My conclusion was based on an anecdote from two years ago, when I was dating Kathleen. Her then son-in-law was on the receiving end of a marital breakup (for good reason I might add) when he called up Kathleen's daughter. He begged to be taken back, and started threatening suicide. He told Kathleen's daughter that he was going to slash his wrists. Kathleen's daughter then hung up and called 911.
The Pinal County Sheriff's deputies quickly arrived, but son-in-law Mike told the deputies that he didn't really mean it, that he was saying that to try to get taken back. He was not hauled off by them for a 72 hour hold like he might have been in some other jurisdictions.
As for Jared Loughner, he was told that he needed a mental evaluation, and it's obvious that there were plenty of warning signs and contact with law enforcement. For some reason that threshold, wherever that was, was not crossed.
Although I agree that the legal definition of the threshold of when you're hauled off to the psych facilities should be revisited, I'm not sure that simply being told "you need help" is sufficient justification for that kind of action.
I guess what it all comes down to is, just where do you draw the line? There's no obvious demarcation here, as that there's this gray zone around where that line is. Try to define the exact time of when "daylight" ends and "nighttime" begins. Sunset/sunrise? That's a start, but does the sun have to be completely below the horizon, or does it have to be fifty per cent below the horizon? What if it's just touching the horizon?
Where do you draw that line?
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Todd came down Friday night, and we were out hunting rabbits in Pinal County yesterday. We were off state highway 79, north of Oracle Junction by a few miles at first, and then gave the area near the county line a try too. We didn't see any rabbits but we saw evidence of them being there, as well as signs of javelina and deer. Our late start didn't help matters any.
It wasn't a wasted trip. I brought along a Beretta Bobcat .22 pistol that I acquired some time ago, and undertook some target practice. Todd got in some target practice as well with his rifle.
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Workwise, I'm in a temporary job as a "property manager" on a project that's winding down. My job itself is already winding down, as that I'll be doing that part time very soon.
I anticipate being assigned to helping to develop contract proposals, until an offer emerges from that group that wants to develop some new technology. If that one comes thru, I'll be glomming onto that one something fierce. An opportunity like that doesn't come around every day.
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A few weeks ago I got the wild hare to purchase a box of pennies from the bank.
That's right, a box.
A box of pennies containing 2500 of them, all of them neatly machine-wrapped in paper rolls. Fifty of them too.
That idea had been festering in my mind for some time. As you know, I'm a coin collector, and I like searching thru my change to see what kind of neat little goodies are in my pocket. Some days I get treated to a "wheat" cent, and on a rare day I might score a silver quarter (that's happened twice in the last few years).
I'm not all the way thru the box yet, but a few wheats have shown up. The oldest so far are two 1944 pennies; one minted in Philadelphia and the other in Denver. There are a total of eight wheat cents out of the 2000 that have been searched so far, and only one Canadian cent, dated 1964, has shown up.
I've searched rolls before, especially on those occasions when I've been back east. For some reason the eastern rolls are more generous in giving up wheaties. I scored a 1929 cent when I was there last, and when a friend of mine from Pennsylvania was out here last year he brought me some rolls, and there was another 1929 as well as a couple from the 30s.
For those that aren't wheats, well already some of them have been rolled up and taken back to the bank. Well, a different branch of the same bank. It's bad form to get a box, go thru them, and then take them back to the bank where you bought them from, so what you do is what I did: talk to the branch where you want to take some coins back to see if they'll take them.
Mine does if the coins are rolled, and they were even kind enough to give me empty paper roll wrappers to put them in.
I'm like a kid in a candy shop as I'm going thru these pennies. I think I might attempt a box of nickels next.
Meanwhile, I'm still working on those half dollars that I bought some four months ago. I bought $80 worth of them in a quest for silver halves. No silver turned up, so I've been spending half dollars in my everyday transactions, and I'm about halfway done.
Some cashiers I think are saving them for their grandkids while others are sending them back to the bank in the hopes that they'll be melted down into cannonballs or something.
I've also been asking for two dollar bills at the bank, and using them in my purchasing as well. Some cashiers are delighted to get them while others are probably wishing I'd go somewhere else with them.
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That's going to do it for right now.
Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat.
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