Allentown Firefighters Rescue Escaped Iguana From Tree

So your cat went up in a tree? Leave it there. I mean, it’s a cat, it’s going to come down, right? 

Wait, you’re going to call the FIRE DEPARTMENT to get your cat down? What if some serious fire happens on the other side of town with a kid in a wheelchair is trapped in a four story building with no staircases?

Oh, you just want Jax the cat back, eh? I guess I can see your reasoning.

Wait, it’s a freakin’ iguana? Seriously?

Allentown firefighters Tuesday afternoon safely caught a pet iguana that had slipped out of its owner’s third-floor apartment and jumped from a balcony into a tree.

The Allentown 911 Communications Center asked if the Fire Department might snag the escaped lizard at the 11 N. Ninth St. apartment house at 5:50 p.m., fire Capt. Joseph Donmoyer said.

“When Com Center called, I thought they were joking,” he said. “It’s usually a cat.”

Bringing down the 2-foot-long iguana was easy, but its natural camouflage made it difficult to find in the tree, Donmoyer said.

“We were looking and looking and looking,” he said. “He was almost the exact color of the leaves. But then we saw the tail.” Donmoyer climbed up a 24-foot ladder and made the capture.

“When I got up there, he was busy eating leaves,” he said. “I bent the branch down and grabbed his tail up by his rear legs. I didn’t want the tail to break off. Then I brought him down and put him in a box.”

“It was just one of those fun calls.”

Donmoyer said the iguana’s owner was not home when it escaped its screen-covered terrarium and jumped 5 feet from the balcony handrail to the tree. A neighbor noticed the escape and made the 911 call. Source

A NEIGHBOR called 911? 

Woah, wait. So, an Allentown resident living on Ninth Street called 911 for his NEIGHBOR because his neighbor’s iguana escaped?

This happened? I’m kinda shocked. OK, now it doesn’t seem so bad anymore.

Awww, Allentown, where love happens. 

Allentown Homeless Want to be Homeless

One thing I think we forget sometimes is how close many people are to being homeless. Honestly, if there wasn’t an unemployment compensation system in this nation there would be many people going “Holy crap I literally have no money to stay somewhere.”

Luckily, there is an unemployment compensation system and some level of help in place to keep most people from literally having to sleep on the streets.

Some people, however, WANT to sleep on the streets. And, this brings up the question of “Why not let them?” Well, because…. you kinda can’t….

Allentown officials are shutting down an encampment beneath a section of the Eighth Street bridge that has served as one of the city’s oldest and most enduring spots for the homeless.

Early Monday, police issued trespassing notices to five people sleeping underneath the bridge and posted signs ordering all others to vacate the property by Sept. 13 or face arrest. Social workers offered options for housing and medical treatment.

“In a civilized society, you cannot allow people to live under these conditions,” police Assistant Chief Joe Hanna said during a news conference to announce the city’s actions.

The actions are part of the city’s broader efforts to put an end to chronic homelessness by 2017. The Eighth Street bridge, formally the Albertus Meyers Bridge, is the fourth encampment targeted since the initiative began more than three years ago.

After shutting down a similar homeless encampment underneath the Linden Street Bridge in 2007, city officials hauled off 21 tons of illegal trash that was dumped at the site, officials said.

The Eighth Street bridge site is one of the city’s oldest encampments, and officials say its permanent closure marks a significant step in their fight against chronic homelessness. After Sept. 14, city crews will clean up the site, then the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will install a chain-link fence to keep people from returning.

Tom Walker, human services director for the Conference of Churches, a partner in the struggle to end chronic homelessness, said the city’s early efforts have paid off. He said many of the homeless removed from previous encampments have found permanent housing, reducing Allentown’s chronic homeless population. Source

Here’s the deal. When you become homeless you literally have pretty much nothing except whatever personal pride you may have left. So, I can see why someone living under the 8th Street Bridge, who has essentially “survived” living without a home for some time, would take offense to someone coming in and telling them “Well, you can’t do this.”

See, to them, they ARE doing it and, I would imagine, that gives them a sense of worth that they feel would be taken from them if they would be forced to move into a shelter, even if that shelter meant a hot meal and a place to sleep.

But, at the end of the day, homeless people who can’t read this because RCN just cut their service to the 8th Street Homeless Camp, just take the free food, ten start from scratch and run for Mayor or something.

Or, at least start a rap group about how you were homeless. I would totally go see that.

THERE ARE JUSTIN BIEBER TICKETS LEFT? GET OUTTA MY WAY!

JUSTIN BIEBER JUSTIN BIEBER JUSTIN BIEBER JUSTIN BIEBER

(Good, now that 1,000,000 teenage girls now come to this site I can jack up my rates.)

So, love him or hate him, Justin Bieber has as much power as some third world dictators. And, that is NOT overexaggerating.

The sad thing about guys like him is, in 15 years he’s going to be like Jordan Knight or Joey McIntyre from New Kids on the Block and no one will…wait a freakin’ second. I didn’t not research any of those facts and I have just seriously scared myself with my knowledge on has been boy band members. 

Moving on…

A limited number of additional tickets for Justin Bieber’s Sept. 4 show at Allentown Fair were released Tuesday, but it’s unclear how many — if any — are left.

The fair announced on its Facebook page about 1 p.m. that previously held tickets for all grandstand shows at this year’s fair were being released – including Bieber tickets.

 Respondents to the message on the Facebook page said that within the hour, they had bought tickets at the box office, but none were available over the phone or online. The fair’s account also responded that some were still available at the box office (which closed at 3 p.m. Tuesday) and that the box office on the fairgrounds will be open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today.

Such tickets are usually held by the acts or promoters for friends, business associates or the media, then released close to show time if they’re not filled. It was not clear precisely how many tickets became available.

Bieber set the record for a fair sellout this spring when tickets to the 10,500-capacity grandstand sold out in about a half hour.  Source

You have to love the power of teenage girls. OBVIOUSLY, they aren’t the ones purchasing these tickets; their parents are. So, that means that their parents are scared enough of what will happen if they don’t get the tickets that they are willing to not only buy them, but buy them the second the go on sale.

Thank god I have no children that I know of.

Kids Are Unreliable at Identifying Body Parts

I never really had much interaction with the police when I was a kid.. kid. Like 7 to 11 years old. That’s probably because I grew up in a community where people kinda dealt with problems with local kids on their own. If you screwed with old lady McGrady’s flower garden, she was coming over to your house to yell at your parents then beat you with her cane.

I think maybe I lit of fireworks or something and the cops were like, “Hey, kid, we don’t wanna work, don’t do that.”

See, kids are generally pretty dumb and excitable. I don’t think cops take their word as worth much.

An Allentown Fire Department dive team was called to Jordan Creek on Thursday night to investigate a report that children had spotted a human hand in Jordan Creek.

It turned out to be a glove.

“Some kids were swimming in the creek and they saw what they believed to be a human hand at the bottom,” city fire Capt. Robert Reilly said late Thursday. Police asked for Fire Department divers, who went into the creek at about 9:30 p.m.

A short time later, at the bottom of the creek, the divers found a glove. The case was closed. Source

The kids just wanted to believe they found a hand because that would have been cool. I mean, they DO live in Allentown, finding a hand in the Jordan Creek isn’t exactly the craziest fantasy they could have come up with.

Remember that guy in the Princess Bride with six fingers on one hand? Craazzzzzy. 

Old Man Strikes Old Flagman in Bethlehem Township

I love when someone is so impatient that they NEED to get JUST in front of YOU so that they can be ONE car length ahead of you in traffic.

That .5 seconds is really going to matter to them when they get home and they have that much more time to get fatter.

Seriously, unless you or your wife is giving birth or you cut your penis off and you have it on ice, RELAX.

I understand, we get emotional when we drive. It’s anonymous, pretty much. I mean, what’s worse than cutting off a car whose driver you can’t see only to get stuck at the next red light with them; embarrassed because you can now see their face?

A man, who Tuesday morning tried to drive his white van through a Bethlehem Township, Pa., construction site,  struck a flagman on a road crew painting lines on the highway, police said. 

The driver attempted to flee from the wreck in front of the new First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union at William Penn Highway and Bethman Road, according to police and a witness who said she and two others jumped in front of the van to stop it.

Township police Chief Dan Pancoast said the driver, Thomas Catanzaro, 66, of the 400 block of First Avenue in Bethlehem, became frustrated at the wait and asked the flagman to move orange traffic cones so he could leave. 

“The flagman told him to be patient,” Pancoast said, “but he tried to leave, striking the flagman and knocking him to the ground, then he tried to flee.”

Pancoast identified the victim as 62-year-old Randolph Pfaff, of Allentown. He was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in Fountain Hill.

The chief said Catanzaro will be charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving an injury. Reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, Catanzaro declined to comment on the incident. Source

Yeah, that’s the real picture up there.

SERIOUSLY, where is a 66 year old man in a hurry to get to? His funeral? Chill out. 

I mean, sure, there is no guarantee that the sun is going to rise tomorrow, or that your BINGO game is going to start early, but at least realize that nothing is important as a life…

Old people…. can’t live with em, they can’t live without Ensure.

LANTA Driver Takes Teenager Girl on Hook Up Ride

File this under: Scary as shit.

While no one wants to have their kids out and about after dark, especially during the hubabaloo that is Musikfest, parents can at LEAST rely on the safety of public transportation? 

Now, I’m not talking about those who ride it, it’s a bit impossible to ensure that every passenger isn’t a walking serial killing machine, but, one should be able to trust that the operators of the transportation devices are at least, somewhat, moral?

A 40-year-old LANTA bus driver is charged with harassment after he admitted to Bethlehem police he tried to “hook up” with a teenage girl he picked up on his route, according to court records.

Robert Johnson Donnell, of 828 Turner St., Allentown, admitted he had contact with the girl on his bus Tuesday night, according to court records.

Police said video from the bus supports the girl’s claims that after Donnell’s passengers had departed, he parked the bus, turned off the lights and tried to hug the girl.

A LANTA representative could not be reached for comment on Donnell’s employment status.

According to court records:

The girl, 17, told police she spoke with Donnell as he drove his bus at Broad and Guetter streets in Bethlehem. When she asked if he could drive her to the South Side, Donnell told her to wait until the other passengers left.

After the passengers were gone, Donnell stopped the bus and urinated behind a tree, the girl said.

She told police she was scared and began texting a friend on her cell phone as Donnell got back on the bus and asked her questions about her boyfriend and whether he could hold her hand.

The girl said Donnell grabbed her by the waist, whispered in her ear and took her phone from her and turned it off.

Donnell eventually returned the phone to the girl, who said she tried to call her brother for help. She said Donnell eventually dropped her off on Fourth Street.

Police interviewed Donnell on Wednesday and he admitted turning off the bus lights, trying to hug her and taking the girl’s phone. He told police he was hoping to “hook up” with the girl. Source

CREEEPTASTIC.

Note to 40 year olds trying to pick up teenage girls: Don’t. 

I mean, c’mon you fucking saggy balled weirdo, do you really think they are going to go from their media infused minds full of T.I. and Captain Bieber and look at you and go “Oh, fuck, what was I thinking? I love old men who drive buses late at night. That really gets my goat.”?

No. No and no.

Musikfest Arrest Round Up! (DRUNKS AND MOONS)

This doesn’t need much introduction. Here are your winners SO FAR for “most stupid faced stupidness” at Musikfest!

I included the picture of this woman because I saw her do this last year and I was amazed that 1. she did it and 2. she makes a living eats by doing this. Just makes me happy about the world.

A boy dropped his pants and mooned a crowd of people at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday while on the Main Street ramp. It’s the same Main Street ramp where Bethlehem police park their SWAT team’s armored vehicle and the police department’s command center along with an array of video cameras. He was cited with disorderly conduct.

Mooning is an artform and thus, this arrest is invalid.

A 21-year-old New Jersey man was found Tuesday night passed out at the corner of West Lehigh and Main streets. David Pascale was taken to a local hospital and charged with public drunkenness. 

Yawn, fucking boring. Who gets arrested for JUST being drunk? Break something or at least piss on the street. I’m taking back your “cool” card.

Police found a 15-year-old boy drunk at 12:26 a.m. Wednesday as he wandered in the first block of Center Street.

THAT is more like it!

A 22-year-old Walnutport man was charged with public drunkenness while being carried to his car early Wednesday on the Broad Street bridge. Benjamin T. Reichenbach (FACEBOOK PROFILE) had a preliminary blood-alcohol content of 0.262, more than three times the legal limit to drive.

SUHWEEEET. Awesome. I hope they weren’t carrying him back to drive? Just sayin.

A 28-year-old Allentown woman passed out at 12:47 a.m. Wednesday in the 400 block of Main Street. Amy Mussel was found on the ground and charged with public drunkenness.

Amy, call me. You left your dignity on my nightstand.

An 18-year-old city man on Wednesday night tossed a bottle from the Main Street bridge onto Fetzplatz. The Main Street bridge is where the police headquarters for the festival are located. Christopher Vargas, of Fiot Avenue, was nabbed by mounted officers and charged with disorderly conduct.

Once again, our horse buddies come up strong!

A 31-year-old man passed out, with his pants open, in the first block of East Church Street, the same block that hosts City Hall and police headquarters. Christopher D. Bemelmans, of Oakland Road in Bethlehem Township, Pa., was charged with public drunkenness. Source

WITH his pants open. THAT is how you do it, kids. 

I hope you were all taking notes. If you find these awesome people’s Facebook Profiles, post em in the comments section below.

UGH FINE Clown Robber

I wasn’t going to write about this because it’s so ridiculous that… I would have nothing funny to post.

Ok, here is a complaint of mine. Do you notice how they have the TV show “Cops” in all these crappy towns but they never tape it in Allentown?

LIKE SERIOUSLY? We have this crap…

A 43-year-old Bethlehem Township woman told police she was forced Friday by an unknown man to rob a bank near her home, using a fake bomb fashioned from a can of soup and bags of rice to threaten tellers, according to court records released Monday.

Carolyn Anne Williams (not her facebook profile) wore a clown suit, red nose, gloves and scarf around her lower face when she robbed the KNBT bank, according to court documents. Williams showed the teller a yellow gift bag that she said contained a bomb and also said her two children would be killed if she didn’t bring back enough cash, the records state.

Whatever, just have new kids, that clown suit is TOTALLY 2007.

When a teller emptied her drawer of cash into the bag and slid it across the counter, Williams said it wasn’t enough and two other tellers also filled the bag with bills, police said.

She didn’t fill her shoes? (insert sad trombone sound)

Williams, of 4321 Embur Terrace, remains in Northampton County Prison under $500,000 bail. Police said more than $7,100 was stolen during the robbery and the money was found inside Williams’ car when she was arrested in a nearby township municipal complex.

According to court records:

Inside Williams’ car, police said they also found a cardboard box that contained a bag of soup with the label removed and two bags of rice. Police said the device was fashioned to look like an explosive device. Police said the car also contained a clown suit, clown wig, clown shoes, multicolored leggings, oversized clown sunglasses and two loaded handguns.

Her car also contained a mannequin dressed up like Osama Bin Laden and one of those eyeglasses with the nose and fake mustache on it.

This lady is the stupidest person I have ever seen on a computer.

Williams also used a magnetic cover on her license plate to avoid detection as she fled the bank.

Williams told police her younger son was in day care and her older son was on a flight from California to New York. Police later determined both children were unharmed. Source

If this lady wasn’t on meth, I’m going to be seriously disappointed.

In other news, the fucking Hamburglar got away again. Just sayin.

Comedic Criminals Make Me Smile

And by “smile” I mean “vomit.”

Remember in high school or middle school where you had those kids who always were like “I don’t care” or “Whatever” when they were faced with punishment because they wanted to be looked on as aloof and non-deterred as a way to appear either more dangerous or dominant? In reality, they weren’t acting out some sort of commendable nihilistic philosophy inasmuch as they were rationalizing their failures and exchanging a possible hopeful future for false admiration.

Wow, HOW ABOUT THAT on a Wednesday?

Well these guys continue to do it…

The two Bethlehem men charged in an East Market Street home invasion robbery said today that they’re “not bad people” but that they robbed the house because they were desperate for money. 

Luis Martinez, 26, and Jeremiah Nieves, 24, said they were especially hurting for money around the time of the June 20 robbery because both their daughters’ birthdays were that month. 

“We’re not bad people, we’re just desperate,” Martinez said in court before this morning’s arraignment.

“We just needed some money,” Nieves added. 

Nieves and Martinez said they feared the kidnapping charge would earn them an especially long prison sentence. 

“I should have robbed a bank for all this,” Nieves said. “We’ll probably do more time than the guy in Northampton who shanked those four people. We’ll probably do more time than he did for homicide.” 

Nieves and Martinez said they wanted to waive their preliminary hearings because they want to start serving their time in state prison. 

“I hope they don’t keep me in county for too long. I want to go upstate,” Nieves said. 

“Let’s speed this up, let’s get upstate,” Martinez said. “The only thing that’s stressing me out is my family. Otherwise this doesn’t bother me.” 

Nieves, who was shot in both the chest and the arm, lamented his injuries. He had trouble picking up paperwork and he had a small bandage on his inner right arm. Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin has said preliminary evidence indicates Allentown police officer Ryan Koons’ use of force against Nieves was justified. 

“My hand is messed up, man,” Nieves said to Martinez. “They tried to kill me, man. I died on the way to the hospital.” 

“They revived you, man?” Martinez asked. 

“Yeah, thank God,” Nieves responded. 

In Northampton County, both men face charges of kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault, conspiracy, reckless endangerment, unlawful restraint, theft, possession of an instrument of crime, possession of a prohibited offensive weapon, receiving stolen property and access device fraud. Source

 You know, the woman whose house they entered called the cops again like a few days later because she thought someone was in her home again. So, basically, she’s emotionally scarred and will probably not ever recover 100% after what these men did to her. And, they, instead of finding a job or AT LEAST committing a crime that didn’t directly affect someone’s mental or emotional state (like stealing some copper wire or something and trading it) choose to just bust into a home and think it’s not big deal.

Head upstate kids, where you’re totally going to be a bitch. Peace.

Naked Allentown Man Terrorizes Bethlehem

Nooo It’s not Ed Palowski!

However, a naked man from Allentown apparently disturb some dude’s morning routine by being, well, freaking naked and having a knife.

Note to readers: If you’re going to be naked, I recommend using a blunt weapon instead of one that could maybe cut off your naked bits.

A 39-year-old Allentown man wearing no clothes and clutching a pair of kitchen knives was running amok in the 700 block of East Sixth Street in Bethlehem on Monday morning, police said.

Cesar Garcia-Bueno was held at gunpoint by Kurt Hurtberg at 9 a.m. Monday in front of Hurtberg’s home, police said.

Hurtberg was taking a shower when he heard noises in his home and someone speaking Spanish, police said. 

Hurtberg got his gun and detained the naked Garcia-Bueno — who was holding knives taken from Hurtberg’s home — in his front yard, police said. Source

“Heard noises in home and someone speaking Spanish.” Isn’t that kinda basically the same thing? I mean… people who speak Spanish REALLY fast are like… I don’t know what the word is, but it’s not “quiet.”
 

July Fourth Drunken Weekend Round Up

I kinda did nothing great this weekend. Which, in a way is a testament to how borin… oh oh wait, I forgot that last night I went to a friend’s house in Allentown and drank all this Sangria and then ended up singing Robert Palmer on Wii karaoke followed by some sort of Charlie Manson powwow reenactment in the backyard with me and four grown women.

Yeah, I guess it was cool…

A 55-year-old Allentown man wanted on a warrant in New Jersey was found drunk at Westgate Mall on Friday morning. John Randall Guinta, when asked if he had been drinking, told police, “three years ago.” He was charged with public drunkenness and being a fugitive.

SOOO the best “have you been drinking?” comeback I have ever read. Filing this one away.

A 14-year-old boy was charged with harassing a 15-year-old girl via Facebook. The boy allegedly sent the girl lewd messages about sex and drugs. He was referred to Northampton County Juvenile Detention.

Waiiiit a minute. You can go to jail for that? Crap. *deletes all internet history*

A 15-year-old boy had a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey in his backpack Saturday night at the Northwest Little League field in the 1600 block of Valley Road. The boy was cited for underage possession of alcohol.

Idiot. You don’t bring the BOTTLE. You put the alcohol into another container and THEN drink it at the little league game. Stupid.

A 23-year-old man was kicking doors and propane tanks in the 100 block of Union Station Plaza on Saturday night. Ronald Reider had a 0.36 blood alcohol level — more than four times the legal limit to drive — and told police that he would “knock them out” for calling his parents. He was charged with public drunkenness and defiant trespass.

“What are you doing, son?”

“Oh, just kicking doors and propane tanks.”

“Ok, don’t wanna get knocked out, so carry on.”

A 34-year-old city man fired a large aerial mortar firework Sunday night from the area behind Diamonz night club. Johnathan Rowe’s fireworks — a large number of mortars and other missiles — were seized and he was charged with possession of fireworks. Source

Another large set of “missiles” were seized INSIDE Diamonz night club, if you know what I’m sayin… right… righhhht?

Train Hits Car. Car Is Mercedes, So I Don’t Care.

Whenever I see a nice car, like a Jaguar or a BMW or a Mercedes broken down or otherwise experiencing problems, I don’t care. It just washes over me like nothing. A big wave of nothing.

You paid for that car, you can easily afford help. You don’t need mine, right?

Like, one time I saw some cute girl blow out TWO of her tires after hitting a curb and I figured, well, she seems really intelligent, so I gave her a ride home…

A freight train rolling through Allentown early Thursday crushed the right front of a Mercedes car that a driver lodged in a ditch when she reversed direction in a railroad crossing, witnesses at the scene said.

No one was hurt in the 12:15 a.m. crash at the Auburn Street crossing between Basin Street and Trout Creek. But one of the men who attempted to help the driver get the car off the track said the train’s arrival was frightening.

“We were trying to move the car up off the hump, and then we started hearing, Ding ding ding ding,” said Shimee Hendry of Newark, N.J., a friend of the car owner, David Howell of Blakeslee.

The crossing gates were coming down, Hendry said. He, Howell and at least two other men ran from the silver car they had been pushing and shaking, leaving it facing east with its right front end jutting into the track.

Then the Harrisburg-bound Norfork Southern train slammed into the car, ripping into its front end, but barely moving it. When the three-engine, 4,400-foot-long train stopped, the car still was stuck on the railroad bed.

At the accident scene, Howell appeared angry and upset. He said he was out in another car Wednesday night, and the woman took his Mercedes for a ride without his knowing it.

The car apparently was stuck along the track for about 15 minutes, Howell said. The woman called for help, and he, Hendry and others drove out to the tracks, but they couldn’t budge the car before the train showed up.

The car’s right front quarterpanel was damaged severely, and the car was towed from the scene at about 1:20 a.m.

Jeff Jones, the train conductor, said the crash damaged two boarding steps on the first engine, but the other two engines and 19 railcars were not damaged. The train was back on its way at 1:30 a.m. Source

Is there a cooler job title than “Train Conductor”?

Chick: So, what do you do?

Me: Oh, you know just freaking CONDUCT TRAINS.

Chick: *quickly undresses* 

Bar Hopping With a Backhoe in Allentown

Ok, so that headline sucks. I’m aware of it, but I don’t care. You’re going to have to deal.

Now, had this story taken place in Alburtis or New Tripoli or whatever, NO ONE would have batted an eyelash. 

It’s almost like when a deer wanders into a Burger King…

A man driving a backhoe in Allentown was “bar hopping” from tavern to tavern Tuesday night and blocking city streets with the mobile excavating equipment, police said.

City police officers initially were puzzled by the unusual case. “Suggestions here?” one patrolman asked the police communications center.

At 10:30 p.m., the backhoe was parked on Ninth Street, just west of Liberty Street, and the driver was in Cannon’s bar, according to police radio reports. Police said the equipment was jutting into the street.

The backhoe driver earlier stopped at the Red Barn Bar at Eighth and Tilghman streets and appeared to have been drinking, police said.

Later Tuesday, police were trying to locate the backhoe owner. Source

I COULD be wrong, but isn’t it legal to drive a backhoe on the street if you have a reason to? I mean, maybe he or she was getting a drink after a long day of back hoeing?

Also, it’s nice to see that Allentown cops are on top of things when they aren’t running over children with their police cruisers.

Allentown Man Shoots Through Floor and Hits Woman

There should be some sense of security when you’re at home, chillaxing, maxing and looking all cool that you’re not going to be randomly shot in the leg through the ceiling. But, if you live in Allentown, do you really expect anything less?

An Allentown woman was shot in the leg around 12:30 a.m. Monday while she slept with her young child in her first-floor apartment in the 800 block of St. John Street, and police say the shot came from a man living in the apartment above her.

Capt. George Medero said the woman, whose name is not being released, is expected to fully recover. The man who allegedly fired the handgun was taken into custody.

Medero said Rafael Pequero Campo of 802 St. John St. will be charged with aggravated assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. Medero said Pequero had been consuming alcohol when he accidentally discharged the weapon. The bullet went through the floor of his second-floor apartment and the ceiling of the first-floor apartment before striking the female tenant below him, police said.

Medero said the police department’s Emergency Response Team was called out because initially Campo and another man and woman in his apartment ignored police attempts to contact them. Other residents living in the six-unit apartment building were evacuated, he said.

Medero said Campo and his guests came out within an hour of the initial police response. He said the other man and woman in Campo’s apartment were briefly taken into custody but released, and no charges will be filed against them.

Medero said the handgun that was fired and a rifle were taken from Campo’s apartment by police as evidence. He said Campo was expected to be arraigned and committed to Lehigh County jail. Source

I’m not asking for people not to own guns or even to keep them locked up but for pooping out loud can’t you just maybe NOT be handling them in your APARTMENT when you’re WASTED?

Quadruple Murderer Shouldn’t Have Even Been Released…

I won’t post anyone’s Facebook pages from this. The funny thing is, as hated as this blog may be to some “real” news endeavors, they will make it a point to find information on people who are recently murdered, knowing full well that their families will be able to read this.. however, if you’re to post some punk’s Facebook Profile because they are drinking underage you’re a bad person.

I digress, whatever that means, and have to at least touch on this awful mess that happened in Northampton…

There is going to be some awful fallout because it looks like the murderer of four people (who has already been in jail for murder) probably shouldn’t have been out in the first place…

A man accused of brutally slaying four people in Northampton on Saturday was released from state prison in April after failing to complete an anger management program that was a condition of his release in 2006, according to Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole records.

Michael E. Ballard, 36, had been in prison for stabbing an Allentown man to death in December 1991. He pleaded guilty to third-degree homicide and related charges and was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison.

Now, a little more than two months after the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole released Ballard for a second time, he is accused of stabbing four people to death inside of a Northampton home, officials said.

When the parole board released Ballard in April they lauded his behavior in prison, looked favorably on a positive recommendation from prison officials, said he was remorseful for his crime and that he demonstrated motivation for success, records say.

Ballard’s latest review, which was done in December 2009, is similar to his initial assessment the parole board gave him in September 2006, according to records.

However, the parole board in 2006 imposed a special condition that Ballard complete an anger management program that was to continue until parole staff deemed it no longer necessary, records say.

That program was never completed and Ballad’s parole was revoked in June 2008, which sent him back to state prison, according to records and Pennsylvania parole board spokesman Leo Dunn.

While in state prison, Ballard served six months before he could go before the parole board and had an assessment done in November 2008. At that review, the parole board denied Ballard’s parole for a second time, saying that reports indicated he was a risk to the community, records say.

Then, a year later in December 2009, the parole board granted Ballard parole. According to Pennsylvania Department of Corrections records, Ballard was released on April 19 to the Allentown Community Corrections Center, where he was living before Saturday’s incident. Source

Oh man.. .heads are going to roll with this one. Just the thought that this man, who shouldn’t have been released, was released and that DIRECTLY caused the deaths of four people… shhhhhiiiiiitttt that’s just not going to sit well with the public.

Which is now going to bring up the age old debate for the next few months: Should someone ever be given a second chance after they purposefully kill someone?

Or, should we have some better checks and balances?

Thankfully, I don’t have to answer that, but someone’s going to answer for it.