Never a knife

By Susan Larson (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, December 8, 2007

"A bunch of good neighbors came to the rescue with shovels in Pelican Rapids Tuesday. Snow removal was not the object, however.

Pelican Rapids Police Department was called to Hillside Apartments around 4:10 p.m.

Two individuals were smoking in the parking lot of the apartments when Omar M. Abdi, Pelican Rapids, allegedly came towards one of the individuals with a knife in his hand, Officer Scott Sachs said. The victim saw Abdi coming towards him and tackled him.

Several tenants saw what was happening and came out with shovels in an attempt to break the fight up.

The victim sustained a knife cut on his lip and left cheek and right bicep. The wounds are not life-threatening, Sachs said. Abdi was arrested and is expected to be charged with second degree assault and disorderly conduct.

The incident is still under investigation, but it appears the victim and Abdi are neighbors in the building and do not get along, Sachs said."

Those new to this country would do well to take note of the fact that knives are not the tool of choice when settling differences between neighbors no matter how different they might be. Assault gets you thrown in the slammer where your neighbors could be worse yet. It gets your mugshot at the top of the page for all to see and when the time comes for you to become an American citizen it will be on your resume. A felony conviction might get you deported.

Shovels are also not the tool of choice to break up fights, though they might be effective. Cell phones and the numbers 9-1-1, in that order will get help to you pronto. That number is to be used for emergencies only meaning police, fire or ambulance.