Sunday, July 28, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Back in Mississippi ...
Back in Mississippi (Local Band Below), but the Farm is up for sale, and lynn and i am ready to move on (listen to the Words of the Band below!)
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Swords to Plowshares, San Francisco
http://www.swords-to-plowshares.org/
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Doctors-turn-detective-suspect-UCSF-colleague-3071314.php#ixzz2EtoW7c4dAn anesthesiologist has been charged with stealing the credit cards of her fellow physicians from their UC-San Francisco lockers and then charging designer dresses at Macy's.
Wanda Heffernon, 40, of Richmond, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 23 felony charges, including grand theft, possession of stolen property forgery and unauthorized use of a credit card.
Heffernon was arrested Tuesday after her fellow doctors initiated their own investigation and noticed that her dress size was the same as the dresses purchased at Macy's using the stolen credit cards, according to the San Francisco district attorney's office. Ultimately, police also found dresses purchased with the stolen cards during a search of Heffernon's home, prosecutors said.
Between February and July, four doctors had one credit card each taken from their bags, which had been left in UCSF hospital's Fellows Room. The doctors each have a locker but at the time the same key could open any locker.
The doctors talked with one another and realized they were all victims of unauthorized charges at Macy's, prosecutors said. The doctors contacted the department store and photographed items similar to those that had been charged to their cards, according to prosecutors.
"They noticed (Heffernon) wearing what appeared to be some of the items purchased at Macy's with the stolen cards," district attorney's spokesman Clarence Johnson said in a statement.
At a party at Heffernon's home in June, several other doctors also noticed items that appeared to have been illegally charged to their accounts, including a Ralph Lauren quilt, prosecutors said. At another party attended by Heffernon at a fellow doctor's home, a jewelry box containing family heirlooms was taken. When police searched Heffernon's home on Aug. 10, they found the missing jewelry box and its contents, prosecutors said.
"The doctors did this work on their own and then brought everything to UC police," said prosecutor Alan Kennedy.
"The investigation confirmed their suspicions."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Doctors-turn-detective-suspect-UCSF-colleague-3071314.php#ixzz2EtoLf3QNIssue date: February 02, 2000 Wanda Heffernon
By ANNE H. KIM A former UCSF Stanford Medical Center anesthesiologist, out on bail in a previous felony arrest, was arrested again January 27 on charges of robbing two elderly Portola Valley women.
Wanda Newbreast Heffernon, 41, of Richmond, had been out on a $45,000 bail in December when she allegedly stole diamond rings from a 94-year-old and bookends from an 80-year-old, said San Mateo County Sheriff's Detective Gregory Eatmon. Ms. Heffernon, who has licenses to practice medicine, surgery and physical therapy, was employed with Dublin-based Career Staff Unlimited, a temporary physical therapy agency, and hired as a temporary therapist at The Sequoias retirement community in Portola Valley where the two elderly women lived, said Detective Eatmon. Investigators with the Sheriff's Office arrested Ms. Heffernon after they found the stolen items in her home in the 3000 block of Hull Drive in Richmond, said Detective Eatmon. Ms. Heffernon faces charges of strong-arm robbery, elder abuse, possessing stolen property, and committing a felony while out on bail for another felony. Bail was set at $350,000 and Ms. Heffernon was to appear in court on January 31. A staff person with the temporary agency said a statement on the agency's background check policy would be faxed, but it was not received by the Almanac before press time. Ms. Heffernon is already facing up to 14 years and eight months in state prison, up to $40,000 in fines and total restitution for losses if found guilty and convicted for another felony arrest in August of last year. In that case, Ms. Heffernon is being charged with burglary, grand theft, credit card fraud, and forging signatures to gain controlled substances, said Alan Kennedy, an assistant district attorney in San Francisco. Ms. Heffernon allegedly used the stolen cards to purchase at least $8,000 worth of clothing, jewelry and housewares at Macy's department store, said Mr. Kennedy. Police also found in Ms. Heffernon's home jewelry that had been reported stolen, said Mr. Kennedy.
San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Robert Foiles said Wanda Newbreast Heffernon preyed upon an "extremely vulnerable" victim while working temporarily as a physical therapist in a nursing home. Foiles sentenced Heffernon to spend two years in state prison and pay $2,000 in restitution.
Heffernon, 42, had pleaded no contest to elder abuse and receiving stolen property, both felonies. Prosecutors dropped a charge of strong-arm robbery in exchange for her plea.
Heffernon -- out on bail and facing criminal charges in San Francisco -- was working at a Portola Valley nursing home in late 1999 when she pried the wedding and engagement rings from a woman who had worn them for more than 65 years. Foiles said there "is a dark side to Ms. Heffernon that is difficult to fathom."
With credit for time served in San Mateo County Jail since her arrest, Heffernon could be released in a matter of weeks by the state Department of Corrections, Deputy District Attorney Kathy Rogers said.
Heffernon worked as an anesthesiologist and taught at UC San Francisco until her arrest by San Francisco police in September 1999. She is suspected of forging prescriptions and stealing credit cards and jewelry from colleagues,
San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Alan Kennedy said.
While out on bail, she went to work as a physical therapist for a medical service that sent her to the Portola Valley nursing home. While there, a 94- year-old woman reported that her rings were stolen and another said a valuable set of bookends was missing.
San Mateo County Sheriff's Department investigators found the stolen property at Heffernon's Richmond home, along with
a substantial amount of stolen prescription medication, court records show.
Sidney Liebes, whose mother's rings were stolen, recounted yesterday the pain his mother felt both physically and emotionally. He said the rings "had enormous sentimental value," and he expressed frustration that Heffernon was not convicted of more-serious crimes.
Once she is out of state prison, Heffernon faces prosecution on 44 criminal charges in San Francisco, 41 of them felonies, Kennedy said.
Heffernon, who has been in custody in lieu of $350,000 bail, told the court she is "sorry" for her actions. Her attorney, Colin Cooper, said Heffernon is in a recovery program from drug addiction while in jail and asked that she be given probation rather than a prison sentence.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Doctor-Who-Preyed-On-Elders-Sentenced-Ring-2724669.php#ixzz2EtmDNnKp
Anesthesiologist convicted of elder abuse, gets two years
SAN MATEO – An anesthesiologist who stole a wedding ring from the finger of one of her patients was sentenced to two years in state prison.
Wanda Newbreast Heffernon, 42, of Richmond was convicted of felony charges of elder abuse and receiving stolen property. She must also pay $2,000 in restitution.
Heffernon pleaded no contest to the charges.
Heffernon was working at a Portola Valley nursing home in late 1999 when she stole a diamond wedding ring and engagement ring from a 94-year-old woman.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Doctor-Who-Preyed-On-Elders-Sentenced-Ring-2724669.php#ixzz2Etm3HrFY
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Doctor-Who-Preyed-On-Elders-Sentenced-Ring-2724669.php#ixzz2Etlme9Nb
Doctors turn detective, suspect UCSF colleague
Jim Herron Zamora, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF
Published 4:00 am, Thursday, August 19, 1999
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Doctors-turn-detective-suspect-UCSF-colleague-3071314.php#ixzz2EtoW7c4dAn anesthesiologist has been charged with stealing the credit cards of her fellow physicians from their UC-San Francisco lockers and then charging designer dresses at Macy's.
Wanda Heffernon, 40, of Richmond, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 23 felony charges, including grand theft, possession of stolen property forgery and unauthorized use of a credit card.
Heffernon was arrested Tuesday after her fellow doctors initiated their own investigation and noticed that her dress size was the same as the dresses purchased at Macy's using the stolen credit cards, according to the San Francisco district attorney's office. Ultimately, police also found dresses purchased with the stolen cards during a search of Heffernon's home, prosecutors said.
Between February and July, four doctors had one credit card each taken from their bags, which had been left in UCSF hospital's Fellows Room. The doctors each have a locker but at the time the same key could open any locker.
The doctors talked with one another and realized they were all victims of unauthorized charges at Macy's, prosecutors said. The doctors contacted the department store and photographed items similar to those that had been charged to their cards, according to prosecutors.
"They noticed (Heffernon) wearing what appeared to be some of the items purchased at Macy's with the stolen cards," district attorney's spokesman Clarence Johnson said in a statement.
At a party at Heffernon's home in June, several other doctors also noticed items that appeared to have been illegally charged to their accounts, including a Ralph Lauren quilt, prosecutors said. At another party attended by Heffernon at a fellow doctor's home, a jewelry box containing family heirlooms was taken. When police searched Heffernon's home on Aug. 10, they found the missing jewelry box and its contents, prosecutors said.
"The doctors did this work on their own and then brought everything to UC police," said prosecutor Alan Kennedy.
"The investigation confirmed their suspicions."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Doctors-turn-detective-suspect-UCSF-colleague-3071314.php#ixzz2EtoLf3QNIssue date: February 02, 2000 Wanda Heffernon
program and clinical coordinator at Swords to Plowshares
Physician arrested; elderly women robbed
By ANNE H. KIM A former UCSF Stanford Medical Center anesthesiologist, out on bail in a previous felony arrest, was arrested again January 27 on charges of robbing two elderly Portola Valley women.
Wanda Newbreast Heffernon, 41, of Richmond, had been out on a $45,000 bail in December when she allegedly stole diamond rings from a 94-year-old and bookends from an 80-year-old, said San Mateo County Sheriff's Detective Gregory Eatmon. Ms. Heffernon, who has licenses to practice medicine, surgery and physical therapy, was employed with Dublin-based Career Staff Unlimited, a temporary physical therapy agency, and hired as a temporary therapist at The Sequoias retirement community in Portola Valley where the two elderly women lived, said Detective Eatmon. Investigators with the Sheriff's Office arrested Ms. Heffernon after they found the stolen items in her home in the 3000 block of Hull Drive in Richmond, said Detective Eatmon. Ms. Heffernon faces charges of strong-arm robbery, elder abuse, possessing stolen property, and committing a felony while out on bail for another felony. Bail was set at $350,000 and Ms. Heffernon was to appear in court on January 31. A staff person with the temporary agency said a statement on the agency's background check policy would be faxed, but it was not received by the Almanac before press time. Ms. Heffernon is already facing up to 14 years and eight months in state prison, up to $40,000 in fines and total restitution for losses if found guilty and convicted for another felony arrest in August of last year. In that case, Ms. Heffernon is being charged with burglary, grand theft, credit card fraud, and forging signatures to gain controlled substances, said Alan Kennedy, an assistant district attorney in San Francisco. Ms. Heffernon allegedly used the stolen cards to purchase at least $8,000 worth of clothing, jewelry and housewares at Macy's department store, said Mr. Kennedy. Police also found in Ms. Heffernon's home jewelry that had been reported stolen, said Mr. Kennedy.
Doctor Who Preyed On Elders Sentenced / Ring pried from woman's finger
Marshall Wilson, Chronicle Staff Writer
Published 4:00 am, Saturday, December 2, 2000
A judge sentenced a former University of California at San Francisco anesthesiologist to state prison yesterday for prying the diamond wedding ring off the finger of a frail 94-year-old woman.San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Robert Foiles said Wanda Newbreast Heffernon preyed upon an "extremely vulnerable" victim while working temporarily as a physical therapist in a nursing home. Foiles sentenced Heffernon to spend two years in state prison and pay $2,000 in restitution.
Heffernon, 42, had pleaded no contest to elder abuse and receiving stolen property, both felonies. Prosecutors dropped a charge of strong-arm robbery in exchange for her plea.
Heffernon -- out on bail and facing criminal charges in San Francisco -- was working at a Portola Valley nursing home in late 1999 when she pried the wedding and engagement rings from a woman who had worn them for more than 65 years. Foiles said there "is a dark side to Ms. Heffernon that is difficult to fathom."
With credit for time served in San Mateo County Jail since her arrest, Heffernon could be released in a matter of weeks by the state Department of Corrections, Deputy District Attorney Kathy Rogers said.
Heffernon worked as an anesthesiologist and taught at UC San Francisco until her arrest by San Francisco police in September 1999. She is suspected of forging prescriptions and stealing credit cards and jewelry from colleagues,
San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Alan Kennedy said.
While out on bail, she went to work as a physical therapist for a medical service that sent her to the Portola Valley nursing home. While there, a 94- year-old woman reported that her rings were stolen and another said a valuable set of bookends was missing.
San Mateo County Sheriff's Department investigators found the stolen property at Heffernon's Richmond home, along with
a substantial amount of stolen prescription medication, court records show.
Sidney Liebes, whose mother's rings were stolen, recounted yesterday the pain his mother felt both physically and emotionally. He said the rings "had enormous sentimental value," and he expressed frustration that Heffernon was not convicted of more-serious crimes.
Once she is out of state prison, Heffernon faces prosecution on 44 criminal charges in San Francisco, 41 of them felonies, Kennedy said.
Heffernon, who has been in custody in lieu of $350,000 bail, told the court she is "sorry" for her actions. Her attorney, Colin Cooper, said Heffernon is in a recovery program from drug addiction while in jail and asked that she be given probation rather than a prison sentence.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Doctor-Who-Preyed-On-Elders-Sentenced-Ring-2724669.php#ixzz2EtmDNnKp
Physician pleads no contest to thefts at The Sequoias
Wanda Newbreast Heffernon, a 41-year-old former UCSF Stanford Medical Center anesthesiologist from Richmond, faces up to two years in state prison for stealing from two elderly women while working last December as a physical therapist at the Sequoias retirement community in Portola Valley. Ms. Heffernon, who has licenses to practice medicine, surgery and physical therapy, pleaded no contest last week to one count of theft embezzlement of an elder or dependent adult by a caretaker, and to one count of receiving stolen property. Other charges were dismissed after she negotiated a plea bargain. A sentencing hearing is set for November 7 in Superior Court. Sheriff's deputies arrested Ms. Heffernon in January after she stole a wedding and engagement ring from a 94-year-old and bookends from an 80-year-old, both residents at the Sequoias. Ms. Heffernon had been working as a physical therapist at the retirement community when the thefts occurred. During the investigation, sheriff's investigators also arrested Rebecca Shante Askew, 28, of Hayward and Mountain View, a nursing assistant who admitted to stealing from several residents and a co-worker at the Sequoias last year.Anesthesiologist convicted of elder abuse, gets two years
SAN MATEO – An anesthesiologist who stole a wedding ring from the finger of one of her patients was sentenced to two years in state prison.
Wanda Newbreast Heffernon, 42, of Richmond was convicted of felony charges of elder abuse and receiving stolen property. She must also pay $2,000 in restitution.
Heffernon pleaded no contest to the charges.
Heffernon was working at a Portola Valley nursing home in late 1999 when she stole a diamond wedding ring and engagement ring from a 94-year-old woman.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Doctor-Who-Preyed-On-Elders-Sentenced-Ring-2724669.php#ixzz2Etm3HrFY
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Doctor-Who-Preyed-On-Elders-Sentenced-Ring-2724669.php#ixzz2Etlme9Nb
Thursday, December 6, 2012
~ ~ ~ S A N F R A N C I S C O ~ ~ ~
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Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Vendanta Philosophy & Truth
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Thursday, October 25, 2012
the Waterboys! Church not made with hands
88888888888888888Infinity
God on Our Side
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Spirit
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God on Our Side
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World Party Kingdom Come
God on Our Side
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Spirit
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
God on Our Side
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World Party Kingdom Come
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Dedicated to Lynn, my Love & Life Traveling Companion
We are One and Free >>> She's the One!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Sunday, October 21, 2012
WELCOME HOME!!!
Homelessness, an extra extra credit
paper
(with a digression to the injustice of the Justice System)
William Carl McLean
Psychology 101
Summer Session 2, 2001
The year 2001
(America is consuming a disproportionate amount of the world's resources; one of the "Big 7"; "Gluttony". The Bureau of Land Management controls 250 million acres. See current National Geographic, 9-01. Every child born should have "birth rights". A system of disproportional wealth and privilege should be thoughtfully looked at and perhaps reevaluated).
SO YOU WANT TO HELP THE HOMELESS?..BUT THEY'RE NEVER HOME ("home is where you lay your head"- David Thoreau)
Lynn and I urban camped in Austin, Texas.
We had met "on the streets" in Houston. My friends and I had the bridge at Alabama and Main Street there. There was society and sub-culture with-in this setting. Most people had alcohol or drug usage, some didn't, and there were various degrees. Lonnie, who was a Montrose local legend/relic from the '60's, sold news papers at the corner of Westiemer and Montrose Blvd. He has shaggy white hair and a beard to match. After being on the corner in the morning, you could find him at "CAMP" (a term that you will hear frequently hear from the urban "homeless"); an overgrown vacant lot not far from "the work corner". There was Lonnie sitting on one of the two old couches salvaged ("keepers"/"scores") from a nearby apartment dumpster along with whoever else was "visiting", stopping in to drink a beer, smoke some herb, socialize or listen to Lonnie play his old beat up guitar. His on again/off again girlfriend/"sister" would sometimes be there harmonizing. Other people would bring an instrument or use a 5-gal. bucket (a must for the urban camper; suitcase, chair, dish/clothes wash tub, ice-chest, card table if sitting Indian-style on the ground, and musical instrument) as a drum or two sticks hit together (playing the bones). One of these people who was there usually was Danny, a Vietnam Vet, until one night, drunk, he walked in front of a car on Westiemer and was killed. Lonnie had been doing this since the '60's when Montrose was reputed as Bohemian/artsy/hippies. Pacifica radio station was on Lovett Blvd. and you would go to the Montrose to score some weed or see a concert or midnight movie. The head shops, antique and art stores were there.
(back to 1992) Just north on Montrose Blvd. from Lonnie's paper corner was another "homeless" person of a different nature. For years he stayed in the median of the road, hair in dreds, wearing old clothes. People would bring him food. (Lonnie was welcome at the back door of a number of restaurants as was I and there were other ways of getting food)) During the day he would sit cross-legged as if in meditation or pace in a 14-foot wide median. I guess he might still be there. He would more likely be labeled mentally ill. People on the streets slept at camps in vacant or pubic lands, vacant buildings, under bridges or other structures or where ever they ended up that night. Some worked at "day labor", some begged, some had small public assistance, some live just off of the fat/or garbage of the city, some survived solely through charity feeding programs, some "hustled" or thieved. There were also the prostitutes, "crack heads" and street kids.
As well as some of the above methods of survival, I knew people who worked at businesses or lived in the neighborhood. Papa Jim (died 3 yrs ago-heart attack) worked at the Chevron on Alabama and Montrose. Papa Jim lived rent-free in an old 2-story house on Marshall street. The house was gutted and had no electricity. He had arrangements with the owner. He lived simply ("LIVE SIMPLY THAT OTHERS MAY SIMPLY LIVE") and gave away any extra money after minimal living costs to one of his adopted kids. This was his choice between him and "God". I spent many a night visiting with Jim as he cut up vegetables by the light of a kerosene oil lamp or candle. He had at one time a problem with alcohol but had not drank in years. He would feed whoever showed up. He always told me "Have some more, Son". I loved him for his integrity. (I tried often to bring him something he could use or needed) He was a friend, as was Lonnie and Danny (and many others). Garland was another friend in the neighborhood. He lived in an old 2 story as a long time bachelor/widower. In his house it was filled with boxes of things and memories of years past. He was a retired city councilman who had few friends besides the birds and the squirrels he would feed everyday. He would pay me $20 to do a little yard work (his yard was very overgrown and unkempt but homey) but mostly we would share company (he had lots of stories and memories) when I would stop by on my walks abouts. He was the only one who gave Lynn and I a card (a little cash inside) when we were married (1993, I think we still have it amazingly, it says "God cares for even the sparrows")
Our bridge could be quite the place of activity. It actually is the overpass for the entrance to downtown from highway 59. At one time we had 10 to 20 people, depending on the night. (with tents, mattresses and an American Flag) Other times it was me alone or just me and Bobby Clark who ended up there after his wife died. "Duke" Davis (also dead-hit by a speeding teenager while he was riding a bike to a store) was another friend/brother of the streets. He was the one that first introduced Lynn and I. He was like a kid that never grew up (last year when he was killed he was listening to "Kid Rock" and still living to "party"). He came from a rich family (Memorial) and made lots of money in the seventies selling computers. He had wrecked 7 corvettes by age 25. Whenever he had money he would impulsively spend it. His drink of choice was Thunderbird wine. After we were married (at Lakewood Church, got there by city bus and slept in a large vacant grass field under the stars our wedding night, free Doobie Brother's concert July 4th, Allen's Landing) we chose to move to Austin. Lynn's ex-boyfriend, "crying Brian" said he put a $1000 bounty on me. He was broke and "homeless" but there was still a possibility of conflict. Also my x, "bicycle Laura" (an old heroin user turned cocaine/speed user who used to deliver on a bicycle in the Montrose-also one of the most intellectually and musically gifted people that I've ever met) told Lynn she was going to kill her (she had killed before)(she was an "outlaw chick"), but it was though Plexiglas at the county jail, a drug charge. So for a new start we moved to Austin.
We got off the Greyhound in north Austin at the Highland Mall and that is the area (north Guadeloupe) in which we remained in the 3 years we lived there (before coming to Nacogdoches). Getting off the bus, I went and found a shopping cart. We had wheels. Our first "camp" there was in bushes and trees by some railroad tracks behind a convenience store with a outside water spigot. There was a phone, coffee, tobacco and beer available. We would wake up in the morning with birds and squirrels above us and around us. We were there about a month before we were asked to move by the police. We had found out that there is a large population of urban campers in Austin. Moving Day! (again!) Our next campsite was further down the railroad tracks. There was about 5 acres that belong(ed?) to the family of someone we had met and he gave us "permission". We set up a tent, a fire pit, clothes line and found a couch, some carpet and chairs.
There were some other "homeless" people camped there. There was a 24-hour poolroom nearby, the "Q Club". They live in "the tree house", a room made of pallets and plastic tarps with carpet, couches and mattresses. Their deal was cocaine and that costs money. They would bring in money, sometimes a lot but they would very quickly be broke without even a cigarette. They had scams such as shoplifting and returning merchandise or else working day labor all day just to briefly get high on coke(illegal=high cost). Christmas Day we got flour tortillas, chicken leg quarters and pork "country style" ribs and cooked for everyone (we had "company" visiting). The day after Christmas one of the "homeless" broke, mad at himself and the world, coming down off cocaine attacked us in our camp. This was a continuance from a incident earlier when he had asked us for money and when we refused he pulled a knife. Later that night he started to yell that he was going to burn us as we slept. He ran into our camp and I hit him right between the eyes and he got dizzy and went down. To keep him down, and in fear of personal injury, I did a Mexican hat dance on his face with my tennis shoes. He had swollen bruised eyes, swollen cut lip and a cut ear. He looked bad. An ambulance was called out and he went to the hospital where he had 3 stitches on his ear and was released. The police were also called out and I was arrested and taken to jail.
I thought for disturbing the peace or fighting in public, but I was very wrong. One of the other people "living in the woods", made a statement to the police that "It sounded like he hit him with a steel pipe". In spite of no other evidence in the physical injuries or any other and on the word "one of the vagrants", I was indited by a grand jury for felony aggravated assault. The indictment read that "I formed and fashion the said steel pipe with intent for serious bodily harm and or death and I did so used such weapon to inflict serious bodily harm on said victim, Kenneth?..". The victim "Ken" turned out to be wanted and left town two weeks later after an incident where he and his buddy got in a fight with someone at a nearby apartment and their neck was broke. He was arrested in Arizona for other crimes. I was stuck in jail facing time accused of something I did not do. It would be 4 months before I got out. Lynn was out in the woods in a city she didn't know and no family of her own to turn to and with my parents, not knowing them well yet, she didn't get help either (they would have done what ever they could but there was communication problems).
There are some big flaws in our justice system. Recent overturning of convictions by DNA evidence shows this. Prosecutors are rewarded and the "legal system" makes money whether there is a conviction or not, whether valid or false. Somebody makes money! Once the "ball is rolling" there is little incentive to say "Ops, we were wrong". Recent cases have proven false even with "signed confessions" show this. As in class, we learned that people will do what they think they would never do under certain circumstances (such as hours of "interrogation" and shady ways, i.e., taking polygraph and passing but being told that "you failed". Police do not have to play fair)(a easy partial solution: require video taping) I was caught in this system. I was assigned a "Public Defender" who recommended I get money from my parents to bail me out (10K bail). I refused this and made a complaint to the state bar, which they said was valid (soliciting moneys from my parents). I wrote letters to Government elected officials (up the line) asking that my case be investigated. After 4 months, they were all of a sudden in a hurry to "reduce charges" (they still didn't want to admit mistake) and immediately released me. This was because the right people made inquiry. (it could have gone different if I hadn't taken action)(Scary!!!)
This put Lynn in danger and our relatively new relationship in danger or at least serious strain. We had moved to Austin with hope of new start. Lynn was vulnerable to crime (things happened) while in the woods and I was mostly restricted and powerless to help in jail. A Church of Christ couple we had met tried to help by delivering mail and messages and brought Lynn to see me a few times in the county jail outside of the city. Also, J.T. ("the Gentle Giant"), a 6-foot plus black, country (caring and laid back) Vietnam Vet. helped out Lynn by letting her stay on the couch at his modest apartment the last month I was in jail (caged like an animal). Our first embrace when I got out was beyond words and will never be forgotten.
We found 17 acres of vacant land right at the interchange of 290 and I-35. There were a number of temporary agencies in the area and we got some work. I got a job transferring info. from topographical to computer mapping programs. We got a car from a used car lot and started making payments. It got hit by a college student, and replaced with a Murcur X4TI, a German/Ford Sports Coupe. There was a creek running though the property and our "camp" was under the large trees by the creek. I found a truck tarp that was 30 x 40 feet, which we hung from the tree branches. Under that we had individual dome tents. I could park the car under it. We had a large fire pit built with Austin limestone where we cooked. We had restaurants that would feed us regularly. One sandwich shop always left us bread to feed the family of raccoons that came daily to our camp. A nearby hotel got new pool furniture and we got the old stuff ("score");~10+ chairs and loungers. We had lots of company and friends that would come visit. A friend Cruz gave us a wolf that he couldn't keep at his house or farm (it killed his farm animals). We kept it on a 20 foot chained and warned people not to pet him. A few people didn't listen and got bit. Our camp was generally open to new people and what we had was shared. We especially tried to be hospitable to "travelers" (homeless on the road). We were there almost two years. Also staying out there was "Railroad". His birth given name was Luis Gardner. He was a Eastern Orthodox Monk. When living away from the monastery (located in the remote Hill country), which he called sabbatical, he lived in the woods where he could play guitar and sing old country music and drink beer. We took him back to the monastery to stay (at least for some time) and spent a weekend with the monks eating their homegrown vegetarian diet and being included in some of their prayer and study time.
Before, i met Lynn i had been married for 10 years. I was a Medic, Nurse and then Nuclear Medicine Technologist in the U.S. Army from 1981 to 1985. After getting out the Army, my "X" and i returned to Houston where i worked at M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital. I worked the second shift and my "x" went the University of Houston. She joined the University Karate club, which met in the evenings when i was still working. Her instructor became more than that and she became pregnant by him and filed for divorce from me. That same year, i was hit in the head with a pistol while being robbed near the Houston Medical Center. My left eye was hanging by the optic nerve and i spent 3 weeks in Ben Taub Hospital for the Head Injury and having facial reconstruction and my eye being repaired. I lost my job at the Cancer Hospital and had concentration and memory problems that are often associated with Head Injuries. She (my "X") went on to have 3 children and married the person who she was pregnant by. They now are running a Karate School and she also got her Master's and taught for a while at U of H and now works for Baylor College of Medicine. I wish her and her family all the best and all of God's Blessings. Sometimes Life involves "hard chapters" which this was one for me.
Lynn also was divorced not of her choosing, after 15 years of marriage, raising two beautiful boys and being the primary income source working in the grocery business. He declared bankruptcy and their house was foreclosed and she was left wondering what happened.
There is a painting of two children holding hands crossing a dangerous bridge over rocks and swiftly running water. They seem unaware of their danger or of the safety of the Angel watching over them or the watchful eye (grace) of God (whoever/whatever that may be) on them. On a good day that is how I feel.
Homelessness is caused by people unable to, or refusing to run the rat race. There is a large variation in the details of these two cases. Drugs and alcohol may be a part of this, or hard circumstances, or illness, physical or mental, or in some cases a choice to be that way (the Buddha, Jesus, John the Baptist and many, many others) or just "giving up". The people living through and in these conditions have different perspectives and schemas than those of them that have not this experience. Sometimes, when you are homeless the world and God's Universe can become your home.
WELCOME HOME!!!
Reference: School of Hard Knocks
"keep on trudging"
(with a digression to the injustice of the Justice System)
William Carl McLean
Psychology 101
Summer Session 2, 2001
The year 2001
(America is consuming a disproportionate amount of the world's resources; one of the "Big 7"; "Gluttony". The Bureau of Land Management controls 250 million acres. See current National Geographic, 9-01. Every child born should have "birth rights". A system of disproportional wealth and privilege should be thoughtfully looked at and perhaps reevaluated).
SO YOU WANT TO HELP THE HOMELESS?..BUT THEY'RE NEVER HOME ("home is where you lay your head"- David Thoreau)
Lynn and I urban camped in Austin, Texas.
We had met "on the streets" in Houston. My friends and I had the bridge at Alabama and Main Street there. There was society and sub-culture with-in this setting. Most people had alcohol or drug usage, some didn't, and there were various degrees. Lonnie, who was a Montrose local legend/relic from the '60's, sold news papers at the corner of Westiemer and Montrose Blvd. He has shaggy white hair and a beard to match. After being on the corner in the morning, you could find him at "CAMP" (a term that you will hear frequently hear from the urban "homeless"); an overgrown vacant lot not far from "the work corner". There was Lonnie sitting on one of the two old couches salvaged ("keepers"/"scores") from a nearby apartment dumpster along with whoever else was "visiting", stopping in to drink a beer, smoke some herb, socialize or listen to Lonnie play his old beat up guitar. His on again/off again girlfriend/"sister" would sometimes be there harmonizing. Other people would bring an instrument or use a 5-gal. bucket (a must for the urban camper; suitcase, chair, dish/clothes wash tub, ice-chest, card table if sitting Indian-style on the ground, and musical instrument) as a drum or two sticks hit together (playing the bones). One of these people who was there usually was Danny, a Vietnam Vet, until one night, drunk, he walked in front of a car on Westiemer and was killed. Lonnie had been doing this since the '60's when Montrose was reputed as Bohemian/artsy/hippies. Pacifica radio station was on Lovett Blvd. and you would go to the Montrose to score some weed or see a concert or midnight movie. The head shops, antique and art stores were there.
(back to 1992) Just north on Montrose Blvd. from Lonnie's paper corner was another "homeless" person of a different nature. For years he stayed in the median of the road, hair in dreds, wearing old clothes. People would bring him food. (Lonnie was welcome at the back door of a number of restaurants as was I and there were other ways of getting food)) During the day he would sit cross-legged as if in meditation or pace in a 14-foot wide median. I guess he might still be there. He would more likely be labeled mentally ill. People on the streets slept at camps in vacant or pubic lands, vacant buildings, under bridges or other structures or where ever they ended up that night. Some worked at "day labor", some begged, some had small public assistance, some live just off of the fat/or garbage of the city, some survived solely through charity feeding programs, some "hustled" or thieved. There were also the prostitutes, "crack heads" and street kids.
As well as some of the above methods of survival, I knew people who worked at businesses or lived in the neighborhood. Papa Jim (died 3 yrs ago-heart attack) worked at the Chevron on Alabama and Montrose. Papa Jim lived rent-free in an old 2-story house on Marshall street. The house was gutted and had no electricity. He had arrangements with the owner. He lived simply ("LIVE SIMPLY THAT OTHERS MAY SIMPLY LIVE") and gave away any extra money after minimal living costs to one of his adopted kids. This was his choice between him and "God". I spent many a night visiting with Jim as he cut up vegetables by the light of a kerosene oil lamp or candle. He had at one time a problem with alcohol but had not drank in years. He would feed whoever showed up. He always told me "Have some more, Son". I loved him for his integrity. (I tried often to bring him something he could use or needed) He was a friend, as was Lonnie and Danny (and many others). Garland was another friend in the neighborhood. He lived in an old 2 story as a long time bachelor/widower. In his house it was filled with boxes of things and memories of years past. He was a retired city councilman who had few friends besides the birds and the squirrels he would feed everyday. He would pay me $20 to do a little yard work (his yard was very overgrown and unkempt but homey) but mostly we would share company (he had lots of stories and memories) when I would stop by on my walks abouts. He was the only one who gave Lynn and I a card (a little cash inside) when we were married (1993, I think we still have it amazingly, it says "God cares for even the sparrows")
Our bridge could be quite the place of activity. It actually is the overpass for the entrance to downtown from highway 59. At one time we had 10 to 20 people, depending on the night. (with tents, mattresses and an American Flag) Other times it was me alone or just me and Bobby Clark who ended up there after his wife died. "Duke" Davis (also dead-hit by a speeding teenager while he was riding a bike to a store) was another friend/brother of the streets. He was the one that first introduced Lynn and I. He was like a kid that never grew up (last year when he was killed he was listening to "Kid Rock" and still living to "party"). He came from a rich family (Memorial) and made lots of money in the seventies selling computers. He had wrecked 7 corvettes by age 25. Whenever he had money he would impulsively spend it. His drink of choice was Thunderbird wine. After we were married (at Lakewood Church, got there by city bus and slept in a large vacant grass field under the stars our wedding night, free Doobie Brother's concert July 4th, Allen's Landing) we chose to move to Austin. Lynn's ex-boyfriend, "crying Brian" said he put a $1000 bounty on me. He was broke and "homeless" but there was still a possibility of conflict. Also my x, "bicycle Laura" (an old heroin user turned cocaine/speed user who used to deliver on a bicycle in the Montrose-also one of the most intellectually and musically gifted people that I've ever met) told Lynn she was going to kill her (she had killed before)(she was an "outlaw chick"), but it was though Plexiglas at the county jail, a drug charge. So for a new start we moved to Austin.
We got off the Greyhound in north Austin at the Highland Mall and that is the area (north Guadeloupe) in which we remained in the 3 years we lived there (before coming to Nacogdoches). Getting off the bus, I went and found a shopping cart. We had wheels. Our first "camp" there was in bushes and trees by some railroad tracks behind a convenience store with a outside water spigot. There was a phone, coffee, tobacco and beer available. We would wake up in the morning with birds and squirrels above us and around us. We were there about a month before we were asked to move by the police. We had found out that there is a large population of urban campers in Austin. Moving Day! (again!) Our next campsite was further down the railroad tracks. There was about 5 acres that belong(ed?) to the family of someone we had met and he gave us "permission". We set up a tent, a fire pit, clothes line and found a couch, some carpet and chairs.
There were some other "homeless" people camped there. There was a 24-hour poolroom nearby, the "Q Club". They live in "the tree house", a room made of pallets and plastic tarps with carpet, couches and mattresses. Their deal was cocaine and that costs money. They would bring in money, sometimes a lot but they would very quickly be broke without even a cigarette. They had scams such as shoplifting and returning merchandise or else working day labor all day just to briefly get high on coke(illegal=high cost). Christmas Day we got flour tortillas, chicken leg quarters and pork "country style" ribs and cooked for everyone (we had "company" visiting). The day after Christmas one of the "homeless" broke, mad at himself and the world, coming down off cocaine attacked us in our camp. This was a continuance from a incident earlier when he had asked us for money and when we refused he pulled a knife. Later that night he started to yell that he was going to burn us as we slept. He ran into our camp and I hit him right between the eyes and he got dizzy and went down. To keep him down, and in fear of personal injury, I did a Mexican hat dance on his face with my tennis shoes. He had swollen bruised eyes, swollen cut lip and a cut ear. He looked bad. An ambulance was called out and he went to the hospital where he had 3 stitches on his ear and was released. The police were also called out and I was arrested and taken to jail.
I thought for disturbing the peace or fighting in public, but I was very wrong. One of the other people "living in the woods", made a statement to the police that "It sounded like he hit him with a steel pipe". In spite of no other evidence in the physical injuries or any other and on the word "one of the vagrants", I was indited by a grand jury for felony aggravated assault. The indictment read that "I formed and fashion the said steel pipe with intent for serious bodily harm and or death and I did so used such weapon to inflict serious bodily harm on said victim, Kenneth?..". The victim "Ken" turned out to be wanted and left town two weeks later after an incident where he and his buddy got in a fight with someone at a nearby apartment and their neck was broke. He was arrested in Arizona for other crimes. I was stuck in jail facing time accused of something I did not do. It would be 4 months before I got out. Lynn was out in the woods in a city she didn't know and no family of her own to turn to and with my parents, not knowing them well yet, she didn't get help either (they would have done what ever they could but there was communication problems).
There are some big flaws in our justice system. Recent overturning of convictions by DNA evidence shows this. Prosecutors are rewarded and the "legal system" makes money whether there is a conviction or not, whether valid or false. Somebody makes money! Once the "ball is rolling" there is little incentive to say "Ops, we were wrong". Recent cases have proven false even with "signed confessions" show this. As in class, we learned that people will do what they think they would never do under certain circumstances (such as hours of "interrogation" and shady ways, i.e., taking polygraph and passing but being told that "you failed". Police do not have to play fair)(a easy partial solution: require video taping) I was caught in this system. I was assigned a "Public Defender" who recommended I get money from my parents to bail me out (10K bail). I refused this and made a complaint to the state bar, which they said was valid (soliciting moneys from my parents). I wrote letters to Government elected officials (up the line) asking that my case be investigated. After 4 months, they were all of a sudden in a hurry to "reduce charges" (they still didn't want to admit mistake) and immediately released me. This was because the right people made inquiry. (it could have gone different if I hadn't taken action)(Scary!!!)
This put Lynn in danger and our relatively new relationship in danger or at least serious strain. We had moved to Austin with hope of new start. Lynn was vulnerable to crime (things happened) while in the woods and I was mostly restricted and powerless to help in jail. A Church of Christ couple we had met tried to help by delivering mail and messages and brought Lynn to see me a few times in the county jail outside of the city. Also, J.T. ("the Gentle Giant"), a 6-foot plus black, country (caring and laid back) Vietnam Vet. helped out Lynn by letting her stay on the couch at his modest apartment the last month I was in jail (caged like an animal). Our first embrace when I got out was beyond words and will never be forgotten.
We found 17 acres of vacant land right at the interchange of 290 and I-35. There were a number of temporary agencies in the area and we got some work. I got a job transferring info. from topographical to computer mapping programs. We got a car from a used car lot and started making payments. It got hit by a college student, and replaced with a Murcur X4TI, a German/Ford Sports Coupe. There was a creek running though the property and our "camp" was under the large trees by the creek. I found a truck tarp that was 30 x 40 feet, which we hung from the tree branches. Under that we had individual dome tents. I could park the car under it. We had a large fire pit built with Austin limestone where we cooked. We had restaurants that would feed us regularly. One sandwich shop always left us bread to feed the family of raccoons that came daily to our camp. A nearby hotel got new pool furniture and we got the old stuff ("score");~10+ chairs and loungers. We had lots of company and friends that would come visit. A friend Cruz gave us a wolf that he couldn't keep at his house or farm (it killed his farm animals). We kept it on a 20 foot chained and warned people not to pet him. A few people didn't listen and got bit. Our camp was generally open to new people and what we had was shared. We especially tried to be hospitable to "travelers" (homeless on the road). We were there almost two years. Also staying out there was "Railroad". His birth given name was Luis Gardner. He was a Eastern Orthodox Monk. When living away from the monastery (located in the remote Hill country), which he called sabbatical, he lived in the woods where he could play guitar and sing old country music and drink beer. We took him back to the monastery to stay (at least for some time) and spent a weekend with the monks eating their homegrown vegetarian diet and being included in some of their prayer and study time.
Before, i met Lynn i had been married for 10 years. I was a Medic, Nurse and then Nuclear Medicine Technologist in the U.S. Army from 1981 to 1985. After getting out the Army, my "X" and i returned to Houston where i worked at M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital. I worked the second shift and my "x" went the University of Houston. She joined the University Karate club, which met in the evenings when i was still working. Her instructor became more than that and she became pregnant by him and filed for divorce from me. That same year, i was hit in the head with a pistol while being robbed near the Houston Medical Center. My left eye was hanging by the optic nerve and i spent 3 weeks in Ben Taub Hospital for the Head Injury and having facial reconstruction and my eye being repaired. I lost my job at the Cancer Hospital and had concentration and memory problems that are often associated with Head Injuries. She (my "X") went on to have 3 children and married the person who she was pregnant by. They now are running a Karate School and she also got her Master's and taught for a while at U of H and now works for Baylor College of Medicine. I wish her and her family all the best and all of God's Blessings. Sometimes Life involves "hard chapters" which this was one for me.
Lynn also was divorced not of her choosing, after 15 years of marriage, raising two beautiful boys and being the primary income source working in the grocery business. He declared bankruptcy and their house was foreclosed and she was left wondering what happened.
There is a painting of two children holding hands crossing a dangerous bridge over rocks and swiftly running water. They seem unaware of their danger or of the safety of the Angel watching over them or the watchful eye (grace) of God (whoever/whatever that may be) on them. On a good day that is how I feel.
Homelessness is caused by people unable to, or refusing to run the rat race. There is a large variation in the details of these two cases. Drugs and alcohol may be a part of this, or hard circumstances, or illness, physical or mental, or in some cases a choice to be that way (the Buddha, Jesus, John the Baptist and many, many others) or just "giving up". The people living through and in these conditions have different perspectives and schemas than those of them that have not this experience. Sometimes, when you are homeless the world and God's Universe can become your home.
WELCOME HOME!!!
Founded by William & Lynn McLean
William McLean, President
Mid-Pinellas Homeless Outreach
2002-2005
Reference: School of Hard Knocks
"keep on trudging"
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