Proud of yourselves? Happy with your Christmas gifts?

MINEOLA, N.Y. — A worker trampled to death when customers stormed a Wal-Mart for bargains on the day after Thanksgiving had no experience in crowd control and waplaced at the entrance because of his hulking frame, police and a lawyer said Monday.

The details about the deadly stampede came out as police pored over video surveillance provided by the store while considering possible criminal charges. Lawyers were also preparing to sue over the episode. Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey noted that the worker, Jdimytai Damour, was 6 feet 5 and 270 pounds, making the trampling all the more stunning. He was killed when a crowd estimated at 2,000 strong broke down the electronic doors infrantic pursuit of bargains on big-screen TVs, clothing and other items.
"Literally anyone, those hundreds of people who did make their way into the store, literally had to step over or around him or unfortunately on him to get into the Wal-Mart store," said Mulvey.

Mulvey said an autopsy found that Damour, 34, died of asphyxiation related to his trampling, and he conceded that it would be difficult to file criminal charges against any of the shoppers.
Related "It goes beyond identifying specific people to make a case," Mulvey said. "You have to establish recklessness or intent to harm, which led to his death."

Attorney Jordan Hecht, who represents Damour's three sisters, said the family declined to make any public statements about the man's death. Funeral arrangements were pending, he said.Hecht said Damour had been working at the Wal-Mart only for about a week and was hired through an employment agency that provides temporary staffing. Damour had not been trained for any security assignments and had no background in crowd control, he said.

A call seeking comment from the employment agency was not returned.Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in a statement Friday, called the incident a "tragic situation" and said it had
tried to prepare for the crowd by adding staffers and outside security workers, putting up barricades and consulting police.

"Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred," senior Vice President Hank Mullany said. A company spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday on Mulvey's remarks.

Hecht said that he was considering a lawsuit but that no decision had been made. Two other injured shoppers filed a notice of claim Monday, the first step toward proceeding with a lawsuit.At least four other people were treated at hospitals and released, including a woman who was eight months pregnant.

Mulvey said while investigators are still piecing together details, it is apparent that the Wal-Mart store lacked adequate security to handle the crowds of shoppers that converged on Friday morning.

"In fact, security was inside the store and not outside organizing, arranging and planning for this anticipated opening," Mulvey said.

Police officers had been called to the scene at about 3 a.m. but left after about a half-hour, he said.

The crowd — then estimated at about 400 — was not unruly at that time.

The National Retail Federation, the industry's largest group, was unaware of any other store workers ever dying on the job in the post-Thanksgiving rush.

Shoppers around the country line up early outside stores on the day after Thanksgiving in the annual bargain-hunting ritual known as Black Friday. It got that name because it has historically

been the day stores broke into profitability for the full year.

Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director of Strategic Resource Group, a retail-consulting firm, said retailers quickly learned they can attract massive crowds if they promise amazing savings and limit the inventory or availability of the sale items to a few hours.

A number of retailers have opted to distribute vouchers or organize the sales in other ways to "cut down on the tsunami of shoppers entering the store all at once," he said.

"There are so many retailers doing it the right way, it seems senseless there wasn't strategic and operational planning here," Flickinger said.

In addition to not knowing how much inventory may be available on a sale item, shoppers often don't know the exact location where the merchandise is kept, he said. "They get in early and run the retail racetrack," Flickinger said.
"It is a recipe for disaster," the police commissioner said. "And that's what happened here."
FOXNY.com


OK. this is an open letter to you people who killed for your own gain.

Shame shame on you. I hope that every single second of every single day of the rest of your lives, you feel that shame.
You should all be trampled.
And then to try and blame it on the guy.??

I am disgusted and horrified at this.

Turkey day over

And I'm glad. It was fun cooking but it will be nice to have the month break from the EXTREME cooking.
The blanket I made for the baby gift is not going to work. I have a problem with the edges being too loose. I am going to just rip it out and start over. Plus it is not sized right.

I have not worked on the kids items. I told them that it would take longer to get them made for them so Next Christmas.

I am going to have to get this house straightened up before I can comfortable do arts and crafts.

I was getting a handle on it but with the guys here working on the shower and Thanksgiving ....all the cooking and planning.... my poor confused mind could only concentrate on one thing at a time. And then there is my addiction.




Christmas shopping for my Granddaughter. The kids won't get anything this year.

Getting a new shower

Its hard to tell from the pictures, but the shower will be almost twice the size. I hope its enough larger to make a difference.
My house has been in a uproar with this process for two weeks. Meaning we have to bathe at my mom's house, use the downstairs toilet. Which is ok I need the exercise. But our guy is really slow. Too many jobs going on. But he is our neighbor and a nice guy.

The new expansion came out for World of Warcraft. Lots of really nice content. <---- link to screenshots.


Still working on the baby blanket for George and April's baby.
Actually getting more work done. But not as much as I'd like.
Daddy fell the other day. ...

November

Beginning to get somewhat chilly. I am knitting a blanket for a baby gift using big needles to make it go faster. But I did miss the shower yesterday. The baby is not due for about 3 more months however so I have some time. Using acrylic yarn, double strand and keeping white as a constant in all the colors. Pale green, pink/purple and green/pink blended yarns in a stockinette stitch.



This is our Velcro. Takin a break in my desk drawer. It's usually Sox in drawers and such.






Sox sleeping on top of the little cave thing I got them at Pet Smart. He is covering his eyes to keep out the light.


Loaf of home made wheat bread I happen to be making a loaf as I speak.
I mix it up in the bread machine and let it rise, then take it out put it in loaf pans , let rise again and then bake.
This is a really good recipe. So good that I mixed up lots of batches, sans the yeast, molassas, oil and milk. So I can make it quicker.
I use part white and part whole wheat plus some xanthan gum and wheat gluten. The texture is wonderful and not crumbly at all like home made bread sometimes is.



Carrie's sweater back almost finished and Roy's bedspread blocks.
still have a long way to go on them both. I hope I have them done by NEXT Yule.

It's October

used to be my favorite time for decorating. I love to decorate for Halloween but lately I have not.

I love to decorate period but I don't anymore.

I got a summons for jury duty. I served once years ago. It was interesting. So I don't really mind doing it..I just hate getting up early. I have to be there at 9 am..for me that is the middle of the night. I shall have to train myself in the intervening weeks to go to bed earlier.

We got a new car.

in sandstone.

It's the first brand new car I have ever bought. Or Kevin that is. This is the first time in our married life (8 years) that anything has been on his dime. He is very very proud.

I've been knitting some though not too much.
this is the back portion of Carrie's sweater.

I have also been working on Roy's bedspread but don't have pictures of that.

I don't have any idea that it will be finished by Yule but ... maybe Next Yule..:P

Too HOT and now Ike is on the way!

East Central Texas will not get too much of the weather, rather not enough to make seriously effect us, however the coast line of Texas will take a beating. I have a good friend that lives on a bay off the coast, so I am sure that they have already left for higher ground. At least I hope so. I am sure my cousins that live a little farther down the road have also hopefully take off for San Antonio where they work or to relatives in West Texas.
My kids as well on the Mississippi Gulf Coast will undoubtedly get plenty of wind and rain though not as much as they did last week or when Katrina hit.

I've been knitting and getting a painting ready to start on. And gathering source material for another one that ... well I lost the reference stuff. *SIGH*. So I had to re print it.

Last weekend we helped out at the West Fest a local small town that throws one hellacious part every year. Most of the inhabitants are Czech decent so they go all out with the Polka music. I probably pulled several hundred pints of Coors light and Blue Moon. That's the station that Kevin and I served on. Of course they had Guinness and Heiniken, Bud Light and Bud, Michelobe and all the rest. I am a Sam Adams girl myself or Amber Boch (sp) Actually I'm an Absolut or Maker's Mark girl.
It was fun but nothing I would want to do full time.

Watched all the conventions and as you can see Made my choice.

My Chronic Fatigue has been keeping me at home a lot.

Visits, hot weather and dead gardens

The vegetable gardens are gone. This past two months has been so horribly hot that even watering once a day has not saved them. Everything was pretty much gone anyway.
We got tons of tomatoes, okra, eggplant and watermelons so I guess all in all that's ok.

My grown kids were here for a visit. We had a great time! My granddaughter didn't get to come however because of her school.

I've begun knitting on the kids Christmas presents.




this is the yarn that I got for the projects.










And these are the begun projects. :






I was going to do cables on Carrie's sweater but I was having a very difficult time. So I am just doing some repeating patterns in the section where the cables would have been.
Roy's bedspread will be a sort of zig zag design put together of knitted blocks.

Watching the Olympics. I have to say that they are some of the most beautiful games yet. I did not watch the Athens games for some reason. Probably apathy. Poe said "I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity", I have to fall right in step there with Poe. And add long intervals of apathy. Another saying that I love is "what's to be done about ignorance and apathy? I don't know and I don't care".
Between the allergies and the depression and the Epstein-Barr, I find even moving sometimes just too much trouble.


I wish they could give you a pill for that.