Channeling Knute Rockne; Keep the Home Fires Burning; Throwing Shots On Mt. Di; and a Big Semper Fi

Our email inbox started to flood Wednesday after a series of in Moraga and Orinda got readers talking and chimney sweeps reported an uptick in their business.

Two of three fires damaging homes in Moraga and Orinda during Tuesday night’s storm and again on Wednesday afternoon were fireplace related and neighbors we know were taking steps to make sure it didn’t happen to them.

Tough Coach? Or Tougher Parents?

There’s also a bit of talk going around about a local coach whose approach to communicating with his players may have ticked off a parent who felt he was too stern. Apparently there’s video of the moment that leaves the coach’s actions open to interpretation but we’re told the school involved chose to take action anyway and the coach may be out of a job.

More on this one later.

Hacked – but Tranquilly.

Those of you who read us regularly have come to know and love our – Joe Queirolo.

Joe’s approach to living on the land and making our gardens better struck a chord with Patch readers but although his computer is powered by a photovoltaic cell, Joe does use email from time to time and – it turns out – he was hacked recently.

If you’ve been around you know how it works. Hackers – usually based in Canada or the UK – crack a stateside email account and upload a program that takes over your email box and promptly sends a spam message to all your friends – with your name on it.

In Joe’s case, the spam was this:

 Hi,
I'm writing this with tears in my eyes,i came over here to London,United Kingdom for a short vacation.Unfortunately,i was  mugged at the park of the hotel where i am staying,all cash and credit card and phone was stolen off us but luckily for me  still have my passport.

I've been to the Embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and my return flight is scheduled to  leave in few hours from now but i'm still having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let me leave  until i  settle the bills.I am writing to you because i really need your financial assistance..Please,let me know if you can  help me out..

I'm freaked out at the moment.

If you know Joe you know he doesn’t make spelling errors and he doesn’t “freak out,” so we knew instantly it was a con.

We like to have a little fun with these bozos from time to time so we played along, sending messages of consolation and promises of $3,000US in a momentary wire transfer to “UK Joe” in hope of getting their attention and at least keep them bouncing them around from one bank to the next.

Eventually they got tired of waiting and we got bored and we thought that was the end of the story, until a policeman came walking up Joe’s – the real Joe’s – driveway.

“Friends of yours got this email saying you were in trouble in London,” the officer said (nice guy).  “They wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Joe spent the rest of the day thanking his many friends, none of whom tumbled to this popular con, and untangling the damage done to his email account. 

Throwing Shots on Mt. Di Boulevard

And everyone seems to be talking about the in downtown Lafayette Friday, the owner of the store coming up with a handgun and firing two shots at two men attacking his display cases with hammers.

One of those shots apparently hit one of the would-be thieves as an unidentified man later checked himself into Alta Bates in Berkeley with a hole in him he didn’t have earlier in the day. Police aren’t saying too much about the incident, and local jewelers are apparently on edge as they have been victimized before – with varying degrees of success.

Lastly But Not Leastly, Our Airborne Marine

We had some nice comments on our last , in which my ex-paratrooper papa asked for some in-flight consideration for a Marine corporal coming back to the Bay Area after a tour dancing with the Taliban in Afghanistan. If you missed it, my old man asked a planeload of American Airlines passengers to stand aside for Corp. Mackenzie Simeon so he could de-plane first – and they did, along with a standing O.

Video of the Hallmark Moment? Nope, everyone too busy… but they did snap a shot of the old man, Mac, and the best of family friends Jane Steffes upon landing.

Semper Fi.