🚀 go-pugleaf

On 25 Oct 2006 06:38:25 -0700, geoffm@u1.netgate.net (Geoff Miller)
wrote:
>
>"This is the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's department with a recorded
> message.  It's 7:20pm on the 20th of October.  We're calling to 
> notify the residents of the Boulder Creek area that we are looking
> for an armed and dangerous, wanted subject who may be on foot in 
> your area.  His name is Bobby Dean Wilson.  He's a white male in
> his 40's.  He's approximately 5 feet, 9 inches tall and he has a
> stocky build, with shaggy, reddish-blond hair and a moustache, and
> no clothing description at this time.  He is considered armed and
> dangerous.  If you see him or anyone suspicious in your area after
> receiving this message, please stay inside or remain in a safe 
> place, and call 9-1-1 immediately.  Thank you." 
>
>Neat, eh?
>
For you maybe, where you live.  
But where many people live there's always a criminal loose.  
How about the same call at 2 AM, when it's just as important because
Bobby Dean Wilson might be jimmying your back door?  Or Billy Bubba
Wilcox?  Or Norma Jean Nealy? Or Juan Joachim Jiminez?  Any name, any
time, any place.
Just let the Sheriff call everybody in the fricking county whenever 
a criminal is loose, which is all the fricking time.

>Granted, I probably should've listened to the message a _bit_ longer
>than I did, but I was tired after a long day, it was Friday evening,
>and I was in one of those "Leave me the the hell alone, world" moods.
>
You've got to learn to answer that phone now and check those messages
by listening carefully, even on Friday night.
Might be the Sheriff calling.  Your life may be at risk.
But it looks likes this one call might have got you trained already.
When the Sheriff, or the Marshal, or the Governor, or the sanitation
crew start calling me anytime they want to enlist my help to do their
job, my phone goes right to the trash.  I'll leave the municipal phone
patrol duty to others.  Sorry about being such a bad "citizen."  

>Maybe this raises a good reason to consider outlawing automated phone
>calls not of an emergency nature.  If people get inured to them to the
>point where they delete them without even listening to them, there's a
>certain "boy who cried 'wolf'" dynamic at work that will eventually
>cause somebody to miss something he really does need to hear. 
>
Good idea. I suggest you call the Sheriff's office and tell him that
you read about his important phone message in the newspaper because
all the phone spam put you off his message.
Mention that coincidentally you saw a man matching Bobby Dean Wilson's
description near your home about 8 PM Friday night, rummaging in a
trash can, but thought nothing of it until you read the newspaper.
Might get the ball rolling.  But don't hold your breath waiting for
public safety to trump business and political spam.
BTW, I can recall getting only about 5 or 6 phone spam messages in my
life, all from businesses, and none since I put my name on the
national don't-call register.  The only political calls I get are from
Republicans, and they are quickly dispatched.

--Vic