Like Mother, Like Son

Dateline: Decatur, Alabama. I hate to report this story, since it comes from my beloved state of Alabama. Decatur is probably 80–90 miles north of Birmingham.

Decatur police say a man accused of attempting to steal electronics from Sears ran to a getaway car driven by his mother. Now, both mother and son are charged with second-degree robbery.

Police charged 40-year-old Angela Wakely Maxwell and 22-year-old Randell Wakely Terry, Jr. in the incident this past Monday. Police Sgt. Rick Archer says a store employee noticed Terry with a Sony Handycam battery valued at $59.99, a $24.99 USB drive, and a $9.99 digital card reader and writer.

Sgt. Archer says Terry struck the employee who attempted to stop him. A bystander called 911 while two employees kept the mother and son at the scene until police arrived.

The two were taken to jail and later released on $5,000 bail each.

You know, mothers do many things. Mothers teach us many things. Mothers get the most cards, phone calls, visits, and gifts.

But, mothers shouldn’t be enabling a son (or daughter for that matter) to be robbing the local Sears store—or any store.

It’s just wrong.

Who knows. Maybe mother and son will be spending a good bit of time together, like 3–5 years, depending on their behavior. Maybe they will be wearing matching outfits, black and white stripes are really in or so I hear. Seems they’ll probably be sharing a lot of meals together and having some quality time without distractions from others outside the family.

Maybe I need to start the F+ Award of the Day. I have a feeling this mother and son deserves the very first award.

Where Oh Where Did the Drugs Go?

Dallas Police didn’t have to go far to find $400,000 worth of cocaine they had been looking for—it was in an undercover car they’d been driving for two months. Yes, you read that right.

An officer cleaning the car at a patrol station Wednesday discovered the nearly 50 pounds of cocaine carefully hidden in hydraulically controlled compartments.

“These compartments have recently been more and more popular with drug operations,” said Deputy Chief Julian Bernal, commander of the narcotics division.

Dallas police put the two-door 2004 black Infiniti into police service on May 7 after seizing it at a drug house. It had been found at a drug house earlier this year along with a 1999 Honda.
Bernal said the narcotics division searched both the vehicles and found nothing unusual after the seizure. The Honda was sold at auction.

Bernal said police plan to contact the person who bought the Honda to find out if drugs are hidden in that car, too.

What’s the owner of the Honda going to say? “Well, yes, it had drugs in it. I found it while I was cleaning it out. So, I decided to sell it and help pay off some of my bills?”

Don’t you think the police should have found the drugs when they first seized the car? Shouldn’t someone be very sure there’s nothing hidden in the car before selling it off at auction? Or placing it in service?

I’m wondering if someone will be placed on paid administrative leave that we are always hearing about. Do you think that person will be pushing a pencil at some desk in the back room? All alone?

Accidents happen. Mistakes are made. Even police make mistakes. I just hope they’ll remember this if I am ever going through Dallas, a little over the speed limit. I wonder if grace goes both ways?