The Reiki Cafe 

.... on my way to looking up my Granny's phone #. I dropped my Treo 600 phone and it knocked all the user data out of it.

Anyhoo, I did a local e-search to get her phone # and was surprised that this article came up first in my Google search.

It is true and is my dear frail Granny:

Woman, 84, gives chase after robber snatches purse
By JAMES H. BURNETT III
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: Feb. 21, 2001

When a robber snatched Sylvia Bembenek's purse while she was sitting in her garage, the 84-year-old woman didn't take the matter sitting down.

Instead, Bembenek threw her car into gear and gave chase, police said.

Although she didn't catch the purse snatcher, police said, Bembenek did get close enough to get the license plate number of the car the suspect jumped into before he sped off.

Moments later, Bembenek reported the incident and the license plate number to the police.

When a reporter went to Bembenek's apartment in the 4200 block of N. 104th St. Wednesday afternoon to talk about Tuesday's incident, she declined to comment.

However, Bembenek's swift actions spoke for themselves.

Police said the car was soon traced to a woman on Milwaukee's north side, and through investigation, they determined that the woman's boyfriend was the likely driver of the car around the time of the robbery.

Later Tuesday, the suspect inexplicably entered the 7th District police station, 3626 W. Fond du Lac Ave., and asked why police were inquiring about his girlfriend's car, police said.

The 33-year-old man was immediately arrested on several unrelated arrest warrants.

It was unclear Wednesday why those warrants had been issued, but a check of Milwaukee County Circuit Court records showed that the man has at least three prior criminal convictions for false imprisonment, violating a domestic abuse no-contact injunction and disorderly conduct.

He now could face a charge of robbery accusing him of the purse snatching, police said.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Feb. 22, 2001.

BACK TO TOP
---------------------

Paul Harvey rest of the story:

The article does not mention that Granny is a frail seeming small woman but also how she hung onto the purse thru the car window before chase ensued. It took a 3 tug heave for the guy to get the purse from Granny's hand.

With a wrenched shoulder she leaped from the car giving chase. She chased this guy over snow banks and thru a yard. She hit glare ice on the sidewalk coming over the last berm causing her to break pursuit...but she got the plate #.

--------------------

That remembrance makes me wonder the experience of the guy who picked out the most isolated, weak old person to rob. That's gotta be a low point for any soul. But then to have the weakest creature he can find to tap not only fight back but give chase.

Namaste,
Michael

Michael,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- gives new meaning to the mantra: you go girl!

bagl

- has me singing: " the little olde lady from Pasadena, go Granny, go Granny go.............

>:-}}

- give her our best when you see her

Reiki All Around,

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

Holy Moly, Michael, WHAT A WOMAN!!! I love it! Hope she wasn't in any distress concerning all of this. Glad that she has you, cookie. Thanks so much for sharing this with us! Wow!!! Beware Bad Guys!!!

Too funny!! Except you have to change "Pasadena" to "Milwaukee" and "409" to "309".
BANL ; )

Not to worry she was not traumatized. She's actually a very sweet lady. But 87 yrs. of the clock had not convinced her Lower self that she doesn't still have the physicality of a 23 yr old Yuper farm girl.

Yooper?!! That explains it all. Bravo to your granny from a troll under the bridge.

blackearth

Amen, blackearth! Hail, hail, and hallejuh from another troll! Wouldn't it be something if Michael's granny knew my Bernadette......Bernie hails from St. Ignace....lives (used to anyway) on the beach....once you've crossed the bridge...wow!

What a cool story, give her my best.

I thought the story so cool, that I copied and pasted onto a new thread on another message board. Someone else on the board made a comment with a granny in the wording at the exact same time, which I thought was such an amazing concidence. Since both subjects are unrelated etc., How cool is that!

Arati,

I'm smilin' here just shaking my head in awe. Now I know what I want to be when I grow up.

BAGL

I have a feeling I'll be sharing this story with a few folks, too. Thanks for sharing it with us. It really validates that age is just a number.

:-)

I think after the shock of hearing a story like that, I'd be proud and then very relieved that everything worked out.

Whew...

:-)

Continued blessings to your family,
Mammabear

Michael,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- ahem, ahem! Or might it be (a)hemi?

>:-}}

- as far as I know Dodge never made a 409 or 309

bagl, bagl, bagl

>:-}}

Reiki All Around (383s were hot, 389s hotter)

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

Dear Firekeeper,

I'm sure that's true plus my knowledge of cars is dim..

But ATV's, motorcycles and alternative land craft I'm all over. If fact this spring I will be rolling out my enhanced 44cc bicycle.

It's had a friction drive since day one which sucks on several levels. The short version is that: you have to get special tires, it eats tires, if it gets wet you lose power and it eats yet more tire.

But despite this I blow away similarly and larger classed scooters both off the line and on the flat. This because my motorized bike is a scooter morphed with a bicycle. It's much lighter in weight than the scooter. The best part is that you get to pedal with the motor drive. You don't have to pedal much but the more you do the faster you go.

This Spring I'm forking the $300 over to convert to belt drive. With this I get tear rendering better tire and weather performance ; which is easily worth the $300 upgrade. Better still I get huge better the off the line torque and the flat out top out is going way up. I'm expecting to hit 45mph on the flat or better.

Namaste,
Michael

Whoosh!!! Are you safe out there, Michael??? And do you do all of this work on your bikes yourself? Many lives ago, in California (of course!!!), with the first hubby, I remembering dumping our chopped Triumph and I must've been half asleep, for I didn't get me leg out of the way. It only gouged out part of my calf, but I remember crawling up the stairs. No, bike was okay, for I'd just laid it over while trying to start it. Felt like a fool. Oops, sorry to get off track here.

Dear Ponderings,

Safe? I would not recommend riding like me. My bike is more dangerous than a motorcycle. The motor and drive assy. came as a kit and then I had to engineer it to the bike. The bike is a full suspension mountain bike that I modified somewhat to make it a street machine. The motor I added a few performance parts to give it a bit more giddyup.

Never did like choppers. Something with only two wheels you want be to close to the front tire, not farther way.

Namaste,
Michael

Michael,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- I was simply pointing out that "the little olde lady from Pasadena" (granny) had a superstock Dodge (and Dodge never had a 409 or 309)

- 60's trivia, I admit, so please forgive

>:-}}

- your bike sounds as if it will be awesome - I trust that the environs in which you travel are less trafficked and more two wheel friendly than where I live

- btw, who makes it? WayMoPed?? bagl, bagl

- take care

Reiki All Around,

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

Dear Firekeper,

I musta had my B B songs and/or gear talk mixed up or some such.
"Et eez all soo good mon"; )

As far as riding around here is not particularly bike friendly but not as bad as a new suburban growth area are might be. Which reminds me I have to order a turn signal / brake light assy. And a helmet.

My next machine I'm steering towards is a full suspension Recumbent with disk brakes to which I will add the big bore motor belt drive kit. Recumbent bikes are lower to the ground and way more pedal force efficient. Faster corners (my fav) and faster on the straight.

I think that as a car dependent people we are at the point where we need to realize that some scaling down is coming like it or not. Everyone who lives in an urban area and drives to work can attest that the traffic on the freeways and byways gets a bit denser every year. The numbers of cars on the increases every year. With rare exception the roads grow slowly or not at all.

Ever growing congestion. And most of the cars on the freeway and byways have only one person in them. And gas prices? By necessity of road space or wallet we need to get into smaller vehicles. I'm all into promoting that; hear me now or hear me later. People from Europe know what I'm talking about.

From the perspective of a riding / driving enthusiast ; if the vehicle in question is downsized you lose aspects of comfort, size and easy-smooth driving. But the trade off is less weight, agility and speed.

That's win-win for me. I used to have fast motorcycles and in fact got onto this motorized bike idea when I realized 3yrs ago that getting a motorcycle was way way down the road. This concept was way cheaper to get going. I prefer the moto-bicycle now. I get my speed thrill ( at lower speeds ) and still get my bike exercise on. 100 mpg. You can get better MPG than that, 125+ if your bike is not bend on pushing the limits. Which I don't recommend.

Namaste,
Michael

Michael,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- the one issue I have with recumbents is that the lower to the ground one is the less visible one is to all the nutsy automobile drivers

- be sure to have a nice tall, highly visible flag aerial on the back

>:-}}

- I can walk to work if I wish - 1.25 miles per yogurt

bagl, bagl, bagl

- take care,

Reiki All Around,

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

YOU'RE A TRIP, MICHAEL.....please be safe....my friend

Dear Firekeper,

We are certainly on the same page. Ti's woefully true: the Recumbent is scary low to the ground. That is the trade off for getting the performance and comfort attributes.

I'm thinking not only the flag whip but wiring a few LED's onto it for night along with turn blinkers and brake light assy. on the bike frame. And a full-face gourd guard. Perhaps one with the Racer X ensignia would be appropriate if i'm having to wear one.

I've got the thumbnail sketches in my head for a lightweight easy on-off armored jumpsuit and roll bars for the machine but that's down the road a ways yet.

Michael,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- the area in which one will be 'riding' definitely makes a difference

- we were in Colorado Springs for awedding last summer and there were bikers and trikers and recumbers all over the place - a livley bike culture (also motorcycles and scooters)

- and powered vehicle operators, for the most part that I could see, definitely were considerate of peddlers (not sure about peddlars) - bagl

- and, if an armoured jump suit is in the offing (well onning actually) >;-}} then donning it before one gets aways down the road might be useful strategy

>:-}}

- take care and good luck with the functional, self-protective design modification

>:-}}

Reiki All Around,

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

Dear Firekeeper,

That sounds like a great place for bikers. It must be if more than 2 bikers have the stones to ride recumbent trikes on the road.

I envision a day when trike riders can ride bike friendly roads with the same relative safety as any other bike design. When that day comes I will be right there to put a bike motor, sport tires and disk brakes on the trike.

Namaste,
Michael

arati,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- there was a time I rode to work - only about 1.25 miles (kept my cycle in my office behind the door)

- then one day the hospital administrator decided the bike behind the door was a fire hazard (???) and that I had to park it at the outside bike rack

- well,after two of my bikes were stolen I decided not to contribute firther to the stolen spokes market and dropped that part of my cycling

Reiki All Around,

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

Dear Firekeeper,

I've heard about that. A Bike placed behind an office door can explode unexpectedly, fall over and then the flaming wreckage blocks egress to safety. Good thing that vigilant admin person was there to save you from peril.

(shoulder slap and BAGL irony)

Namaste,
michael

Michael,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- those were exactly the sorts of things I suggested to him that might happen if I continued to park my two-wheeler behind the door but he did not seem to catch the ironic humor (or absurdity of his position)

- yogic slap on the shoulder gladly accepted

>:-}}

- take care,

Reiki All Around,

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

Dear Firekeeper,

Given that I wonder which is the greater safety hazard; the bike behind the door or the ego of an admin person blocking the entire space between the door jambs.

The bike takes up little space. A typical hospital administrator's ego takes up way more space than a bike.
And they usually have a more flammable lode on board. And many it seems spend a great part of a given day blocking office doorways while they diatribe and pontificate.

Namaste,
Michael