Found a couple creepy, hand-written lists (I’ll save the “Best Scarey Movies” for Halloween) on an empty table at Scottsdale’s Mustang Library:

My Favoritest Movies, Ever

1) The Psycho.

“The Shower Scene” has to be the sexiest, ever! This is the best Albert Hitchcock movie (except maybe “The Halloween.”) He is, truly, an ingenious.

2) My Dog Skipped.

For those who havent’ seen it, I wont’ give away the ending. But I cried like a baby when the kid died.

3) Harold & Mod.

The old lady is hilarious! I love it when she swears! Very sexy. Continue reading →

According to unconfirmed reports, dozens — and possibly scores — of applicants for the so-called “Obamacare” health-care reform are becoming so frustrated by applications that suddenly delete, options that take forever to show up and other problems with crashing Affordable Health Care websites that they are suffering heart attacks at their computers. Tea Party officials are pointing to the “Obamacardiac Arrest” epidemic as another reason to crash the entire system.

Meantime, administration officials remain skeptical of these unconfirmed reports, suggesting Tea Party propaganda. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told a reporter that he had heard the Tea Party was setting up ailing, elderly folks in front of computers, clicking on healthcare.gov and “just waiting for them to die. This is the most heartless, cynical strategy the world has ever seen. Ever.”

At massive Tea Party meeting, many proudly displaying wearing grenade vests. Thundering applause to keynote speaker Ted Cruz, who declares, “Obamacare is Satan!” Breakout workshops include “Russian Roulette: A Primer,” “Six Hundred Sixty Six Reasons Why Obamacare is Evil” and “Poverty is Laziness, NOT a Disease!”

Tom Scanlon’s writing projects blog . . . “Writing projects,” does that sound like a high school homework assignment, er what?

Click here (http://oceanshoresphotos.wordpress.com/) for all those beach and wildlife photos . . .

This will be a photo-only blog, with monthly “best of” contests. Send your recent beach/O.S. life photos to: tomscanlonsblog@gmail.com.

Click here to go to the Ocean Shores Blog (where all O.S. stuff has been moved).

Dear Little One,

I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting you, but I hate hearing you referred to as “Baby Doe,” so please excuse my presumption and allow me to give you a new name:

Baby Shores.

I’m naming you after the place where you lived your whole, painfully short life. What happened to you in Ocean Shores is shocking the whole state and, by now, probably most of the country. In quiet little Ocean Shores, to the horror of the events, people have an added layer of puzzlement:

Why here? How could something so awful happen in such a nice place? Continue reading →

Thanks to blog reader/commenter who provided this tip: A 21-year-old female and male were arrested last night and are being held in Grays Harbor County Jail with no bail set for Assault in the First Degree. The pair may be tied to the case of the baby that was found dead in Ocean Shores on Friday night. Definition of the crime they are charged with below:

(1) A person is guilty of assault in the first degree if he or she, with intent to inflict great bodily harm:

(a) Assaults another with a firearm or any deadly weapon or by any force or means likely to produce great bodily harm or death; or

(b) Administers, exposes, or transmits to or causes to be taken by another, poison, the human immunodeficiency virus as defined in chapter 70.24 RCW, or any other destructive or noxious substance; or

(c) Assaults another and inflicts great bodily harm.

(2) Assault in the first degree is a class A felony.

Komo news story.

OCEAN SHORES, Wash. — Police are looking for answers after a woman stumbled upon a dead infant during a Friday evening walk in Ocean Shores.

Police say the woman was walking with her dog in the 200 block of Fisher Avenue NE at about 6 p.m. when she noticed a rag hanging from a branch in a wooded vacant lot.

When she walked over to investigate, the woman found a dead baby on the ground, according to Jeff Myers with Hoquiam Police Department.

Police don’t yet know how the baby died, but Myers said it appears the child was a newborn and likely wasn’t born in a medical facility. Police don’t know who the mother is, but they worry she may need medical attention.

Anyone with information about the mother or baby is asked to call the police.

Or the worst? Either way, this will be a benefit, with all proceeds going to North Beach PAWS (in memory of the great Joan Baus) and the Ocean Shores Food Bank. Tentative subtitle is “From Mayor Pie Fight Challenge to Shortsale Homes and the Case of the Vanishing General Fund.” Or, possibly, “I Fought City Hall – and City Hall Won.” Will be available at amazon in a week or two. More details as they submerge . . .

Now I know the excitement tinged with anxiety of NCN letter submitters: Will my little missive be selected for publication? Oh, the suspense!

And newspapers wonder why they lose readers . . . Letter to the NCN Editor, and his response:

LETTER TO EDITOR

Mr. Bruscas,

I was sorely disappointed by your recent editorial regarding the motion made by Council member Schroeder to affirm the discontinuance of the surf rescue program.

I was disappointed because I thought that as a seasoned reporter, you would at least have a knowledge of the term “ethics”.  Instead, I found that you only repeated the blather of another council member who clearly doesn’t understand the meaning of the word.  Continue reading →

*Pope Approves Gay Marriage

*North Korea Threatens to Blow Itself Into Annihilation: “We Have the Technology and the Will”

*”A Gun in Every Backpack”: New NRA Plan Unveiled

*Ocean Shores Mayor Crystal Dingler Gets New Title: City Administrator (Pay of $100,000 Per Year)

*New Owner Plans to Form Own Government, Re-Launch as The Villages of Unincorporated Grays Harbor County

*City of Ocean Shores to Hold “Town Hall” to Cut Taxes, Apologize to Citizens: “Seriously, We’ll Really Listen From Now On!”

*North Coast News Announces Re-Hiring of Tom Scanlon! (But With New Title: “Paperboy”)

Another strange “Bucket List” has surfaced, this one found in the pocket of a battered leather jacket  at the Aberdeen Salvation Army. It reads:

Things 2 do before I OD:

10) Give my parole officer a wedgie

9) Find a job where I  get paid but don’t have to go

8) Take so dope if feels like skydivin

7) Slash every tyre in Aberdeen and Hokie Continue reading →

USGS earthquake site here. If you 

Is this just a scary-sounding pre-April Fools joke, or a legitimate threat? I’m hoping it’s the former, but something makes me wonder about this email from an obviously fictitious email address (shutdownscanlon@gmail.com)

Scanlon:

Shut down your blog.

SHUT IT DOWN NOW, YOU PATHETIC UNEMPLOYED BEGGAR!

If not, you will regret this decision as long as you live. You have 24 hours to completely remove all your stupid blog’s postings and snarky comments. (The photos we could care less about.)

Who we are, individually, is of no concern to you. Rest assured that, as a group, we hold great power – and are unafraid to use it. While we are centered in Ocean Shores, a great town that you tirelessly trash, our reach exceeds far beyond the city gates.

And if you do not immediately shut down this blog, we will take control of your Bank of America account, your various credit card accounts, even your pathetic Stephens Media 401k account.

Your credit will be so screwed, you won’t even be able to get a library card.

We will blacklist you so that no legitimate employer in Arizona will hire you. You’ll be fighting with the Mexicans for day work.

On top of that, you’ll be put on a Homeland Security Watch list, so that you’ll be strip-searched any time you try to fly.

We thought you would just blow off some steam with this blog and then disappear like a boil that’s been lanced. But you continue to disparage our mayor, our department heads, our paramedics and policemen, even our prized library.

No longer will you spread insidious half-truths and insinuations about alleged abuses at what you sneeringly call “the lie-bury.” This is where our children learn, you piece of crap! Just because an RFQ was not done the way YOU wanted it to happen, do you think we will roll over and let you ruin our most sacred institution?

That goes for your half-assed jokes about the hard-working paramedics. When you had the gall to suggest that we would replace our worn out ambulances with a “fuel-efficient limousine,” that truly was the last straw – and put a target right on the back of your skull!

And then your statement that, “The Ocean Shores Police are the best in the state – at busting senior citizen pot smokers.” Do you have any idea how many law enforcement professionals across the country you offended? Continue reading →

Things to do . . . before I go bankrupt:

10) Already did a Sewer LID and Street LID — how about an Air LID?

9) Build a new Police Station that’s twice as big as the Fire Station.

8) Pay the computer consultant guy to do “preventative maintenance” not just on every computer, but every copy machine, cell phone, coffee machine and desk lamp.

7) Quietly bring back Surf Rescue under “Double Secret Overtime.”

6) Instead of just laptops, update communication in OSPD vehicles with these. Continue reading →

The following was found in a leather jacket donated to an auction in Beverly Hills. It is believed to be a “Bucket List” written by a Hollywood stunt man.

Things To Do Before I “Clock Out”:

10) Wrestling an alligator. Blind-folded. (me, not the gator)

9) Flying over the Grand Canyon in a hot air balloon with a leak.

8) Driving a Maserati 120 mph down the freeway. In reverse.

7) Ride a scooter around Sturgis yelling “Harleys are for woosies” until someone starts chasing me. Continue reading →

The following rolled-up paper was found in the back of a dresser sold at Aberdeen’s No. 1 Pawn Shop:

Before I die, I want to:

10) Shake hands with someone who shook hands with someone famous

9) See that 3D movie about skydiving

8) Eat something “exotic,” like vegetarian Continue reading →

From Jen Hough:

Photo and narrative by J. Smersh: “Today was just one of those Ocean Shores kind of days. It started with brutal cold, hail, and snow and then ended with clear skies and wonderfully spring-like weather. As a result, I was able to snap this late afternoon moonrise photo looking out over over Grays Harbor.”