tsa-la-tsi-s-gi gv-do-di ka-ne
dance
- with - snake
DANCES
WITH SNAKES
"CONSUMER ACQUISITION SITE"
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tsa-la-tsi-s-gi gv-do-di ka-ne dance
- with - snake
DANCES
WITH SNAKES "CONSUMER ACQUISITION SITE"
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Ralston Quarry Field Trip June 18th, 2005 Brandon
and I met up with George Paizis, his daughter Nicole, and her friend in the
Wal-Mart parking lot in Sand Springs at 9:00am Saturday morning. Turns out we
had a small crowd for this one due to the short notice, the show in I had brought both 4-wheel drive ATVs with me in anticipation of rough or wet terrain, and George was driving a 4-wheel drive extended cab Dodge diesel pickup. We figured we were set to go collecting! We made our way through the pasture for nearly a mile, following an old set of ruts and traces until intersecting the original access road, which is gated, and was or still is a county road right-of-way to that point, a mile off of the main road. So far we had no trouble navigating the terrain, even after the heavy rains we have had recently. I would recommend a high-clearance vehicle for this part of the access. At this juncture we followed the old access road to the quarry. It turns out a high-clearance vehicle is somewhat mandatory for this segment as there are several washes and rough drops. This site is a shallow excavation of perhaps twenty feet at its deepest, and runs for over one half mile through a limestone formation. Certain areas of the old quarry cut into dessicated limestone and shale layers where some very nice Spirifer type brachs and Productid Brachiopods weather out. There are numerous species to recover, however, it appeared that the site had been fairly well picked over in the distant past. We did recover some nice specimens none-the-less. Around noon or so, we decided we had collected what we wanted from the site, a couple of handfuls of nice specimens, and some matrix pieces with various species represented in them. We loaded our specimens and tools (not really required here) and headed back the way we came. This is where we made a bad decision… At the junction of the old county right-of-way and the pasture route, I decided to see what condition the old road was in, as it was a direct route to the main road. Around a quarter mile or so in there was a deadfall, which I politely crashed through, forgetting that George was following in his truck. No problem, he crashed right on through too. Further down the road there was another smaller deadfall which presented no problem either. Ok… now the fun begins… There were a couple of wet areas as we proceeded, which initially were no problem. Further down the road however was a wash, which was a little bumpy (high clearance required). No problem for the ATVs. Just past that was a wet section of road that was somewhat rutted, but hadn’t had any traffic on it in months, or possibly even years… at least not when it was wet. Brandon and I traversed these with no problem on the 4-wheelers, but George hit the wash a little hard and things started flying around in the back of the truck. Well, he took his eyes off of the task to glance in the back of the truck, and consequently, slid off into the deep rut on the driver’s side, where he politely high-centered the differentials. This would be a good time to tell you how we heroically pushed, pulled, and manhandled the truck out of the mud… but I can’t do that. We did try digging it out, pulling it out with my ATV (it was just a thought), winching it out with the 2500 lb winch on the ATV (another wasted thought), and eventually surrendered to the fact we needed professional help. I
headed for the truck and trailer parked at the property owners house, and found
he wasn’t home. After loading my ATV, I headed for Ralston to look for a tow
truck or a 4-wheel drive and it’s owner with a lot of cable, and a sense of
adventure. Turns out everyone was at harvest… No luck in Ralston, off to Back to the scene of the… whatever. I unloaded the ATV again and headed back to the where I had left the others. They had made no progress and couldn’t get a call out either. George and I left the kids with the truck and headed to the end of the road to get a cell signal and try to locate a wrecker. While he was trying to authorization from his towing service for a vehicle recovery that required more than a ten-foot tow distance, I noticed that the folks who lived right there on the corner had come home. This was a farm with several tractors and farm implements sitting about. I had a bright idea to ask for assistance from the farmer. I rode around to the driveway and up to the house slowly so as not to seem like just another dimwit on a 4-wheeler out tearing up the countryside. The Farmer met me at the back porch… I began to plead my case and before I could even finish explaining what we were doing back in on the road, he very gruffly told me we should not have even been back in there. I explained we had permission to go into the old quarry, and who we had permission from. He still ranted about how the owners should tell people not to drive in on that road at all, he just didn’t understand why they can’t tell people that. I listened patiently until he stopped to take a breath, then politely offered to pay the gentleman for his assistance. This didn’t work either… His explanation was: “One tractor is broke, two other have brush-hogs on ‘em and he ain’t a-gonna take ‘em off cause he’s gonna have to use ‘em shortly. He ain’t got enough cable or chain to git plumb to the other side of the mud-hole, and he ain’t gonna tear up his tractor tryin' to pull some darn fool out of the mud, especially when he shouldn’t a even been back in there in the first place” I politely extricated myself from the conversation, not even bothering to ask to use a phone book, or where I might find a wrecker. I got enough of a signal on the cell to call information and finally got connected to a wrecker service in Pawnee, 12 miles away. The service agreed to come out and see what they could do. Finally, three hours and countless failed attempts later… About 20 minutes later the wrecker showed up. I pointed him in the direction of the truck, and informed him he would need to back in the quarter mile to the scene, as there was no place to turn around on the narrow right of way. Just a few minutes later, George's truck was once again moving under its power, having been winched out to maneuverable ground once again. George and I agree, winches are good things to have, and 4-wheel drive does not mean all-terrain and invincible. How’s that for a memorable field trip? Virgil G. Richards
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HAVE YOU BEEN THE TARGET OF A SCAM LATELY? DON'T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN! AUGUST 20TH, 2008 - BROKEN ARROW, OKLAHOMA
If you are not on your toes all of time, you could be the target of a scam or con. Last evening while filling up with gas at QT in Broken Arrow a blue PT Cruiser pulled across in front of my truck. A casually dressed black man stepped out and in a hushed voice asked if I was interested in buying a laptop computer. He proceeded to tell me he had three or four of these for sale for $250 each. Claiming they were brand new Sony Vaio laptops. My first question was "Are they hot?" and I informed him I wasn't interested. He pressed on asking if I would pay $200, then $150. "I don't buy merchandise from the trunk of a car" I informed him. He then asked how much I would be willing to pay, and went back to his car, retrieving a package from the back seat that appeared to be a box about the size of a laptop, wrapped in brown paper, taped up excessively with packaging tape, and a photocopied ad from Office Depot advertising a Sony Vaio for $2099. In the process of getting the package from his car, he covered it with a sheet before bringing it to show me.... A lot suspicious... He handed me the package and returned to his car to retrieve a laptop from the back seat, again covering it with the sheet so no one else could see what he was doing. The laptop was an older Compaq, that he claimed a lady had dropped, but the ones in the packages were Sony. He very quickly returned it to his car, not letting me see more than a glimpse of it under the sheet. Meanwhile, I was hefting the supposed "new" packaged laptop, the entire time suspecting a scam more so than stolen merchandise. I strung him along a little while, squeezing the package (it was too lightweight, and compressed easily) Now knowing I was actually holding a package with nothing substantial inside, I told him I might be interested if he showed me what was in the box. He very quickly retrieved it from me, still trying to get me to pay $150 for it, as he gradually put distance between us getting back to his car. That pretty much ended the conversation. I told him again, "show me what's in the box, I might be interested." No go, he got back in his car and quickly went looking for another mark.
I had meanwhile finished filling my tank, and drove to a strategic location in the parking lot to watch him and his accomplice as they drove about the lot, approaching literally everyone coming and going, I quickly dialed 911 and reported their activity, gave a description of the vehicle and what they were doing, stressing that I firmly believed they were scamming people with empty boxes. I waited for police to arrive, but before they did, the vehicle exited the QT, and drove down the street. I followed at a distance, again calling 911 dispatch to report they had moved to another location, near Chili's and Buffalo Wild Wings. Actually, they had gone to the Lowe's parking lot and by the time officers arrived, had already approached several patrons in the lot. As an unmarked Dodge Charger pulled into the BWW lot, I pointed them to the Lowes. Two other marked units quickly converged on the lot, and as the PT Cruiser approached another mark in front of the store, they hit the lights and surrounded the vehicle! Too cool! I watched from the lobby of Lowes as they talked to the "suspects", and got the passenger out to open the back of the vehicle. After some minutes, a couple came out of the store and saw that the police were questioning the pair, and hollered at them "What are they doin'? Tryin' to sell ya a laptop?" One officer motioned them over and asked if they had been approached, to which they answered yes. The officer asked if they would be willing to make a statement, and a citizens arrest on suspicion of fraud. When they said they would, one of the suspects started cursing at them, this just added resolve to the couple, and they immediately made the citizens arrest. (This was necessary because the officers had no evidence of a crime otherwise.) At this point the two were arrested on fraud charges.
As it turns out, the packages were Fed-X boxes filled with newspaper... They had empty boxes, brown paper bags, tape, scissors, and flyers in the back to make more fake packages. Officers also found bolt cutters and a few personal items in the vehicle, along with three or four bogus packages, and the old, useless Compaq laptop they were using as a prop for their con. They did not find any weapons or drugs fortunately, but the passenger had a felony warrant for his arrest in Florida (the officer said that unfortunately, Florida would not extradite). Officers said they also had a fair amount of cash on them, leading officers to believe they were semi-successful with their con game. Both suspects were from Alabama, and the PT Cruiser had Alabama plates. Both are now sitting in the Broken Arrow jail, the PT Cruiser is impounded, and at least for now, they are off of the street.
Do you think those who paid $150-$250 for a box of newspaper will report it to authorities? Probably not.... Wouldn't you feel a bit foolish for falling for the scam? How about the fact that anyone with common sense would know they were about to purchase stolen merchandise, had the package actually contained a new $2000 laptop...
If you buy merchandise, especially new or near new expensive merchandise off the street, or from the trunk of someone's car, for pennies on the dollar, you should know you are about to buy stolen merchandise, and will be supporting crime. So don't do it! Don't be a victim! Report this kind of activity and save some other fool from making a mistake. These are tough times and if we don't stand up as citizens and do our part, then we are part of the problem!
In all honesty, it felt good to help get these two apprehended! And yes, I gave a written statement, and if asked, would gladly testify against them in court!
Virgil
© 2006 - DANCES-WITH-SNAKES.COM VIRGIL G. RICHARDS
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