9384 - Saturday

[scottobear]

Got my shots - minor reaction, but nothing tragic.

Met up with the in-laws, and headed to selby sub shoppe - pizza for all, I got a black bean burger and fries. Tasty as all get out!

We planned on heading to Annapolis after to go see Wall-E, but instead we stopped at Toys-R-Us, and picked up Marvel Heroscape and Good Ol' Scrabble.

Heroscape is cute.. sort of like heroclix or D&D miniatures. The fun thing is that it's cross-genre, so you can have cowboys shooting at zombies, fighting robots, ninjas, superheroes and cavemen all on the same board. (and if you like, you can make custom cards for units very easily - so you can have spongebob fighting a paperclip, if you want.) Basic rules are quick and easy... advanced rules look more fun, and maybe another moment or two to learn.

BHK and I opted to head back home after getting our loot - there was a storm brewing... even tornado warning, and we wanted to be curled up at home anyhow.

We swung by the ATW man - done up as a prospector - I'll try to get better photos of him later.

Watched some tube, lounged, and the in-laws came over - we half watched Micheal Clayton while we played scrabble - Chris dominated.. and she was half asleep. I'd hate to think of what sort of opponant she's make at full mental charge. Chris scored 258 to my 247 and BHK's 162 - and Chris laid all of her letters down first turn... accounting for 63 of those points! I was feeling a little sour-grapey, but not too much... our dictionary is a bit on the lightweight side... time to get something unabridged. The plus size was that it caused me to rethink words I'd use in a pinch... like "QI", but instead, items that are in more everyday language.

The folks went home, but BHK was still up for a wordgame, so we went with another - BHK dominated me at upwords - beat me by more than 40 points.

My brain is melted a bit.. until later, dear journal!

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Upgrading the computer in the newtcam room at home - ordered 2 GB more ram for my system (Crucial 2GB Kit (2 x 1GB) DDR2 PC2-4200 UNBUFFERED NON-ECC 240-PIN DIMM, to be specific) -ups my desktop box to a proper 4 gig for less han $50, and a new video card - (EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB DDR3 Superclocked Edition PCI-Express Graphics Card (512-P3-N802-AR) - got it for less than half what it usally costs - $300 card for $160, less anothera $20 rebate for a total of $140

Super saver shipping means possibly slower send times, but the price was right, and I don't need it super soon.. I can wait a week or two.

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SWAT team kills 2 dogs in raid on Md. mayor's home

(Italics and bold mine.)

BERWYN HEIGHTS, Md. — A SWAT team raided the home of a Washington, D.C.-area mayor, killing his two black Labrador retrievers and seizing an unopened package of marijuana delivered there.

Prince George's County Police said Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo brought a 32-pound package of marijuana into his home that had been delivered by officers posing as delivery men. The Tuesday evening raid was conducted by county police narcotics officers and a sheriff's office SWAT Team.

The package was addressed to Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic. His mother-in-law had asked the supposed delivery men to leave the package outside. Calvo has not been charged, though police said he, his wife and his mother-in-law are "persons of interest" in an ongoing investigation.

"We never opened the box. We have nothing to do with this box," Calvo said.

Sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. Mario Ellis says deputies "apparently felt threatened" when they shot the dogs.

Calvo said officers entered about 7:30 p.m., first shooting 7-year-old Payton. They then pursued 4-year-old Chase, who ran away and was shot by police from behind, he said.

Calvo said he doesn't have any idea how the package ended up at his house. He called the raid "the most traumatic experience" of his life.

Calvo, who called his town "Mayberry inside the Capital Beltway," gets a small stipend as mayor and works at the SEED Foundation, a nonprofit that runs public boarding schools for at-risk students. His wife works as a state finance officer.

"These were two beautiful black Labradors who were well-known in the community. We walked them twice a day; little kids knew their names and would come up to them and pet them," he said.

So... the police brought drugs to the house, and then raided him... but then didn't arrest or press any charges? They *did* however kill his two dogs.

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1 year ago - ATW man stolen, Petey Greene / "Talk to me", Vassal, pictures while waiting for the bus, new nuclear reactor in calvert county

2 years ago - paperclips, cross-dressing crooks, reading Pride and Prejudice, I predict a riot, good talking to folks, writely (now google docs)

3 years ago - sick of summer heat, paper robots!, spiffy car, where do they make balloons?, animal crackers, ADP nearly nailed, bugs bunny, heart shaped land, baron von bludd

4 years ago - sleepy, meeting, a year at current gig, 5 senses, scarecrow, codecs, game-dancing, oh danny bot, land of many colors, rain and running newtie-pic

5 years ago - bidet poll, food, vamp game, first gig paid poorly, games on the website

6 years ago - talked to rob (we never got together), baron von bludd, strange black blobs

7 years ago - rainy, Owen Ng, broken drug war link, Thunderstorm, code red, lord humongous

8 years ago - Finished HP2, started hp3, foodies, moved to the 12-8 shift at IMT

Comments

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

"The specific circumstances was that our team was compromised. The mother-in-law saw them as they approached the house. She gave a yell to whomever else at the time was in the house," said Sheriff Jackson.

Mayor Calvo will discuss the arrest of suspects and the warrant issue at a news conference Thursday. His attorney, Timothy Maloney, issued a written statement blasting the explanation for a "no-knock" entry:

"These arrests confirm that Trinity Tomsic was a random victim of identity theft at the hands of major drug traffickers. This crime was compounded by law enforcement when it illegally invaded the Calvo home, tied up the mayor and his mother-in-law, and killed the family dogs. The suggestion that Mayor Calvo's mother-in-law's reaction to seeing a SWAT team in her front yard justified an illegal no-knock entry is outrageous," said Maloney in the statement.

The mayor's counsel also disputes authorities claims that they killed the dogs, Chase and Payton, because one of the dogs was coming at officers. Maloney says one dog was running away and the other was shot some distance from the front door.

Still, county law enforcement officials say they do not owe the Calvo's an apology. Chief High defended the officers actions, but expressed regret over the death of the dogs.

"I'm an animal lover, a pet owner myself and so, I can certainly sympathize with that," Chief High said.

"There's nothing that can replace those animals that they [Calvos] dearly loved, and I'm sure will hold close in their hearts for the rest of their lives. But I think an apology from the police chief and the county sheriff would certainly go a long way towards healing this, this community," said Chief Murphy.

Maloney told 9 NEWS NOW that no decision has been made about whether the Calvos will file a lawsuit. He says at this point the couple wants to know how this happened, and how police can prevent it from every happening again to innocent people.