Much of the movie buzz has to do with the late actor Heath Ledger, who died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs back in January. Ledger plays The Joker in The Dark Knight; Ledgers Joker is unpredictable, gritty and disturbing. Knowing that this is the young actors final on screen role is somehow unsettling; he clearly threw himself into the role. The nightmarish image of the demented, scarred clown Ledger portrays will stay with you even after you leave the theater.

The film is about Batman, played Christian Bales, I suppose, but there are so many other colorful characters like The Joker, that the ‘Dark Knight’ is almost boring. It plays out more like a crime drama where the villains are much more interesting than the cops chasing them.

Let it be known that out of all the comic-movies within the last few years this is a standout. Director Christopher Nolan seeks to bend the concept of heroes and villains. Batman, whose only real answer to Gotham’s corruption is violence, asks himself, ‘Am I doing more harm than good?’ Violence begets more violence.

The film does a lot two and a half hours. Almost too much. They could have saved the last 45 minutes for the beginning of the inevitable 3^rd installment. The overload will make you want to talk about the movie afterwards. Certain scenes and plot twists and turns stick with you like post traumatic stress.

Did I mention it was dark? The PG-13 rating is well earned; the graphic violence peaks, as the Joker carves smiles in more than one person just off screen. 

Rating: See it

Enjoy!
Vicki - Fulton Hill News

I’m a bona fide bird geek but you don’t have to be like me to enjoy the thrilling spectacle of swirls and swaths of Purple Martin tornadoes swooping into the city to roost. Take a moment out of your evening to head down to the 17th Street Farmer’s Market just before sunset and take it in. At 17th and Franklin you’ll probably notice a skygazing crowd and you’ll know you are in the right place. Prepare to be regaled and while you might be astounded by the lovely visage, do try and keep your mouth closed. Next month the Purple Martins are migrating to South America so don’t delay.

Make sure you Read the Dog Park Rules (.pdf) before going with your pooch.

Agenda items to include:

• 7th District Blighted Property Concerns
• 7th District’s Crime Stats updates and the Impact Report on the Enforcement Zones
• 7th District Community Concerns
• National Night Out

“Rising energy costs soon will hit natural-gas bills from the city of Richmond.

A typical customer can expect to pay about $19 more per month — from $114 to $133 — under the first of what could be two rate increases planned through the end of next winter, Christopher L. Beschler, Richmond’s director of public utilities, told the City Council last night.” - RTD

For the full article visit Richmond Times Dispatch

• Chief David McCoy thanked the community for getting involved and because of their involvement 2 arrests have been made in this case. The ability to resolve as case early is of the utmost importance. “When you get involved things happen. Together we will keep making progress”. He encouraged all to be proactive to resolve issues within the neighborhood and to call 646-6700 when you needed him. He also mentioned that National Night Out is August 5^th .
• Sgt Allan King He also discussed a briefing of the incident. I suspect was apprehended Monday night, with a 2^nd suspect arrested Tuesday night. He reiterated that the incident was not gang related, and that it was an isolated domestic incident
• Lt. Hood of the Gang Unit added that he would like the community to continue to partnership with police to prevent crime in the future. He also was quoted as saying “Most identified people associated with gang activity within Fulton are your kids.”He reiterated that individual’s families should be responsible for their own children. He also mentioned that 2 gangs with 30 members have been identified within Fulton, and some members have been paroled and are back onto eh streets. He mentioned that watching out for retaliation is important and was quoted as saying “Just because we made arrests doesn’t mean we are going to leave Fulton; this community won’t accept this type of activity here”.
• Lt. Laino talked about the increase in the number of police patrols in the area. He also talked about wanting to deter retaliation. He talked about an increase in bike patrol within the past 2-3 months, as well as doing curfew sweeps within the neighborhood. Lt. Laino also encouraged people to call 911 when they hear random gunfire, and that they should leave their name and phone number with the 911 dispatcher if they would like to contacted by the police. He mentioned that no police will come to your house unless you want them to.
• Lt. Laino introduced Harold Ford the environmental officer in charge of areas a
• Lt. Roco reiterated that people should give very descriptive information when they call the police.
• The floor was opened  up for questions from community members
• Councilwoman Delores McQuinn stated that this meeting was “incident driven” but encourages the community to get involved and state involved. She proposed a question to the community: What are we going to do with our young people? We need to allow opportunities to give the kids things to do during the summer to keep them busy.
• Lt. King wants to community to offer any additional information on the shooting from Monday, and to call 646-6741 with any information
• Lt. Ronca mentioned that the next meeting will be held sometime in September or October, and encouraged all of the community to become more involved. He mentioned that the police department and the community need to work together to reduce crime
• Please refer to the website to contact any of the RPD: www.richmondgov.com/police

A big thanks to Brenda Vickers for providing the minutes from the Community meeting.

To download a copy of the Community Minutes click here (.doc) or here (.pdf).

You’ll be able to get your questions answered and we can talk about solutions.

Location: Powhatan Center
Date and Time: Friday, July 11, at 6 PM.

Post here if you have any questions.

The shooting happened around 10:15 a.m. in the 1200 block of Millwood Road in the Fulton Hill area. Random shots were fired, no one was hit. Police say they recovered a car in this situation. And someone stole a bike. No description is available at this time for the suspect officials are searching for.

Officials do believe this shooting is related to the incident yesterday. This shooting today in the Fulton Hill community happened about six blocks away from the Powhatan pool. Officials do believe both incidents are tied together. Officials don’t believe it is a problem at the pool but, believe it is a bigger problem in the Fulton Hill community.

They are working with Henrico Police to pick up a few people right now.

In regards to yesterday’s shooting, Richmond Police have found Ronshjae McCray, 19; they have him on charges unrelated to this incident. He has not been charged with this shooting. The interim police chief says they are trying to see if he is connected still but, they have not charged him with anything with this shooting.

Officials are canvasing the area, they say they have gotten some really good leads today and they are hoping to make some arrests soon.

Police are still trying to find the people involved in yesterday’s shooting, where police say a teen was shot shot in the chest on Northhampton Street in the Fulton Hill neighborhood. He was taken to the hospital and is listed in critical but stable condition.

The Powhatan pool in the Fulton Hill area will not open today. The park and recreation will remain open. But, expect to see a heavy police presence in the area.

Richmond Technical Center (South Building)

The Richmond Parcel Mapper is a map of the city of Richmond that “permits querying and display of real estate Parcels”. It also makes it easy to find out the Richmond/Henrico border.

And yes, Wall-E is quite a sentimental robot.  He gets his feelings hurt, worries about treading over his cockroach and… even falls in love with Eve (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), who comes to Earth to see what shape it’s in. She is cold and calculating at first but she soon falls for Wall-E’s earnest mechanical heart. All the robots in the movie gush with emotions, which made me wanted to roll my eyes a few times. Then some all too clever, culturally relevant bit of ‘Pixar humor’ would draw me back in.

Don’t expect to walk away from this movie without some not-so-subtle social and political commentary. We are big-box-loving-self-absorbed-dim-witted-earth-killers…And you should know it. I laughed aloud when the ship’s CEO insisted that we ‘Stay the course’. A little self-deprecation is good for the soul.

Make sure to stay for the first part of credits, if you are one of those people like me who likes neat little extras.

Rating: See it 

Please join us at 5214 Parker St, cross streets Winchell St and Nelson St (home of Brandon and Brett Jaycox) next Tuesday July 1st the 6:00pm-7:30pm

Don Coleman will be there to share his own story and listen to your thoughts and concerns.

Send an e-mail to colemanforschoolboard@gmail.com if you plan on stopping by.

Don Coleman will be there to share his own story and listen to your thoughts and concerns.

Free cup of coffee for participants!

Send an e-mail to colemanforschoolboard@gmail.com if you plan on stopping by.

A few minutes after I called 911 and got no response, I started hearing sirens. I spoke to a neighbor the next day; she told me she called 911 the same night and got no response either and no call back.

I reported this to Lt. Laino from first precinct on June 24^th at 5:30pm. He said he would look into the 911 incidents and get back to me. He had no knowledge about the cause of the shooting other than that someone was shot in the chest.

Backup a bit: June 22-I observed a drug deal involving a maroon, four-door car and three African-American (AA) males, one in the car (heavy set, dark skin, one inch afro-hair style; outside the car was: one light skinned AA-male around 5’11” very short hair, handsome, about 190 lbs-strong-medium build-white T-shirt-black shorts-didn’t see the shoes; next to him stood a dark-skinned AA-male with thick corn-row dreads-three or four prominent ones. He also had a Goat-T on his face. He stands about 5’8” and weighs about 145 or 155lbs-around 30-35 years old. White T-shirt, blue-jean shorts-didn’t see the shoes. The guys not driving the car did a hand-to-hand drug deal near the corner of Campbell Ave. and Vista Street in broad daylight around 5pm. I called it in to the police, but didn’t see any police vehicle touring the area.

I learned yesterday that a neighbor saw the same dark-skinned corn-row/dread guy shooting at her dog later that same night on June 22^nd.

I propose we begin a log of neighborhood observations with precise days, times, details. Maybe keep a logbook by your phone. Every time you see a drug deal or hear gun fire-call 911 and report it and then log it in your book. Please note whether or not the police showed up after you called. If they did, what time did they come. If you post your observations on the Greater Fulton website, consider signing it anonymously- I say this because folks running the narcotics game in Greater Fulton have been doing it for a long time, they probably have their own website!