Hmmm…where to start… After a long absence, I am returning to my blog. WordPress Happiness Engineers have lost their freaking minds. I still operate in the “Classic” editor. I will NEVER use that nightmare of a “block” editor.
I have also had to adjust my Admin Interface Style in General Settings. WP-Admin in the Classic style does not support the “Add New Post” drop-down I need to get to the Classic Editor. I can only get it in Default style. Can things get MORE confusing, here??? I SO miss the days when WordPress was EASY to use. Now, it is a giant PITA. I spent an hour trying to get a “Happiness Engineer” to explain to me WHY everything is so jacked-up. Has anyone noticed how screwed up the Reader is?
I have been gone so long that, I am having to re-learn how to blog. With all the changes, I am struggling to deal with this insane labyrinth. My absence has been due to my Significant Other needing assistance on a grand scale…and me, still battling my gallbladder. He is improving and I am…slowly.
In July of last year, I joined Twitter (X). Bastion of free speech, they said. Everyone has a voice, they said. Right. At the moment, I have been locked out of my account for six days. Want to know why? I apparently threatened YouTube with the word collapse. Musk stated in a post that he was building a YouTube alternative. It sounded good to me. I reposted his announcement and all I said was “@YouTube, you censor too much. I hope you collapse.” Bells went off, sirens started wailing in the distance and blood began to weep from the walls of my house. I was told that I had used violent speech. How in the AF could I possibly be a threat to YouTube??? *facepalm* I am supposed to be freed from my bird cage in a few hours. SMDH. I will continue to lurk, read & share my blog posts but, there won’t be any other engagement. It’s better than FakeBook, which I left years ago. I do still use Messenger.
News Release:
On May 09, 2023, a suspect, later identified as Joshua Russell Minton, age 34, of Millers Creek, NC, fled from Boone Police Officers during a traffic stop. The suspect led Boone police and deputies of the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office in a chase. The suspect abandoned his vehicle in the area of U.S. Hwy. 421 and U.S. Hwy. 221 in Deep Gap and fled into an undeveloped area. Due to the suspect’s fast and reckless driving, our officers were not close enough to see exactly where the suspect ran.
As officers began to search the area, they received some unexpected, but welcomed assistance from some local cows. Apparently, cows do not want suspected criminals loitering in their pasture and quickly assisted our officers by leading them directly to where the suspect was hiding. The cows communicated with the officers as best they could and finally just had the officers follow them to the suspect’s location.
In addition to thanking our officers and deputies for putting themselves in harm’s way, obviously, we want to express our gratitude to the cows for their assistance. This opens up all kinds of questions as to the bovines’ role in crime fighting. Honestly, it is something that we have not considered before now. As we examine the obvious next steps of incorporating a Bovine Tracking Unit into our department’s law enforcement capabilities, there are many factors that we will have to consider:
♦ How adaptable are cows to a variety of police work or can they just find hiding suspects?
♦ Are cows more cost effective than K-9 dogs?
♦ How will we transport cows to the scenes and is this compatible with the Town’s sustainability goals in terms of types of vehicles needed [since], obviously, there are methane issues?
♦ Cost of training, vet care, ballistic vests, etc.?
We at the Boone Police Department are always looking for better ways to serve our community. We may be a small town but, we are a progressive, forward thinking law enforcement agency. For rural law enforcement, we want to be the tip of the spear.
Cosmic-Observation 