No wonder kids do drugs

This still bothers me...

John was a great friend.

January 24, 2006
RUTH HOLLADAY
Leaf case should send signal to police
There is no rejoicing for the family of John Leaf, despite their decision last week to forgo a trial and accept
an unprecedented settlement of $950,000 from the city in the police shooting death of their loved one.
As "victories" go, this is a hollow one -- unless the community
understands that the loss of the 35-year-old stockbroker killed in
his home by a Marion County sheriff's deputy is bigger than one
man, one family.
"The Leaf family pursued this so that it does not happen to another
person," said John Prince, an assistant professor of English at Ball
State University and a brother-in-law of Leaf.
"This is not just about justice for John Leaf, but it is about
proactive justice. It sends a message that law enforcement officers
may not act in a cavalier manner as concerns the civil rights of
individual citizens."
Cavalier is too decent a word to describe what happened the night
of May 5, 2001, but then, the Leafs are decent people.
John Leaf -- fun-loving and well-liked, known for his generosity,
kindness and zest, say those who knew him -- had been drinking
in Broad Ripple. Rather than risk driving, he gave his keys to a
buddy, then took a taxi to his Northside apartment.
Once there, without his door key, he began the process of
breaking into his home. Neighbors heard sounds, came out and
talked to Leaf, who told them who he was and what he was doing.
Still, one neighbor called police -- not to report a burglary but so
that Leaf's ID could be verified.
The first officer to arrive was Andy Jacobs, a town marshal with the Meridian Hills police. Next, at 1:30 a.m.,
Deputy Ronald Shelnutt of the Marion County Sheriff's Department pulled up. Three minutes later, at 1:33
a.m., Leaf was dead.
The police version of events is that the officers entered the darkened apartment through an open patio door,
proceeding to the bedroom. Leaf then leaped out of bed and lunged at Shelnutt with a knife. Shelnutt fired
four times, hitting Leaf three times.
The Leaf family and their attorney, Steve Wagner, dispute that account at several levels. First, Leaf's bloodalcohol
content was 0.212, more than double the amount at which a person is legally considered to be
intoxicated in Indiana.
"We find it incredible that a man surrounded by two sober officers was able to suddenly sit up and pull a 15-
inch knife from behind his back, swivel around and come out of bed in one motion," said Wagner.
Leaf was shot first in the right shoulder, which would have forced him to drop any weapon. As for the knife, it
had no fingerprints on it, said Wagner.
"John Leaf was the innocent victim of police excessive force," said Prince.
Attorney Tony Overholt represented the Sheriff's Department and Shelnutt.
"First, this case was settled, it was not tried. So contrary to what Mr. Prince said, there has been no
determination that Deputy Shelnutt or the Marion County Sheriff's Department did anything inappropriate."
That is the sort of attitude the Leaf family will decry forever.

Another Fun Gig Story

it was an all day festival at a crappy restaurant on the southside.(If you know anyone from Indy-ask them about the southside)The highlight of the day being a carnival and a reunion of the long time house band from the restaurant. They asked if they could pay to use our PA. I discussed the need for power at the stage and the minimum requirements. Everything was agreed and set.
I arrive and find the crappy flatbed trailer doubling as a stage. I look all around for my power.Nothing.I walk 200 yards to the other side of the restaurant to find the bank of outlets next to the Kareoke stage,the dumb ass electrician set up the wrong stage. The owner-who was a big prick from the minute I walked up and said hello, was aware but didn't want to fix the problem and told me to deal with it.
Fast forward to Rock-stars appearance and the main reason the rednecks-I mean people-were coming. He gets into the first song when i hear weird shit going on, so I go to investigate. My circuit dedicated to the MID amplifier seems to be very unhappy. I follow the extension cord(!!) to find the note and tape over the shared outlet removed. Some dumb-ass can't read and plugged something in to my circuit. I yank it out, take the cable out and throw it far away. As I am walking back to the stage Faith Marie is yelling and waving her arms while laughing: I have unplugged one of those jumpy-bouncy tents with 15 or so kids inside. They are screaming and running towards the slowly dissolving door to the tent.
later on the 5'4" owner threatened to kick my ass, that's another story.

organized religion

"Washington County prosecutors said Jeffs used his authority as a church leader to entice Wall into the marriage, telling her that the relationship was commanded by God and that any refusal would place her salvation at risk."

I am really tired of corrupt people throwing the God card to get what they want. I hope this guy gets assraped by fellow inmates and lets see if god helps him.

Fun Gig Story

Since I am no longer doing any gigs, I thought I would share a fond memory. It was New Years-98/99, I think. It was the downtown Adams Mark hotel. Push Down & Turn with a rented PA from Acme Audio. We did the normal 4+ hours of music. The bass player, who is one of my best friends to this day, and I were finished loading the frieght elevator with gear. As we were about to close the door and ride up, a banquet/kitchen staff member walks by with a banquet tray FULL of hot wings. She asks if we want-of course we do! She says keep the tray.
We agreed that since we didn't have a beer with us-or any napkins-that we would wait until the ride home in the bus to start on the massive pile of wings. The ancient elevator starts its slow,creaky start upwards. about 30 feet into the climb, a loud crack-the lights go out and the elevator slams to a halt. Shit. Well, i'm sure the maintenence guys are aware so it should only be a few minutes. I pull out the mag-lite and start to eyeball the tray-o-wings.
Tay looks at me and decides that the wings can't be that hot for general public consumption, so we can eat a few. I dig in. We're in the dark eating our third wing when it becomes apperent why these were left over- they are burning a hole in our intestines. The only thing to do-remember, nothing to drink-was to keep eating.
We actually made it through about half the pan when we realize it's been about 45 minutes. The pile of bones is starting to overcome the uneaten wings.
About that time we hear a large CLACK-and the light came on with the movement of the elevator. We then get our first look at each other and we have wing hot suace covering our faces and hands.
When the door opened to the 4 other guys the look they gave us was priceless-all we did was yell-"Water!Water!" We ran outside to the snowbank and threw the fresh 3 inches of snow all over our faces and mouth. Thank god digi cameras were still a rarity then.