Another Apex oddity

This happened early last Friday. You gotta love Apex.

As one wag has already commented ... he should have worked for the ABC station as their slogan is "Eyewitness News".

BREAKING BLOG NEWS: Bus Accident in Apex

The bus I was riding this morning was involved in an accident. A Chevy S10 pulled out in front of the bus & we hit it at 35-40 mph. Amazingly, despite all the glass being blown out of the pickup & the whole driver's side being crumpled in, the truck driver walked away w/ only an apparent concussion. I was fine. Banged my knee on the seat in front of me, but hardly even sore.

Update: (not really all that much to this story)

I'd just gotten on the bus, gotten seated, & was opening up the paper when I could feel the bus slamming on the brakes. I looked up ... there was a car in front of us ... and there was no way we were going to miss it. We hit the truck right in the driver's side door. It blew his back window out, blew out at least one of his tires, & brought us to a quick stop as well. I slid up my seat whacking my right knee on the plastic seat in front of me. No real big deal for the bus. (I was the only one on it beside the driver.)

Apparently the driver thought the bus was going to make a right turn and went ahead and turned in front of us. He said the bus had his turn signal on. Actually, I guess, the bus had its flashers on, still from crossing train tracks just before picking me up.

I got "interviewed" by the same police officer from the deer incident (she didn't recognize me), but I didn't really see anything. All total, 1 fire truck, 1 EMS truck, 1 Fire/Rescue, and 1 police car responded. Every one was very nice & professional. The bus driver did a good job too, though he was clearly shaken up.

They said the truck driver probably had a concussion. He was trying to call his wife, but couldn't remember her number. I really don't know how he wasn't more badly hurt. God was watching out for him no doubt.

More BIG Apex News

So, I'm walking to the bus stop last Friday (this Friday I am off) and as I approach the Food Lion I notice an Apex Police car has traffic stopped on Laura Duncan. In the past they've set up roadblocks there to check for driver's licenses, but that seems strange at 7:10am at the peak of high school traffic. Anyway, a school bus is waved through the blockade & then pulls over & opens its door to talk to me. I'm on the sidewalk about 50 yards from where the police are. The bus driver tells me, "You may want to stay there. They've got something going on w/ a deer up ahead."

I'm still a little groggy & this statement is far enough out of the normal realm that all I can manage is a polite "OK. Thanks." and keep walking figuring I'm not afraid of a deer. I take about 5 more steps and the policewoman sees me and says very forcefully, "Sir! BACK UP!".

I'm able to process that and back up the 5 steps I just took.

Then I see the other police officer get out of the patrol car and walk over to the grassy area ahead of me and just off the sidewalk. For the first time, I notice the deer sorting of aimlessly wandering around w/ a clearly injured front leg. The police officer tentatively approached the deer and tried to get him to shoo, even whapping the deer on his hindquarters once. The deer did not obey, presumably unable to comply due to injury.

The officer then gets out his gun. Meanwhile the other officer notices that a crowd is gathering in the Food Lion parking lot to watch. One guy is way out in front of the rest. She tells him, as forcefully as she told me, to move back. He doesn't. After 3 orders that are not obeyed, she goes over there and gets in his face, at which point he does move back.

The male officer points his gun at the deer & fires. The deer does nothing.

He fires again and again and again and then one more time. The deer is clearly agitated but can't go more then 2 or 3 steps in any direction. I'm talking to the bus driver who's left her bus by now (no kids inside, between runs apparently) and she says "How bad a shot is this guy?"

I guess he must have been shooting blanks, cause I don't think they'd fire in a non-emergency w/ that many people around.

He returns to the squad car & then comes back. By this time the deer has fallen down & I was just wishing they would put it out of his/her misery (presumably hit by a car). The officer shoots one more time and about 5 seconds later they wave me and the cars through.

I had to run to catch my bus. The policewoman thanked me for waiting. And I steadfastly did not look to the left when I passed the dead dear.

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Other than that ... all is well. Work is extremely busy. Look for two projects I've been involved in to hit the news over the next 6 weeks. Good environmental progress is forthcoming. APD made the Principal's List again which is cool. It's supposed to snow here tomorrow. The Dolberry Centre for Winter Weather Prediction is officially calling for 4.2 inches. This is on the heels of our 0.2" yesterday. If it does snow 4", that'll be our biggest snow in at least 3 years. Hope all readers are going Grrrreeeaaattttt.

Heydilly-ho bloggerinos!

Not much up here.

Softball team is 10-1 (w/ 5 to go). If we win tomorrow, we all but clinch the regular season title. This would be the first Law Office title in 8 years of trying. Yay for us.

APD's team broke a 5 game losing streak w/ a tie tonight. APD gave up 2 runs in 2 IP, but actually pitched really well striking out 4 w/ no walks. The other team had some good hitters. He also played some good defense at 3B. He walked all three times up.

Work is ok.

Not much is up in Apex either. There was a flasher who got arrested. That's been the oddest thing lately. Let me know how many "Keep Apex odd!" t-shirts you want. $14.99 per shirt.

We're sweating out the last week of rotisserie baseball. Currently, the glorious O'Jimmies hold a beyond tenuous 0.5 pt lead. If we were to hold on, it would mark back-2-back championships. Our geezer brigade of Glavine and Moyer let us down tonight. Ideally, MLB would decide that the season should be cut short by 5 days.

Worst. Entry. Ever.

Rampaging bull loose in Apex!

Yay. Another crazy Apex story. Loose bull last Friday. Eluded capture for some 6 hours. Well done Bone Collector.

It was a draining week at work. A two day weekend was not enough refilling.

Our softball team is in first. 5-1.

APD's team is 2-2. They lost two 1-run games this week (3-2 and 4-3). He pitched three more scoreless innings (6.2 on the season w/ no runs). Plus, he went 2-4 and made three putouts in the field. We have (ahem) an arrangement in which there are benefits if certain milestones are hit. It is working too well. APD came off the field last game & said "You owe me big." We're trying to recommunicate that it's not a job.

Can't believe UL only lost one spot in the rankings.

The ever-increasingly beautiful KMD & I celebrated our 15th (crystal) anniversary this week. I offered to download a Crystal Gayle song from Itunes for her, but she said no thanks.

Hey, I turn 41 tomorrow. Joy! Thanks to all for putting up w/ me, some if not all of those years.

We're Number 14! We're Number 14!

So says Money Magazine in their ranking of Great American towns. If you throw out all the crazy cold places in MN, NE and WI that they have in the ranking, we'd be in the Top 10. No place where the average high in March is < 50 F should qualify for anything but a prison camp.

We scored high in the categories of low crime, educated citizens, and sheep-to-citizen ratio.

Future spring training trips in jeopardy?

It's looking pretty bleak for future spring training sojourns to see the Reds in Sarasota FL. The Sarasota Herald Tribune has run several articles recently on the (lack of) progress in securing a long-term arrangement. Earlier in the year, it looked like the Reds, the State of FL, Sarasota Co., and the City of Sarasota were going to jointly fund a $55 million dollar stadium that would rival Clearwater's Bright House Networks gem of a facility. The political environment in the area appears to have somewhat soured on public funding of a ballpark in the last local election cycle. In recent weeks, the Reds have advanced a scaled-back plan ($45 mil) that would upgrade the current Ed Smith Stadium (which I never realized is built on a landfill), but that doesn't look to get local public funds either.

I don't really blame the local Sarasota government for not wanting to fund it. Here's my quick estimate of how much money goes into the local economy based on our travels there: a) we spend about $200-300 dollars a day there (mostly to hotels, but some to restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, convenience stores, golf courses, & then $ to the Reds for tix, souvenirs), b) by my calculation there are probably 500-1000 families / spending units doing the same thing on any given home date that wouldn't be there w/o the Reds (figuring the crowd is ~50-75% local). My rough guess would be about $2-4 million a season comes into the Sarasota economy. There are costs as well (traffic control) that would have to be subtracted. Over 30 years (length of proposed deal), the $ in would almost certainly exceed the initial investment (probably about $25-35 mil after overruns). But the investment would directly only benefit a few sectors of the economy and only indirectly help (taxes, jobs) the local populace as a whole. The apparent competitor for the local money potentially slated for the Reds is seaweed cleanup along the beaches. That would appear to help more people & would also probably maintain more tourism inflow. Also, cheaper events like the Sarasota Marathon probably have way higher tourists/investment ratios.

The bottom line is (to me) that there's already enough tourists in Sarasota in March to support the local economy. When bargain-basement hotel chains can charge triple-digits a night, the demand is strong. Also, I think the Castellini-led Reds deserve some praise here by (at least according to the local paper) not blatantly trying to extort a new stadium from the local government w/ threats and artificial deadlines.

So, while Dolberry will miss the times in Sarasota here are my preferred locations for future Reds spring training locations:

1. Orlando FL - I believe Griffey Jr would likely personally defray $2-3 mil of any costs associated to spend March at home. Hotels are way cheaper in Orlando & the non-baseball entertainment is pretty nice.

2. Clearwater FL - The Reds could share Bright House w/ the Phillies, thereby enabling Dolberry to eat cheesesteaks 4 times a year, instead of only 1.

3. Apex-Cary NC - They could play at the new USA baseball academy; Josh Hamilton could spend his days at home; and we could charge people to sleep in our shed (which is at least as nice as that Knights Inn in Sarasota). The weather's pretty nice in March.

4. Toyko Japan - The Reds could just play Japanese league teams all March & in 30 dates maybe draw 750,000 people. If they could make an additional $1 per ticket than present, they could funnel that $750K into buying a relief pitcher that could get a guy out in the 8th inning occasionally.

5. Las Vegas, NV - The potential Pete Rose tie-ins are innumerable.

6. Anywhere but Arizona - The world does not need any more 17-11 Spring Training games.

7. Oh yeah, and not Winter Haven FL - Ugh.

Latest Apex oddity

In October we had the chemical explosions and the resultant toxic cloud.

In March we had the guy w/ 70 sheep in house.

Last week, a guy was arrested in Apex for having: eight guns (including SKS and AK-47 semi-automatic weapons), $7,910 in cash, numerous knives, 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two gas masks, a Kevlar helmet, a flak jacket, material for explosives (a time fuse, blasting caps, tubes and pipes), & 17 marijuana plants. He was arrested by Apex Police who had been called to his townhouse by his own complaint of a neighbor's barking dog (they smelled the marijuana & searched his premises).

I'm thinking that neighborhood dog was extremely lucky the police came when they did.

Apex Fire II:

Under the category, "funny if not kinda sad", a barrel of sodium metal burst into flames yesterday after the water reactive substance was allowed to sit out in the rain. This has slowed down the cleanup.

Thanks to the good folks at: http://www.jtbaker.com here's the lowdown on our friend sodium metal:

SAF-T-DATA(tm) Ratings (Provided here for your convenience)
Health Rating: 3 - Severe (Life)
Flammability Rating: 3 - Severe (Flammable)
Reactivity Rating: 3 - Severe (Water Reactive)
Contact Rating: 4 - Extreme (Corrosive)

Not something you want to ingest. "Will react immediately with saliva to cause serious burns and possible local combustion and even explosion of hydrogen in the mouth or esophagus." I checked ... this is not how Pop Rocks works. Interestingly, according to snopes.com, General Foods had to conduct a major PR campaign in 1979 to assure a worried public that you could not blow up from mixing Pop Rocks and soda.

I'll bet Krusty Brand Boom Rocks © uses the sodium metal.

Here's a picture of APD & I post-toxics inhalation. They say the antennae will fall off in a few weeks.

Apex Fire: debate over impacts still smolder

It's been a week since the Apex diaspora of 2006. We were some of the estimated 4,000 to evacuate (out of some 17,000 asked to evacuate). The post-fire fallout may ultimately be more interesting than the fire itself.

The usually excellent News and Observer will have a big article tomorrow on the now controversial Environmental Quality facility and how it has quietly existed in Apex for several years & how it all went wrong last week.

It's been a confusing week though for us residents though, given the mixed messages re: the long-term impacts. On the side of "No worries, mate ..." were the EPA and NC environmental testing which concluded that little toxic material went outside the facility's boundaries. On the side of "Not so fast ..." were the independent consulting firm results that showed mercury and heavy metals in the filters of a nearby facility (kid's gymnastics) and the chair of the NCSU toxicology department who encouraged everyone to thoroughly wash everything that was outdoors that night and replace all filters.

It's hard to know what to think. However, my already-sufficiently-addled-without-the-help-of-toxic-chemicals brain has settled upon two main conclusions.

First, government regulation continues to be a good thing. Probably the single biggest downside to my job is constantly being engaged into conversations (while off duty) about "big government". Some people feel there are too many regulations, taxes, laws, government workers, entitlements, etc. (Ed. note ... it is NOT MY DOING. Your vote counts the same as mine.) But, the need for these things was brought home for me again while watching Scott Maris (EQ VP of something) deflect IMO valid criticisms of a hazardous waste holding facility not having: a) a fire suppression system and/or b) 24/7 on-site staff. His simple contention was (paraphrasing) "we weren't required to have those things". It seems fairly clear that in a functioning citizenry that there will be times in which various groups have competing, equally understandable, interests (e.g., profit vs. safety). All parties are best served when there is an agreed-upon, clear set of rules governing these situations. Please note that all future debates that Dolberry is goaded into on this subject will be accompanied by an airplane spin toss, a back rake, and possibly ... an atomic drop.

Second, ignorance continues to be bliss. It was nice not knowing EQ was storing mercury and nitroglycerin less than a mile away. It would be nice not to know that there could be residual toxics in the dust that continues to accumulate on our treadmill. I'll bet there are thousands of things that I should be glad I'll never know.

One thing I don't know is if ignorance = bliss, does bliss = ignorance; and if so why is Dolberry so happy? Wait. Don't tell me.