Yes, you may say, "Yes" to MAY--Miracles for All of Us, Yes!

This year I was able to enjoy not only May Day and a pep rally complete with full moon, bon fire, drumming and outdoor band of youth grades 7-12 with their families and cook-out all enlivening the spirits of young and old...but got to wish someone close to me a Happy 50th and enjoy my own Special Day for 51 Year-Olds on this date, 5-1.

In the MA Shoppers Guide online, I will run an  ad for 5-7 and 5-14 to wish folks well (especially Moms who are keen on helping each other but they are an example for US-all).

In addition to the title of this post, I wrote up on a piece of paper as I have for each month for a year, a little poem or inspiriational thought with simple happy-face heart, star and acorn drawings (plus a gourd for complimenting everyone for being gourdeous and winking at a friend who really has a thing for the bumpy little ones to brighten her table as well as trees and turtles...so far).

Having just read about the Baltimore finding of holding six police officers accountable for the death of Freddie Gray, I hope some of the joy and reflection of these posts can resonate with more regular citizens. We all need to do a better job at caring for ourselves and watching out for one another in ways that can help prevent crime.

Part of that may be considering whether there is an element of 'karma' or actions resulting from behaviors or even attitutes (from not only a recent past but from possible other influences in one's family line or community.) There really is a lot to think about and it can be overwhelming to have a big think all at once..

Likely we need to have teams and think tanks work through issues and cull the wisdom then share it in bite-size pieces. I took a Community- Police Relations and Awareness Training in the past month. I hope to share some of the basics in another post. For now I will say it was very helpful to begin to hear what the training and protocol is for being a police officer at the town versus the state level.

They are responsible for a wide array of services and situations to protect people and property and the overall safety of a community. The list goes on and on in terms of the many types of crime they address, from checking on people, homes with alarms, assisting at emergencies such as fires and traffic, monitoring roads for drivers who may be violating the traffic laws and much more.

We hardly touched on domestic abuse, but that was clearly mentioned a few times by yours truly and likely there will be more of a component on that. Actually during the acting out scenarios night, which was held at a school and at dark, a domestic call was re-enacted with a couple swearing at each other (played by officers and others not in the class). The class of 20 or so were the responding officers in pairs, with real vests or belts, batons not to be used, fake blue plastic guns, and real handcuffs which we'd each tried to use or had put on us as practice.

The discussion came up as to whether one or more people could be arrested for yelling at each other. and while the MA police officers said not really, I know of other cases at least in CT where that would be a disorderly conduct charge for one or both parties if not an abuse charge.

If threats to harm another were made then likely that would have merited at least a warning if not an arrest. In CT that likely would be an arrest and the judge would sort it out. Basically, every state and set of people trying to assess and arrest on probable cause varies not only with their state laws but with whether the responding officers apply them equally.

Same goes for once people who get arrested go to court. There may be 'automatic orders' or 'consequences' such as protective orders, abuse charges or protections for the victims. Some states factor in a victim's statements and requests but generally will weigh that with the evidence. If someone has been hurt or property damaged likely there will be an arrest.

There is a lot to learn about this area and likely the police could have regularly updated sessions with sites such as www.barrygoldstein.net and www.lundybancroft.com Those two could be thought of as expert consultants and since they ARE exactly that the police and really the law and policy makers could take their lead from them.

All the steps have to be clearly spelled out for officers to respond with due process to any call, whether domestic, traffic, criminal or other (mental health, property, drug possession, etc). Well, this day is one that started off with happy spring time dancing with a hundred kids stepping out of a fairy tale from yester year, with flowers and bright colored clothing and ending with hundreds of kids and family all enjoying the music of Berkshire Bateria and a warm summer evening that ended with fireworks.

Now it's time for Sweet Dreams with a new day of road races (in Sharon CT), plays )in Torrington and Great Barrington for those in each town, and other pleasant around-the-town gatherings, including some from visitors from Texas for me, yee-ha! May is up and running and after a good night's sleep, I hope to be too...