The weekend ended with some interesting local developments. Miami police arrested an 18-year-old, Tyler Weinman, as the suspected Cat Killer; dozens of mutilated cats had spurred massive discontent by the residents toward the police and vigilante groups were even formed. In the end, apparently a profiler with the police detailed a theory that the killer operated between two specific points that he traveled between often. As it turned out, Weinman's divorced parents lived at opposite ends of the studied area and visited both often. The alleged Cat Killer portrayed a smug attitude in his mug shot, but didn't look so confidant today during the video of his arraignment; there, dressed in prison garb and wearing a bullet-proof vest, Weinman looked visibly shaken after a night in the notorious Dade jail. If he is the Cat Killer, police probably stopped a future serial killer in his tracks.
And, Mr. Clucky continued to attract attention from around the world and the support of local powers like the ubiquitous Thomas Barker. Featured last week on The Today Show, CBS News, NBC News, National Public Radio, to name a few, news organizations picked up the story and proceeded to make Mr. Clucky something close to a feathered Joan of Arc. Mr. Clucky's website, mrclucky.com, rose from a relatively stratified, novelty site to one getting millions of hits.

According to The Los Angeles Times, there was no issue about Mr. Clucky's early morning crow as he (and his female hen mate) live in a sound proof closet at night. As is often the case, one, anonymous complaint roused The City to jump before they thought. Now Miami Beach has one, nasty, huge public relations nightmare on their hands, as I predicted. Imagine: The much-hated City Hall Code Enforcement officers--a bunch of malcontents with little education in matters of Code or knowledge in general--threatening a defenseless rooster who only wants to promote the well-being of animals and world peace. Call me Miss Cleo, but I predict the mayor will be awarding "Special Citizenship" and the key to The City to Mr. Clucky soon.

And, finally, there was the fatal shooting of a tourist from Virginia Sunday morning. The full story is being kept as quiet as possible, but it is all over the local news. At 4 AM there was a report of a man with a hand gun walking down Washington Avenue from Fifteenth Street. At that time most of the businesses are closed, but the police waited until they cornered a suspect and another man who turned out to be his brother, at the corner of 11 th Street, where the busy 11 th Street Diner and Twist were still in full swing. Why they didn't corner him in front of a closed business is anyone's guess, but they shot him dead in full view of many witnesses. The problem today is that it seems the man with the gun was lost some where before 11 th Street and the police confronted two unarmed brothers who had just come out of a nightclub; one had his head blown off and the other arrested for disorderly conduct. But the real fun started today with the police first trying to stop local news stations from filming, lawyers related to the victim visiting every business, and the police holding up in their headquarters across the street.

This city needs one, good spin doctor at the moment.