POLICE: THEY CAN DO NOTHING

Coffee this morning was all about fear, tension, nervousness and what to do about CW (not me). After his explosion yesterday several women are frightened. They don’t want to be around him and are doing all they can to avoid him. A few people called and left messages with the authorities and had asked for a call back. No phone calls have been returned. I wrote up a report and emailed it this morning trying to emphasis the fear many were feeling and the lack of safety and security they had especially with the threat from the inside.

Reactions have been to move out. They wanted to know why the police were not called. Chas said he had called and a deputy returned his call to say he would not be coming. CW’s outburst did not constitute an emergency. Not to them, obviously.

The complaining about CW was loud and demanding answers. Why aren’t the managers doing anything? They had said for weeks they were working on it, but we hear no updates and he is still here threatening and frightening people. The Home is labeled a safe and secure place. I doubt that is believable at this time.

The discussion moved on to a class action lawsuit. A few of us tried to steer clear of that without discouraging the idea. The decision was to give them time to respond to those of us who have written and called. We have a meeting on Monday to celebrate birthdays. I wrote the woman who usually comes to bring someone with authority to talk to us and listen. The social director has not knowledge or authority.

I came back to my apartment to eat breakfast. I left early this morning to buy our maintenance man mocha. I told him I would after pulling him out of church to turn off my smoke alarm. It wasn’t long until Gail came and asked if we should go to the sheriff’s office and ask for advice. Sounded like a good idea so off we went.

We explained to the receptionist what had happened and that 911 was called and the caller was told they would not be coming. She said Chas did not make a call. That was a surprise since Chas said he made the call. She searched the records and told us there has only been one call from our address. That came from CW telling them Chas was stealing his girlfriends. Ridiculous.

When asked for advice we were told to contact a lawyer and see if the situation warranted a class action lawsuit. It was management’s responsibility not the police.

I looked Chas up when we returned to ask about his call to the police. He immediately pulled out his phone and showed me when he called 911 and when the deputy called him back. I don’t know what happened but something was screwy.

I’m beginning to wonder if this place is as funny as I have always thought. What is happening now is not funny at all. Chas really feels the pain. He is under serious attack and did nothing to deserve what is coming his way.

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO HEAR ME

To hear my message and be amazed and stimulated not to mention shocked that I spoke nearly mumble and stumble free (OK, there were some) go to:

Living Word Christian Center, Silverdale, WA

Click under the video Icon on Past Sermons Here

Go to “It’s Just Not Fair” and all three sermons are there.

I recommend 9/24/11 7:00 pm (that’s Saturday and I think it was the best.)

In case you are curious the pastor is on the back right on guitar, his wife is the back right on keyboard, his son is on the front left guitar and his daughter is in the front center as lead singer Now sing "We are a happy family." I love these people (I have to say that. He might read my blog).

Here is the link to the Saturday night Service that Clyde spoke at. It starts at the 32 minute mark.

http://ustre.am/:1bnXD - The pastor

ON THE WAR PATH

If the Indians don’t revolt and start attacking the soldiers, it will be a miracle. Something must be done. CW (not me) flew off the handle again and this time with the largest audience he has had to date.

The tribe had finished playing bingo and many were leaving the dining room to go back to their apartments. He tore into Chas with the longest string of foul words imaginable. He threatened to kill him and beat him to a pulp. Again Chas kept his mouth shut saying only “bring it on.” He then let him rant. When Chas finally got free and out the door, CW stormed down the hall from the entrance to the elevator yelling and swearing and threatening anyone is sight … , well I’m not sure that’s right. Maybe he was just yelling at the walls.

What he did do was frighten a large group of women who did not know where to go and hide or if they were safe. He was ranting and raving and coming right at them. They stayed in the dining room and a few backed into the kitchen. Most women are afraid to walk into the halls as it is. They look out their door to see if he is there before they leave their apartment. If he is getting off the elevator when they want on, he is given a wide berth.

It is laughable that CW called the police to report that Chas is stealing his girls. The whole issue is so ridiculous and absurd to everyone but CW. He is serious. He takes every opportunity to tell anyone who will listen about Chas stealing his girlfriends. It never happened and no one can figure out how he even got that strange idea. I was there for the very first encounter and Chas did nothing and said nothing. CW has got it in his mind that Chas is taking his girlfriends and will not let it go. No one will ever take his girlfriends. No one believes he will ever have a girlfriend. We all know he has mental issues and should never have been let into this facility in the first place. If he isn’t removed soon there will be more move outs.

At the last resident meeting to celebrate birthdays, people wanted answers to the problem and all discussion was shut off. They owe us an explanation. I don’t care how hard it is or frightened they are to listen and talk to us — it must be done. A written note taped to our door will not satisfy or answer the questions. Residents are angry.

I suspect the Housing Authority would like to wait until they can say they have found a place for him and he will be moving on such and such a date. I don’t care if he is moving tomorrow, many others, and I want and explanation as to why his language and threats are being and have been tolerated. He wouldn’t be the first mentally ill person on the street. I know that is hard and cruel and I would prefer he had a place to go. But our women deserve a safe environment. They were promised one as well. Where is it?

IT IS FINISHED

Obviously I did not write Sunday night as I promised. (I must stop making promises). I under estimated how tired I would be. It was a great weekend. I was pretty relaxed. I was nervous initially, but as the day to preach got closer I had no fear of the audience. I was familiar enough with this congregation that I was completely comfortable being up front. I had study sufficiently that to fully believe I was on the right track and God was in this.

If you ask me and who else would you ask, Saturday night went the best. I stayed on track all night and while I wished for more laughter (I think I’m funny), it was clear the audience was tracking with me. I never saw a single person wandering away. I can’t remember when I have had that kind of total response. I got lost once and had to hesitate to find my place. But I managed to stay with my outline and included all I had planned.

When I got home that night I went back over the outline because I had the feeling I got lost because something was in the wrong order. Didn’t seem like it. It was also a wonderfully warm night )most likely our last of the season so Chas and I sat on the front porch talking till nearly 11:00. Seems like it was the warmest of our three-week summer.

It was cool Sunday. But not raining when I walked to church. My apartment next-door neighbor was there. She had been in the hospital and had come from recovering at her daughter’s home. It was great to see her. She looked terrific — tired, but terrific. She3 things she is coming back to The Home Tuesday.

Both Sunday services were more difficult. I had the physical energy for two services in a row, but some of the mental stamina was gone. Strangely I stumbled in the same place as Saturday night. While it looked OK, I now knew something was turned around but it was too late to fix. I just trusted God to help me get through.

I thought all was fine for that service. There were six people from The Home – all friendly faces. But I forgot my best joke — one about the poor band not being able to afford shoes. Many members of our church band play barefooted. It was my best laugh on Saturday. The hardest part about missing that joke at that service is it was the only service the band hears. I felt like my audience contact slipped a bit by this second service but there were some very encouraging comments.

I was most troubled by the last service. I got a tickle in my throat that water would not wash away. My voice slipped into mafia kingpin mode with a hoarse somewhat nasal sound. Reminded me of Marlon Brando in the Godfather. Then the coughing started. I managed getting a couple to the side away from the mic, but one was directed right into the mic. I think when I covered my mouth I caught it in my hands and hacked right into it. It sounded a bit like an explosion. I may have even deafened some people.

My family came to that last service and my grand kids would were wonderful to me. My daughter was very pound. She knew what few knew. I needed this opportunity to complete a restoration from years ministry pain. I had convinced myself that I had no place in a public ministry. That had much to do with the nervousness. While I believed the quality slipped some with each service, it was completely healing for me as it reassured me that God has blessed my ministry of the past and had not thrown me out with the garbage as some of his servants had done.

All in all I am grateful for the opportunity and that God gave me the courage to try again. Cindy is a hard workingwoman who brings a number of seniors each Sunday from a care facility and came with her boyfriend on Saturday night. I know nothing about the boyfriend but he was so focused and had a tear running down his left cheek from time to time. He was with me all the way. I really wanted to know his story. She threw her arms around me on Sunday morning and told me it was wonderful and hoped I would speak again.

I was very surprised and, glad God spoke to her and hoped the pastor didn’t hear her comment. While the opportunity was spiritual healing for me, I don’t need more. it is no longer a life goal. Admittedly it kicked a bit of new life into these weary bones. I would beg to do it often if it caused weight loss, but alas, that didn’t happen.

I'M STILL HERE!

“This is not an uncommon event; space debris is re-entering out atmosphere all the time," said William Ailor, director of the Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies at The Aerospace Corporation in California.”

The satellite did not strike Washington or any of my Canadian friends, as far as I can tell. But as it turns out (sic. They don’t type any better than I do), Chicken Little was right — the sky is falling. With all the stuff somewhere up above, and NASA reporting that junk is falling all the time, Someone better come up with a light weight steel umbrella. The NW rain doesn’t bother me, but when it rains satellite parts I think I have reason to want a steel umbrella.

Remember the song What Goes Up Must Come Down.

Do you know everything you do

Has a reaction in kind

What you give is what you get

Since the beginning of time

If you hurt someone it's fair to say

Sooner or later it's comin back your way

You can't play games without any risk

Better beware and remember this

What goes up must come down

The things you do come back around

I know cause I found

What goes up must come down

I guess we have always known about reactions, but we did it anyway. My friend Anna sent this little story my way. Not everything about modern society is better. We may like the ease and for some we sould not want to go back, but we may be paying for the kind of progress.

"In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

"The woman apologized to her and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

"The clerk responded, " That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

"She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

"Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

"But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

"We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

"But she was right; we didn't have the green thing in our day.

"Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right: we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

"Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

"In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

"When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

"Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

"But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

"We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.

"We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

"But we didn't have the green thing back then.

"Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service..

"We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

"But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?"

I'll write again late Sunday. And no, I don't know why the font and size kept changing.

THE SKY IS FALLING

It was a little surprising to read on the net tonight that Western Washington was/is in the path of that bus falling from the sky. They say this used up satellite that may or may not come down while I’m sleeping (maybe while you are sleeping as well) and it may hit my area and possibly my friends in Western Canada as far east as Calgary, Edmonton area. I happen to be on the bottom floor so expect that if it hits The Home this place may be damaged and my roof may sag but I should be OK if I sleep under my bed.

Pleasant dreams and let me know if you survived. If I don’t hear from you I can only assume you are no longer here to write.

AN ORDINARILY PLEASANT DAY

It ended up being newsletter day. Once a month I am in the final stage of finishing up the monthly schedule of activities (not many events this month since I’m not planning anything), the jokes and info that administrators want me to pass on. I not only printed in the last newsletter that I was done planning events I mentioned it to several people who could and should do something. I did list one thing — a Halloween Day potluck. We have always had one and while I have set the day and time, I never do anything else to make it happen. That is my concession to event planning. As a result the calendar looks pretty empty. Celebration of Birthday party’s, the flu shot clinic and the potluck. It may take awhile before anyone misses any of these things. Time will tell.

I always finish up the newsletter as soon as I have interviewed someone for his or her profile story. October is about out new maintenance man and his wife. They seem like terrific people. They moved here from Texas. They had a few years where they hobnobbed with the wealthy of Texas society – as employees. They worked as estate managers for an heir to the King Estate, the largest ranch in Texas probably about the size of Washington State. He was an office assistant to the retired David Pace, founder of Pace Picante Sauce. And he worked for a famous Naval Seal who wrote Lone Survivor, about his experience of capture in Afghanistan. I reached out my hand to Robert Kennedy when he was stumping for his brother John’s run for the presidency. I was one of thousands. That’s it. That’s the most famous person I have ever been near. Can’t say met, as that didn’t happen.

I liked visiting with them and writing the story as their introduction meeting to us told us nothing about them. He is shy and the administration barely talks. It was a bomb – not the good kind.

I finished the day working on my message for the weekend. I’m actually getting excited. I’m getting afraid that I am so over prepared they may have to come and haul me off the stage. That might be entertaining.

Saturday I am off the three soccer games. Glad it’s going to be nice. Last weekend it was so windy the team going into the wind could hardly do a thing. That’s what I blame Morgan’s loss own and I’m sticking to that story.

Happy first day of fall! Out summer seems to have just been here for a couple of weeks so we would like more summer weather. We will see.