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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?


crash_davis

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Did the construction really fuck the 360 / Westlake drive light?  Did the city or TxDOT change that light cycle?  My commute has added 10 minutes daily now in the last month.  Seems like it's solid traffic SB in the afternoon from the bridge to Westlake Dr, when it used to only back up to the light just north of it.  

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7 hours ago, HRSchenker said:

Has the AAS editorial board always been unhinged? I'm not a big Ken Paxton fan but I don't get this....

Since when has robbery been a "nonviolent" offense?

https://www.statesman.com/story/opinion/editorials/2024/04/17/ken-paxton-texas-attorney-general-proposal-plan-extend-reach-local-government-editorial/73338806007/

THE POWER OF SURLY

 

editorial.png

 

Edited by HRSchenker
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Damn homeless keep dragging wood to the back of my office to build shelters. We aren't just talking little shit, but like street sign size 5x8 x 3/4". Motherfuckers, I only have a standard sized trash can and I have better things to do after work than drag the shit somewhere else.

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What the fuck is a 'Moonbattier'?  Don is a helluva nice guy, but he's a little over the top even by Texas GOP standards.  And really abrasive and kinda creepy at times.  He's like a less intelligent and more awkward Grover Nordquist.  Matt is scheming, but ultimately...what he could he possibly do with this position?  He wants to check a box on his resume and that's well and good.  What I am curious about is if he wins the seat, and he likely will............this is all so new given the last Prop vote.........can an elected official of another office, carry out the duties of the appraisal board in good faith?  Not saying Matt would do anything sideways, and I'm sure there are a number of other appraisal boards around the state that will soon have on them elected officials (mainly local/county).  But in 1-2 cycles, it's going to raise some legit legal/ethical questions.  Think of a massively partisan appraisal district that raises/decreases appraisals so they can turn around in their other office and blame the other party before the next election if they're in a tight race.  Matt's safe, but I could see this becoming an issue in a lot of suburban A.D.'s and the like.  Where some county commissioner or party chair or what have you colludes with others to rise or fall valuations to effect tax increases/decreases so they can take credit for their main office run or to use the alternative to blame the other side.  It's Texas Jake, we're gonna find a way to fuck this up.  

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What the fuck is a 'Moonbattier'?  Don is a helluva nice guy, but he's a little over the top even by Texas GOP standards.  And really abrasive and kinda creepy at times.  He's like a less intelligent and more awkward Grover Nordquist.  Matt is scheming, but ultimately...what he could he possibly do with this position?  He wants to check a box on his resume and that's well and good.  What I am curious about is if he wins the seat, and he likely will............this is all so new given the last Prop vote.........can an elected official of another office, carry out the duties of the appraisal board in good faith?  Not saying Matt would do anything sideways, and I'm sure there are a number of other appraisal boards around the state that will soon have on them elected officials (mainly local/county).  But in 1-2 cycles, it's going to raise some legit legal/ethical questions.  Think of a massively partisan appraisal district that raises/decreases appraisals so they can turn around in their other office and blame the other party before the next election if they're in a tight race.  Matt's safe, but I could see this becoming an issue in a lot of suburban A.D.'s and the like.  Where some county commissioner or party chair or what have you colludes with others to rise or fall valuations to effect tax increases/decreases so they can take credit for their main office run or to use the alternative to blame the other side.  It's Texas Jake, we're gonna find a way to fuck this up.  

They’ll massively drop property values for people who vote/support Republican. They’ll set punitively high values for libtards. It will be a straight-up partisan reward and punishment game.

Come on. Imagine the clumsiest, most transparent kind of partisan fuckery, and that’s what they’ll engage in. These aren’t particularly clever or subtle people. You know that.
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3 hours ago, PvilleStang said:

Did the construction really fuck the 360 / Westlake drive light?  Did the city or TxDOT change that light cycle?  My commute has added 10 minutes daily now in the last month.  Seems like it's solid traffic SB in the afternoon from the bridge to Westlake Dr, when it used to only back up to the light just north of it.  

The light at old spice wood springs and 360 has been ill timed since November. It basically rotates through every scenario in the rotation, every time, regardless if anyone is waiting in one of the directions. I had an hour long convo with a very helpful woman from txdot that leads the 360 construction project back in February and she was more than willing to help. The next day she told me that COA is actually responsible for all lights on 360. I put in a request to COA online. It was immediately marked as closed and nothing has happened in 3 months. Good luck.

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5 minutes ago, Orange&White said:

The light at old spice wood springs and 360 has been ill timed since November. It basically rotates through every scenario in the rotation, every time, regardless if anyone is waiting in one of the directions. I had an hour long convo with a very helpful woman from txdot that leads the 360 construction project back in February and she was more than willing to help. The next day she told me that COA is actually responsible for all lights on 360. I put in a request to COA online. It was immediately marked as closed and nothing has happened in 3 months. Good luck.

What kind of backwoods regard puts a city not a department of transport or I dunno, some traffic oriented government entity in charge of traffic light patterns. 

:::check thread title:::

Forget i asked

It's fixed, case closed

Edited by BurntEyes
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1 hour ago, Bevo said:

Damn homeless keep dragging wood to the back of my office to build shelters. We aren't just talking little shit, but like street sign size 5x8 x 3/4". Motherfuckers, I only have a standard sized trash can and I have better things to do after work than drag the shit somewhere else.

Just some friendly unhoused beavers.

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2 hours ago, YGIFS said:

He's better than Don Zimmerman.  Have no idea who the other guy is, to be fair.  

If the "other guy" is Jett Hanna, he's legit. He was a higher up with Texas Legal Insurance Exchange (maybe still is), which is a non-profit insurance entity for professional liability insurance that seems really well run (I am a member for the last 15 years, get dividends each year). I trust him with numbers, and to not try to impose some sort of agenda. 

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9 hours ago, Orange&White said:

The light at old spice wood springs and 360 has been ill timed since November. It basically rotates through every scenario in the rotation, every time, regardless if anyone is waiting in one of the directions. I had an hour long convo with a very helpful woman from txdot that leads the 360 construction project back in February and she was more than willing to help. The next day she told me that COA is actually responsible for all lights on 360. I put in a request to COA online. It was immediately marked as closed and nothing has happened in 3 months. Good luck.

Been my experience with the light at Courtyard and 360.  Put in a 311 ticket, and went back and forth for a while, and they admitted the sensor equipment was malfunctioning and thus it just goes into a default cycle.  Then they close it with no further input or estimated time of repair.  Might have to put in a few more tickets, but seems like that 360 / Westlake drive one might be Westlake, and thus TxDOT.

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33 minutes ago, PvilleStang said:

seems like that 360 / Westlake drive one might be Westlake, and thus TxDOT.

360/Westlake is 4+ miles from the city of West Lake Hills line, if that's what you mean by "Westlake".

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10 hours ago, Bevo said:

Damn homeless keep dragging wood to the back of my office to build shelters. We aren't just talking little shit, but like street sign size 5x8 x 3/4". Motherfuckers, I only have a standard sized trash can and I have better things to do after work than drag the shit somewhere else.

Wood? Sounds flammable. 

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13 minutes ago, Mittens said:

360/Westlake is 4+ miles from the city of West Lake Hills line, if that's what you mean by "Westlake".

Good point.  I know it’s a nice shorthand for people, but there’s no such city as Westlake.  It’s just a Drive and a High School.  There’s not even a precinct or census tract called Westlake.  It obviously caught on long before I moved to Austin.  
 

speaking of that area, what the fuck with 2244 lately?  Last few months the light timing has changed drastically.  

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5 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Good point.  I know it’s a nice shorthand for people, but there’s no such city as Westlake.  It’s just a Drive and a High School.  There’s not even a precinct or census tract called Westlake.  It obviously caught on long before I moved to Austin.  
 

speaking of that area, what the fuck with 2244 lately?  Last few months the light timing has changed drastically.  

Which part?  West of 360 heading to Bee Cave has been pretty consistent as long as I can remember, as long as no one gets in a wreck along Bee Cave Rd.  I no longer commute through the Rollingwood / WLH section of BCR, so can't speak to that.

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lol at lights being timed at all for efficiency. there are so many shit examples but loyola in general has lights that blow. my personal favorite for time immemorial is the seeming inability for the city to time lights on a schedule. ain't no college kids crossing dean keaton at 8 am on a sunday but that doesn't stop all those lights from going red so ghosts can cross on non school days. 

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12 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Austin still has its good moments….

 

IMG_2799.jpeg

Can confirm... that was fun and a lot of people just getting together with no worries save for trying not to cross their lines.  I love Zilker.

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Eh, it is what it is.  There's kites and strings in trees every year after kite fest.  There's confetti and cascarones after Easter.  There's beer bottles and to-go boxes pretty much every Monday.  I'm out there probably 4x/week with the dogs, so I see all the little changes day to day.  I'm much more upset w/ the incompetent park staff that can't figure out the irrigation or the cunts who don't pick up their dog's shit than I am w/ kites in trees.

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11 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

They’ll massively drop property values for people who vote/support Republican. They’ll set punitively high values for libtards. It will be a straight-up partisan reward and punishment game.

Come on. Imagine the clumsiest, most transparent kind of partisan fuckery, and that’s what they’ll engage in. These aren’t particularly clever or subtle people. You know that.

I suffer from a lack of imagination. Can you detail how this could be accomplished?  

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2 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

I suffer from a lack of imagination. Can you detail how this could be accomplished?  

Easy.  Before your appraisal hearing, Mackowiak runs your name against the records of primary voters.  Vote in his party's primary?  Your $800k house gets a reduced value to $400k.  Vote in the wrong primary?  Your $800k house stays at $800k, regardless of any evidence to the contrary.  It's not hard.  All that it takes is corrupt intent, and an already-existing index of primary voters.

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3 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Easy.  Before your appraisal hearing, Mackowiak runs your name against the records of primary voters.  Vote in his party's primary?  Your $800k house gets a reduced value to $400k.  Vote in the wrong primary?  Your $800k house stays at $800k, regardless of any evidence to the contrary.  It's not hard.  All that it takes is corrupt intent, and an already-existing index of primary voters.

So, at a minimum, to appear fair, and avoid going to prison, he’d likely do the same for a large portion of his opposition party. If equal, that would mean up to 60% getting a break. Also, why the assumption this doesn’t already happen. I know one team is pure and all, but they are still politicians. And that should immediately knock off 50% of their assumed moral intentions from the start. 

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3 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

So, at a minimum, to appear fair, and avoid going to prison, he’d likely do the same for a large portion of his opposition party. If equal, that would mean up to 60% getting a break. Also, why the assumption this doesn’t already happen. I know one team is pure and all, but they are still politicians. And that should immediately knock off 50% of their assumed moral intentions from the start. 

The thing is, he wouldn't go to prison.  What he would do is not a crime.  He's not taking a bribe, or receiving any direct benefit.  He's just favoring one type of party over another for bullshit reasons.  Just like any judge could weigh all the factors, and consistently sentence minority defendants to 2X the prison sentence that white defendants get -- not a single law is broken.  Thus, the basis of most of my rants on this board for the past decade+ : the dirty secret about our entire system is that it is really built on trust.  Not on criminalizing all wrongful conduct -- that simply can't be done.  And when one group decides "fuck that trust, I'ma do whatever I want," it all breaks down. And....here we are.

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32 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Easy.  Before your appraisal hearing, Mackowiak runs your name against the records of primary voters.  Vote in his party's primary?  Your $800k house gets a reduced value to $400k.  Vote in the wrong primary?  Your $800k house stays at $800k, regardless of any evidence to the contrary.  It's not hard.  All that it takes is corrupt intent, and an already-existing index of primary voters.

I call bull on that one.  He'd be more inclined to lower every vote and blast it in attack ads to gain voters from the left. It'd drastically reduce home values to force the City to reevaluate their budgets and trim a bunch of fat.  Overvaluing home appraisals is too much of a gift to the city coffers for him to consider such things.

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7 minutes ago, PvilleStang said:

I call bull on that one.  He'd be more inclined to lower every vote and blast it in attack ads to gain voters from the left. It'd drastically reduce home values to force the City to reevaluate their budgets and trim a bunch of fat.  Overvaluing home appraisals is too much of a gift to the city coffers for him to consider such things.

Also an option.  It matches up with the current GQP goal of "say gov't can't do anything, then starve it to death and break it to prove yourself right."  Bottom line....nothing good, not a single damned thing, can come from putting Mackowiak and Zimmerman in any position of power.

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I think Brisket is being overly-paranoid, and I say that as someone who is paranoid himself but respects Brisket IRL.  I doubt they would go house by house, particularly in certain neighborhoods where it's actually a blended political lean like mine.  You could ''get away" with it in heavily blue or red precincts......but not in a mixed area that also includes many non-voters/independents.  

But I'll use this as anecdotal evidence.  My HOA of about 100 homes.  It's about 50/50 R/D with almost nobody sitting out any cycle even school board.  Because we're all hyper-engaged in politics.  But you pull an FEC or local precinct donation report or primary voting ballot pull, it's literally about 50/50, maybe a slight lean R...so maybe 55/45 in a crazy year.  You couldn't pull off what Brisket is talking about because we already have so many tax protests going on because one house is putting in a pool and addition worth $750k, while the home next to it (like ours with little Gremlins living inside it) remains stagnant in terms of improvement.  So I protest that, and it gets a few bucks shaved off.  

But if something like Brisket comes to fruition, the cottage industry that could be made out of protesting appraisals based on political targeting (assuming you could prove it, and it wouldn't be that hard)...........it would scale statewide in one taxation year and change everything we know about property taxes forever.  It's highly unlikely, but were it to take hold, it would be a tectonic shift.  We don't know yet, because it's the first implementation of the new Proposition.  I don't know that's necessarily that political, but it would sure as fuck be financial.  Going before an appraisal board with thousands of other homeowners citing evidence that you're valuations are far higher than your neighbor on either side who happened to pull R primary ballots and donate to local R candidates.  That's disruption from everything to tax protests, to how people vote in primaries going forward.  It could be a bizarre way to convert people to voting in R primaries and donating some cursory amount of money to a local R candidate as a veiled threat.  90% it won't come to that, but it is an interesting theory to game out.  

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1 minute ago, YGIFS said:

90% it won't come to that, but it is an interesting theory to game out.  

Now, apply the Brisket rules of this timeline, which have a 99% accuracy rate:

1) It only gets worse.

2) There is no bottom.

And there you have it.

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16 hours ago, PvilleStang said:

Did the construction really fuck the 360 / Westlake drive light?  Did the city or TxDOT change that light cycle?  My commute has added 10 minutes daily now in the last month.  Seems like it's solid traffic SB in the afternoon from the bridge to Westlake Dr, when it used to only back up to the light just north of it.  

Yes. I think they changed it to lower the backup on westbound westlake drive.  

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3 hours ago, PvilleStang said:

Been my experience with the light at Courtyard and 360.  Put in a 311 ticket, and went back and forth for a while, and they admitted the sensor equipment was malfunctioning and thus it just goes into a default cycle.  Then they close it with no further input or estimated time of repair.  Might have to put in a few more tickets, but seems like that 360 / Westlake drive one might be Westlake, and thus TxDOT.

Enjoy that light while you can if you live in that neighborhood.   The next handful of years are going to suck as they convert 360 into the proper highway it should be, but the end result will hopefully be worth it.  I am worried that until they figure out a way to widen the Pennybacker and fix the intersection at 183, I'm not sure it will do much more than provide a "hurry up and wait" scenario.

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2 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

Enjoy that light while you can if you live in that neighborhood.   The next handful of years are going to suck as they convert 360 into the proper highway it should be, but the end result will hopefully be worth it.  I am worried that until they figure out a way to widen the Pennybacker and fix the intersection at 183, I'm not sure it will do much more than provide a "hurry up and wait" scenario.

I work near there, and hate that light with a passion.  They only cycle E/W every other light cycle, so it takes forever leaving in the afternoons.  And they have on the Eastbound side, a dedicated left, then a left / straight / right lane, and it's always assholes that clog the right lane wanting to turn left, so anyone who wants to right turn on red to head south is fucked waiting for the next cycle in roughly 6-8 minutes.

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Oh, and this light would solve 80% of the issues by dedicated right turn lanes and traffic sensors!  Too many cycles where they turn green for empty lanes while the others are backed up waiting.  And don't get me started on the E/W pedestrian crossing taking 45 seconds.

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1 minute ago, PvilleStang said:

I work near there, and hate that light with a passion.  They only cycle E/W every other light cycle, so it takes forever leaving in the afternoons.  And they have on the Eastbound side, a dedicated left, then a left / straight / right lane, and it's always assholes that clog the right lane wanting to turn left, so anyone who wants to right turn on red to head south is fucked waiting for the next cycle in roughly 6-8 minutes.

It's definitely a mess.  We live near there but no that particular neighborhood, so I mostly go through that light going north or south on 360.  Add in all the dipshits parking wildly and running around on the highway so they can climb the hill to get their Instagram shot of the bridge, and that area is a mess.  I recall when Coons donated it to the city, the plan was for them to add real parking and make it an official park.  I assumed this would come with maintenance, guard rails, etc.  It still looks like a crazy clusterfuck to me with no safety measures taken, and I assume taxpayers are footing the bill when dumbasses taking selfies fall (which they have).

1 minute ago, PvilleStang said:

Oh, and this light would solve 80% of the issues by dedicated right turn lanes and traffic sensors!  Too many cycles where they turn green for empty lanes while the others are backed up waiting.  And don't get me started on the E/W pedestrian crossing taking 45 seconds.

Soon it will be only dedicated right turns as there won't be an overpass.

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18 hours ago, YGIFS said:

What the fuck is a 'Moonbattier'?  Don is a helluva nice guy, but he's a little over the top even by Texas GOP standards.  And really abrasive and kinda creepy at times.  He's like a less intelligent and more awkward Grover Nordquist.  Matt is scheming, but ultimately...what he could he possibly do with this position?  He wants to check a box on his resume and that's well and good.  What I am curious about is if he wins the seat, and he likely will............this is all so new given the last Prop vote.........can an elected official of another office, carry out the duties of the appraisal board in good faith?  Not saying Matt would do anything sideways, and I'm sure there are a number of other appraisal boards around the state that will soon have on them elected officials (mainly local/county).  But in 1-2 cycles, it's going to raise some legit legal/ethical questions.  Think of a massively partisan appraisal district that raises/decreases appraisals so they can turn around in their other office and blame the other party before the next election if they're in a tight race.  Matt's safe, but I could see this becoming an issue in a lot of suburban A.D.'s and the like.  Where some county commissioner or party chair or what have you colludes with others to rise or fall valuations to effect tax increases/decreases so they can take credit for their main office run or to use the alternative to blame the other side.  It's Texas Jake, we're gonna find a way to fuck this up.  

helluva nice guy? This dude is a psycho abuser

https://theaustinbulldog.org/candidate-lost-custody-over-abuse-2/

https://theaustinbulldog.org/zimmermans-lawyer-threatens-to-sue-the-bulldogagain/

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On 4/18/2024 at 8:47 AM, hayden_horn said:

lol at lights being timed at all for efficiency. there are so many shit examples but loyola in general has lights that blow. my personal favorite for time immemorial is the seeming inability for the city to time lights on a schedule. ain't no college kids crossing dean keaton at 8 am on a sunday but that doesn't stop all those lights from going red so ghosts can cross on non school days. 

Remember a few years back when the CoA spent $26 million on some system to coordinate the traffic signals? How'd that work out for you? Pretty sweet, huh?

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https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/homeless-man-arrested-for-attempted-kidnapping-of-8-year-old-girl-in-se-austin

A homeless man was arrested Sunday after attempting to kidnap an 8-year-old girl at a park in southeast Austin, police said.

Jeffery Alan Harpster, 36, approached a family having a picnic at Pleasant Valley Road near Lady Bird Lake and tried to grab the girl, according to an arrest affidavit. The girl's father intervened and Harpster claimed the girl was his niece and he had a responsibility to take her.

Police said Harpster had approached the family earlier asking for food and left, but returned and focused on the young girl. He allegedly jumped over their picnic food trying to take control of her.

The father told police Harpster became physically violent, swinging his arms, when confronted. Harpster tried to approach another female before being stopped by bystanders.

A search of Harpster's backpack found 0.9 grams of methamphetamine, the affidavit said. This was the second call about Harpster that day, after a report he followed two females to their vehicle and tried to get inside with them.

Harpster was arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping and possession of a controlled substance, both state jail felonies.

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4 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/homeless-man-arrested-for-attempted-kidnapping-of-8-year-old-girl-in-se-austin

A homeless man was arrested Sunday after attempting to kidnap an 8-year-old girl at a park in southeast Austin, police said.

Jeffery Alan Harpster, 36, approached a family having a picnic at Pleasant Valley Road near Lady Bird Lake and tried to grab the girl, according to an arrest affidavit. The girl's father intervened and Harpster claimed the girl was his niece and he had a responsibility to take her.

Police said Harpster had approached the family earlier asking for food and left, but returned and focused on the young girl. He allegedly jumped over their picnic food trying to take control of her.

The father told police Harpster became physically violent, swinging his arms, when confronted. Harpster tried to approach another female before being stopped by bystanders.

A search of Harpster's backpack found 0.9 grams of methamphetamine, the affidavit said. This was the second call about Harpster that day, after a report he followed two females to their vehicle and tried to get inside with them.

Harpster was arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping and possession of a controlled substance, both state jail felonies.

FAFO.....he'd be breathing through a straw as I'd beat him within and inch of his GD, worthless fucking life.  How he got so close in the first place is on the dad.  He already approached once.  Then came back and lunged after the little girl.  Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  

As for the highlighted part.  Will they prosecute?

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