Weedwacker and Friends Come Home

The police released our stuff to the pawn shop yesterday, and there was no trouble when we went to pick it up.......the stuff was at two different Cash America stores on Nebraska, and according to them, it is their policy to return stolen items to their owners as soon as the police department faxes them a release. The guy did mention not all pawn shops have that policy; so I would have to thank the alleged thieves for doing their business at Cash America. At least we know that this chain works with the police on matters such as these. Guess I'll do some yard work this weekend, the weeds need mowing and edging.

(Alleged) Thieves Arrested!

Wow, Kudos to the Tampa Police Dept. for finding our stuff and the people who (allegedly) stole it! It's actually a little bigger than some kids grabbing stuff to buy beer or a dime bag.....This couple was implicated in a slew of burglaries and much were ARMED. That really kind of freaked us out because we have kids, and if one of them had been home and interrupted the act.....VERY scary. I'm, positing their pics here......they (allegedly) stole firearms and committed several thefts. (Thank you to anonymous, who pointed out the lack of conviction thus far; everything at this point is ALLEGED) This is the first time for her, but he has several arrests showing on The Sheriff's Office.
The names are Randy & Patricia Parrish.

Police Called

Last evening, shortly after the preservation committee left my house(about 9:30pm) we heard some screaming outside our house. Just outside, in the street a white car had pulled over and a couple of doors were open. There was obviously a struggle going on inside; there were at least 3 or 4 people in the car. From time to time we saw someone get out and get back in; a couple of times we saw legs coming out of the passenger side door, kicking; it was obvious someone was holding this person inside (by the neck?).....one person got out and ran south on Branch.....the two people fighting in the front seat got out(it was a young man and a young woman) and were fighting in the street, him throwing her around (yes, we had called the police by now) and stuffing her back in the car, blocking her exit. He kept trying the close the door and she kept trying to get out. We felt pretty helpless-we made out presence known by standing directly in view in front of the window (lights on)....we were afraid to go out as we did not know if this person had any weapons. We called the police 2X, telling them it looked like one was beating the other pretty bad......their response time was a little slow; I have called them once before on something much less urgent and they had been here in a few minutes-they took closer to 10 or fifteen minutes this time,and after finally getting the girl in the car, the guy drove off, south on Branch. We gave the police a description of the car (we couldn't see the license plate) and the people, although it was dark. Up in Maine, there would be no hesitation to go out there and try to help.....here, it is a little more scary. We really haven't had much along the lines of this happen here.....it's fairly visible to a main street, and what we see mostly are the people who run the light at Florida and Hillsborough and get pulled over...our street is a natural for the police and drivers to pull onto. We have had a skateboard stolen from our front yard....a couple of suspicious people, but really nothing like this. I saw the police car several minutes after he left us turn back onto Branch from Hillsborough and drive down pretty fast, so maybe someone else saw something. I hope the young lady was ok......we try not to speculate what other people's business is, but it looked like something a bit beyond a boyfriend and girlfriend arguing. Please let me know if you live around here and saw anything....

Disturbance in the Hillsborough High Area?

Last night two of my kids, along with several friends were participating in the "Relay for the Cure" at the track at Hillsborough High; there were at least 100 other people there, it's put on by the American Cancer Society. I participate in several similar events and I was happy to see my kids doing so as well...although the event was to run from 6pm Friday to 10am Saturday and I wasn't crazy about letting the kids stay overnight there, but there were so many people there, including other parents, tents set up, activities...so I was OK with it. (and no I wasn't inclined to participate-I walk, I bowl, I paint, I take telethon calls for all kinds of great causes...but I don't camp!) We got a call around 9:30 that we had to pick them up; someone was in the direct vicinity threatening suicide....I didn't hear if this person had a gun or not, or exactly where. I drove down there and found the track closed off by police officers, I parked up in the lot above the track. When I got into the track area, I was told to tell them when I was ready to leave so they could escort me back to my car. Of course some of my kid's friends parents lived much farther away, so I ended up with a few "extras" back at my house. By the time I was back on the road home, there were police everywhere directing traffic, checking IDs for those who wanted to get into the track area...probably 6 or 7 police cars in all. I could not find anything on the news.....online or on TV about what was going on....does anyone know?