This week has been crazy. With the dollar spike in prices came riots, gunfights and chaos. The phones have been out here for almost three days, so I am glad I set up Odeo and Skype accounts for everyone in the tribe. We are the only people in the neighborhood with phones, so we have been swamped by people making calls to loved ones.  I also have someone manning the short-wave and scanners almost 24-7, and the situation is becoming dire indeed. The scanner has provided us with valuable information, and we have become the "local news" source for our neighborhood. We have more and more people coming in and out of our house for info and news, and the neighborhood is really pulling together. Because of the ongoing chaos, we as a neighborhood decided to start armed patrols. I hope no one gets hurt. Everything is quiet right now, and this is the first real rest I’ve had all week. I am gonna update WWO and then get some well earned sleep.

The situation is this. Lafayette is becoming a war zone. We can see the haze and smoke of the fires from 6 miles out where we live, and the local police in our township are non-existent. Brian, the now ex-cop I spoke of last week, told me that all of the towns around Lafayette have been asked to send their police forces to help stem the chaos. Out of the 4 towns around Lafayette, only "mine" and one other have sent their police. But the reports from Lafayette are disturbing. The north-side Walmart was attacked and burned down by a group of 25 people. First, they shot some clerks and a cop. Then, they took everything they could carry, which was mostly electronics(dumbasses) and then they burned the place down. That made me angry, considering all the food and useful merch they burned.  Other, or the same, groups have attacked groceries, butchers, gas stations (4 burned in the last 24 hours), and even a half ass assault on the main police station. That one was repelled, but that means "they" are gonna try again, and try harder this time.

Things have been fairly quiet, but a neighbor caught 2 guys stealing gas last night. He warned them off but I know it is just the start. Once word gets out that we have a food, guns and knowledge, I know that "they" will come for it. We are all scared.

The scariest was what Brian, the cop I wrote about last week told me. He said that there is an outlaw army massing in Lafayette. A lot of the people in the poorer section of town have been rioting, and there have been reports of the same 30-40 people robbing or attempting to rob gun and sporting good stores. He told me that these guys are stockpiling weapons, and that the Lafayette Police won’t even go into a lot of the North side of town. The "leader" is calling himself the "Duke of Lafayette"(how original), and claims to be the LAW in town.  Watch out for this sort of thing in your area

Brian  also said a lot of the cops are getting out, and that soon law enforcement will be nonexistent in Lafayette. I need to get the last of my friends out while I can.

We have spent most of this week making a series of defensible positions, and set up a perimeter with fencing, SUVs and ditches. We did the whole block, and have been suggesting the surrounding blocks do the same thing. I hope we don’t have a need for it, but we just may, and better safe than sorry.

We are relatively unaffected by the gas spike.  We have been growing our own food for awhile, and don't worry too much about travel.  But, I am going to have to go into Lafayette  tomorrow or the next day to get out the last of my people.  I am scared, but Brian is coming, as is Jonathan, our resident martial arts expert.  Between the three of us, we can manage.  I just hope my friends are alive and well. We are gonna take my old 78 chevy pickup, burns a ton of gas but it is made of metal, so if we have to fight through we can. I hope it doesn't come to that.

WWO's, get ready for bad things in your area. Watch yourself, don't travel alone(don't travel at all!!!), and prepare a defensible area for yourself and family.   Get your neighbors to watch your back, and watch theirs!! If we all pull together, the crises can't pull us apart.

Stay alive!!! 

Now it's time to sleep.