easily flee may be relevant; that the injuries which made him unable to flee were sustained in the military is not. That buys him medical care, disability pay, and the esteem and gratitude of his fellow citizens, but not a license to kill. What if he'd been injured driving drunk forty years ago? That wouldn't make him any less entitled to defend himself.

I don't plan to watch that video. I've yet to hear a description of it that doesn't match what docholliday claims about it. If you do, tina, and you have a different description, I'll watch it, too, as long as I can stand it, and see what I think about it, but I urge you, sincerely, not to. Real violence isn't always as bloody as Hollywood violence, but it's almost always incredibly more horrible by virtue of its reality. I don't wish seeing that on you.

And tina, I went back and re-read your comments. You are most certainly +not+ among those who are "getting off on someone getting killed" in this thread. That'd be Norma and eLwood, especially Norma.

The video changes my opinion. Clearly the pharmacist stepped over the line. The kid is down and obviously past causing more trouble for an armed, outraged, no doubt scared, old man. The proper thing to do would be to call 911 while holding the gun on the downed kid. This old man clearly executed the young robber.

I don't really care if he was a war veteran, I don't care that the robber was young. The robber FK'ed up coming through the door aiming his gun, the pharmacist FK'ed up finishing the kid off. I can't say exactly what crime the old man committed, but he clearly screwed up by going too far after the danger was over. If he had held the gun on the kid and called 911 he'd be a hero today instead of in more trouble than he can probably get out of.

No doubt 10 tons of adrenalin comes into play here. And who knows....I've never been in a war....perhaps the old man has..and perhaps something snapped and he was fighting "gooks" again. We'll have to hear his side of the story.

There will be no winners at the end of this story.

Yeah, DBI. I've got some sympathy for the pharmacist, but he was still in the wrong. Ted Kennedy, too.

nope, Im not watching any videos. I dont like to watch any violence on tv of any sort. if that makes me an idiot sticking her head in the sand, fine...........it makes me an idiot who doesnt have nightmares, and I would it I watched all the csi-type shows.

Dont these TV station idiots realize that litle kids are watching TV at 5 and 6 p.m. and will see that damned video? I dont care what it shows, it's not appropriate. But if it bleeds, it leads, and the teevee stations just love to try these big cases in the media. I never, ever watch anything like that, though.

DBI, thats a very good theory, that the pharmacist has PTSD and all of a sudden he wasn't in his pharmacy any more....but, of course, he wont be talking about it if he has any sense. I wonder if he hired himself a high-powered lawyer yet. I dont think Ted Kennedy would be a good choice, though, I have to say. ;) thats a nice suggestion, but I dont think its a very good choice right now.

no matter what happens at his trial, though, that man's life will never be the same. no matter what he was thinking -- and we'll never know -- can you imagine having to live with that every day?

John a arkansawyer, thanks for the warning on the video. And I'll just say goodbye to you now, I think you have probably incited norma's wrath with that comment.......

Tina,

You will see more violence, blood and gore on screen in "Night at the Museum" than in the surveillance camera video.

The second robber falls off the viewscreen for no apparent reason, the pharmacist walks out of the pharmacy after the robber that ran; then re-enters; goes to the back and either reloads or gets a second weapon and shoots. However the wounded robber and the gun are off-screen.

I understand your reluctance to view a death, but like a Shakespeare play, the sickening violence occurs off the visual stage. I, personally, would have difficulty in stating an opinion about the pharmacist's actions without viewing the evidence. However, I understand, if you still do not wish to view it.

I agree with John A Arkansawyer re the shooting by the Oklahoma pharmacist. The video clip linked by docholiday is not the same one that was linked (maybe by Max?) a day or two ago. That earlier video showed the pharmacist walking outside the door and out of the field of view of the outside security camera and then back inside again. Maybe he can't run due to an injury or his age (neither can I), but that is no justification for what he did. He sure got outside the store and then back inside in a hurry. He appears to reload his gun and then without hesitation walks over and fires what is reported to be 5 more shots into the robber.

Bad guy robber? You bet. Stupid guy robber taking on someone with a gun to defend himself? You bet again. Okay to murder a bad, stupid robber even though you've already taken him down because you have a gun and he tried to rob you? No way. That's the same logic the Bush crew used re Guantanamo prisoners to excuse waterboarding them 83 or 160 times in one month. They were bad guys and the folks doing the waterboarding had the power to do so over and over again to make them pay for their wrongs. (Enhanced interrogation techniques, my ass! It's torture.)

The day it is okay for someone, vets included (and I am one who expects no special privileges), to kill a robber in cold blood and get away with it is the day we've lost our country. The pharmacist is no different than the killer of the abortion doctor in Wichita this morning. Both killers think they were justified in doing what they did. Have gun, will shoot.

docholliday, I'm pretty sure they put Gloucester's eyes out on stage in some versions.

But I watched the video, and I got a few things from it. The kid on the floor didn't have a gun (the one who got away did) and the guy who shot him doesn't seem flustered or frightened (or unable to flee--he moves around pretty quickly). After he gets back from chasing the guy with the gun, he walks quickly past him, gets another gun, walks over to the kid, leans over him, and fires five shots, from (says the DA) a foot away.

A foot away. That's not panic. That's an execution. Cold blood, PTSD, psychotic break, whatever. What this guy did was wrong.

The other thing I noticed, at the start of the video: The kid was scared. Watch the way he keeps moving around while the one who got away holds the pistol. The kid keeps getting behind the other guy, or up to his side. It looks like he's talking to him. It's the one who got away who is armed and dangerous. The one who died looks like an unarmed kid in over his head.

This isn't self-defense, or defense of others. They could've all just walked away and waited for the police.

That unconscious, unarmed kid deserved to be tried, convicted, imprisoned and, if possible, rehabilitated. Not shot in cold blood.

Doc, I wont be seeing "Night at the Museum" either. I've seen and heard about too many bad things -- I don't want to see any more than I have to see. but thanks for the link and for the recap of the video. now i dont have to watch it.

I dont know too much about such things, but I can't believe the pharmacist's attorney hasn't tried to keep this video out of the news, everywhere. Maybe he has and wasnt successful, but I dont see how this is going to help the man if this goes to trial, do you? the judge is already getting death threats, so why doesn't she put a stop to some of the media overexposure herself?

as I said, I dont know much about criminal law. But that just doesnt seem too logical. still, im not going to watch it. its not important if I have all the information to make a decision about this case since Im not likely to be on the jury, etc. maybe I should just stay out of further discussions about it, but I dont want to have nightmares. thanks for the recap.

we're going to bed, the wonder dog, his bride, and me, their loyal and obedient servant. Y'all play nice now, ok?

Freedom of speech, Tina, and of the press.

Once it was out, probably by the Oklahoma cops, the DA wouldn't have a problem with the release, since he didn't prejudice the jury pool by releasing it. What would be the justification for trying to suppress the surveillance camera video other than admitting it shows the pharmacist executing an incapacitated robber?

Even trying to suppress it might prejudice the jury against his client. Since the pharmacist is an employee not the owner, it would be nigh impossible to suppress on the basis of the Fifth Amendment.

One what grounds would the judge suppress, it would not stop the death threats by the trolls.

John, as far as free speech and freedom of the press, they can't let this be tried in the media. The judge could issue a gag order. I wasn't clear about that; obviously you are right and the video can't be suppressed. You can't un-ring a bell, but you can keep it from being the lead story in every paper in oklahoma for a week, if you're the judge, and you issue a gag order, can't you?

I read the description of the video and how the kid was "obviously scared." No doubt he was. But please remember that you have the luxury of watching that video from the safety of your home, and it ain't you they're after, so that probably changes your perspective a little bit. I can't imagine being in that pharmacist's shoes, whether it is decided by the court that his actions were right or wrong. Nothing but fear going thru his mind, I would guess, and as DBI said earlier, he may very well have PTSD and have lost perspective. Im guessing sheer terror would do a lot to the human mind.

and no matter what the courts say about this someday, the pharmacist did seem to me like a basically kind and decent man who now has to live with this on his conscience for the rest of his life.

The End. Im going to work now. Lord, if only it were the end. There won't be a good conclusion to this, no matter what happens. But sometimes there are just no good answers.