Tonight on comedy Central “ Lil’ Bush” debuts. In “Lil’ Bush” elementary age Lil’ George makes mischief with schoolmates Lil’ Cheney, Lil’ Condi, Lil’Jeb and others. Creator Donick Cary says “Now that I’ve gotten inside Lil’ George’s head, I really like the guy. He’s got nuclear weapons AND little kid emotions.” (Is this not so different from reality). In the series, schoolmates Lil’ Hillary and Lil’ John Kerry find this out when Lil’ George launches nukes at them when he’s left alone in the Oval office by his dad, George H. W.
9:30 tonight on Comedy Central Lil' Bush
This show is reported as a “crossover” series. Comedy, especially on Comedy Central, has crossed so many lines and pushed so many envelopes that what is left to crossover? What they mean is: “Lil’ bush premiered last fall on cell phones as five minute mobisodes. Apparently the first such series to cross over from cellular to TV…” So that is what crossover means these days. And I thought Shania Twain was crossover. Mobisodes?
We had a little celebratory episode at dinner last night: the first ripe tomato from the garden. That of course allowed the entire salad to be called “garden fresh,” even though the rest of the ingredients came from Bruno’s. That brings up a question. Bruno’s has this big sign out front about “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” or something like that. But inside, there is no indication of which produce is local, if any. Do we then assume that all of it is? The bananas? The oranges (which had a California sticker on them)?
And now to stickers on fruit. You know, the tomatoes have the little stickers on them with a code number so that the check out guy will know what to charge for. Have you looked closely at the stickers lately? On a tomato I recently bought, was the code number, and an advertisement for Disney’s “Mickey’s Great Clubhouse Hunt (On DVD March 20).” The things you can learn from a tomato.
I am all for buying local. Today the Park Place market begins. From 10 am to 2 pm vendors will be on Park Place at Linn Park selling fresh, local produce as well as fresh pastries and arts and crafts. Like a little Pepper Place Saturday market. Look for these guys every Wednesday, except July 4.
Any of you who have experienced delivery problems with The Western Tribune things should be better this week. There was a glitch, should be solved. If you are not getting the paper delivered call 425-7171 to subscribe. Here is my column from the Trib this week. I am serious about this issue, and will present this challenge to the chief of police just in case he hasn’t subscribed to the paper.
Of course I don’t know the title of my editorial, but here is the meat of it:
The most recent example of senseless killing in Bessemer is the death of 14 year old Joshua Hughes. Josh was attending a birthday party on Dartmouth Avenue when he was struck by stray bullets last month. He would have turned 15 this week, on June 15, but there will be no such party for him. He was in the “wrong place, at the wrong time,” it was said.
Rolando Williamson of Lipscomb is 21 years old. Williamson has been charged with murder in the killing. Williamson has previous drug and weapons charges pending from an incident in Homewood.
Last week in Tuscaloosa a team of federal officials and local police combined their efforts and took into custody at least 10 people sought on federal gun charges. David Hyche, a supervisor with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Birmingham office said that this effort was several years in the making, and will be ongoing, as reported in The Birmingham News. “We're going to do it every month for as long as it takes. With a partnership like this, we'll make an impact on violent crime in Tuscaloosa,” Hyche said.
I feel certain that Rolando Williamson’s previous charges preclude him from legally carrying a gun, yet he obviously did. How many other felons, drug dealers, illegal aliens, fugitives and convicted domestic abusers are in Bessemer and illegally possessing firearms?
I don’t know if such a dragnet would have prevented Joshua’s murder, but such an effort would be welcome in Bessemer. Pastor Thomas Franklin of Ward AME Church wondered what if this was his child. I wonder also. My children are not much older than Joshua, and could find themselves “in the wrong place, at the wrong time” on any given day.
Bessemer Police should team up with U. S. Marshalls and agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives like Tuscaloosa police did to institute such a program here. Our police department is good at solving homicides, as the arrest in this case and the recent discovery and identification of the body of Mary Catherine Williams and subsequent arrests of four suspects in her death shows us.
Bessemer should expand its efforts in preventing such crimes. The city would benefit from using the powerful assistance that Federal involvement would bring, and the instances of “wrong places” and “wrong times” could be reduced. This is not the first teen killed in Bessemer in recent years. Parents, aunts, uncles; we worry every day. Let’s do this in memory of Joshua Hughes, so that his premature death shall not be in vain.
The Year of Moving Forward
At our 4 person wedding reception in DC
2 comments:
I raised my own curiosity and called Bruno's at Wildwood and the manager told me they do not have a "local" section, but locally grown produce is identified on the sign, like "Chilton County peaches." They have had local (South Alabama) watermelons already (that surprises me this early) and local tomatoes, which he says sell out in a flash. He said they are going back to the old Brunos way of buying more locally grown, that when they were controlled by another company they had to buy through South Carolina markets and things were not so fresh when they got here. I let him know that a lot of us really like local produce, both because it should be fresher and also because it helps Alabama farmers, and he seemed appreciative to hear that.
I highly recommend reading Barbara Kingsolver's - Animal Vegetable Miracle. I have been amazed at how many people I work with who know NOTHING about where their food comes from. Farmers are not given the respect they deserve! I shop at Publix and most produce is not labeled as to origin. I now buy produce at Whole Foods (expensive though!) or the Farmer's Market so I can identify what is local.
Ann
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