On Cruising the strip remains a popular activity
Posted on August 18 at 10:18 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Riding the circut has been going on for 50 years in this town. All of a sudden if you are doing it you are a product of a broken home with terrible parents and you are a drug addict. Get real!
These kids are doing the same thing MILLIONS of other kids are doing all over the United States of America, They are expressing themselves and being individuals.
I drive Milton Ave 2 times everyday during the DAYTIME and I see everything you are calling crazy and reckless being done by adults on a day to day basis! Quit with your judgemental attitudes and let the kids be! We hire professional Police officers to patrol the strip and they do their job. If the few "idoits" are truly being reckless on a regular basis soon they are tickted and will lose the right to drive just like all the rest of us.
Insurance companies will regulate the risky driving through insane rate increases for those stupid enough the get numerious tickets or accidents.
Having a reporter ride in a car is hardly a way to get an objective view of "typical" night on the strip, Kids will boast and play up the risky badgirl or badboy acts to gain attention or noterity in the story.
Doing nuteral drops in a Neon is about as risky as blowing your nose! The worst that could happen is you will spin one rear tire for about 3 inches as you cross the painted line on the crosswalk! Hardly a life and death situation.
Many of these kids are doing the same thing you do when you take your new Buick to church or your new boat out for the day, they are expressing themselves and showing off their "creations" just as people get their hair cut at high end salons or shop at high end clothing stores they do it to be one of a kind and like to show their style and taste. we may not all agree that it is tasteful or appropiate that is one of the beauties of living in AMERICA! I am free to do as I please as long as it does not infringe upon YOU! So please quit trying to impose your values and opinions upon everyone else around you that just happens to think a little different than you do!
On Health care opponents play with fire at protests
Posted on August 13 at 4:17 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Grinin,
Could you please you please explain your statment "This Health Care Bill is a straight up Socialist take over of Americans Rights and Liberties"? I keep hearing this but I do not understand how our providing an option for 4% of the population to purchase health insurance from a public plan would take over your rights and liberties? Could you explain your statment in a reasonable way without more retoric?
On Man caught in online sex sting
Posted on July 23 at 3:54 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I agree the police are doing a good job of trying to curb child abusing adults. However I also see the kids who are being preyed upon acting and looking like street trash.
Do you listen to the words in the music your kids are listening to?
Do you ever watch the video streams your kids are watching everyday on TV?
Do you really know how innocent your kids really are or are you just seeing what you want to see?
I have witnessed chat sessions where the "kids" are acting like and portraying themselves to be adults. How many kids have not lied about their age and told people they were 18 or 19 when they are actually 15 or 16?
Perverts should get caught and punished. PARENTS need to be aware of what their kids are doing and to what extent they are part of the problem!
On Harley-Davidson deepens cuts as 2Q profit tumbles
Posted on July 17 at 8:56 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I would think a company that is still projecting sales in the 212,000 to 228,000 units ranging in the 13k to 31K price range in this time fiscal disaster is doing something right. If you ever ACTUALLY ride with a group of HD riders the age groups are VERY well represented across the board. Just because we do not ride YOUR idea of a bike does not mean it is bad or wrong or outdated it just not YOUR idea of a bike! I would not buy a Honda Civic to haul dirt for my construction company just as I would not want to ride two up crouched over in a knee dragging position on a sport bike for hundreds of miles in a day for a week. I ride both kinds of bike and they each have their place and do things I want them to do. So far as new technology I think Eric Buell is right out there and in the mix in the Superbike Series and you do not compete there without inovation and commitment.
On Harley-Davidson deepens cuts as 2Q profit tumbles
Posted on July 16 at 4:20 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
OK Gilly, why don't you tell us how you really feel about HD riders and their machines?
On Janesville's financial belt gets tighter
Posted on June 18 at 9:59 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
It's always fun to make light of government workers, I do it and so do most of the people I know. BUT why should the employees who are serving YOUR needs 24 X 7 take the brunt of any fiscal shortages that are being generated by the current crisis? I have many friends who work in Government and they are some of the most dedicated people I know. Who was out on the streets during the great blizzards and who was putting their lives on the line during the floods sandbagging and keeping your city running? WHo do you see out a 3 AM fixing broken water mains on your street?
If you decide to balance the budget on the backs of 1/3 of the employees left after you take out Police and Fire employees then is that not just a litte unfair to those people who do all of the above mentioned things and thousands of other duties that keep your city running day in and day out?
I understand in industry if production is down then costs must be balanced by lowering wages or cutting benefits to the production workers but in government the production is not down and the expectation is that with staff reductions as a cost saving measure tha t the remaining staff will "pick up the slack" so that means production fo them is actually up!. Would you like to increase your workload and at the same time take a pay cut?
Merit pay as I understand it is based on just that MERIT, it is something that is EARNED each year for duties above and beyond the duties of the normal job description and only by employees with many years of service who no longer get "raises" because they are working in a job classification that has a outdated wage scale set many years ago for the job title.
Lets try and figure out a way to balance this shortage by EVERYONE taking some of the burden. Tax increase, elimination of all projects not currently urgent to the operation of the City's main functions, furlough's if required but everyone should be included in this action not just 1/3 of the employees, A revisiting of all of the "special interest" projects the members of the City Counsil are attempting to champion for whatever reason. I understand you feel the need to leave your mark after your term is up but please lets work together on this. We can do it but it will take EVERYONES efforts.
On Janesville will look for cost savings
Posted on June 17 at 2:14 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Just some food for thought:
City Employees have taken many "hits" for the "good of the city" Insurance rates have more than doubled and services have been reduced. As employees have left the positions are not being filled meaning the remaining employees have to do the work of two or three. this would not be so bad if the City of Janesville was not so understaffed already. The old city managers claim to fame was "We have 1/3 less employees per capita tha any other city our size".
Many of our issues stem from the fact we elect new City Council member every 2 years, each comes to the table with an agenda to "listen to the people" and in listening and reacting to all of the thousands of people who have wants and needs the big picture of budget restraint and common sense is lost in all the noise. I am sure everyone is trying to do the right thing but this current counsil while promising to "cut the fat from the citys budgets" found less than 30K they could remove after all the fanfare. It costs money to do EVERYTHING like open a pool, build a museum, build a bike tunnel, host a hockey team, add more police and firemen, have drug sniffing dogs, build a skatepark, add police officers in each school, Pay for intern students to finish their masters programs in collage and god only knows what else we pay for.
What would you be willing to give up to "cut costs"?
Less policemen
Less Firemen
NO? Well thats about 2/3 of the cost of the government right there.
Now of the 1/3 left what would you like to not have?
Trash pickup
Street repair
Water services
Sewer services
The 1/3 of the employees who are doing the work of 2 or 3 now? and getting paid far less than they would be getting paid if doing the same work in a private company?
should we only open City buildings 3 or 4 days a week?
These are your choices, it becomes a little tougher when you must deal with the details.
On Felony charges sought in overdose
Posted on June 5 at 8:12 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Beachsexton,
I am happy to hear you are one of the open minded people that will say you see things from another point of view. If the world had more people that worked (and it is work) to understand their is ALWAYS aother point of view in any situation we would be a much better place. I would like to say to Thehero THANK YOU for being there and doing what you did. The world is not a black and white place and every every situation has it grey areas and in this instance the middle ground most likley saved this kid and everyone that knows him from the horrible fate of dealing with a needless death.
I have a personal issue with subjecting people who use pot to the same criminal charges and prison time as the crack/junk/meth supplier. Yes I wish there were no problems with street drugs of any kind however, I have many friends who have used pot for over 20 years and they hold jobs, raise good kids, go to church and are pillars of their community but they are forced to have this dark side of their lives. and just like beer and booze there is a small percent of people that fall off the edge and ruin their lives with some substance abuse it should not cause us to write laws that ensnare a HUGE segment of otherwise well balanced productive members of our socity into the depths of crimal labeling that does FAR GREATER damage than the simple act of smoking a few hits of pot evey now and then. I worry much more about the millions of people that are addicted to and stoned out of their minds on completely legal meds perscribed by their doctor for "pain management" yet they are allowed to operate cars, trucks, busses and make management level decisions affecting the lives of others and that is completely legal and accepted. Sorry for the rant but this is a biggie for me!
On Felony charges sought in overdose
Posted on June 4 at 1:50 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Beachsexton,
I am not disagreeing with a treatment program approach. Have you ever tried to get someone into one of these programs in this area? I have and it's only available as an outpatient daily program and you have to drive to Madison or Rockford each day to attend. Most of the junkies I know are not able to get themselves out of bed in the morning let alone own a car or make it to any organized meetings for the weeks it takes to get a true foothold on changing the lifestyle/friends/urges.
My comment was not about letting kids die it was about the futility of the CURRENT efforts to stop them from getting started down the road to killing themselves. We sit in the whitebread living rooms and try to understand what a teen or a junkie was thinking and why they did something like call a "user" for help is like teaching a 4 year old how to drive a car. you just do not have the information you need to "solve" these problems and the people who do are not invited to your rountable discussions.
What we are doing is not working!!!
Perfect example is the No Tolerance policy in the schools. Kid get busted holding some pot and they are kicked out of school for 2 years. Great move! Now the kid will be shunned by all of the other kids due to parential pressure and have no peer group to identify with so the next group they find themselves identifying with is the other "peers" who have no job have no future have nothing except the party to look forward to each day. No reason to get up in the morning so why worry about going to bed and the cycle begins. I am basing this on true facts happening in the last 2 years in Rock County culminating with a 19 year old in heroin detox after 14 months in a stupor induced by anything that would get her high and living with some scumbag 5 years her senior just because he "takes care of her".
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On Cruising the strip remains a popular activity
Posted on August 18 at 10:20 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
When did it get renamed the "strip"? What happened to the "Circuit"???
Circuit = Downtown
Strip = Milton Ave