When Bad Things Happen To Good Vehicles

If I stand in the right spot in my office, I can see the building where this happened:

A woman was formally charged in Allen Superior Court on Thursday in the case of an 11-year-old girl who smashed a car into Delmar Video at 5311 Merchandise Drive late last week.

Jennifer N. Dettmer, 26, faces one felony count each of neglect of a dependent, criminal recklessness, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. According to a probable-cause affidavit, Dettmer let the girl drive a 2001 white Mitsubishi around the parking lot. The girl then drove the car down an embankment, through some grass in front of the building and into the store. Several shelves of videos were thrown into a woman at the store, injuring her head, arm and hip. The car also struck a railing at the front counter, injuring a man. The car came to rest at the front counter, the affidavit said. Damage to the store was extensive.

In a completely coincidental story: if my uncle stands in just the right spot on his back porch, he might be able to see the woods where this happened:

A local pleasure cruise by the Beverly-based Hood blimp went sour when the ship developed rudder problems shortly after take off and wound up caught in treetops several miles from its base at the Beverly Airport.

The lone pilot, Leigh Bradbury, was unhurt and there were no passengers.

Rescue crews safely lowered Bradbury by rope, harness and ladder to the ground from the cockpit.

The crash came after Bradbury radioed the Beverly Airport tower to say that the blimp was having rudder trouble and was planning to crash land just before 1 p.m. Sept. 26. Air traffic controllers in the tower in turn called the Fire Department to say the ship could come down in Beverly Farms.

Emergency crews from Beverly and Wenham, and later Manchester-by-the-Sea searched the Beverly Farms area for the crash scene, which was just over the town line in Manchester-by-the-Sea, in a heavily wooded area north of the Brookwood School.