Chamblee54

PG saw the “story” at the top of this feature on facebook. His first reaction was different from the 66,666 people who “liked” the story. Here was a mentally impaired woman, using deadly force, about a parking lot mistake. What kind of society gives this person access to deadly force? What kind of society encourages the “senior” to arm themselves, with lurid daily reminders about the need to kill their neighbor? PG recognizes that the handgun pandora is long out of the box. Our society is sick.
The seminal picture is not text paste friendly. PG wanted to write about this business, but did not want to retype the entire tale. He went to Mr. Google, and asked for “Gun Crazy Lady in Sarasota”. The first page of results should provide plenty of merriment for today’s post. Those who were offended by the first paragraph can come back now. Pictures are from The Library of Congress .
The top result is from the urban myth busters at snopes. They say it is a Legend. Three versions of the story are presented. One of them was published by “Dear Abby” in 1998. Some versions of the story have a racial angle, with black men chased from their vehicle by a white granny.
Traffic Ticket Secrets has a whimsical list of traffic regulations. In Sarasota FL, if you hit a pedestrian you are fined $78.00. In Pensacola FL, It is illegal to roll a barrel on any street, fines go up according to the contents of the barrel. In a statewide Florida law, If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle. Just over the state line in Quitman GA, it is illegal for a chicken to cross the road.
Some adrag called the Herald Tribune has an uplifing story, “High-speed chase followed shooting, robberies.” The alleged actors were driving a Mercedes, with a flat tire in front. They were arrested after a high speed chase.
The inerrant facility known as Wikipedia  adds to the fun with List of unusual deaths. In 1974, “Christine Chubbuck, an American television news reporter, committed suicide during a live broadcast on July 15. Eight minutes into her talk show on WXLT-TV in Sarasota, Florida, she shot herself in the head with a revolver.” In another Sarasota story, the person sitting in front of PeeWee Herman was not injured.
Another news processor (with a header ad for the 2012 Lincoln MKX) has a feature called FloriDUH. In keeping with the Sarasota theme, we will only present stories from that fine town. 44yo Michael Wayne Arnold is the “ Sarasota man charged with ‘doctor shopping’ to obtain almost 11,000 pills “In all, he obtained an estimated 10,775 pills of Oxycodone, Dilaudid, Carisoprodol, Morphine, Methadone and Xanax, approximately 879 pills a month,” a sheriff’s news release states. According to the sheriff’s office, Arnold has an extensive criminal history and, at the time of his arrest was out of jail on bond for a DUI charge in May of this year. The sheriff’s office identified Arnold as an unemployed construction worker.”
A fun loving Sarasotan is “33-year old Ryan Michael Leach. He is charged with Exploitation of the Elderly for misappropriating more than $100,000 of his grandmother’s money for personal gain. Leach gained Power of Attorney over his 84-year-old grandmother’s accounts in August 2010. At that time the deductions started to reflect purchases at bars, restaurants, hotels, theme parks, airfare, and recently, a $14,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycle … Detectives determined Leach took $102,277 from his grandmother’s accounts, including her checking, savings, a CD and home equity line of credit. The victim, who displays confusion and cognitive impairment, said Leach told her she would be placed in a nursing home if Leach was put in jail.” It is not known if Granny was armed.
Not all of the stories are about crime. Two sets of triples, three sets of twins born in one week at Sarasota Memorial. “Desiree Chubb, the remarkably relaxed mother of the Bradenton triplets, is happy to be taking them off Peco’s hands. She and their father, Dean Garati, have built what they hope is a sleep-inducing secret message into the girls’ bedroom. “We have three letter Z’s on all the walls, and we’re praying they’ll take that as a hint,”