Detained By NPD

On Wednesday the TPO meeting adjourned just after Noon, while the TRAC meeting wasn't until 6 P.M. Having some time to kill, I wanted to take a longer bus routing using a route I hadn't rode in awhile, also stopping at a Burger King for lunch. Since I was taking Route 15 from the TPO meeting, I decided to take it north to Evelyn Butts, there transfer to Route 8, with the 8 taking me down Tidewater Drive to the Burger King at the intersection with Virginia Beach Boulevard. The 8 is a fairly important route and I had rode that portion maybe once in the past year.

Sure enough, the 15 was running late. I missed my transfer at Evelyn Butts, so I had to wait there 30 minutes for the next Inbound 8. Within minutes, patrol cars from the Norfolk Police Department (NPD) were circling in the area. Finally, an officer came up, parked, and got out of his car.

There had been a man drunk & disorderly at the Wawa on the other side of the block and I was told I fit the description NPD had been given. I was questioned, the officer radioed in my driver's license number for a check, and he then began sobriety tests. Since I hadn't had a drink in nine days, I was making child's play of the tests. As the third test was completed, it was radioed back that all the checks on my license had come back negative. I was released and the officer drove away. No apology came from him.

As I had time to kill waiting for that Inbound 8, the stop in itself didn't really bother me. Actually, since I get a sadistic pleasure out of making idiots feel stupid, I was silently chuckling at the cop. If worst had come to worst, the security tapes from the bus would have put me on the vehicle when the incident happened.

Two young men were also waiting there: one who had been on the 15 with me, the other who had seen me get off the 15. They were incredulous at what was happening. We laughed at it once the cop left.

I now enter that category of having been unjustly accused of a crime by law enforcement. I'll be able to better grasp what others are going through when it happens to them.

Kelly's Backstage Tavern

Arriving in downtown Norfolk in late morning to see the movie Madea Goes To Jail (very good), I stopped in Kelly's Backstage Tavern for an early lunch. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't.

When I entered, two employees were there but neither greeted me. After having to find my own way to a table, it was nearly 15 minutes before I got a waiter. (I considered walking out.) He had an "I don't really care" attitude. It then took nearly 30 minutes before my lunch arrived.

My French Dip had tough meat. The cheese was melted largely to one side of the sandwich. The french fries were undercooked and some stuck together.

While I've had mostly good experiences with Kelly's Tavern at Pembroke Mall, avoid their Granby Street location.