Firecrackers!

Karen M. said:

Hi folks-- This really takes the cake...some teen weenie
threw a strand of firecrackers at me Thursday evening.

I was riding up Wayne Road in Westland (Detroit 'burb).
A small red car passed, and I saw something sail out of
the passenger's hand. It was smoking, so I guessed a
cigarette. Then it landed in the lane as my front wheel
rolled past, and I realized that it was a cluster of
short red paper sticks. The brain said "pour it on
before it explodes!" and I did; it went off as the car
behind me passed it.

The driver had to slow for a traffic light, enabling me
to **almost** get close enough to see the tag. But they
were watching me, and did an emergency turn down a side
street.

Yes, I called the cops.

Of all the stupid, bonehead, malicious things to
do...I'm sure it was a spur of the moment idea, but I
could have been hurt. Another driver could have been
hurt, Heck, if the passenger hadn't tossed them far
enough, he could have been hurt (in my dreams).

I have buddies who are reporters for the two Detroit
newspapers, but I am reluctant to tell them about this
incident (although it would make them a great story)
because of copycat ramifications.

Geeze louise.

--Karen M. PO'ed at teenagers

First of all, glad you weren't hurt! Great reaction and
subsequent response. Too bad you couldn't catch up to 'em,
but maybe your description to the cops will help bust them
down the road (so to speak).

Bill "no real second of all, I guess" S.

"Karen M." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi folks-- This really takes the cake...some teen weenie
threw a strand of firecrackers at me Thursday evening.

I was riding up Wayne Road in Westland (Detroit 'burb).
A small red car passed, and I saw something sail out of
the passenger's hand. It was smoking, so I guessed a
cigarette. Then it landed in the lane as my front wheel
rolled past, and I realized that it was a cluster of
short red paper sticks. The brain said "pour it on
before it explodes!" and I did; it went off as the car
behind me passed it.

The driver had to slow for a traffic light, enabling me
to **almost** get close enough to see the tag. But they
were watching me, and did an emergency turn down a side
street.

Yes, I called the cops.

Of all the stupid, bonehead, malicious things to
do...I'm sure it was a spur of the moment idea, but I
could have been hurt. Another driver could have been
hurt, Heck, if the passenger hadn't tossed them far
enough, he could have been hurt (in my dreams).

I have buddies who are reporters for the two Detroit
newspapers, but I am reluctant to tell them about this
incident (although it would make them a great story)
because of copycat ramifications.

Geeze louise.

--Karen M. PO'ed at teenagers

I was run down by a teenager talking on a cell phone. Bad
enough we allow them to drive at all. But we allow them to
drive AND talk on cell phones while the car is full of their
crazy, screaming buddies. Eight days in the hospital and six
months in rehab and I never got so much as a call of concern
from her, either. In my case, it wasn't a malicious act ...
just stupidity. But it's shameful that a 17 year old can be
legally driving a car full of other kids and be talking on a
phone. For that matter, I don't think ANYONE should be
allowed to drive and talk on a phone ... but that's OT.

Bob C.

[email hidden] (Karen M.) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi folks-- This really takes the cake...some teen weenie
threw a strand of firecrackers at me Thursday evening.

I was riding up Wayne Road in Westland (Detroit 'burb).
A small red car passed, and I saw something sail out of
the passenger's hand. It was smoking, so I guessed a
cigarette. Then it landed in the lane as my front wheel
rolled past, and I realized that it was a cluster of
short red paper sticks. The brain said "pour it on
before it explodes!" and I did; it went off as the car
behind me passed it.

The driver had to slow for a traffic light, enabling me
to **almost** get close enough to see the tag. But they
were watching me, and did an emergency turn down a side
street.

Yes, I called the cops.

Of all the stupid, bonehead, malicious things to
do...I'm sure it was a spur of the moment idea, but I
could have been hurt. Another driver could have been
hurt, Heck, if the passenger hadn't tossed them far
enough, he could have been hurt (in my dreams).

I have buddies who are reporters for the two Detroit
newspapers, but I am reluctant to tell them about this
incident (although it would make them a great story)
because of copycat ramifications.

Geeze louise.

--Karen M. PO'ed at teenagers

You say this was in Detroit? Then you're lucky to be
alive...regardless of the firecrackers or your bicycle.

I've been thinking about picking up some of these to deal
with dogs. Of course trying to light an explosive while
dealing with traffic and dogs doesn't sound like too good of
an idea, but I doubt it's much harder than trying to aim a
can of Halt at 20mph.

In article <[email hidden]>,

(John) said:

I've been thinking about picking up some of these to deal
with dogs. Of course trying to light an explosive while
dealing with traffic and dogs doesn't sound like too good
of an idea, but I doubt it's much harder than trying to
aim a can of Halt at 20mph.

I think Jenkinson's Law would apply. Just keeping a Bic
light lit at 20 mph sounds impossible.

--
-- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

"S o r n i" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Karen M. said:

Hi folks-- This really takes the cake...some teen weenie
threw a strand of firecrackers at me Thursday evening.

I was riding up Wayne Road in Westland (Detroit
'burb). A small red car passed, and I saw something
sail out of the passenger's hand. It was smoking, so
I guessed a cigarette. Then it landed in the lane as
my front wheel rolled past, and I realized that it
was a cluster of short red paper sticks. The brain
said "pour it on before it explodes!" and I did; it
went off as the car behind me passed it.

The driver had to slow for a traffic light, enabling
me to **almost** get close enough to see the tag. But
they were watching me, and did an emergency turn down
a side street.

Yes, I called the cops.

Of all the stupid, bonehead, malicious things to
do...I'm sure it was a spur of the moment idea, but I
could have been hurt. Another driver could have been
hurt, Heck, if the passenger hadn't tossed them far
enough, he could have been hurt (in my dreams).

I have buddies who are reporters for the two Detroit
newspapers, but I am reluctant to tell them about
this incident (although it would make them a great
story) because of copycat ramifications.

Geeze louise.

--Karen M. PO'ed at teenagers

First of all, glad you weren't hurt! Great reaction and
subsequent response. Too bad you couldn't catch up to 'em,
but maybe your

description

Quoted message said:

to the cops will help bust them down the road (so to
speak).

Bill "no real second of all, I guess" S.

Stupid little brats! I bet they probably just thought it
would scare you, they probably didn't even think of it
hurting anyone. THey probably just wanted to scare you with
the noise. Most teens aren't really malicious, just
reckless and heedless and they don't think of consequences.
Lucky you weren't hurt, but too bad you didn'tget their
license number.

"psycholist" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Karen M." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi folks-- This really takes the cake...some teen weenie
threw a strand of firecrackers at me Thursday evening.

I was riding up Wayne Road in Westland (Detroit
'burb). A small red car passed, and I saw something
sail out of the passenger's hand. It was smoking, so
I guessed a cigarette. Then it landed in the lane as
my front wheel rolled past, and I realized that it
was a cluster of short red paper sticks. The brain
said "pour it on before it explodes!" and I did; it
went off as the car behind me passed it.

The driver had to slow for a traffic light, enabling
me to **almost** get close enough to see the tag. But
they were watching me, and did an emergency turn down
a side street.

Yes, I called the cops.

Of all the stupid, bonehead, malicious things to
do...I'm sure it was a spur of the moment idea, but I
could have been hurt. Another driver could have been
hurt, Heck, if the passenger hadn't tossed them far
enough, he could have been hurt (in my dreams).

I have buddies who are reporters for the two Detroit
newspapers, but I am reluctant to tell them about
this incident (although it would make them a great
story) because of copycat ramifications.

Geeze louise.

--Karen M. PO'ed at teenagers

I was run down by a teenager talking on a cell phone. Bad
enough we allow them to drive at all. But we allow them to
drive AND talk on cell phones while the car is full of
their crazy, screaming buddies. Eight days in

the

Quoted message said:

hospital and six months in rehab and I never got so much
as a call of concern from her, either. In my case, it
wasn't a malicious act ... just stupidity. But it's
shameful that a 17 year old can be legally driving a car
full of other kids and be talking on a phone. For that
matter, I

don't

Quoted message said:

think ANYONE should be allowed to drive and talk on a
phone ... but that's OT.

Bob C.

OMG! I think I remember your story, it sounds familiar.

A friend of mine was actually nearly INTENTIONALLY run down
recently. He was out on a road in a sort of remote, semi-burb-
rural area frequented by cyclists, when a teenager or young
guy, maybe 20, yelled out the window 'get off the road,
[censored]!' My friend flipped him the bird, and then the
stopped and backed up, and tried to run him down! My friend
jumped off the road into a ditch, and then the van zoomed
off. My friend got back on his bike and continued on, then
sees the same van coming straight at him in the opposite
lane, then swerved into the oncoming lane and tried to run
my friend down again! Once again, he ran off the road into a
field. THe morons sped off. No damage,no injuries but also
no license plate number. I did say earlier that most teens
aren't malicious, but these guys obviously were!

On Sat, 19 Jun 2004 21:00:29 -0400, "Marlene Blanshay" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"S o r n i" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Karen M. said:

Hi folks-- This really takes the cake...some teen
weenie threw a strand of firecrackers at me Thursday
evening.

I was riding up Wayne Road in Westland (Detroit
'burb). A small red car passed, and I saw something
sail out of the passenger's hand. It was smoking, so
I guessed a cigarette. Then it landed in the lane as
my front wheel rolled past, and I realized that it
was a cluster of short red paper sticks. The brain
said "pour it on before it explodes!" and I did; it
went off as the car behind me passed it.

The driver had to slow for a traffic light, enabling
me to **almost** get close enough to see the tag. But
they were watching me, and did an emergency turn down
a side street.

Yes, I called the cops.

Of all the stupid, bonehead, malicious things to
do...I'm sure it was a spur of the moment idea, but
I could have been hurt. Another driver could have
been hurt, Heck, if the passenger hadn't tossed them
far enough, he could have been hurt (in my dreams).

I have buddies who are reporters for the two Detroit
newspapers, but I am reluctant to tell them about
this incident (although it would make them a great
story) because of copycat ramifications.

Geeze louise.

--Karen M. PO'ed at teenagers

First of all, glad you weren't hurt! Great reaction and
subsequent response. Too bad you couldn't catch up to
'em, but maybe your

description

Quoted message said:

to the cops will help bust them down the road (so to
speak).

Bill "no real second of all, I guess" S.

Stupid little brats! I bet they probably just thought it
would scare you, they probably didn't even think of it
hurting anyone. THey probably just wanted to scare you with
the noise. Most teens aren't really malicious, just
reckless and heedless and they don't think of consequences.
Lucky you weren't hurt, but too bad you didn'tget their
license number.

Yeah thought they'd scare the biker. Just like the guy who
put down 4 large logs across the bike trail, around four
blind corners - any one of which could have caused serious
injury. (He didn't like the fact that I blessed out his
large rottwelier for chasing me.) He 'claimed' the dog put
the logs on the trail - yeah right at four exact right
angles. Geometry dog.

He's lucky I was feeling charitable and resisted the urge to
spray his dog and throw him in the river. ;-p

-Badger

Marlene Blanshay said:

A friend of mine was actually nearly INTENTIONALLY run down
recently. He was out on a road in a sort of remote, semi-burb-
rural area frequented by cyclists, when a teenager or young
guy, maybe 20, yelled out the window 'get off the road,
[censored]!' My friend flipped him the bird, and then the
stopped and backed up, and tried to run him down! My friend
jumped off the road into a ditch, and then the van zoomed
off. My friend got back on his bike and continued on, then
sees the same van coming straight at him in the opposite
lane, then swerved into the oncoming lane and tried to run
my friend down again! Once again, he ran off the road into
a field. THe morons sped off. No damage,no injuries but
also no license plate number. I did say earlier that most
teens aren't malicious, but these guys obviously were!

And people ask me why I pack whenever I come back to the US.
Michael J. Klein [email hidden] Dasi Jen, Taoyuan
Hsien, Taiwan, ROC Please replace mousepotato with
asiancastings
---------------------------------------------

(John) said:

[email hidden] (Karen M.) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...
I've been thinking about picking up some of these to deal
with dogs. Of course trying to light an explosive while
dealing with traffic and dogs doesn't sound like too good
of an idea, but I doubt it's much harder than trying to aim
a can of Halt at 20mph.

I'm not suggesting anything, mind you. I'm just going to
play a game of word-assocation with you, ok?

Dog Chasing Bicycle Water Pistol Ammonia

How did you do? Michael J. Klein [email hidden] Dasi
Jen, Taoyuan Hsien, Taiwan, ROC Please replace mousepotato
with asiancastings
---------------------------------------------

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 12:22:41 +0800, Michael J. Klein <[email hidden]>

from DCI HiNet said:

I'm not suggesting anything, mind you. I'm just going to
play a game of word-assocation with you, ok?

Dog Chasing Bicycle Water Pistol Ammonia

Cruelty to animals is against the law. If I ever see anyone
spraying ammonia on a dog, I will report you to the police
and follow the case through the courts to make sure you are
punished. There is no need to spray ammonia on a chasing
dog. A surprise shot of plain water shocks the animal enough
to make it give up the chase. I have seen this work time
after time.

--
Kevan Smith
[email hidden]

"Kevan Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Cruelty to animals is against the law. If I ever see
anyone spraying

ammonia

Quoted message said:

on a dog, I will report you to the police and follow the
case through the courts to make sure you are punished.
There is no need to spray ammonia on

a

Quoted message said:

chasing dog. A surprise shot of plain water shocks the
animal enough to

make

Quoted message said:

it give up the chase. I have seen this work time
after time.

Self defense is self defense, be the attacker a dog or a
man. I don't carry weapons -- I'm on a bike, I can escape
easily enough -- but if the dog is biting you, it's not
against the law to do whatever it takes to make it stop.

RichC

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 00:49:15 -0500, Kevan Smith <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 12:22:41 +0800, Michael J. Klein

from DCI HiNet said:

I'm not suggesting anything, mind you. I'm just going to
play a game of word-assocation with you, ok?

Dog Chasing Bicycle Water Pistol Ammonia

Cruelty to animals is against the law. If I ever see anyone
spraying ammonia on a dog, I will report you to the police
and follow the case through the courts to make sure you are
punished. There is no need to spray ammonia on a chasing
dog. A surprise shot of plain water shocks the animal
enough to make it give up the chase. I have seen this work
time after time.

I'm very reluctant to do anything to the animal, b/c IMO,
it's the owner's fault 100% for failing to keep control of
their pet. In fact in I fantacize spraying the owner! <g>

But are you saying that ammonia would harm the dog? Is it
not equivalent to skunk spray (only less oily)? I'd doubt
that 1/2 clear ammonia and water would harm the dog, but I
don't know - perhaps you have some experience?

OTOH, I can't see the police prosecuting someone who sprayed
anything on a dog that was chasing them such that they
feared for their safety, unless the cops witnessed it and
found the dog and found injuries. What makes you think they
would. Just asking.

-Badger

Kevan Smith said:

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 12:22:41 +0800, Michael J. Klein

from DCI HiNet said:

I'm not suggesting anything, mind you. I'm just going to
play a game of word-assocation with you, ok?

Dog Chasing Bicycle Water Pistol Ammonia

Cruelty to animals is against the law. If I ever see anyone
spraying ammonia on a dog, I will report you to the police
and follow the case through the courts to make sure you are
punished. There is no need to spray ammonia on a chasing
dog. A surprise shot of plain water shocks the animal
enough to make it give up the chase. I have seen this work
time after time.

You're making assumptions. What works best is firing the
ammonia directly down which puts a spot of foul smelling
stuff between whatever is chasing you, and you.

Another assumption is that a chasing dog is someone's pet.
Depending upon where one lives, that may or may not be the
case. Where I live, the wild dog popluation frequently
overtakes, kills and eats humans. Water doesn't "shock" wild
animals very much. Michael J. Klein [email hidden]
Dasi Jen, Taoyuan Hsien, Taiwan, ROC Please replace
mousepotato with asiancastings
---------------------------------------------

"Michael J. Klein" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Marlene Blanshay said:

A friend of mine was actually nearly INTENTIONALLY run
down recently. He

was

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

out on a road in a sort of remote, semi-burb-rural area
frequented by cyclists, when a teenager or young guy,
maybe 20, yelled out the window

'get

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

off the road, [censored]!' My friend flipped him the bird,
and then the

stopped

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and backed up, and tried to run him down! My friend
jumped off the road into a ditch, and then the van zoomed
off. My friend got back on his bike and continued on,
then sees the same van coming straight at him in the
opposite lane, then swerved into the oncoming lane and
tried to run my friend down again! Once again, he ran off
the road into a field. THe

morons

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

sped off. No damage,no injuries but also no license plate
number. I did

say

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

earlier that most teens aren't malicious, but these guys
obviously were!

And people ask me why I pack whenever I come back to the
US. Michael J. Klein [email hidden] Dasi Jen,
Taoyuan Hsien, Taiwan, ROC Please replace mousepotato with
asiancastings
---------------------------------------------

Well,. this was actually in Canada. Idiots can live
anywhere. Packing isn'nt a good idea,we have gun
control laws.

"Rich Clark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"Kevan Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Cruelty to animals is against the law. If I ever see
anyone spraying

ammonia

Quoted message said:

on a dog, I will report you to the police and follow the
case through the courts to make sure you are punished.
There is no need to spray ammonia on

a

Quoted message said:

chasing dog. A surprise shot of plain water shocks the
animal enough to

make

Quoted message said:

it give up the chase. I have seen this work time
after time.

Self defense is self defense, be the attacker a dog or a
man. I don't carry weapons -- I'm on a bike, I can escape
easily enough -- but if the dog is biting you, it's not
against the law to do whatever it takes to make it stop.

RichC

I've tried water, but since these are Labradors they seem to
like it. I've also tried my fists, my shoes, and an
ultrasonic device. There are 2 of these dogs, both capable
of chasing me down at 20mph, and then pacing me for nearly a
mile while barking and growling all the time.

The dogs have bitten me. I confronted the owner after that
happened and was told that since they lived in the country
they weren't going to chain their dogs...which I guess I can
understand. But there are dozens of unchained dogs around
here that don't chase me and have never bitten me.

After talking to the owner some more, I decided to try Halt
spray. I managed to hit 1 dog with it. That dog immediately
stopped chasing, went to the side of the road, and started
rubbing its head on the ground. But the dogs have continued
to chase despite that instance and further use of the Halt.

I regard the owner's negligence in training and controlling
his animals, which is leading towards the dogs being put
down, as a far greater example of animal cruelty than
ammonia, firecrackers, or a gunshot to the head.

"Karen M." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi folks-- This really takes the cake...some teen weenie
threw a strand of firecrackers at me Thursday evening.

This story made me recall how someone threw a firecracker at
my while I was on my bike when I was about nine or ten years
old. I was *so* frightened from it. I rode to my friend's
house which was only four more houses down the street, and
basically stepped over their threshold and burst into sobs.
Her mom was really nice to me, and helped me feel better.
It's mean to throw firecrackers at anyone, but at a kid is
even worse. I had completely forgotten that incident until
reading this posting.

Karen, you don't have a friend's mom to give you hugs,
probably, so I'll give you some of my virtual ones.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky Please replace earthlink for mouse-potato
and .net for .com Home of the meditative cyclist:
home.earthlink.netWelcome.htmOpen ↗ See the
books I've set free at:
bookcrossing.comCpeterskyOpen ↗

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 02:47:07 -0400, "Rich Clark"

from said:

"Kevan Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Cruelty to animals is against the law. If I ever see
anyone spraying

ammonia

Quoted message said:

on a dog, I will report you to the police and follow the
case through the courts to make sure you are punished.
There is no need to spray ammonia on

a

Quoted message said:

chasing dog. A surprise shot of plain water shocks the
animal enough to

make

Quoted message said:

it give up the chase. I have seen this work time
after time.

Self defense is self defense, be the attacker a dog or a
man. I don't carry weapons -- I'm on a bike, I can escape
easily enough -- but if the dog is biting you, it's not
against the law to do whatever it takes to make it stop.

You're going from chasing to biting. If a dog is biting you,
sure, defend yourself. Spraying a chemical that could blind
or poison on a dog that is merely chasing is cruelty to
animals. Most chasing dogs just do it for play, not to
commit harm. And, as I said, a simple spray of water stops
them. I have seen it work many times.

--
Kevan Smith
[email hidden]

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 08:04:27 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]> from

Quoted message said:

But are you saying that ammonia would harm the dog? Is it
not equivalent to skunk spray (only less oily)? I'd doubt
that 1/2 clear ammonia and water would harm the dog, but I
don't know - perhaps you have some experience?

Test it on your own eyes first.

Ammonia is a caustic substance that can blind you.

--
Kevan Smith
[email hidden]

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 20:59:43 +0800, Michael J. Klein <[email hidden]>

from DCI HiNet said:

You're making assumptions. What works best is firing the
ammonia directly down which puts a spot of foul smelling
stuff between whatever is chasing you, and you.

That's BS. You're just trying to appear less an ass than you
already do. You would spray the ammonia on the dog.

Quoted message said:

Another assumption is that a chasing dog is someone's pet.
Depending upon where one lives, that may or may not be the
case. Where I live, the wild dog popluation frequently
overtakes, kills and eats humans.

A dingo ate your heart, apparently.

Anyway, if you live in an area like that, you'd obviously be
better off not riding your bike there. And, if the dogs are
such a danger, I am sure there are organized efforts you can
join to cull the population humanely.

Frankly, though, I think you are lying.

--
Kevan Smith
[email hidden]