Combat pay

Taking a break from my trip report to talk about a news story that appeared in the Orlando Sentinel back in May:

Carver Middle School is an F rated school in the middle of the Pine Hills neighborhood, located west of Orlando, in Orange County. This school’s students tested in the lowest 3 percent of all students nationwide. In order to correct this, Orange county is attempting to lure the best teachers in the state to the school by offering an extra $20,000 a year to teachers willing to work there.

The problem is that the school is in a crime ridden, poverty stricken neighborhood. I have blogged about Pine Hills and its surrounding neighborhoods before. More than once. The school is 91% black, 6% Hispanic of any race, and less than 1% white. Seventy percent of the students receive free or reduced lunch.

Both the violent and non-violent crime rates in Pine Hills are double the national average. Police officers are shot and killed in the area of this school often enough that several streets in the area are named for fallen officers, and shootings happen there nearly every night. The local government repeatedly dumps millions of dollars into this blighted area in an attempt to “clean up” the crime problem, to no avail.

Currently, the teachers there are inexperienced first or second year teachers who transfer away at first opportunity. Teacher pay is tied to student performance, and combined with the crime in the neighborhood, teachers avoid the area like the plague.

Any teacher who accepts a job at this school is placing his or her life in jeopardy. A $20,000 bonus is not worth it, in my opinion. The plan likely will not work and be a waste of money, anyway. You cannot, no matter how good of a teacher you are, teach a student who does not want to learn. The crime problems need to be addressed, the gangs eliminated, the drugs under control, before you can convince the students to give up the thug lifestyle and learn.

You don’t need that

One of the most common things that you hear in Central Florida when you carry a concealed weapon is that you don’t need to carry a gun to the theme parks, because they are for kids, and no crime happens there.

The place is, of course, a target rich environment for all sorts of criminals. Child molesters, for example:

The report states when deputies searched Jiang’s phone, they found numerous inappropriate pictures of children between 4 years old and 7 years old taken inside of the park — including one in a bathroom stall.




Disney

Disney has a no weapons policy for everyone. If they find out you have a weapon on their property, they do their best to have you arrested. Since many of the deputies that are on property are working there as a side job while wearing their taxpayer supplied uniform, weapon, and radio, and are standing there doing their employer’s (Disney’s) bidding while being covered in the qualified immunity afforded to police officers, the person caught with a weapon on property is often arrested for SOMETHING, and then trespassed.

Of course, when their employers are accused of an actual crime like pedophilia or distribution and possession of child pornography, they are given a free pass.

This policy leaves guests and employees defenseless against criminals. This explains why the critters have started robbing Disney employees who are on their way home.

I go to the theme parks. I carry a gun. That is exactly why.

Disney employee pedphilia

A Disney employee was arrested yesterday for possession and solicitation of child pornography. This happens at Disney with a fair amount of frequency. With Disney being such a target rich environment for criminals of all types, it doesn’t surprise me.

What does surprise me is Disney’s attitude towards the problem. When an employee of the company is arrested for child pornography, Disney suspends them, pending the outcome of the charges. The company states that the accused employees are innocent until proven guilty.

That same courtesy does not apply to employees that are found to have a firearm in their car. Doug and Linda Gray, had been faithful employees of the company for a decade, and were fired in 2007 after it was discovered that they had a firearm in their car. They also were given a trespass warning that barred them from ever again entering company property.

A security guard was fired for having a gun in his car in 2008, despite the fact that Florida had recently signed a “guns in parking lots” law that prohibits an employer from taking action against employees who bring guns to work and leave them in the car. Disney claims that they are exempt, but that is smoke and mirrors.

In short, pedophiles are innocent until proven guilty of a crime. Gun owners, having committed no crime, are guilty. Disney, whose policy violates the law, denies being guilty of anything.

Thanks for enabling the child molesters, Disney.

Honest discussion

Early this morning, an Orlando police officer attempted a traffic stop on Bruton Boulevard near Chandler Street, which is near the corner of LB McLeod and John Young Parkway. He got into a gunfight with the occupants of the vehicle, and was severely injured in the exchange of gunfire. Two officers were shot, one of them fatally, on that corner 13 years ago. Some things never change.

23-year-old Demetrius Patterson was taken into custody shortly before 8
a.m. saying Patterson has been arrested 42 times prior to the shooting. Arrested 42 times by the age of 23. I looked up his arrest record at the Orange County Clerk’s office website. Some of his arrests included selling drugs, 3 arrests for burglary, brandishing a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, along with two paternity suits from two different women, and that is just his adult record in only one county.

This area is in the middle of Florida’s 5th congressional district (changed to the Tenth in 2013), a district that is staunchly Democrat (formerly Republican, before the Democrat-sponsored gerrymandering redistricting).The neighborhood where the shooting occurred is called “Richmond Heights,” and is bordered on the east by Bruton Boulevard and on the west by President Barack Obama Parkway. The area is over 80% black. It is also a high crime area. It is bordered by the Pine Hills neighborhood to the north, which locals refer to as “Crime Hills.”

Here is a youtube video that illustrates what is typical of the area:

So now you have a picture of what is going on.

The black community is filled with young males who are stealing, robbing, killing, dealing drugs, and breaking the law. The nuclear family has all but ceased to exist in the black community. These young criminals are then getting women pregnant, and the cycle starts all over.

Before accusing me or anyone else of racism and blaming us for the problem, why not start where the problem lies?

Head in the sand policy of Osceola County

Florida Law Enforcement agencies have long followed a policy of denying the existence of gangs in the state, even though it is at odds with the opinion of the Florida Attorney General’s office [pdf alert] Florida police agencies say gang members use any information released about the crimes they commit to glamorize their lifestyles and attract new members. The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office generally follows that policy.

That policy, it seems, is failing.Hardly a day goes by when there is not a reported shooting in the Central Florida area, and many other violent crimes go unreported. Due to the long standing policy of ignoring gang related crimes, it is impossible to get an accurate picture of gang related crime in the area, but I can tell you from personal experience that it is growing.

The frequency of gang related graffiti is growing, as is the frequency of gang member sightings. The Outlaws Motorcycle gang has a clubhouse not far from where I live. A couple of friends of mine were recently riding their motorcycles and were stopped by five Outlaws, who told them that no one is allowed to ride motorcycles in the area as a part of any motorcycle riding club, unless that riding club paid dues to the Outlaws. They then demanded that my friends remove the leather jackets, and pay a fine of $50 cash on the spot. Outnumbered 5-2 by armed gang members, they paid.

The Latin Kings have staked out Poinciana as their territory, as well as parts of Kissimmee. The Bloods own other parts of Kissimmee. Saint Cloud has problems with white gangs like the Aryan Brotherhood. Orlando has similar gang and violent crime problems.

Your odds of being a victim of a violent crime in Osceola County are 1 in 100. In Orange County, the odds double to 1 in 50.Obviously, there are things you can do to reduce those odds. Don’t go into bad neighborhoods like Pine Hills (aka Crime Hills), Paramore, McLaren Circle, Waterway Village, and other notoriously unsafe areas. Don’t be a gang member, sell drugs, or engage in other highly risky behavior.

It is more likely that you will be a victim of a violent crime than involved in a car crash or a house fire with a fatality.You don’t hesitate to wear a seat belt, or own smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and other safety devices, yet the odds favor your using a firearm to defend your life more often than any of those other items.

Unsurprising

A man reports that he was shot in the Pine Hills neighborhood of Orange County, FL. Pine Hills is a known drug and crime infested area, called “Crime Hills” by locals. I am not surprised in the least. This is a neighborhood that people are wise to avoid after dark.

This is very near where the Central Florida Fairgrounds are located. Gun dealers have been robbed leaving the gun shows there, and last year a cop was killed during a robbery at an ATM machine just down the street. I used to work for a couple of ambulance companies that are located in the area. I never went there in my POV if I was unarmed.

The happiest place on Earth

The Wonderful World of Pedophiles disarmed victims Disney has seen another employee of theirs arrested for possession of child pornography. This has been a growing trend.

Matthew Wendland was arrested in February of this year.
Tony Guerra was arrested August 31.
Darren Roberts was arrested September 21.
All of them were suspended without pay, pending the outcome of charges. Disney is worried about due process, which is all well and good. We wouldn’t want to accuse someone of breaking the law, only to find that they didn’t, right?

Then explain why a married couple who has an unloaded firearm in their car in the employee parking lot (completely legal in the state of Florida) both get terminated without question. To compound the error, Disney then lobbies the state legislature to strengthen laws allowing employers to search employee cars for weapons, stating that employers need the ability to search cars, so they can stop child pornography.

I think we all know that the real target here is law abiding gun owners- not child pornographers.