Tuesday, November 6, 2007

745- SWAT.. FLASHBACK 9

THERE WERE SWAT COPS WITH SHOTGUNS IN EVERY DOOR
It was in Terre Haute, Indiana:
We had been
sent by the company to do some repair and minor changes to a golf course just finished by the company a few months before. The golf course was built for the city of Terre Haute and under the direction of the Parks and Recreation Department superintendent named Willie Waylon. There was a Groundskeeper named 'Jeff' and two of his assistants there that day. My co-worker 'Charlie' and I made up the rest of the crew that morning. So we were six.
The morning turned out to be a day of very heavy rain, bringing to a complete stop any thoughts of working that morning. So there we were all there with nothing to do when Willie Waylon the PRD head decided we should go to a Dutch Pantry and play a little stud poker for fun and a few dollars. We all agreed to this and away we went to play a little poker.
In the Dutch Pantry at about 9:00 am there was no one else in the place so we sat at a large round family table in one of the dining rooms and became engrossed in the poker game. We were playing away undisturbed when a man appeared in one of the doorways for a minute and then left, never saying a word. We really didn't pay any attention to him at all.
About an hour later suddenly there were swat cops everywhere, a shotgun in every door and the Chief of the Terre Haute police department in charge of the 'raid'. This is when the morning took the strangest turn that I could ever imagine. The chief took one look at Willie Waylon and said, "What are you doing here?" To which Willie replied, Were just playing a friendly game of poker." The Chief then turned to the swat team and said, "Boys, this is a mistake you can go now." I was never so utterly flabbergasted in my life! They all simply took off, left, outta there, not another word.
The explanation to this happening...
You see
the city of Terre Haute was a very tight political organization all aligned with the Mayor, if you were a friend of the mayor, which Willie Waylon was, you were untouchable, could do no wrong. It is for that reason everything turned out as it did. It seemed, as we found out later the owner of the Dutch Pantry had called the police, afraid he would get in trouble not knowing just 'who we were.' I was just freaked out, simply stunned.
Now you remember me mentioning the man who stood in the doorway.. He was swat surveillance, he looked at the layout, counted how many of us we were and made the plan of attack. Needless to say that was the end of the poker game in the Dutch Pantry...
.....GED.....

1 comment:

glend558 said...

I only noticed this after I posted the picture.. There is a police car at the Dutch Pantry. Do you see it too? Swat team....