A Hero's Final Journey, the Journey Home

Senior Police Officer Jaime Padron was laid to rest this morning in San Angelo, his hometown. His final journey is complete, he is home.

I have usually been on the side of the police with regard to these situations, especially this one.

What I knew about this lovely man was one of genuine warmth and a smile that light up the room and made you smile, he didn’t even mind when I teased him about junk food.  Rest well my friend.

Fart Head of the Week!

To take a little liberty from my beloved Andy Cohen @BravoAndy, who hosts the Bravo show Watch What Happens Live, JackHole of the week, mine is FartHead of the week. And the first recipient of that distinction is drum-roll please, Debbie Russell. 

First, let us get one thing straight I am a MAJOR democrat, I am an advocate of the bullied and against bullies in whatever pleasant guise, they dwell and I am an equal opportunity hater.

Debbie Russell is in her own words calls herself an Activist Organizer Hellraiser. What I call her is a bully and a white washed sepulcher!

On Saturday the day after the murder of a cherished cop, Jaime Padron a man, who I myself had many conversations with and teased every time I saw him at the bodega. This was a lovely, humble man whom I DID NOT DETECT A HINT OF AN EGO, he had a delightful bright smile and a warmth that emanated from him.

The comments she made on her Facebook page were unconscionable, I am so glad I did not see them the, she wrote on her Facebook page, “Curiosity killed the cat; but ego killed the cop…and may victims of in recent years.” are you kidding, it's people like you who believe they must commit word vomit to call attention to how outrageous you are. Ego did not kill the cop, a drunken moron with a gun did.

Normal people would wait a bit to let some facts regarding a situation to come to light, not you, you had the unmitigated entitled effrontery to write those more than thoughtless words, it was an affront to every person on the planet who ever needed help!

In a city of, according to the 2010 Census Data was, 790,390 we have 2300 policemen and policewomen to protect and serve us, do the math, I did 1 cop for every 344 persons!


This is directed totally at you:


They do the best they can in situations that would have you crying like the baby that you undoubtedly are Debbie Russell! Yep, you whiny entitled little girl who should be ashamed of herself for entering those foul words into your phone.

I am an equal opportunity hater, I do not have a preference one way or another, I call it like I see it and your words pissed me off! Grow up and I hope you never need a cop, oh, wait, except here’s the rub, they would even come for you in you needed them you whiny brat!


You then, when it got a little too hot apologized for your comment however, it was no different than Rush Limbaugh's insinsere apology for calling women whores, guess what, just as lame! Apology here! How do you think would you explain the comment to the two little girls who lost their father on Good Friday.

Senior Police Officer Jaime Padron

Today Senior Police Officer Jaime Padron will be symbolically laid to rest, he, this lovely sweet man was murdered in the dark of night on Friday April 6th, while most of us were safe and asleep in our own beds, the harrowing scene at the Walmart in north Austin was one of inconceivable sadness for the Austin Police Department (APD) and all of Austin. 

I myself awoke early about 4:00 am to my husband watching something on the DVR I changed the channel to MYFOX Austin, to the news of an overnight shooting death of one of our boys in blue. 

I had a sinking, horrid feeling that I knew the police officer who had been murdered. On watching the noon news I had a wretched validation, I did know him.

When my husband and I lived in Del Valle for many years, there was a sweet cop that I used to tease about buying soda and junk food at the bodega, it was Jaime, he was always quick with a humble little smile that light up a dark room.

As I write this in this small moment in time, there is a massive procession from the Cook-Walden Funeral Home on North Lamar to the Shoreline Church on Burnet Road. Where at this moment, there awaits Officer Padron a saber cross of twin fire trucks with their ladders erect and crossed to greet him and as a Sigil of the solemn duty of acknowledgment of our fallen warrior.

These men and women protect us, our property with their lives. The statistics are appalling according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, last year's murders were the first time more officers died at the hands of criminals. What this means is our police are being targeted for execution by miscreants!

A prayer to St. Michael patron saint of policemen

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen

Codladh go maith mo chara na déithe de mo shinsir tú a threorú chuig an spéir. Le haghaidh saol ina gcónaí go maith agus grá go bhfuil do gach am.

Sleep well my friend may the gods of the ancestors guide you through the skies. For a life well lived and a love that is for all time.

Today one APD officer was allowed to go home and sadly one was not

In the span of 7 hours one of our policemen was allowed to go home to his family one was not. Who decides who gets to go home to his or her family? I don’t know! 

Me, I don’t give a flying fart what race, color or creed you are. There is something unforgivably wrong when you choose who should live and who should die, I tend to err at first with the authorities until an investigation has run its course. If they are in the wrong I'll say so.

I believe that everyone should be able to go home, the cop, the suspect and the victim. I know that sometimes that just can't or doesn't happen, and its sorrowful for the families of everyone involved, including the officer who has to take the life of a suspect.

Some believe it should be the dink that tries to take the weapon of a police officer, ring his neck with his own radio cord and tries to shoot and kill the officer with his own gun. He the one, who tries to take an officer’s gun, should be allowed to live, but the police officer should not be able to go home to his family simply because he or she is a cop, others like me think it should be both, the suspect and the police officer.


A woman, an older white lady, just as am I, was interviewed after the first incident had the unmitigated gall to say “they’re killin people, here’s another example, it’s happening frequently, and until the city council or our citizens decide to do something about it I think it’s going to be a problem” really, you don’t see a problem with the guy trying to take the officer’s gun to shoot the officer with his own gun, only that the cop had to shoot the guy who ran, then tried to take that officers life, that’s the problem. Why did the guy run? Why did the guy try to take the cop's gun? That’s not the issue? No, the issue for this woman was that a cop shot a man. Oy gevalt, people really have to knock it off and start seeing all sides of an issues and hold your judgments till more of the facts surface.

A scant 7 hours after the first officer involved shooting in the ATX a routine disturbance call regarding a drunken idiot at a big chain store, what no one knew or could have known was he had a semiautomatic gun with him at the time he took the life of one of our policemen by shooting him in the neck at point blank range.

This is a very touchy subject for me. In 2009 my favorite nephew was involved in an incident in his job as a commissioned security guard. He had to shoot and kill some drunk idiot who was trying to use his 6000 lb vehicle to run he and the man who had been in this idiots SUV and had been run over by the idiot while my nephew was trying to give the guy on the ground first aid. I am most defiantly on the side of my nephew, my niece and their 3 babies. 

According to witness accounts, my nephew was defending his own life and the lives of at least five people who witnessed the entire thing. 

With a No Bill decision the Travis County Grand Jury concluded he acted appropriately so they declined to  prosecute.

The grand jury declared that my nephew acted swiftly and bravely when faced with a difficult situation and was able to rely on his training and instincts to save the lives of four strangers.

He at the time had two babies and a wife, my niece at home, no one ever said anything about that! Really, I don’t freakin think so, he did the right thing.

And as it turns out I used to tease the officer who was murdered this morning, when he worked at ABIA he would be at the gas station across the street from the airport, he was always buying junk food and soda, he was always sweet to me. And he had a smile that light up a dark room. Rest well.