VULTURES STRIKE AGAIN...

Last week I wrote about The Professor and how the 97-year-old got robbed by some hipster kids in the middle of the day.  The act itself disgusted me in that someone would have the audacity to rob a 97-year-old man, regardless of what he claims to be panhandling money for.

Well wouldn't you know it, a week later, the same thing happens again.  This time, it was one of those homeless can collectors who got to him.  Again, in the broad daylight.  This time, I witnessed the whole thing go down.

The can collector was walking across East 35th Street when he spotted the Professor.  He stopped, left his cart on the corner, ran over to the Professor and had a brief exchange with him, all the while, looking around at his newspaper cart.  Next thing you know, the guy's shoving his hand into the Professor's coat pocket, snatched his money and started to walk away briskly.  I started banging on the window then ran outside and yelled at the guy to give the money back.  The guy tried to play dumb and walk away and I kept chasing after him, yelling the whole time.  I chased him about a block and a half before I realized that I needed to get back to the bar.  So while I didn't get to catch the guy, I did get a picture of him (or his back anyways).

Called the cops (who showed up 30 minutes later) and told them what happened and gave them the photo of the guy (see right), which helped a bit. They found the guy's cart and are currently looking for him now.  So hopefully he will get caught soon.  It just concerns me that this guy's getting robbed with more and more frequency and he's basically a sitting duck out there, ripe for pickings by the next skell.  At the same time, try to get him to quit and that's damn near impossible.  It's his life and this is what he looks forward to each and every day, there's nothing else for him.  Kinda sad really.

On another note, I was sad to hear of the passing of ANDY GRIFFITH.  He died today at the age of 86 and was best known for his roles as Sheriff Andy Taylor on the "Andy Griffith Show", and Ben Matlock on the law TV series, "Matlock".  I grew up on the "Andy Griffith Show" and it was and continues to be one of the best TV comedies ever made.  Even now, when TVLand airs the "Andy Griffith Show",  I find myself glued to the TV and watching a few episodes.  He was truly a TV icon and will be missed.

TONIGHT: INDEPENDENCE DAY KICK-OFF! Start your 4th of July festivities tonight with us as we serve up $3 PBR cans along with our regular Craft Beer specials ($3 pints of Long Trail Belgian White, Shipyard Monkey Fist IPA, Sierra Nevada Summerfest, Sea Dog Blueberry Ale, Lagunitas IPA & Magic Hat Elder Betty) and $5 Fireball Whisky shots ALL NIGHT LONG!



Cheers and Happy Fourth of July!