The mayor and the angels

After a few days of having fun we thought
it time to get serious. And for that we
have to cruise about 250 miles northeast.

With everything else on his plate Chicago
Mayor Rahm Emanuel found the time to tell
the Guardian Angels they weren’t wanted
patrolling the ‘Miracle Mile’.

Instead he suggested the Guardian Angels
focus on Safe Passage routes to ensure
the kiddies get to and from school safely
in other parts of the city.

The Mayor also mentioned the police work
daily to make Michigan Avenue safe. We
believe Emanuel got mad because the
Guardian Angels were passing out flyers
with safety tips to avoid pick pockets
and purse snatchers.

If you know Miguel Fuentes, the Chicago
chapter leader, you’re probably laughing
now. Fuentes politely told the Mayor that
said Mayor didn’t know what the group did
and invited Emanuel to go on patrol with
the group.

We find it humorous that Chicago has more
homicides than just about any other city
with drive-by shootings nightly, and the
Mayor would take offense to a volunteer
group trying to keep people safe in his
city.

Either that or change the name from
Michigan Avenue to Muggers’ Mile and
make it official.

We hope the Guardian Angels are around
for another 34 years. Keep up the good
work.
Comments are always welcome.

Rainy days and Mondays….

As we like to say in the Mid-west; if
you don’t like the weather hang around,
it’ll change. The day started like any
other but by 6 pm reports of 4-6 inches
of rain, tornadoes, and power outages
were coming in from all over.

We didn’t get any tornadoes here, but
we certainly got the rain. I’ll be
checking the basement for water most
of the night. But we still had fun with
a few diversions.

In one diversion, an outfit called
First Run TV has done a half-hour show
about the Guardian Angels.

The show is called “Angels in Action”
and the video was interesting to us
so we thought we’d share it with you.

Some support the group while others have
a dislike for them. We still support them
and wish and well.

And we didn’t make it down to the racers
in the Great Race, but Hemmings blog has some
pictures on their site.

The Great Race site also has some great
pictures of the local
leg of the race.

If you had rain, watch the video, and/or
look at the pictures for a rainy day
diversion. If you didn’t get foul
weather the diversions are still fun.
Comments are always welcome.

Angel update

Although the citizens of Davenport no longer
support the Guardian Angels, it doesn’t mean
they aren’t making a difference where they
are welcome.

In Washington, D.C., the Guardian Angels began
patrolling a neighborhood after a man was
attacked in broad daylight.

Closer to home, and the former local chapter,
is the fact that 4 Guardian Angels were stabbed
in Chicago in a confrontation while trying to catch someone who pistol-whipped a man
waiting for the Red Line train.

A second man with a knife started stabbing
the patrol members. During the scuffle 3
Guardian Angels were cut on their arms and
1 one on the head.

After getting stitched up 3rd Rail said he
had no regrets, “if we don’t do something,
someone could get hurt or killed”.

These stories, and others like them, affirm our
belief our city is wrong in not wanting a
chapter here.
Comments are always welcome.

An opinion post

By now most have heard that the
Guardian Angels are in
the local news again.

It seems the ‘victim’ is suing those
involved in the incident, an Alderman,
the city, various chapters of the
Guardian Angels, and basically anyone
who may have money and can still fog
up a mirror held under their noses.

You should know by now where we stand
on this issue, but for those new here
we will say a little more.

Our first thought was why would the
‘victim’ go all the way to Newton to find
a lawyer. We have good attorneys right
here in the Quad Cities. Could it be
nobody locally would touch the case on
a contingency basis?

Then, some of those contacted by the
paper for the story admit they knew
nothing about the lawsuit. Wonder if
there was a leak to press before papers
were served?

And of course there is the fact that
there are a lot of groups and people
being served. If this guy was truly
hurt by the actions of 3, why sue the
rest of the people mentioned?

We know no more than what we have
heard on TV or read in paper but we
admit to being biased on the subject.

At least this time the story had a
reference to someone not buying the
‘victims’ story about how bad he
was injured.

Although we are no longer members, we
still support the Guardian Angels, and
believe in what they are doing. As to
rest, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Comments are always welcome.

A few facts

There are times when it seems like things
are getting a little out of hand. Times
when rumors and innuendoes spread like a
wild-fire. We hope this post will help set
the record straight.

Some of you may have noticed that I have
been silent about the recent news concerning
the Guardian Angels. There are reasons why
there have been no posts on this blog about
the issue.

One is that we have been asked not comment
in the media and some would consider a blog
media. Another is that we were not physically on
the patrol in question. Yet another is the fact
some of the allegations are too far-fetched to merit
a response.

Since a lot of people have been commenting
online concerning the group without the
benefit of facts, we’ll cite some facts here.

The Alliance of Guardian Angels just celebrated
its 32nd anniversary in March and the local chapter
just passed the 4 year mark.

The Alliance of Guardian Angels is an
International organization and when a mistake
is made anywhere, in any chapter, the news goes
worldwide in a matter of minutes.

Before this incident the local Guardian Angels
went on at least 400 patrols, started training
at least 150 people, received a proclamation from
the city for helping to lower the crime rate,
were named the rookie chapter of the year by the
Alliance of Guardian Angels, helped shut down a
crack house, gave safety talks to various groups,
and assisted the police when asked.

We believe in the Guardian Angels as much today
as we did the first time we heard Curtis Sliwa
talk at the Heart Institute, and will continue to
do so.
Comments are always welcome.

Lite post

Tomorrow will be time for another rant so today why not do
a lighter post? While this post will end with a joke I want
to start out on a more serious note. So now let’s get the
latest news out of the way and then leave with a laugh.
The joke involves nuns from another country and we’ll state
here we have no grudge against nuns or people who come to
our country from other places.

The trial for the accused Guardian Angels has been moved to
June 9th. This was done to allow the accused to hire lawyers
to state their case. I have a feeling the drive-by media will
have a field day with this fact.

And now a clean joke-

Two Irish nuns have just arrived in USA by boat and one says
to the other, “I hear that the people of this country actually
eat dogs.”
“Odd,” her companion replies, “but if we shall live in America,
we might as well do as the Americans do.”
As they sit, they hear a push cart vendor yell “Get your dogs
here” and they both walk towards the hot dog cart. “Two dogs,
please! ,” says one.
The vendor is very pleased to oblige, wraps both hot dogs in
foil and hands them over. Excited, the nuns hurry to a bench
and begin to unwrap their ‘dogs’.
The mother superior is first to open hers. She begins to blush
and then, staring at it for a moment, leans to the other nun
and whispers cautiously, “What part did you get?”

Comments are always welcome.

Keep Angels’ Patrol

A friend was good enough to email me concerning a recent editorial
in the QC Times titled Suspend Angels’ Patrol that had
the Times editorial board as author. Since my response would take
up a lot of the comment section to the story I thought a response
as the Cruisin’ editorial board may be in order. Please remember
that this is the opinion of the Cruisin’ editorial board.

Since their piece was stated to be an opinion I will try to keep
that in mind with my opinion of their opinion. As someone who has
personally been on over 200 Safety Patrols in which neither a
Guardian Angel or member of the public was injured I have to
wonder how old the editorial board is. It is obvious that the
members have never made a mistake or had a situation get out of
hand.

Anyone who seriously thinks Guardian Angels go out looking to
hurt someone during a safety patrol has not done much research.
The International Alliance of the Guardian Angels would not have
been around for over 31 years if that was the case.

In this age of the internet spreading news almost as it happens
it only takes a short time for any story to span the globe. I
don’t know how an intelligent person could believe that we are
not aware of that.

We, as a group, have asked the city for nothing beyond doing
the background checks. We have never asked the city for a dime
of financing, or a place to meet. As volunteers we are told by
trainers in the Guardian Angels that our jobs, family, and schools
come first.

Based on the wording of the opinion piece I am led to believe
that the Times editorial staff must not read their own paper.
In a recent column it was stated that the local chapter will
not patrol without the supervision of the Chicago chapter. If
we only patrol under the direction of a chapter that has been
around for several years, and those involved and charged with
the incident are not allowed to patrol; where is the problem?

Lastly, I don’t know where a newspaper gets off being judge,
jury, and executioner before the case even goes to court. I
have to wonder what happened to ‘innocent until proven guilty’.
Comments are always welcome.

Been there

Since some in the media are intent on milking a recent incident
involving the local Guardian Angels I’m going to do one more post
on the subject before cruisin’ on. The local chapter has been
here since March of 2007 and I am still proud to say I’m a member
of the local chapter.

As someone who has been on a number of patrols I feel confident
that I may know a few things most people don’t. The most obvious
to me is that I’ve never met someone who was detained that didn’t
claim they were innocent. Most of these ‘innocent’ people went to
court and were found guilty.

Another is that a Guardian Angel will always use verbal conflict
resolution as a first attempt to stop a conflict. Talking down a
situation is always the preferred method.

We are trained not to react to verbal abuse and taunts. Calling
us names will not set anyone off or cause a citizens arrest. You
are welcome to your opinion.

We patrol in dangerous areas without weapons, on foot, to help
make our city safer. We do not allow anyone to go on patrol if
they are in a bad mood, using alcohol or drugs, or out of uniform.

All members do not carry handcuffs. Those who do are trained to
use them so that those getting cuffed do not get hurt. I carry
a small flashlight because it comes in handy.

You can join the Guardian Angels regardless of age, sex, or race
if you pass the background check. You cannot join if you are
openly racist or sexist, handicapped to a point you can’t walk 8
or more miles on a patrol, have a felony, or are on probation.

We have escorted little old ladies to the mini-mart if asked,
have walked elderly citizens home through rough neighborhoods,
searched for missing children, pushed stalled vehicles out of
traffic, assisted the police when asked, talked with
various civic groups and much more.

So if that makes us the bad guys, so be it.
Comments are always welcome.

A short rant

It’s thursday and I had a rant all set to post before I changed
my mind. I appears to me that yesterday must have been the
official ‘pick on the Guardian Angels day’. We’ve seen mention in
both newspapers, on TV, and heard it on the radio.

As happens there are those among us who would trash the
group and some of the comments I’ve read online leave no
doubt what some people think of us. No Guardian Angel has
been proven guilty in a court of law yet all the armchair skeptics
have an opinion.

Nowhere in the coverage did I see mentioned that before we
graduate we have to be familiar with local law, know CPR, learn
to withstand verbal abuse, demonstrate patrol protocol, pass a
background, and physically patrol each weekend.

The Guardian Angels have been around since 1979 when Curtis
Sliwa started the group in New York. The organization has since
grown to over 140 chapters in 14 countries. The group is not
a fight club full of brawlers but a group of concerned citizens
who are tired of the direction their communities are heading
and want to make them safer. We dare to care.
Comments are always welcome.

Weekend wrap-up

This weekend has been as hectic as any I remember. This
post is about some things that happened to make it so
hectic. So, in no particular order, here’s the wrap-up.

The wife had an uncle visiting our fine city and we spent
some time with him. He was raised here but moved away
and hadn’t been back in decades. We found it interesting
that he noticed the air seemed cleaner than years ago. He
also mentioned how spread out the city had gotten and a
few one-way streets that he didn’t remember.

On the issue of crime it looks like progress is being made.
The skybridge has been a target of vandals for some
time now. During the Saturday Safety Patrol of the local
Guardian Angels 17 vandals were caught in the act. The
patrol detained those involved until police arrived on the
scene.

Since the paddy wagon was in use there was no way to
transport that many people to jail and all were issued
citations. Four were charged as adults, thirteen were
charged as juveniles, and all have a court date. Due to
the recent rise in vandalism on the Skybridge the Guardian
Angels now patrol the area more often.

Lastly we heard the cruise-in at South Park had a good
turn out and we may post some pictures tomorrow if we
get them. I’m sure more happened on the weekend but
haven’t had the time to check on them.
Comments are always welcome.