Sympathy Pain

In high school, I had a crush on Ami. We went to the Braves game, I bought her a bracelet, but we never “went out”. I was shy back then. Towards the end of our senior year, we had a falling out and lost touch after school. I always wanted to get back in touch with her. When they started working on my 10th year reunion, I got in contact with the organizer. She got me Ami’s information, and we began talking again. I was contemplating divorce, and she was divorced and happily remarried to a police officer in Savannah.

In the last year, I have not heard much from Ami, then I found out why. Her husband was in trouble:

Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Officer Antonio Franklin Taharka was indicted today on a voluntary manslaughter charge in the May slaying of another man.

The Chatham County Grand Jury found that Taharka shot Anthony Smashum with a gun “while acting solely as the result of a sudden, violent, and irresistible passion.”

The grand jury found that action resulted “from serious provocation sufficient to excite such passion in a reasonable person.”

The indictment stated Smashum had resisted arrest, prompting the officer to shoot him.

The same grand jury refused to indict Taharka on a felony murder charge in the case. That charge would have meant the officer committed aggravated assault by shooting Smashum.

Ami sent me this link for his defense fund. Please read over the articles and see if you can help in any way.

Thanks,

Yes, we went out last night…to an adult get together of sorts. My friend Doug invited us over for some gumbo and camaraderie last night. We haven’t really done that with the baby, either gumbo nor camaraderie, so we decided to go. We had a blast and Tony stole the evening. He’s just very laid back…unless he’s hungry… and was great last night. He even discovered Bob Marley. Maybe he’ll become a reggae artist.

The Gumbo rocked. I had never eaten this bayou concoction, but I will place it on my list now. Sarah, having spent time in Alexandria LA, was very familiar with Gumbo and gave it the thumbs up. Being Italian, she doesn’t give food a positive rating unless it’s really good. Maybe Steph can give us a good Gumbo recipe.

Now, I can hear some of you now…”That baby’s too young to have out with groups.” Settle down. They were all great about the baby, and nobody licked him or sneezed on him…that I saw.

Doug is also a photographer. So we took the opportunity to get some publicity shots of Tony. They look great. We will gladly give them to the tabloids for a small fee once Tony gets famous.

We were there for about an hour, and I think it did both of us good to get out on a non baby related errand. I think it’s very important to get out as people instead of slaves of the baby. I also know that Uncle Doug loved holding that baby. I see them getting into trouble in a few years.

Here’s a sample of the pics taken last night. For more you’ll have to go to my Flicker page . Caution, there is alot of cute to be had.