In Virginia, a building under construction collapsed, and rescuers fear as many as a dozen workers may be trapped inside, though another construction worker told them everyone was at lunch, rescuers are searching anyway. It is not known if they have tried to do a head count to make sure everyone is accounted for. One man who wasn't hurt, was the owner of a concrete firm, "Old Time Concrete," responsible of pouring the foundations of the building. (okay here comes the stupid part) He said none of his people were on site that day, though they were scheduled to be, because the owner decided not to work there, that day, but to take care of another job. The owner said, "I have a God that put us in the right place at the right time."
So, now God is in the American construction business, and told this guy that he might just want to blow off a day's work?
Riiiight.
Some workers inside the building, managed to run out in time, to avoid being trapped. A nearby hair salon worker said, "It was by the grace of God, them guys got out." Nah, it was by the grace of their own two legs and their sense of self-preservation, lady.
Now, actually, I do believe in God, but...not in Him standing over us, deciding who gets saved and who gets 10 tonnes of construction materials smooshing him to death. Sorry, that philosophy never really worked for me.
___________________________________________________________________________
In local news, here in New York's northern Adirondack mountain region, State police, with the assistance of various county sheriff's departments, took to the mountains this week, by car, SUV, ATV and Apache helicopter, in search of illegal cannabis fields. The New York state police 'copter, flew over forests and remote farmer's fields, looking for illicit pot cultivation, based on 11 tips they'd received. Some of the areas deep in the Adirondack forests, were so remote and difficult to access, police had to go back the next day, to pull out plants, because these areas were only accessible by hiking in on foot, or by horseback or ATV.
This is actually a very dangerous operation, and officers have to be careful to wear gear clearly marked "POLICE," because growers sometimes mistake officers as thieves, going after their stash...one officer in Saratoga County, was shot last year, during a confrontation with a rural cannabis grower.
In the town of Johnsburg, a small rural community back in the northern part of Warren county (I've been there, it's definitely a "redneck"/"hillbilly" type of town), the police 'copter spotted a some pot plants, growing in a garden amid tomato plants. The helicopter hovered over the site for a few minutes, but as police cars were still a ways off--not being able to keep up with the 'copter, the pilots decided to land in the car park of a nearby Methodist church, to allow two officers inside--a state trooper and a county sheriff's detective-- the chance to approach the site on foot, in order to secure the area, while the rest of the team arrived.
The got there, and found six holes in the ground, in between the tomato plants. The owner of the house, came out, asking innocently, what was going on, and invited officers to inspect his property, 'cos of course, Mr. Innocent was a "law-abiding citizen," and had "absolutely nothing to hide." Riiiight.
So, officers went back to the tomato plot, and found...two cannabis leaves Mr. Innocent left behind, in his rush to dispose of the evidence.
When confronted with this, and told it would be enough for them to arrest him, he finally confessed to throwing the pot plants away, near an old, derelict bus that was sitting up the hill from the property. Officers found a pile of 20 plants there, worth a minimum of $5000 (a tad under 1000 pounds) street value.
Mr. Innocent then said they weren't his, but belonged to someone else (oh, big surprise there), but then admitted he knew about the plants and allowed them to stay.
OKAY, HERE'S THE REALLY "STUPID" PART:
When informed that they were placing him under arrest for possession, the man panicked, and became very distraught. "This isn't going to be in the paper's is it? Oh no, oh no! I can't believe I let this go, I'm running for town supervisor!"
Too bad he didn't feel this upset about having illegal drugs being grown in his own backyard.
Yup, the town of Johnsburg has just lost a potential new town supervisor--gee, I'm sure the townspeople are really going to be broken up about it. As a side note, one of the man's cousin's, who had even more plants, down the road, was also arrested.
In all, the raids over two counties over the course of 2 days, netted over 100 plants, worth over $200,000
Of course, that's not as STUPID, as the pot plants that were found growing in a garden--in a car park green area in front of a Minnesota police station, in 2006.
)
