The eagle-eyed neighbor who spotted the miscreant miscreating in the first place sends along this description in case he should re-prowl for pinchable packages.

He was tall (around 6 ft.), thin, African-American, 50 years old. He was wearing jeans, and a dark jacket, with a lighter blue back pack worn on his back with both straps. He was not disheveled or anything like that. He was carrying a cup of coffee when I first spotted him and he was not looking into peoples’ yards or drawing attention to himself. While it is now clear he was looking for packages, he was not obvious about it.

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A man who looked suspicious to an eagle-eyed neighbor was arrested Tuesday mornig after said eagle-eyed neighbor saw the man walk away from a house on Bluemound Rd. with a package in his hands that he was not carrying moments before. The eagle-eyed neighbor alerted police. The police responded in a timely fashion — yay!!

Thank you, eagle-eyed neighbor! Good going, Milwaukee Police Department!

Her aide wrote back asking for my phone number and address (to ensure I was a constitutent, I assume) and said he would have Leah get in touch.

This was a more than a few days ago now, and i’m still waiting for Leah.

Hmm, wonder if it was the word “Milwaukee” in my address that led her to blow me off. Ah, well. The Story Hill Neighborhood Association has invited her to attend the quarterly meeting on Monday night to discuss the potential impacts of the proposed state budget.

And the odds of her showing up are… ?

A previous post is here.

The road was closed two weeks ago when a broken water main on the grounds of the neighboring Veterans Administration property froze into slush and ice on the road, making it dangerous, Duckett said. The decision to close the road was made by the Milwaukee Brewers, he said Monday.

Duckett said the break was discovered and reported to the VA in September and that he was disappointed the federal agency did not respond more quickly.

The Brewers will clean the road once the repairs are complete, Duckett said. At that point, Story Hillers will once again be able to use the ring road to get to critical, life-supporting destinations such as Target. An exact date for repair and cleanup completion was not available at press time.

Just a little cropping, nothing else.

It was early yet, 6:30 or 7 or 7:30 in the morning or something like that. Abe wouldn’t go on a walk this morning, so it was just Tennie and me crossing Mitchell Blvd. when the semi hit. It’s not unusual for semi drivers to bang their trailers on the overpass. There are warning signs all over the place, but drivers “in the zone” don’t even see them. Usually a little bit of the trailer top is peeled away before the driver stops.  Then the deputies come and help the driver maneuver out of his predicament and give him a ticket.

Today was different. Right after the accident, there was a moment of silence, probably while the driver passed from denial to the “oh, sh–” stage.

It was a remarkable sight. The trailer was jammed under the overpass. He didn’t just bank his trailer front on the overpass. His truck was wedged tightly underneath it.

The drive tried to move his rig forward. Tires spun, but nothing else moved. He tried again. He tried rocking the rig a few times.

And then he tried to back up. And his trailer just buckled.

Wow.

A few more seconds passed and then he got out of his ruined truck, talking on his cell phone. I can only imagine who he was calling and what he was saying.

Tennessee Petunia and I continued on our walk. By the time we started back, emergency crews were on the scene.

(Click on the pics to see larger images. There is a clearly visible and readable sign on the overpass in the fourth picture. Oh, sweet irony.)

About four or five hour later, when I went back for another peek, the crews and the truck were still there. The truck was looking a little different, though. Look ma, no cab. Look pa, no front tires.

This is the best ever jam job under the Mitchell Blvd. overpass. Most def.

Thanks to Brian Russart of the Milwaukee County Parks Department for the seeds and the tip on the Parsnip Predator. I did not get it ordered soon enough for today’s event, but am going to get one of my own!