Have a Nice Day

I've concluded that there's nothing natural about human nature. Recently I received an I-don't-like-you email. Its sort of like hate-mail but without the death threats and such. It was from an acquaintance who knows me only through my public opposition against Nexus and City Hall. When I first read it, my feelings were hurt. Its funny how every little thing adds a whole lot of salt to the wounds these days. I was going to write him back but what the hell, he reads my stuff so I might as well selectively respond to him here. There are a lot of people who share his opinion of Hannabelle, I'm sure... I'm not very popular or well-loved. I didn't ask for his analysis of my flaws, but am more than happy to discuss them.

"One reason why you're having trouble winning people over is that you exaggerate compulsively, turning everyone who disagrees with you into some kind of evil monster or blithering idiot, seeing incompetence, conspiracy and illegality around every corner."

First of all, there is a major misconception. I am not trying to 'win people over'. I want people to stay away from me. I don't want to deal with them. Period. I wasn't out looking for love in all the wrong places. I wasn't trying to be popular. I'm chronically ill, disabled with an incurable disease which is painful and difficult to cope with. I was unobtrusively living my little life, minding my own business when suddenly one day it was announced in the newspaper that Nexus was building a sex offender facility right down my street. First I cried - a lot. I knew everything was ruined for me. I soon discovered that there was nothing I could do to stop this institution from being forced upon me and my equally devastated neighbors. From the beginning, we were treated with lack of respect and undeserved hostility. People I'd known for 30 years turned on us, making fun of us in the very unhappy situation they caused. Public officials called us names. Back in the beginning, the Onamia city council called us "Bradbury Idiots". Now they refer to us as "The Dirty Twelve". No. I don't care about winning anyone over. Nothing I could do, or could have done would stop Nexus from coming.

"Turning everyone who disagrees with me...." Disagrees about what? That moving 94 convicted sex offenders into MY residential neighborhood with elderly widows (including my own mother) and disabled folks (including myself) and next to daycare (three of them) isn't spot-zoningly wrong? Hey, I wasn't out there picking fights with Nexus. They came to me! I didn't give a hoot about Mille Lacs Academy until I heard the magic words "Its a Done Deal, there's nothing you can do about it." And the government started tampering with our rights.

To me, they are indeed "evil monsters". And very anti-American monsters. They do not have the right to do what they are doing and they are doing it anyway by any means. Power in the wrong hands is a dangerous thing.
And don't you think that when Councilman Jerome Kryzer stood up at the council meeting in September and shouted, "THEY'RE NOT SEX OFFENDERS!" that he indeed looked like a blithering idiot? (He's the one who only lives in Onamia part of the year). Or how about when the city council - along with their own lawyer failed to read their own city ordinances so that the December 19 meeting had to be canceled because they had denied citizens due process by neglecting to send legal notification to the appropriate parties? That's one corner I saw incompetence around. Yes indeedy. If I reported every instance of incompetence I've seen, I'd be unable to identify the geometric figure. Too many corners...

Conspiracy is difficult to prove. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Have YOU looked into it?

Illegality.... How about those Open Meeting Law violations. How about supplying false information to get tax abatement? How about making threats? How about denying access to public records? How about putting a sex offender facility in our neighborhood - which was against the law - until they changed the law.... Now you can put sex offenders in any R2 in Onamia and there's nothing anybody can do to stop it. Of course, most people aren't aware of these illegalities because they're not reported in the local newspaper.

There are a lot more questions about ethics. How about the city council writing a new law to establish themselves as the Planning Commission and Board of Adjustment, thereby removing all checks and balances as well as shutting off the people from having any say in their city? That's pretty big news, I'd say.

The second reason I am having trouble winning people over?

"The second is that you are mean to everyone who doesn't agree with 100 percent of your agenda -- even those who are sympathetic to you but don't toe the line perfectly."

I'm not mean. I'm just a little cranky. Trust me... You'll know mean when you see it.

Seriously, who have I been mean to? I haven't kicked anybody's dog lately...
And there's that "agree" stuff again... My agenda? My agenda is simply that what is being done to us is wrong. Yes, I want honesty, integrity, correctness... Of course, I want Nexus to go away and leave me alone. I want Onamia to refrain from moving their problems on our side of the Rum River. I didn't set out to be mean to anyone. I am trying to defend my home and my principles. Because YOU think its great to build a sex offender facility next to MY house (lowering MY property values as well at putting MY family at risk), I don't have a right to defend myself? The people I've been "mean" to are self-appointed enemies who have declared war on Hannabelle. They challenged me to this duel. Think of the Old West gunslingers... What would you have me do if someone draws on me, serve them tea and crumpets while they take aim and fire? Self-defense. I can't shoot back because I'm unarmed. I am not mean. But I am vindictive. In certain instances where they have wronged me, I have punished them by telling the truth about them. I can't stop them, but I can make them squirm.

Please be informed: No one is sympathetic to me.

"The fact is that many people in your community support this project, and most don't have a problem with it."

They might feel differently if they realized that their rights are being stripped away and if the convicted sex offenders were forced on them in their back yards. The fact is that many people in my community don't have all the facts. If they did, it might be a different story entirely. They might have a problem with it if they knew what we know.

For instance, after obtaining the sheriff's records and Onamia police records covering the MLA sex offenders, we discovered just how badly the community has been lied to and deceived. Hundreds of escapes, assaults, theft, sex crimes... the list is long and eye-opening. The community has been told that there "have been no instances". Yeah. Right. Why hasn't somebody told them the truth?

"The personal attacks are not winning you any support, and may be losing you some. Have a nice day."

We've never had any support. Not from Day 1. A small group of neighbors without any chance at all... As for "personal attacks"... Its all personal. In fact, I can't think of anything more personal than having your own government act as an agent for a private corporation which cannot be stopped from ruining your home and stealing your pursuit of happiness. Well, except maybe rape. We'll see what happens after the 6'2", 200 pound PTBs move in.

When did "Have a nice day" stop meaning "Have a nice day" and begin meaning "Fuck you!" ?

A nice day.... What a concept.