Last night in the James J. Whalen Center for Music on the Ithaca College campus, a vandal (or vandals) went through the school destroying, and in some cases flipping over more than 60 pianos. A candlelit vigil was held on the academic quad on campus at 9pm. For more information visit these links.
On December 10th, around 4:30 in the afternoon, someone reported a person standing up through the sun roof of a parked vehicle.
Now, maybe I’m naive, but since when was standing through a sunroof illegal? Isn’t that what they’re for? Everyone’s thought about it. At least this person wasn’t driving and standing. That’s dangerous. If the car crashed, you could get seriously hurt. But in a parked vehicle? I don’t see the problem.
Maybe the caller assumed the person was breaking into or out of the car. That could be suspicious. But the act of standing alone is not a valid call, if you ask me. I demand the freedom to stand through my sunroof if I so desire. In a country based on freedom, at least let me do that.
Last weekend a bartender called the Ithaca police about a woman at the bar. He was concerned that she looked sick and might need an ambulance. The police showed up, examined her, and determined that she was only “very tired.”
I find it comforting that a bartender would take the initiative to watch out for someone at his or her bar. I think it’s important to have someone keeping watch over people consuming alcohol incase things turn sour, like the bartender suspected they might in this situation. I know I would appreciate the concerned eye in case I did run into problems.
What I find strange about the report is how being tired could be mistaken for overly sick. Maybe if the woman were falling asleep at the bar, and it was mistaken for blacking out. Even then, tired and sick don’t seem to share many symptoms. Does one throw up when they’re tired? Does someone turn pale? I wonder what symptoms this woman showed that led the bartender to call the police.
If you have any ideas or insights, feel free to comment.
We here at IthaCrime normally focus on stories within the Ithaca, NY community, but last night I came across a horrifying story. Though this story includes motifs we’ve all seen before (absent parents, placing blame on media, etc) it is certainly something I’ve never seen outside of fictional television shows.
On Thursday Dec. 3 Cincinnati.com reported the arrest of 17-year-old Andrew Conley for murdering his 10-year-old brother Conner. Saturday night, the boys were home alone while their parents were working. This is when, Conley told police, he strangled his brother to death. It was reported that Conley related to the title character of Showtime’s “Dexter,” a sociopath who murders human traffickers, rapists, and killers. Ohio County Prosecutors also reported that Conley had fantasized about murdering someone since he was in eighth grade.
I read about this story on ONTD (Oh No They Didn’t!) a blog that usually reports celebrity news. They compiled stories from Cincinnati.com and MSNBC and bolded statements which were particularly horrifying. Including “he described to investigators how he choked his younger brother, saying he strangled the boy to satisfy a craving like a hungry person eating a hamburger.”
It is also reported that Conley cannot face the death penalty because he is not a legal adult, but he is facing life in prison. And sentence which, in my opinion, is too lenient.
The Ithaca Police Department had their hands full this weekend with all of the Cortaca parties happening around Ithaca. The log from this past weekend lists 11 complaints of loud parties. In two separate occasions nine people were arrested, four at one location, five at another.
Over the weekend of November 13-15, among the random larceny reports and indecent exposures, is a report of a fraudulent $100 bill found at the library at Cornell University. The Cornell Daily Crime Log reports that an investigation is pending.
I find this disturbing. Most of the crime in the college crime logs are relatively harmless. A report of potential counterfeiting suggests a student may be experimenting with fake money. If this money enters circulation, let’s say in the commons, it’s impossible to say who may end up with it and eventually get caught. The crime of one student may lead to a long line of students and community members getting in trouble with the law.
The bill may have surfaced at the library because the counterfeiter wanted to see if anyone could tell the difference between the real and faulty bills. There may be more bills floating around that have yet to be uncovered.
I hope that the Cornell Police do launch a full investigation and stop this before it even starts. Hopefully it isn’t too late, and this is only the first of many different bills. If that is the case, be aware of where your money comes from. Make sure you aren’t holding counterfeit bills, or else you could have a serious problem.
On November 11th around 12:43 AM, someone received a warning for doing their laundry after hours.
I don’t know the specifics, but who gets in trouble for doing laundry? Since when was cleanliness grounds for getting in trouble? I imagine that it was a college student trying to do their laundry after hours at a local laundromat. But then how did they get in? If they broke in, I would assume the police would have figured that out and dealt with them more harshly than just issuing a warning.
I also wonder, if it wasn’t at a laundromat, what classifies as after hours for washing laundry? Is this some obscure Ithaca law that I’m not aware of? Just think, what if everyone tried to do their laundry after midnight. Oh man, the horror! The rumbling sound would be so loud, the city would crumble.
In conclusion, getting in trouble for doing laundry is ridiculous. No one should be receiving warnings based only on the fact they are doing laundry late at night.
You know that sketchy vehicle at McDonalds? Yeah, that one. Man. That thing creeps me out. It’s there every day I drive past. I wonder if someone just ditched it there or something. Seriously, that thing is a piece of junk. Maybe it’s a car bomb waiting to explode. Maybe it belongs to some pedophile who preys on kids that like McDonalds. You know what, I’m going to call the police. I’d hate to the person who didn’t do something about this.
Turns out that mysterious car belonged to an employee. The entire first paragraph was, by the way, fictional. I have no idea what actually went through that person’s mind before they reported the car. I find it funny that an employee’s car can become “suspicious.” Of course the car will be parked there every day if the owner works there. And if the car is in poor condition, the owner works at McDonalds.
I do appreciate the forward thinking done, just in case the car had contained something illegal, such as a bomb or convict on the run. I’d rather be safe than sorry.
