by Lee McGuire
INSIDE CITY HALL

Crime is no laughing matter, but fighting crime can be.

In a discussion about whether to buy a fleet of new helicopters for the Houston Police Department, conversation turned to the age of one of the choppers that's currently used for training.

The poor thing was built in 1975 and looks like something out of "M.A.S.H." On a tour of the helicopter hangar last week, the top training officer for HPD told me that it's been on its last legs for a decade now.

Before voting for the money to replace it, Council Member Mike Sullivan remarked that he was a junior in high school when the training helicopter was built.

Council Member James Rodriguez, who sits next to Sullivan, couldn't resist: "I was born in 1975," he said.

Laughter.

Minutes later, Council Member Peter Brown -- the most senior member of the body -- kept things rolling: "I can make everybody feel better," Brown said.

"I was in pre-kindergarten when the helicopter was invented."

1 Comments

Bulldog Bob said:

WE need to show the Oil Companies that we are sick and tired of being treated like sheap for the shearing . We need to pick 1 Oil Company , say Shell , and quit buying gas there . If everyone in the country would do that we could make them feel a little of the pain we are all feeling when we fill up at the pump . IT IS TIME FOR A BOYCOTT ! Pass this idea on to your friends and neighbors and lets show BIG OIL who they are fooling with .

Bulldog Bob
Houston , TX

May 2, 2008 3:43 PM

Leave a comment

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.