A Deer On Governors Island . . . Wow

Just wow:

A police boat in New York Harbor spotted the deer running along the rocky shore of Governors Island about 1:30 p.m. and sped to the rescue.

Cops shot the 10-point buck with a tranquilizer and hauled him off to a nature preserve near the southwest shore of Staten Island.

Deer aficionado David Bookstaver — who happens to be the spokesman for the state court system — said it’s not unheard of for a buck to swim that far given the current of the river and the fact it’s mating season.

Location Scout: Governors Island.

The Best Defense Against A Carjacking . . .

. . . is a standard transmission:

“We stopped at the light, and he came right over,” Peter recalled. “He was 6-foot, thin.”

“Get out of the car!” the crook barked at Anne, who stands 5-foot-3 on her tiptoes.

The creep then forced down the window on the driver’s side — and stuck his long arm in the car.

“He used a knife to cut my hand” and then swiped Anne’s iPhone, she said.

Things went from ugly to ridiculous by the time the light changed, the couple recalled — and the would-be carjacker’s luck ran out.

. . .

“I’m small — he cannot fit in my car,” she said.

“And I don’t think he could drive the stick shift!”

So, stolen iPhone in hand and his tail between his legs, the driving-challenged car thief took off on foot.

You Can’t Scare Me, I’m Sticking To The Union, I’m Sticking To The Union ‘Til The Day I Die

The Transit Workers Union takes those automatic dues checkoffs very seriously:

Callous union administrators refused to give a dead track worker’s grieving family a customary Bible because he fell behind on his dues before dying, colleagues charged Monday.

. . .

[A friend and fellow signal maintainer] went to the union’s Manhattan headquarters last week to pick up the Bible, but a clerk and Local 100 staffer told him they couldn’t authorize release of the Bible, prompting him to go to the president’s office.

Then a president’s office secretary said a Bible wouldn’t be provided because [dead track worker Jose] Rodriguez was not up to date with his dues and not a “member in good standing,” [the friend] said.

. . .

[O]ther signal maintainers chipped in to buy a Bible, which was presented to the family at the wake last Wednesday, they said.

Union dues are automatically deducted from transit workers’ paychecks, but the checkoffs were suspended for approximately 16 months as punishment for the illegal 2005 bus and subway strike.

During that time, Local 100 urged members to actively make the payments, but many did not. Union leaders disqualified thousands of workers from voting in union elections for not keeping up with their dues.

See also: 2005 Transit Strike.

Bloomberg Could Do Something Classy Here . . .

. . . my guess is he won’t though:

Getting salt rubbed into his wounds, defeated mayoral candidate William Thompson faces $531,975 in potential fines for illegal posting of campaign signs, new Sanitation Department records show.

Thompson’s Democratic mayoral campaign plastered 8,665 signs on street poles and other city property, the records say, resulting in 7,093 separate summonses, each carrying a $75 fine.

See also: Bloomberg For Mayor 2009.

Some Things I Learned Today . . .

1) A Vallone is making it that much more difficult for me to spray paint.

2) Cops walk around with fake badges, or “dupes” so that this way, when they’re “going to go get boxed” on a Friday or Saturday night, they don’t have to say they lost their shield while out drinking.

3) Few people apparently trust a 36-year-old with a $1 billion-a-year city agency, even ones busy “tending to the people’s business” (but why so much Benjamin Button hatred?).