Community-focused posts
There are 776 posts filed in Raleigh (this is page 25 of 78).
Little Raleigh Radio
The server has a full install of the Rivendell radio automation software and 2GB RAID1 mirrored drives for a HUGE storage space of music. It still lacks a monitor and sound card but those are on the way.
Now the difficult work begins of getting the rest of the staff trained on how to use Rivendell.
The year 2012 was the start of my second year as chair of Raleigh’s Parks, Recreation, and Greenway Advisory Board (PRGAB). It’s been a busy year, too, I might add.
I continued to speak on behalf of the board at a number of park dedications and groundbreakings, among them the House Creek Greenway Dedication, Carolina Pines Community Center, Jaycees Community Center Dedication, Five Points Center for Active Adults Dedication, Buffalo Road Aquatic Center Dedication, Anne Gordon Center for Active Adults Dedication, Historic Chavis Carousel Groundbreaking, Method Road Playground Dedication, the “Function at the Junction” where Wake Forest’s greenway meets Raleigh’s, and probably a few other events I’m forgetting. It seems that these have become so routine that I don’t even blog about every one!
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For anyone who still doesn’t believe in divine providence, an instance this afternoon might change your mind.
This afternoon I checked my phone and discovered I had missed a call. Playing back a message that consisted only of a name and number made me wonder who I had ticked off this time with my blog posts, tweets, or body odor. With a little trepidation, I dialed the number and awaited my fate.
An older man answered the phone. It was Mr. John Snipes, the man who received a free home renovation from Builders of Hope. I had visited him during his renovation and left him my card, telling him to call me if there was anything I could do for him. He kept my card all this time and decided to put my offer to the test.
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Wedjunald “Reggie” Gemeille
On Sunday, at approximately 10:15 a.m., Raleigh Police Department officers conducted a check-on-welfare at 201-20 Loft Lane. Upon arrival, the officers located a deceased female, Angel D. Irby, 29. Irby, who resided at the call address, was located inside the apartment.
A suspect, Wedjunald Gemeille (DOB 8/28/91), is in custody and has been charged with murder in connection with the death of Irby. Gemeille has been transported to the Wake County Jail.
The suspect and victim were known to one another, and the crime was not a random act.
The investigation is continuing.
Here’s Gemeille’s inmate record at Wake County jail.
Curiously, I can’t find any record of him being tried in the 2010 death. It would be nice to know how he once again slipped through the cracks, this time in the hands of the criminal justice system.
Looks like Gemeille was arrested on Nov 24th, 2012 [PDF] for assault inflicting serious injury (m), assault on a female, disorderly conduct, and reckless driving – wanton disregard. The address of the altercation was also 201 Loft Ln. I wonder if Irby was the victim in that case, too.
The family and I had a very active day yesterday, taking advantage of the balmy (if cloudy) 75 degree weather. First I met my brother for a run around Shelley Lake. After that, the family and I did some biking along the Crabtree Creek Greenway. After a quick lunch, we took some of the kids’ friends with us to Buffalo Road Aquatic Center for a swim. I call it a triathlon, though Kelly insists that it’s not.
There is a sewer line replacement project taking place along the greenway and, as a result, we had to detour onto Anderson Drive to get around the construction. Upon reaching Anderson Drive, I was dismayed to see there were no sidewalks but a bike lane instead. That would’ve been fine but there were a number of cars parked along the street, sending my family and me out into traffic to get around them.
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It was a year full of interesting happenings around the neighborhood.
The year started off with a bang (fortunately not literally) when I helped catch a burglar as he was breaking into a neighbor’s car. Unlike other suspects I’d seen who were up to no good, I got no subpoena for this incident because a police officer witnessed it, too. If only an officer was always just around the corner whenever a crime occurred it would make things so much easier.
A few months later I was surprised to see a number of police cars entering my neighborhood. My neighbors became the victim of a mid-day breakin, with the thieves having enough time to neatly stack their booty behind the home before the cops rolled up. Fortunately for everyone but the hapless crooks, the cops blocked the getaway car in the driveway, which provided not only a wealth of fingerprints but a curious parade of passersby, all unusually interested in a crime that hadn’t been publicized. The perps were caught a few weeks later, their getaway car having belonged to someone they knew.
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Monday’s home invasion and shooting in Oakwood has left Raleigh’s downtown neighborhoods in shock. It has also shocked me as well. This took things to a new level and as good as the Raleigh Police Department is, there was little they could’ve done to stop it. As the saying goes, shit just got real.
Fortunately, the perps picked the wrong neighborhood to mess with. Oakwood is as close-knit as neighborhoods come, and residents spotted the suspects immediately. Brothers Shabar Marshall and Jahaad Marshall were arrested shortly afterward.
I learned this morning that the rumored neighborhood home invasion did, in fact, occur. A neighbor shared the details today and this previous crime was just as scary as the one this week. The evening of November 19th, a burglar broke into a home on Wake Forest Road in Mordecai and held the daughter at gunpoint there for 10 minutes while he looked for cash. The suspect escaped before anyone was hurt but it shook the family up so much that they moved away. No mention of this incident was made in the media, nor did RPD make any announcements. If it weren’t for the chat I had with the man at the local restaurant over the holidays I wouldn’t have known about it at all.
The good news is that the victim of the previous home invasion believes that Shabar Marshall was the perpetrator of the previous crime. He’s now behind bars, but for many neighbors that’s not good enough. This serious escalation deserves an escalated response from the community. The question is, what do we do?
N&O Editor John Drescher gave a little shout out to Google Fiber today in his column praising mayors. Says Drescher:
“In Kansas City, Sly James has attracted technology startups by working with Google to provide Internet service 100 times faster than typical broadband.”
I’m hopeful the Triangle area will one day be successful in luring Google’s service here. Our broadband pipes should be collectively owned like our streets and other infrastructure.
Cindy Honickman of Triangle.Com snapped a photo of my family last night at First Night Raleigh. It turned out to be a pretty good picture!
Courtesy of Triangle.com
WRAL says a home invasion took place in the city early this morning:
Two Raleigh homeowners were tied up during a home invasion early Sunday, police said.
Two armed men broke into the house at 3105 Sherry Drive around 4 a.m., woke up the couple who live there and demanded money from them, police said. The men tied up the couple and left after about 30 minutes, taking an unknown amount of money and a few other items.
This caught my eye as a man we met at a neighborhood restaurant last week told us that a home invasion had taken place in Mordecai last month. He said it wasn’t well-publicized. I’m trying to track down the police report on the incident in case there’s anything to it.
via Couple tied up during Raleigh home invasion :: WRAL.com.
