Norman Scanner Report: Aug. 13, 2008

Calling state lawmaker Paul Wesselhoft! It was "vicious animal" night in Norman, Okla., on Wednesday.

It started with a call to Jackson Drive at 9 p.m., where authorities were investigating an animal that had bitten a child. And, do you know what breed it was?

That's right. It was a Shar Pei!

For those of you not familiar with the breed, here is one in action.

Cutest. Thing. Ever.

I am told, however, that adult Shar Peis can be mean little bastards. Nevertheless, I love all of God's children, animals that is.

But that wasn't our only "vicious animal" call of the night. Police got a call from a local hotel reporting a vicious Chow. If I heard the call right, a patron would not enter the establishment because of the presence of the dog. Chows are actually fairly aggressive dogs from what I've read, although I think I found the extent of this random YouTube Chow vid a bit over the top.

In other scanner fun and yucks from Norman, Okla., on a summer's night, two days before the skies are supposed to open up on us with massive amounts of rain ...

Police investigated a pair of drivers in a local trailer park off of Lexington Drive, which brings to mind this random fact: I did not know we had trailer parks in Norman.

Call came in at about 10:11 p.m. of a white construction truck running people off the road along Interstate 35 and Indian Hills Road.

In a pair of non-Norman calls: A black cow was reportedly lounging in the roadway at about 10:35 p.m. along 240th Street and Western Avenue in far southwestern Oklahoma City. Wasn't "Black Cow" a Steely Dan tune?

Also, a 40-year-old man overdosed on morphine and Xanax and was found lying in the street along West Seventh Street, presumably in OKC, but I couldn't say for sure. However, there has been a lot of lying in the middle of the street recently. Doesn't seem like it would be that comfortable, not without the morphine and Xanax that is.

Back in Norman, a woman in a blue Sunbird called police from an apartment complex along 24th Street SW after 11 p.m. to tell officers that her "baby daddy wouldn't give her her baby back." This brings up another random fact about Norman: I did not know anybody still drove a Sunbird here.

Finally, the line of the night goes to the Norman dispatcher who apologized to officers in joking fashion for her tardiness in getting back to them with information because she was watching TV.

"Sorry, I'm caught up in the Olympics," she said.

Aren't we all, honey. Aren't we all.

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Tuesday Night Scanner Report

Didn't have as much time to keep an ear on things tonight as I would have liked, but I am working on a couple of interesting features. So, be sure to hit the subscribe button up top, to your right.

The evening started fairly innocently with a pursuit in southwest Oklahoma City, reminding me why I live in Norman. However, the quiet upon the scanner ended abruptly with a seizure at Louie's on Campus Corner.

It ain't a party until somebody breaks out in a seizure.

***

Fire crews were called to the University Commons apartments about 9:15 p.m., and this had all the makings of a big deal. An alert neighbor heard the smoke detector go off in an adjacent apartment and smelled smoke, so this person called 911.

Yay, smoke detector!

Turns out, thankfully, that it was just a pot of beans burning on the grill, which I thought was not supposed to happen via the wise words of George and Weezy Jefferson.

Fish don't fry in the kitchen;
Beans don't burn on the grill.

***

About 30 minutes later, emergency crews were called to Main and University where a man was spotted lying on the ground and clutching his head, yelling out "Help me!"

A bicycle was spotted in the area, which might explain things. Perhaps somebody does not understand that bicyclists have just as much of a right to the road as anybody else. Or perhaps our headache-riddled bicyclist was drunk, unaware of objects ahead of him.

***

An odd call after midnight, relative to a dog vs. human fight of some sort. I couldn't make out what was happening, but it did not sound like a "dogfight," a la Michael Vick. This sounded like a dog and a human in a fight along Carter Avenue.

***

Finally, I caught two of three Oklahoma City APBs that went out after 12:30 a.m., and this first one sounds serious. Authorities are looking for a pair of Mexican men in a blue Peterbilt with produce in the front of the trailer and 5,000 or 6,000 kilos of 10-75 in the back.

I'm guessing that "10-75" or "1075" might be cocaine. However, according to this list of Okla. police codes, 10-75 refers to intoxicated drivers. So, maybe they are carting almost 6,000 kilos of drunks across the country, doing their families a public service by not allowing them to drive.

Kidding. In all seriousness, this truck was last seen on Aug. 11 in the Oklahoma City area, heading east on Interstate 40.

In the second APB, police are on the lookout for a 67-year-old woman from Lucas, Texas, whose debit card was recently used in Atoka. They are looking for a 2003 Pontiac in this case, and I suspect they are concerned for her safety, not looking for her in connection with, let's say, a string of beheadings.

Like I've noted before, these Norman, Okla., scanner reports harm no police, fire or emergency officials and are posted well after they happen, meaning that active pursuits, situations, etc., are never threatened. They are posted to give Normanites and those who love Norman a behind-the-scenes look at what happened outside the walls of their homes and apartments as they watched television or slept.

Or as they partied, should they have run into a blue Peterbilt.

I am so gonna dream about the movie Duel tonight.

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Monday Night Scanner Report

A pretty quiet night on Norman's streets, at least for the mid-evening.

Kind of a sad story, somebody was found lying in the parking lot of what was described as Wal-Mart on 12th and Main streets but what turned out, I think, to be a little closer to somewhere near 12th and Alameda.

He was breathing but nobody could get him to wake up, and if I followed the call correctly, emergency first-responders determined he had taken a massive amount of pills. They were citing drugs I had never heard of.

I do believe he was described as a black male wearing a white shirt and jeans. Hope it all works out for the guy.

***

Mom and son fighting at a local apartment complex with the mom saying the son was "out of control." Perhaps he was merely espousing the possibility he would attend OSU.

***

Glass broken at Tornado Alley on Elm Street. I had never heard of such a place, Tornado Alley, that is.

*** If you like the daily news, commentary and perspective from the greatest college town in America -- Norman, Okla., -- why not subscribe to my posts at the top of the home page. That way, the news from Norman, Okla., can come right to you!

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Weekend Scanner Report

It was a pretty boring weekend on the scanner front here in Norman on Friday and Saturday, but it got interesting Sunday night. Some of the highlights include:

Police investigated an ex-University of Oklahoma employee who was spotted inside an OU building late Sunday night making a rather large amount of copies. An ex-professor? Nope. A power plant employee, according to scanner traffic.

Authorities said they would investigate further but noted that making those copies on university property without having any business there technically constituted theft. Do you think he was photocopying his resume?

***

At the same time, a 31-year-old called in a medical emergency from the Physical Sciences building, saying that he had abdominal pains. The call came in at 10:30 p.m., making me wonder what in the heck he was doing there that late on a Sunday. Perhaps he's a prof, and the thought of another school year already has him in distress.

***

Moments later -- and this is all on Sunday night -- marijuana smoke from the parking lot of a Norman apartment complex was reported. OK, this likely happens often in Norman. This is a college town, mind you. However, the kicker here is that the 911 caller reported that the "security guard at the complex was partying" with whoever was in the parking lot at this complex.

Good times.

***

Earlier this weekend, from the Blog Party porch, we heard an odd call for police to come investigate an odor. At first, we chuckled thinking some hygenic student had finally had enough of his engineering roommate. Alas, this call was to report the odor of gasoline, which can often indicate a meth lab.

No word as to what happened here. We either didn't hear or just got disinterested.

Periodically, I'll note things I hear on the scanner, stuff that will never make the paper but that is still available for the public record. My standard caveat is this, however: At no time would I post anything I hear on the scanner that could endanger anybody physically, period, particularly police or emergency workers. Anyway, I'm a pro at this, been doin' it awhile.

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