🚀 go-pugleaf

klaatu wrote:
> 
> dan@ids2.idsonline.com wrote:
> >
> > LUTYENS wrote:
> > >
> > > Last Friday about 10:30pm, there was a fracas at the main entrance to
> > > Union Station - something between a gang war and a riot. At the outset,
> > > the two or three security guards who responded were easily overpowered;
> > > one barely managed to call for back-ups.  About two dozen participants
> > > were arrested and carted off by the time it was done; many others escaped.
> > >
> > >
> > > For some reason, there was no mention in the local media.  Is this just
> > > too usual an occurrence?
> >
> > I hope it's not usual!
> >
> > Perhaps I am reading too much into this, but is there any connection to the
> > non-reporting of the shotgun robbers in upper NW (two young black guys, one
> > skinny, one tall, was all I heard on TV about descriptions)?  It sometimes
> > seems to me that certain categories of crime are deliberately non-reported
> > (by the media, OR the police).
> >
> > Is there any local DC crime reporting on the Net to which we can turn for
> > accurate information?
> >
> >                        Dan
> 
> Dan, I think that it's absolutely time for us to do a newgroup.
> 
> dc.crimes
> 
> Charter should be, reporting of crimes, reporting of unusual events,
> local disturbances, threatening personal experiences, etc., in the
> District proper and all contiguous/coterminous counties in both Maryland
> and Virginia.
> 
> It's clear that there's a lot that's not making it onto the news, and
> that needs to be known. Let's create a new group dedicated to letting
> the public be sure it's notified, and not have to depend on
> increasingly-slanted and untrustworthy media.
> 
> Also, I propose a newgroup for dc.reports, same coverage area, more
> dedicated to the merely unusual, noteworthy or peculiar.
> Klat -

   Thanks for your direct and positive response to my posting.  I, too, think 
that we need to have a "dc.crime" newsgroup, but in truth I don't have the 
foggiest idea how to start one.  Do you?

   I think that this issue has gotten new urgency lately by the failure of 
the police and media to report things like the NW shotgun duo, or the early 
morning attacks on the Rock Creek bike path.

   In fact, I think it's important enough that I would put some of my (to me) 
precious time and money into it.  Perhaps we could get some support from 
various community groups, block associations, etc.

   By the way, I had a somewhat funny and related incident happen to me 
today.  I was picking up a prescription for my elderly mother at the Giant in 
the Leesburg Pike Mall just east of rte 395 when a van pulled up to me (I was 
walking towards the supermarket) and a young white guy in the passenger seat 
rolled down his window and asked me if I wanted any speakers, as he and his 
partner had been loaded with an extra pair.  I was lost in my own thoughts 
and simply replied "No, not interested," and continued to walk.  Then I 
remembered reading about these guys on the Net - they were in a van with some 
professionally painted signs saying "Omni" Speakers, or electronics.  So I 
went back to them as they were hustling someone else, and told them that I 
had read about them on the net, that their speakers were crap, and that they 
were running a scam.  They didn't like my comments.

   Anyway, I think that a "DC.Crime" newsgroup is a capital idea, so to 
speak.  I bet we could really help the cops, start keeping track of judicial 
decisions, and identify nasty trends.  Since Rex is gone, I can also float 
the idea that it be a "DC-Area" sort of thing, as many of these Alfa Hotels 
(military phonetics) zip in and out of the District proper.

   I would greatly appreciate other thoughts, comments, and suggestions.  I 
think that Klat's newsgroup idea is great.

                                      Dan