Aren’t They All?

As readers might have noticed, here I am once more.

There’s a long, complex, story behind my absence but, for the sake of prudence, I’ll keep it quasi-short -- for now. I’ve always maintained I would blog as long as nobody got hurt. A few months ago I was led to believe that someone I cared very much about was being harmed because of my activities with I HeArTE JADE. I felt I couldn’t, with good conscience, continue to update. I never would have guessed that I would become a victim of my own con, nor that I would be mulcted in such a way by Law Enforcement, but, like most folks, I’ve been conditioned to believe whatever handsome men with shiny badges in positions of authority tell me. You’d think I’d know better by now. Ha! Fortunately I’ve deduced the entire thing was capital B capital S, thus… hello again! At the moment expect sporadic entries.

Hmm... what else is there to share?

I have continued throughout to periodically post on my VSP site. Well, hell, I never implied I would abandon my other projects. By the way, if there’s a Virginia State Policeman out there who isn’t deceitful or a moron or a coward, or, worse, all three, I’d love to talk to him. I have arrant faith he indeed exists. Somewhere.

On 03/29/2011, the fantastically sexy Granville Fields was cited in Charlottesville for reckless driving. Do you know how bad what he did had to be for that to happen?! Naturally he got himself a lawyer, Jessica Phillips, and probably, much like former Albemarle County Policeman Eric Kudro did when he was charged with the same, he’ll get out of it. His next court date is scheduled for 06/02/2011, 9:05AM.

Speaking of cutie Kudro, last word I got on him was that his resignation from the ACPD stemmed from his refusal to submit to a random drug test. Since he does have a bit of a reputation as a “partier,” I’m inclined to buy this as a valid explanation.

The Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force has only minimally made the news during my down time. I’m not convinced the stuff is at all worth mentioning, although any reference to JADE boosts my stats.

I am dying for a new scanner. The ones I’m eyeballing cost the big bucks, which means I may actually die before I accumulate the necessary funds.

Last and least relevant, I’m plumb gaga over The Voice. Plus SouthLAnd, in all its killerism, has been renewed for another season -- hoorah!

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This morning was Albemarle County Officer Eric Kudro’s make-up day in Waynesboro General District Court. I’d already decided I wasn’t going to miss witnessing it for nothin’. I believed he was going to get away with his hit-and-not-run charge -- which he did -- but how it played out exceeded even my expectations.

I pulled into a favorable parking place near the courthouse slightly before 9AM. When I crossed the threshold of the justice building, I immediately saw a third-rate printout taped on a four-foot-high signpost stationed between myself and the metal detector. After reading its message, I promptly spun about and headed back to my vehicle.

Being somewhat familiar with courthouse policies, I typically carry a mere two items with me when visiting such an establishment: the solitary piece of formed metal that opens and starts my car, and my cell phone. Unlike the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County courts, according to the public display I’d a moment ago seen, Waynesboro’s bans cellulars, period. Won’t be long, I think, before even my single key is going to be forbidden.

I tossed the contraband in my auto console and engaged the lock again.

Upon reentering the edifice, I deposited and recovered my one allowed object into and from the guard’s obligatory Gladware, stepped through the security device without incident, and took the door “on the left” that’d been pointed out to me. Traffic court was already in session.

The boyish-looking policeman I’d come to watch was easy to spot. Aside from lawyers and other cops inside the partitioned-off bench area, Mr. Kudro was the only person in the room dressed in a full suit. I’d figured he’d either wear that or his ACPD uniform. No way would he dared show up in normal attire.

He was sitting in the right front pew, on the far left side. I chose a seat three rows behind him, on the far right side. I spent the next forty minutes or so listening to victims and officers tell their tales to the judge while I observed Mr. Kudro’s stop-and-go habit of chomping much too enthusiastically on the gob of gum in his mouth.

There was the guy who was “only stopping fer a cuppa coffee, your honor,” the one who quetched about being racially profiled and denied resembling a drug dealer, the fellow who inebriatedly bailed on his alcohol-aroma-ish sedan leaving $28 dollars worth of damage behind, the woman in pajama bottoms and one sock, this speeder, that speeder… finally the nine o’clockers were over.

There was a nod to Eric Kudro by, I presume, an attorney and the judge called his name. I simultaneously scampered up to the same bench the baby-face-with-a-badge had just abandoned to better hear what would transpire.

I kid you not, whatever happened took less than thirteen seconds. Not even thirty -- thirteen! I blinked once and it was over. No account of the violation. No explanations. There was no pretense of legal procedure. They barely went through the motions. It took me longer to pick my jaw up off the floor.

At the courthouse after the… oh my gosh, I don’t even know what to call it -- other than a ridiculous farce, I spoke to someone in the know and learned the case had been dismissed because Officer Kudro “took care” of the other driver involved. Short of contacting that party, I guess I’ll never know what went on.

Maybe some things are better left to wonder about. Plus there’s always next time. Yessir, there will be a next time. We are talking about Eric Kudro you know.

OMG -- Assign Him To JADE Already!

Cruiser crash leads to investigation

WAYNESBORO — A Sunday traffic crash prompted the Albemarle County Police Department to launch an internal investigation into an officer who wrecked his cruiser, police said.

Waynesboro police Sgt. Kelly Walker said Albemarle police Officer Eric Michael Kudro, 29, of Waynesboro, was driving on the 400 block of North Delphine Avenue when he veered right and sideswiped a 1996 Ford Ranger.

Kudro pulled his 2009 Ford Crown Victoria about 300 feet away and took in the damage, police said: an estimated $5,000 to the cruiser and $8,000 to the pickup truck.

Police charged Kudro with failure to maintain proper control. He was headed home when the crash occurred.

Albemarle police spokesman Shawn Schwertfeger said Monday that the office investigates every traffic crash that involves a department officer.

No one was injured in the crash.

(Source)