Month: October 2009

Another 80 Year-Old Man With Compensation Issues

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Another 80 Year-Old Man With Compensation Issues

No charges for man, 80, who shot, killed burglar

GREENSBORO (NC) — An 80-year-old man who shot an intruder inside his apartment will not face criminal charges.

The Guilford County District Attorney’s Office will not charge Charles Haithcock , who fatally shot Michael Lamont Medley Jr. on Oct. 14 .

Haithcock was inside his apartment on 1125 Walnut St. before dawn that morning when Medley, 19, broke in through a window carrying a weapon. Haithcock shot Medley with a handgun while Medley was inside the residence. Medley later died at Moses Cone Hospital.

““The law says that Mr. Haithcock had the right to use deadly force against an intruder that’s in his home when he believes that his own life is in risk, which that belief is pretty reasonable,” said Assistant District Attorney Howard Neumann .

Even if Haithcock hadn’t seen a weapon in the suspect’s hand, Neumann said, Haithcock could have used deadly force if he believed that the intruder was about to commit a felony. In this case, Medley was suspected of attempting to commit burglary.

Neumann gathered from evidence that Haithcock was in his bedroom when Medley removed an air conditioning unit from a window and broke into the home. Haithcock heard a noise inside the home near his bedroom. Armed with a .25-caliber handgun, he opened the bedroom door and saw a man holding a weapon. Neumann said Medley had a BB gun.

The elderly man tried to slam the door to his bedroom as the intruder tried to open it. Haithcock blindly fired three times through the door. Medley was shot twice in the torso and once in the head, Neumann said.

No more jokes about .25’s, OK? As with real-estate, defensive shooting is all about location, location, location. Even a .25 to the noggin tends to take the fight out of your opponent.

Thanks to Zendo Deb for the pointer.

I WANT to Debate, But They Keep Running Away!

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Each year my daughter gives me a Dilbert desk calendar for Christmas. Here’s today’s oh-so-accurate ‘toon:


So far I’ve had “successful” debates with Jack, Alex, and Dr. Danny Cline, some short exchanges with Professor Saul Cornell, Laura Washington, Dr. John D. Kelly IV, and James Kelly of Scotland.

I’m sure there’ve been a couple more, but those are the ones that come immediately to mind. However, the invitation to debate is most often declined.

I wonder why that is?

Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw

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Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw

Worshipping nature is, as far as I’m concerned, a perfectly understandable thing to do. We are, after all, the product of it. But forgetting (or ignoring) that Nature can be a coldhearted bitch is something that many people learn is a very bad idea, each and every year.

Nineteen year-old up-and-coming Folk singer Taylor Mitchell learned this lesson yesterday. It was one of the last lessons of her short life:

Coyotes kill woman on hike in Canadian park

Two coyotes attacked a promising young musician as she was hiking alone in a national park in eastern Canada, and authorities said she died Wednesday of her injuries.

The victim was identified as Taylor Mitchell, 19, a singer-songwriter from Toronto who was touring to promote her new album on the East Coast.

She was hiking solo on a trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia on Tuesday when the attack occurred. She was airlifted to a Halifax hospital in critical condition and died Wednesday morning, authorities said.

—

Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokeswoman Brigdit Leger said other hikers heard Mitchell’s screams for help on Tuesday and called emergency police dispatchers.

Police who were in the area reached the scene quickly and shot one of the animals, apparently wounding it. But the wounded animal and a companion coyote managed to get away.

Paul Maynard of Emergency Health Services said Mitchell already was in critical condition when paramedics arrived on the scene and had multiple bite wounds over her entire body.

“She was losing a considerable amount of blood from the wounds,” he said.

Those beautiful wild animals aren’t Disney Audio-Animatronics. While this was in Canada, do you really have to ask why people want to be able to legally carry a firearm in a National Park?

Project VALOUR-IT Fundraiser is ON

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Project VALOUR-IT Fundraiser is ON

I apologize for my tardiness. The annual fundraising drive is on, and I have joined Team ARMY. As most of my readers already know, the annual Gun Blogger Rendezvous we hold in Reno raises money to support Project VALOUR-IT, and last September we collected over $8,000 for the cause.

But that’s just a drop in the bucket.

I know the economy sucks and things are tight all over, but I ask that you do what you can for our guys and girls who come home from war with less parts than they left with, and who will be coping with those changes for the rest of their lives.

As Maj. Zeigenfuss put it, what would YOU give YOUR right nut for?


The drive goes on through November 11. And thanks.

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

“Reality TV” is an absurd concept to people that live in the real world of work and worry. They get reality every day, they don’t need a faux one to amuse themselves. Cubicle-bound endomorphs think a contest that looks like figuring out a subway map, a bus schedule, and an airport tote board is an “Amazing Race.” Catching a trolley is not a bloodsport, no matter how heavy your backpack full of energy bars is. Adults going camping while participating in activities too silly and sedentary for an overweight child’s summer camp, with office politics thrown in, hardly makes them a “Survivor.” I’m told that when you’re all done watching all this on TV, you’re going to weave your own clothes and barter with your next-door neighbor, the grizzly bear, with Kruggerands. Sure you are.

— Sippican Cottage, Going Norm Galt

Via Phelps