Bruce... Wednesday, August 5, 2009 2:40 PM

Does anyone remember the Ablanedos? There was Irene, around my age, and two
little brothers, Butch and Ralph about ages 8 and 10 at the time. Mike and I
concluded that Butch was a brat but Ralph was "nice" - that's all I remember.

I ran into Irene at the base exchange (military store) at Begstrom AFB in
Austin, back in the '70's sometime. We had a nice chat but haven't stayed in
touch.

Here's the bad news... Ralph became an Austin police officer and was shot and
killed by a crazy drug addict/dealer during a routine traffic stop in downtown
Austin, at age 26, leaving behind a wife and a couple of children. That must
have been in the early '80's. There is a street named Ralph Ablanedo St. in
Austin in his memory. The killer was someone who had been a valedictorian and
perfect citizen until he got whacked out on speed and was cruising around Austin
with a loaded AK-47. He was sentenced to death but he has family resources and
there have been two re-trials and another is pending. He is trying to say his
girlfriend was the shooter. Anyway, it makes the local news about every 5 or 10
years and the poor Ablanedo family has to come out and talk to the press. The
mother, who must be in her 80's now, has said that she just wants to live long
enough to see justice served. A total tragedy for that family. Fortunately they
have a huge support group among the police community.

I'm sorry to interrupt the happy talk with something this unpleasant.