|
Fourteenth Job of Bob - Park and Rec Part VI - Chemical Applicator, Dealey Plaza, Kenneth and where did Kennedy get shot?
This entry was posted on 12/20/2007 10:06 PM and is filed under Jobs of Bob.
From being in charge of the Fair Park Service Center's chemical / fertilizer room for about seven months, I segued into one of the chemical applicator jobs. For a variety of reasons, Chemical Applicator seemed to be a job that people did not stay in long, so I put in for one of the positions when one yet again came open. As fate would have it, I spent a good bit of time in the downtown areas. "Big D" as Dallas was affectionately called, had all the modern skyscrapers that say, Chicago might. Tangled in amongst the towering shadows of modern downtown Dallas, was all the old park properties. One such property was the odious "Grassy Knoll" in Dealey Plaza. Of course the "Grassy Knoll" was of Kennedy assassination fame. Dealey Plaza could not be dismantled because it had long been a historical park site long before Kennedy came along.
The old green areas of Dealey Plaza were irrigated with ancient pipes. These pipes were always needing replacing somewhere in the larger than expected plaza. I would frequently run into a guy named Kenneth. Kenneth was a perennial irrigation technician that worked for the Parks Department. The old schoolers called him a "plumber." Kenneth had come out of the woods of Arkansas. He must have been pushing 50 years old when I knew him. I suspect he might have been a handsome lad at some point. But by the time I met him, he was missing most of teeth and a finger or two from each hand. He rarely wore socks. You could see his bare ankles between his low-cut work shoes and the bottom of his plumber coveralls. His gold hair was graying and thinning, and his face was brown and rusty from the relentless Texas sun. He was another old Texas relic like Ol' Papa who I mentioned in "Fourteenth Job of Bob - Part V."
People make the pilgrimage to Dealey Plaza from all points on earth to search for the answers to "Kennedy." They come 24 hours a day. Not far from Dealey Plaza, the good people of Dallas had set up an elaborate Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center. It tried to snag people near the train station and veer them to any where in Dallas but Dealey Plaza. People, save a few, thanked them kindly for the brochures, and headed right to Dealey. When people step into the plaza, they always look up. They are looking for the infamous sixth floor window of the School Book Depository building from where the ever controversial three shots are to have rang out.
Because the water pipes were in a constant state of disrepair on the plaza, Kenneth spent the lion's share of his time there. People would see his silhouette in the middle of the plaza toiling at some broken fixture in the mud. "Hey, mister," they would always ask. "Where did Kennedy get shot?"
To the person, and over the many years most likely in the thousands, Kenneth would scratch his toothless chin with his thumbless hand and reach down and itch his naked ankle. "Well sir / ma'am," he would say in his Arkansas twang. "I reckon he got shot right about here," he would say with a toothless grin as he pointed the stub of a finger at the back of his head.
Stupid pop culture, media-complex, distraction-from-reality story
I am thinking, each day I should jot down the stupidest news story that is foist upon us by the big-media-complex as a distraction from the reality that has become America. So here we go - welcome to today's "Stupid Pop Culture, Media-complex, Distraction-from-reality Story."
Hey everybody, there is word today about another U.S. soldier dying in Iraq. There is a hint there were also a couple military funerals about the country. Ah, to hell with all that awful news! "Holloway suspect wrote teen was dead, prosecutor says." There is still plenty of useless media miles left in poor Ol' Natalee. Just drag her ass out as needed. Now there is some real God damned news!
Wisconsin military service person of the week
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Sergeant Andrew L. Bossert, 24, of Fountain City, Wisconsin who was killed when a car bomb detonated near his work area in Ramadi, Iraq, on March 7, 2005. He was in Company C, 44th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. Bossert's unit had spent over two years in South Korea before being sent to Iraq. Bossert arrived in Iraq with his engineer battalion in August, 2004. One of the unit's jobs was to search for buried explosives at night. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described Andrew as a tall, muscular man that had played basketball for Fountain City. He also liked riding motorcycles. He had spent a semester at the University of Wisconsin-Stout after graduating from Fountain City High School. The Journal Sentinel went on to say Andrew's family said he had hopes of studying architecture after serving in the Army. Bossert's wife is from Russia and they met in South Korea and had been married for two years. Sergeant Bossert is the 36th service member from Wisconsin to die in Iraq since spring, 2003.
3,896 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
464 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
28,711 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1,821 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
82 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
6 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
124 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
14 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
