Detective Flintlock goes to work....

It was Wednesday..........11am. The hint of Fall was in the air as another beautiful day of sunny skies, birds singing, and me longing to be out on a trail or road enjoying the afternoon cycling slipped slowly by.

At 11:12am, one of my AMT students suddenly came into the office with terrible news:

Someone has ran into and destroyed my bike rack!! W.T.F.??!!!!

Notice the paint scrapings inside the rack on the end? Good as DNA....

The student ellaborated further to say he and another AMT student witnessed the crime, the person that hit my bike rack had hauled ass away from the scene, and they'd given chase to catch the individual. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful but did manage to catch a partial license plate "ABK" and a good description of the vehicle and driver. So, my detective work began at that time:

11:15 - Call MGTC security.
11:20 - Get partial tag "ABK" and vehicle description of late ‘80s “maroon van” from 2 student witnesses.
11:22 - Call Warner Robins Popo.
11:30 - Find out which students in C-Building, next to my parked truck, were let out at 11am.
11:32 - Welding students were the only ones released at that time.
11:40 - Find welding instructor and got names of all students attending that morning.
11:45 - Do “report thing” with WR Popo.
12:05 - Circumvented "system" to find vehicles registered with MGTC with tag numbers of welding students that have “ABK” as first 3 in tag.
12:10 - And then there was one........
12:15 – Use system correctly and found out this student/perp has a 2pm Mathematics class.

I think we found a scent trail! Release the Hound!!!

12:15 – 1:54 ~ Truly didn’t think perp would be stupid enough to drive the vehicle back on MGTC Campus! ~
1:54pm – Proven wrong that perp would use logic.......,but stupid is as stupid does……..with the van showing damage of course.

Did someone say, "BINGO??!!!"
2:10pm – WR Popo and MGTC Security get student out of class to talk. Smell of hops and barly detected on student’s/perp's breath.
2:15pm – Perp admits to hitting my stuff. WR Popo very happy now.
2:15 - 2:18 - I do an "internal" Happy Dance!
2:18pm – Perp’s vehicle searched and an open container is found with hops and barly beverage remaining.
2:20pm – Perp arrested for 1)leaving the scene of an accident, 2) failure to report accident, 3) open container, 4) possession of banned substance on State property, 5) UNDERAGE DRINKING since he is only 19, and 6) insurance may not be valid --> now I’m REALLY pissed off!!

Although this kid could have simply stopped and tried to resolve the "accident" when it happened, he chose to take his chances of not getting caught. Now he has more to worry about than me wanting my bike rack replaced. Several people I work with have advised me to go easy on the kid as "we've all made mistakes." Yeah.........well, tough shit. I've made mistakes and live with the consequences each day and my conscience serves as a living hell at times reminding me that you only get one life to get it right. You can't always be right. It is then that you should and need to ask forgiveness from whomever you chose whether it be a higher power of your choosing or the person(s) you did wrong. He asked for none. He will receive none from me. Maybe the judge will see it that way as well.

The remainder of the day consisted of calling The Bike Store and ordering another $400+ Saris Cycle On bike rack to replace the recently departed one and meeting friends at Thomson Trails to ride the stress away. After a few adult beverages and great conversation among friends, the day was put to rest.