Life In A Small Town
Jul. 12th, 2007 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
la_samtyrJust to show you how much I live online and hardly ever hear the news of what's going on in town....
Last night, Shockey came over to talk. Now I've known him for years, he's a good friend and to be honest, if I ever get any good "dish" about this place, it's from him. So.
(I'm cutting this for length, sorry. But your lj's will thank me.)
It seems that last Saturday night (more like Sunday @ 3 a.m.), one of his boys (Torrey) ran into his house and woke up him (Shockey = Dad) and his younger brother (Shockey's other son = Jason). I should also note here that all of Shockey's sons are around 30-ish. To make a long story *very* short (though I swear I'm gonna take proper notes next time and type 'em up and sell the screenplay to H'wood), Torrey got into a fight w/some of the neighbors over an insult. Seems like an ex-gf of his was at the neighbors and called him on his cell phone to come over to the party, then half-way over there, she called him back and told him not to bother [she was in a jealous snit over him (Torrey) *supposedly* talking to another girl and one of the guys in the background said "yeah if he comes over i'll kick his f'n ass."] Yeah, we all know where this is going, don't we?
Booze (+ drugs?) = stoopid x jealousy = fight/trouble.
So, Shockey and Jason were trying to separate Torrey and "the others" (5 or 6 other guys) and break up the fight; naturally the fight had spread out all along the nearly two blocks between Shockey's house and the house where the party was at (Dave) but was mostly in front of Shockey's house. With all the noise generated by the ruckus, the cops didn't show up until after *another* neighbor called 911. To report not the fight (as you might expect) but gunfire.
Yes. You read that right. *Gunfire*.
It wasn't until the gun entered the picture that things changed bigtime and *really* got the sheriff's interest. It seems that at some point (which is still not clear to me) one of the participants in the fight decided to shoot up Torrey's car. Left the car with two flat tires, one broken headlight and other minor damage. (It was only a .22, but they are plenty big enough to do damage, believe me.) I guess that other neighbors heard it as well but thought it was nothing more than a few held-over firecrackers. Interestingly, none of those involved in the fight heard a thing.
This was about 10 in morning, btw when things were starting to break up and the car damage was noticed. Well, noticed enough to realise that the damage had been caused by a gun. A copper shell sticking out of a flat tire does tend to refocus attention.
Now by this time, at least one guy (I'll call him "X" because I don't know his name offhand) had been hauled over to the county jail and released on his own recognizance. This same guy was so afraid of retaliation by Torrey that he packed up his wife and kid and hauled them off to a new location in Hastings. Torrey was on his way to the hospital to get stitched up and *did not* know about his car at that point. Because if he had... well, to say that the fight would have started up again is putting it mildly.
The sheriff's office by now was checking out the participants background which they had been unable to do because their computers had been down, or whatever. When they realised that "X" is an ex-con from AZ and also the one who shot the car, they had to find him, pick him up and book him. "X" is now in the county lockup and is looking at 1-20 years -- all for using that damn .22.
Want to know the *real* irony of it all? Damn near every one of those guys in the fight has a record of one sort or another (Torrey himself is an ex-con) but because of the gun, only "X" is going to bear the brunt of it.
As of yesterday, Torrey and Dave (the owner of the other house involved) have made a truce, witnessed by no less than the sheriff himself. Seems Dave had shown up at the sheriff's office and said he wanted to make peace when Torrey showed up with his statement... and so there is now have a truce.
Shockey told me he felt as if every nerve in his body relaxed when Torrey came in and told him this. I don't doubt it. He said he hadn't slept since Torrey woke him up that night (not surprising at all) and he wished he had his vacation time so he could sleep for a few days.
As for the hospital count, the only other person I know of who got more than "just stitches" is Charlie, who will lose the hearing in one ear and the ear is swollen to the size of a small cantaloupe; furthermore, the swelling will never go down by much and he will have a permanent cauliflower ear (unless he decides to have it surgically amputated for appearances.
And so, that is the end of this chapter of "Life In A Small Town."
tbc...
Last night, Shockey came over to talk. Now I've known him for years, he's a good friend and to be honest, if I ever get any good "dish" about this place, it's from him. So.
(I'm cutting this for length, sorry. But your lj's will thank me.)
It seems that last Saturday night (more like Sunday @ 3 a.m.), one of his boys (Torrey) ran into his house and woke up him (Shockey = Dad) and his younger brother (Shockey's other son = Jason). I should also note here that all of Shockey's sons are around 30-ish. To make a long story *very* short (though I swear I'm gonna take proper notes next time and type 'em up and sell the screenplay to H'wood), Torrey got into a fight w/some of the neighbors over an insult. Seems like an ex-gf of his was at the neighbors and called him on his cell phone to come over to the party, then half-way over there, she called him back and told him not to bother [she was in a jealous snit over him (Torrey) *supposedly* talking to another girl and one of the guys in the background said "yeah if he comes over i'll kick his f'n ass."] Yeah, we all know where this is going, don't we?
Booze (+ drugs?) = stoopid x jealousy = fight/trouble.
So, Shockey and Jason were trying to separate Torrey and "the others" (5 or 6 other guys) and break up the fight; naturally the fight had spread out all along the nearly two blocks between Shockey's house and the house where the party was at (Dave) but was mostly in front of Shockey's house. With all the noise generated by the ruckus, the cops didn't show up until after *another* neighbor called 911. To report not the fight (as you might expect) but gunfire.
Yes. You read that right. *Gunfire*.
It wasn't until the gun entered the picture that things changed bigtime and *really* got the sheriff's interest. It seems that at some point (which is still not clear to me) one of the participants in the fight decided to shoot up Torrey's car. Left the car with two flat tires, one broken headlight and other minor damage. (It was only a .22, but they are plenty big enough to do damage, believe me.) I guess that other neighbors heard it as well but thought it was nothing more than a few held-over firecrackers. Interestingly, none of those involved in the fight heard a thing.
This was about 10 in morning, btw when things were starting to break up and the car damage was noticed. Well, noticed enough to realise that the damage had been caused by a gun. A copper shell sticking out of a flat tire does tend to refocus attention.
Now by this time, at least one guy (I'll call him "X" because I don't know his name offhand) had been hauled over to the county jail and released on his own recognizance. This same guy was so afraid of retaliation by Torrey that he packed up his wife and kid and hauled them off to a new location in Hastings. Torrey was on his way to the hospital to get stitched up and *did not* know about his car at that point. Because if he had... well, to say that the fight would have started up again is putting it mildly.
The sheriff's office by now was checking out the participants background which they had been unable to do because their computers had been down, or whatever. When they realised that "X" is an ex-con from AZ and also the one who shot the car, they had to find him, pick him up and book him. "X" is now in the county lockup and is looking at 1-20 years -- all for using that damn .22.
Want to know the *real* irony of it all? Damn near every one of those guys in the fight has a record of one sort or another (Torrey himself is an ex-con) but because of the gun, only "X" is going to bear the brunt of it.
As of yesterday, Torrey and Dave (the owner of the other house involved) have made a truce, witnessed by no less than the sheriff himself. Seems Dave had shown up at the sheriff's office and said he wanted to make peace when Torrey showed up with his statement... and so there is now have a truce.
Shockey told me he felt as if every nerve in his body relaxed when Torrey came in and told him this. I don't doubt it. He said he hadn't slept since Torrey woke him up that night (not surprising at all) and he wished he had his vacation time so he could sleep for a few days.
As for the hospital count, the only other person I know of who got more than "just stitches" is Charlie, who will lose the hearing in one ear and the ear is swollen to the size of a small cantaloupe; furthermore, the swelling will never go down by much and he will have a permanent cauliflower ear (unless he decides to have it surgically amputated for appearances.
And so, that is the end of this chapter of "Life In A Small Town."
tbc...
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