Tag Friday

Originally posted: http://blog.seattlepi.com/insidebelltown/2011/10/17/recap-of-phoenix-jones-return-to-the-belltown-streets-after-his-arrest/
By DAVID NELSON, INSIDE BELLTOWN
As I mentioned in my “5 things to do in Belltown and Downtown Seattle” post last week, Phoenix Jones and the other Rain City Superheroes were going to walk around Belltown and Downtown Seattle at 10pm on Saturday night.
He hinted the walk outside of the courtroom last Thursday morning and confirmed the walk with me Friday morning moments before I posted the 5 things to do list.  I usually visit one of events I mention for my weekend posts, I decided to attend this event and support Phoenix and his return to the streets — after all, he’s supported everything I’ve ever approached him about including the Safety Meeting honoring Matt Hale.
As promised, he showed up at 1st and Pike at 10:01pm according to my watch.
Also with him were Purple Reign, Mist, No Name, Pitch Black, Aquarius Knight, Belltown Citizens on Patrol, and approximately 40 people who wanted to walk around Belltown and Downtown Seattle.
Phoenix Jones thanked the people for coming and reminded everyone to call 9-1-1 and not put them self in danger should they see a crime taking place.
We walked east on Pike St and while walking he informs me he wants to see the Occupy Seattle protest site at Westlake Park.  We arrive at the protest site and hundreds of people are repeating their chants, Phoenix Jones goes right in to the middle of the crowd with KOMO TV by his side.  He stands there, listens to the chants for a couple minutes while people yell at him to sit down, he wished all the protesters good luck with their protest and leaves the scene.
The walk then head west on Pike St and then north on 2nd Ave towards Belltown.  Along the way, Phoenix was advising the walkers of areas in Belltown to avoid at night; most of the places he advised were parking lots.
During this stretch down 2nd Ave, we share a laugh after he informed me that the Kid ‘n Play comments he gets now are endless; in reference to his hair being similar to “Kid’s” hair.
He also announces that Belltown Citizens on Patrol is the city’s best neighborhood walk program and advises everybody to join them.
While walking down 2nd Ave, I mention a bullet hole in a parking sign from the deadly shooting in June 2010.  He asks to see it, and after showing it to him, he asks me to tell the story of what happened that night to the walkers.
We continued to walk down 2nd Ave and then head west on Bell St, and then south on 1st Ave to head back to 1st and Pike.
During the entire walk, we were surrounded with cameras, picture requests, and people welcoming Phoenix Jones back to the streets. He was applauded by nearly everybody who passed him and returned countless waves from restaurant windows and passersby.
Once we got back to 1st and Pike, Phoenix Jones invited people to ask him questions and introduced all of his other superhero friends by name.
A person asked him how his life has changed since his arrest and how he’s protected his identity since being revealed.  He informed the crowd of a change of address, a change of schools, a change of car, and possibly a change of haircut.
Another person informed him that she’s a single woman in Beltown and asked him what he recommends for her to remain safe while walking the streets in Belltown.  He advised her to walk in groups of at least two, and to avoid walking during the late night, early morning hours alone.
Another person asked how a person could become a superhero and join him.  Phoenix Jones mentioned that there are things he requires to join him and his crew, including a special skillset that can be used during a dangerous time, and also a bullet-proof vest.
He then took pictures with all who wanted pictures and the night ended around 11:30pm.
He still plans on joining the Belltown Citizens on Patrol walks, if you want to see what he’s all about, meet him there — you won’t be disappointed.
Phoenix Jones and the other superheroes will continue to walk the streets in the late hours and risk their lives to keep our streets safe.
Welcome back Phoenix Jones.

Chattanooga, TN — Dec. 11, 2000 — Chattanooga police found the body of a young boy Sunday afternoon in a wooded area off 16th Avenue in East Lake.
Police identified the body as Joshua Lee Walden, a 10-year-old missing since Friday afternoon.
At about 12:30 p.m. Sunday, a group of children found the boy in area in the 3100 block of 16th Avenue near the East Lake Park, police said.
The body was taken to the Hamilton County Forensics Center, and an autopsy was expected to be performed today to determine the cause of death.
Many area residents — gathered at the base of a hill on East 32nd Street on Sunday afternoon — said they suspected the body could be that of Joshua Walden.
The boy was last seen riding a bike in the 4500 block of 14th Avenue near his home wearing a red shirt and black jeans. He was reported missing at just after midnight Saturday, police said. The boy’s red bicycle has not been found, police said.
Police said they do not know whether the boy was killed where his body was found or elsewhere.
It took police all afternoon to identify the body, leaving Johnny Walden, the boy’s father, wanting answers.
“Josh always calls home,” Mr. Walden said Sunday before learning that his son had died. “He is a big momma’s boy.”
Mr. Walden said another son, Jonathan, was among the group that found the body. Mr. Walden said Jonathan told him that the body was covered in leaves, and that he did not look at its face.
“It scared him and he ran off the hill,” Mr. Walden said.
Police would not let Mr. Walden see the body.
“I wouldn’t want to view anybody else’s boy, but I would sure like to know if it is my son,” he said.
Mr. Walden said he had hoped that the body was not his son since police told his wife that the body may have been in the woods for as long as six days.
Mr. Walden’s wife and their son, Jonathan, along with the other children who found the boy, went to the Police Services Center to give statements.
“I don’t want to think the worst,” Mr. Walden said. “It can’t be my boy. That’s my baby.”
The investigation is continuing.
Dec. 12, 2000 — Chattanooga police detectives Monday continued to investigate the death of a 10-year-old East Lake boy whose body was found Sunday afternoon in the woods on the western slope of Missionary Ridge.
Joshua Lee Walden, whose family reported him missing at 12:10 a.m. Sunday, was found by a group of children just after noon Sunday near 16th Avenue and 32nd Street, about half a mile from his home, police said. The body was in a depression in the ground and covered with leaves, police said.
One neighbor whose son was friends with Joshua said he will move his family to Georgia.
“It was such a shock that I’m moving my family to Wallaceville,” Larry Clayton said. “My boy and Joshua were like two peas in a pod. They were very close.”
Ed Buice, police media director, said investigators are waiting for autopsy results from the Hamilton County Medical Examiner’s office. He said there was no apparent trauma to the body.
Mr. Buice added that police have not identified any suspects in the case.
Joshua’s brother, Jonathan, was among the group of children who discovered the body, said Johnny Walden, the boys’ father.
The boys’ family last saw Joshua on Friday riding his bike near his home in the 4500 block of 14th Avenue. The red bike the boy was riding has not been found.
When police located the body, officers did not permit Mr. Walden to attempt an identification.
“I really didn’t understand how things were handled,” Mr. Walden said Sunday night.
Mr. Walden would not speak with reporters Monday. His son-in-law, who did not give his name, said Mr. Walden was resting and that detectives told him not to discuss the incident.
Mr. Clayton said his son, Chris, grew up with Joshua, who often came over to spend the night at the Claytons’ home.
“Joshua was all boy,” Mr. Clayton said. “He was just a good kid.”
Tim Quarles, 12, who lives around the corner from the Waldens, said he was acquainted with Joshua, a student East Lake Elementary, and wanted to become closer friends.
“He would ride his bike all over the place,” Tim said. “I would say hello to him every time he passed by here.”
Tim’s grandfather, Patrick Roxbury, said he is keeping a closer watch on Tim since Joshua’s death. He said when Tim brings the family dog outside, Mr. Roxbury will walk out in the yard with them.
“What happened to (Joshua), I don’t want to happen to him,” Mr. Roxbury said.
UPDATE
Dec.10, 2001 — Chattanooga Police revealed Monday that acid was poured over the body of 10-year-old Joshua L. Walden, who died of “mechanical asphyxia/suffocation” in East Lake a year ago.
Det. Mike Mathis said at a press conference that the information had been withheld, but it was now being brought forth in hopes it will help bring a break in the mysterious case.
Det. Mathis said investigators who first examined the body noticed there was something “very unusual.” He said it appeared something had been poured on the body to make it appear it had been burned. He said the acid was poured after the boy had been killed.
He said acid was on the body, under the body, and on leaves nearby.
Det. Mathis said tests showed the material was a corrosive acid, similar to a type used in cleaning concrete or metal – as at a car body shop.
He said a check was made with the FBI to see if there were similar cases across the country, and none were found involving a child. He said five FBI experts came here last January to help go over evidence.
A report from the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crimes was that it is believed the killer “came from the immediate neighborhood.”
It says, “The significant feature is the choice of the immediate neighborhood as the body disposal site. Research has shown that when operating under severe stress, individuals tend to revert to the familiar. In other words, the offender was comfortable in the neighborhood, thus that the offender lives or has spent considerable time in the neighborhood.”
The report says the “killer used acid because he is familiar with it or has ready access to it. The offender does not kill the victim and then purchase acid. He uses what is readily available to him and what he is comfortable handling.”
The report says the murderer “was probably involved in an occupation or some activity in which acid was utilized.”
Det. Mathis also said that Joshua’s socks and tennis shoes have been never found.
He said the family was only recently told about the acid. He said they were “shocked and very disturbed.”
He said the family has been “extremely helpful” in working the case.
The red bike that he was last seen riding on a Friday afternoon is also still missing. The body was found the following Sunday morning.
Chief Jimmie Dotson said detectives have spent hundreds of hours on the case and are still actively working it.
An earlier report from the Hamilton County Medical Examiner listed the case as a homicide and stated, “decedent’s respiration mechically restricted.”
It said there were superficial abrasions on the nose and right side of the face.
Joshua was a student at East Lake Elementary School.
Joshua, when last seen, was wearing a red shirt and black jeans and was riding a red 20-inch bicycle.
Officials said Joshua was known to ride his bike near East Lake Park.
He was 4’5″ and weighed 60 pounds. He had blue eyes and light brown hair.
The acid that was was found on the bdoy was muriatic acid.
Maria Flanagin ” Heard that mat maybe Joshua knew somthing that maybe he souldn’t have known
Joshua went to East lake Elementry School
last seen alive on December 8th, 2000
Maria Flannagin and others who lived and worked in Walden’s neighborhood when the crime happened say they were never questioned about the crime.
Neighbors say for a few years someone kept a memorial for Josh near the crime scene

Originally posted: http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/90806899.html
By By Steve Ramos, Special to the Journal Sentinel

Shadow Hare has a catchy theme song, courtesy of an Internet radio station. He has a secret headquarters on the border of Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood – or, at least, it functions as one when shop workers aren’t busy selling Segways. He even has a pretty female sidekick named Silver Moon.
Donning black handmade tights and a lightweight ski mask and hitting the streets via a zipping Segway to fight crime, Shadow Hare, like the rest of the growing number of costumed heroes around the country from Utah to Ohio to Wisconsin, is about more than dressing up as a favorite fantasy character.
He’s a real crime-fighter. So is Watchman, who patrols Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood and other parts of the city in a red mask and loose black trench coat that help hide his identity, although the bold “W” insignia on his sweatshirt and his red latex clothes identify him as a member of Real Life Superheroes, a Web-based group with the aim of supporting and inspiring street-level efforts to make a difference – in costume or not.
These costumed crime-fighters have their share of fans: A pair of news clips about Shadow Hare on YouTube each have had more than 500,000 views.

Movie version

Now, on the eve of the movie “Kick-Ass” – a violent action comedy based on a graphic novel about real people dressing up as superheroes and fighting crime, opening in theaters Friday – Shadow Hare and his real-life costumed-hero counterparts face a new threat: company from copycats.
“Based on the previous history of superhero-related movie releases, I expect a large influx of people to join the movement,” Watchman said via e-mail. “Many of them won’t stick around for long as the novelty wears off quickly. Those who stay on will be a mixture of people who think it’s cool and those truly wishing to make a difference in society.
“But the difference with ‘Kick-Ass’ is that it’s sort of being promoted as real life. Because of that, there is a general fear that some people may try to mimic the violence displayed in the movie. I think I speak for most, if not all, people within the movement when saying we do not condone those types of actions.”
Tea Krulos, a Milwaukee writer and creator of the real-life superheroes blog Heroes in the Night (heroesinthenight.blogspot.com/), has called Riverwest home since he was 18 and acts somewhat as a personal historian to Watchman and other costumed heroes. Krulos, who is working on turning his blog into a book about the real-life superhero movement, frequently travels around the country to meet with other real-life heroes.
“A director came to town shooting footage for a proposed TV reality show on real-life superheroes and called me the Jimmy Olsen to Watchman and the heroes, which I thought was cool,” Krulos said. “One of the Real-Life Superheroes told me that I should put on a costume and join them, but I think the best way I can help them is to write about them.”

Online stores, reality TV

They’re already pretty organized. The World Superhero Registry offers a 12-step guide for new heroes and advice about whether one should include a cape in one’s costume (the consensus: capes get in the way). And there are other groups, including the Heroes Network, Superheroes Anonymous and the Great Lakes Heroes Guild, that use the Web to talk shop and coordinate community and charity efforts.
One hero, Captain Ozone, sells merchandise online, including boxer shorts and a $8 thong with his logo. Razorhawk, from Minneapolis, runs the Web site Hero-Gear.net, a business where “real-life superheroes” can buy their fighting togs.

Creating a stir

And even before the hype surrounding “Kick-Ass” started surfacing, the buzz has been building around the movie’s real-life equivalents.
Ben Goldman and Chaim Lazaros are working on a documentary about real-life heroes in New York and New Orleans. Two production companies are competing to set up a reality TV series about real-life heroes. A comedy called “Super” is in postproduction, with Rainn Wilson as an average guy who becomes a superhero called The Crimson Bolt to save his wife from a drug dealer.
What’s driving art – and real life – to everyday super-herodom?
“I think the most common theme that has inspired people in this movement is the general state in which we see our world,” Watchman said. “It is all of the bad things we see repeatedly, day in and day out. We are sick of it and we no longer wish to sit by and do nothing. This is our way of making a stand.”

Finding inspiration

“As far as the costumes,” Watchman said, “it’s difficult to pinpoint specifics on inspiration for our choice of attire, but most of us have been inspired by fictional superheroes of one type or another.”
In “Kick-Ass,” the characters show little reservation – if not always skill – in using violence. In real life, the reaction isn’t so uniform.
Amateur heroes use Tasers, handcuffs and pepper spray instead of super powers.
Krulos said a couple of amateur heroes have left organizations such as the Heroes Network over disagreements about the use of violence when fighting crime.

Missing in action?

Other heroes, such as Salt Lake City’s Captain Prime, who sports an elaborate rubber suit similar to the “Kick-Ass” character Big Daddy, have retired. Shadow Hare, too, has been missing in action lately, although some speculate he hung up his tights to attend college full time.
But the biggest threat facing real-life superheroes may be that few seem to take them seriously.
By By Steve Ramos, Special to the Journal Sentinel

On a warm spring afternoon in Milford, Ohio, a small town east of Cincinnati that Shadow Hare identifies as his hometown on his Facebook page, most shopkeepers say they’ve never heard of him. If you watch news reports on him and other costumed heroes – including one by WITI-TV (Channel 6) last winter on Watchman that’s available on YouTube – they’re shown as curiosities more than crime-fighters.
The release of “Kick-Ass” could put them into a brighter spotlight.
 

CHULA VISTA, Calif. — Two men are putting on their superhero costumes Thursday in response to a string of sexual assaults in the South Bay.
The men aren’t faster than any speeding bullet, but they are making their presence felt.
They said their sworn enemy is the man connected to at least three attacks on teenage girls in the Eastlake area of Chula Vista.
Members of the so-called Xtreme Justice League took to the streets of Eastlake Thursday evening.
The men are members of a volunteer crime-fighting group that dress up like superheroes to do good.
On Thursday and Friday, the men will be passing out fliers and offering a $1,000 reward for information on the sexual assault suspect, who took off on a skateboard in three of the attacks.
A fourth attack has not been tied to the same person, police said.
The men said they hope to be a visual deterrent for crime and an inspiration.
“I think superheroes represent all that is good, and we want to act as a symbol and also empower people,” said Mr. Extreme of the Xtreme Justice League. “With our patrols, we hope to make it a safer area.”
The group’s fliers include a telephone number for tips, which the group will forward to Chula Vista police.
Police said they are not familiar with the group and don’t advocate vigilante justice.
However, they did say the more eyes and ears out there, the better.
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