POTD: Cape Sounion Fish Farm...and More

From 2022 11 03 Athens

"Patroklos island,
Ship of sorrow under waves,
War's dark tragedy."
—h/t ChatGPT

This photo-of-the-day was taken on Cape Sounion about 25 miles south of Athens, Greece. It shows a fish farm. That's mildly interesting I suppose, but it's not really why I snapped this photo. Besides fish, also below the waves here lies the SS Oria. In the background of the photo is Patroklos island. It has a long history, going back to the Chremonidean War. If you never heard of that war, forgive yourself. I hadn't either. The war was fought from 267-261 BCE. But it's not for that ancient war that I snapped this photo, either. It was for a tragedy that happened during a much more recent war, World War II. According to Wikipedia, "On 12 February 1944, SS Oria sank in a storm on the south east rocks of Patroklos island with 4,074 killed, mostly Italian military internees." It was the greatest loss of life in a single maritime disaster in the Mediterranean's history. Travel is enlightening...for some. For others, it's deadly.

Police Beat

It's been a while since we checked in on a couple of lawsuits against the Richardson Police Department. First, there's a lawsuit by former police officer Kayla Walker charging the RPD with running an illegal ticket quota system. Walker's lawsuit is still slowly, slowly, making its way through the wheels of justice. Then there's the lawsuit by Neco Bonham, who, as an eighteen-year-old in 2021, was stopped by RPD for what seemed like a routine traffic stop, only to end up Tased, punched, and arrested. The district attorney's office dropped all charges against him. The arresting officer was reprimanded. Bonham sued. I haven't read anything about Bonham's lawsuit in over two years. I did read something about the officer who stopped him — he's still with the RPD and, two years later, was promoted.

That brings us to this week's news.

District 112 Draws a Challenger

The San Antonio Express-News reports that "Last year’s Miss Texas is entering another competition where she’ll be judged on her talents, leadership abilities and appearance. But this time it won’t be a beauty pageant. Averie Bishop became the first Asian American winner of the Miss Texas competition in its 85-year history. Now she’s running for the Texas House."

What's the Richardson connection? Two, actually. Averie Bishop is running for Texas House District 112, which includes much of Richardson up to the Collin County line. And Averie Bishop was crowned Miss Texas at the Eisemann Center right here in Richardson.

Barbie (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Barbie (2023): From great opening scene to brilliant closing joke, Greta Gerwig deftly balances the childhood joy of owning a doll (I presume) with the problematic associations that attached to that doll. An adult movie that raises themes worth exploring long after the credits roll. A-

Council Recap: Proposed Budget

At a work session August 14, 2023, the Richardson City Council reviewed the 2023-2024 budget proposed by City Manager Don Magner. With property appraisals up, the City is awash in additional tax revenue. With the economy booming (historically low unemployment and solid consumer spending), public complaints about the cost of local government are unusually muted. There were no public speakers at this week's Council meeting. Drawing up this year's budget must have been as easy as falling off a log. The bottom line: the City has $15.4 million more in revenues and is having no trouble finding ways to spend it.