Talk About A Ghost From Christmas Past

I really hate the fact that I have begun to think in the terms of my elders, but at times they have it too right to ignore. It takes a certain kind of lowlife douchebag to steal property which belongs to others, no matter their reasoning or justifications. There’s something broken within their morality meter which allows them to cross the forbidden line between right and wrong. Yesterday I was reminded that many laws are designed to better protect the criminal than the victims. Yesterday I received a letter from the state of Texas which informed me that Mr. Lowlife Douchebag III (his real name will never be spoken by my lips here) is scheduled for release from state incarceration in November 2014 after successfully meeting state parole requirements. Why is this information important to me personally? I will explain that in a minute since the incident happened back in this blogs literal infancy and I have never mentioned it here before in any kind of detail.

Late in the evening seven years, nine months, and three days or 2,834 days ago, we were settling down after just returning from a get together with my in-laws. After looking at the time, we had realized it will be Christmas Day in a few short hours. When we came in the house for the first time our hands were full, so after setting down all the food and bags, I returned to the truck to get the everything else. It was at this time I first noticed wet foot prints on the driveway and an out of place shadow where they ended at just the edge of where the light reached. I continued to the driver’s side of the truck, opened the door, reached into the center console, and retrieved my pistol. I remained bent across the seat, looking out behind me, waiting for movement. After a very long couple of minutes, I climbed back out of the truck and walked to the edge of the drive, and then I saw the shadow blink. Before I knew what was happening I had this man pinned to the ground with a pistol pointed at his forehead. Many moments passed while I stared into the eyes of this man, many thoughts passed in my mind, and then my wife’s voice broke the silence. Hearing the noise she came out, thinking I had dropped something or tripped. I will never forget the look of fear on her face as she looked in our direction. She went back inside swiftly and called 911.

It was thirteen minutes from the time she made the call before I saw the flashing lights come blazing up the driveway. The two cars pulled very close to where I was standing, four officers emerged and stood behind their open doors with weapons drawn, demanding I relinquish my weapon. I froze, I am the one who is making sure the douchebag does not run. I was confused. Moments later I was on the ground, I was rushed from behind, I can hear my wife screaming at them in terror. All I can think is it is Christmas Eve. We were both arrested. I was released early Christmas morning after being cleared of any criminal activity and establishing myself as home and property owner. After processing, my pistol was released back into my custody. Months later he was convicted of attempted armed robbery, armed trespassing after dark with intent to cause harm to persons and property, and finally with the possession of a stolen firearm.

The number one question I have been asked is why I did not shoot and kill this man because the right to do so with my actions protected by Texas laws. Why? Why is a powerful question. My answer has always been simple and has always remained unchanged. Shooting him to kill him never crossed my mind, never even close. It’s not my nature, no matter what, a human life is more valuable to me than things or property, and, eventhough I felt threatened, there was other options which I executed which defused the threat. In the end, I have a conscience which seems to always guide my actions. Yes, I was and remain to this day, mad. The lessons I have learned in my life have served me well and they have taught me that I am not the judge or jury, but just a human being on planet dirt trying to scratch out some kind of a life, like everyone else I can only assume. As far as his release, it isn’t my place to know if he is rehabilitated or not in the allotted time prescribed by the state of Texas. I do know, this experience was a part of the reason I have the security system I still use this very day. I may have lost faith along the way in my fellow humans, but at the same time the safety and security of myself and my family remains very high on my personal list if priorities. Its hard to say live and let live when the idea is more often than not, one sided. Below is a general look at the laws here in Texas, it should not be looked at or taken as any form of legal advice as I put it here for informational purposes only.

Texas law allows a person to use force in the protection of property to prevent or terminate another’s trespass or other unlawful interference with the possession of real or personal property. Deadly force can be used in Texas when the crime against property is classified as arson, burglary, robbery, criminal mischief at night or theft at night. Deadly force may also be used to prevent a person from fleeing with property immediately after the commission of a burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime if the actor believes that the property cannot be recovered by any other means or the use of force other than deadly force would expose the person to a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.

Texas also allows a person to use force and deadly force to protect the personal property of a third party. The use of force is permissible if the person believes that the force or deadly force is necessary to prevent the commission of theft or criminal mischief, or if the person believes that the third party has asked them to protect the property, the person has a legal duty to protect the property, or the third party is the spouse, parent, child or under the care of the person using force.

Born, raised, and protected by guns, guts, and glory.

The Extreme Mistaken Identity

I spend a fair share of time buying and selling miscellaneous things on Craigslist and on eBay. Much of the stuff I hunt for is what I call local meaning I can get there within 3 hours or so. I have buying and selling like this for years and tend to travel a bit to pick different items up. Rarely, if ever, do I have problems with anybody because the people I buy and sell with are doing the same thing I’m doing which is buying stuff to fix/repair and then resell more often than not. I try not to get myself into deals that are too far away because then that just becomes more expensive in the end.

This trip would lead me to Lake Charles Louisiana to pickup a 40s Ford pickup (pictured below, picture provided from Craigslist ad) which I thought would be a good truck to finish off my 4×4 bastardization truck using my restored 70s Bronco chassis (pictured at bottom). Anyway, I had spoken with an older gentleman (spoke with a heavy Cajun accent) twice about the truck and a price of $1100.00 cash was agreed on by both of us. He told me that his nephew would contact me with the address and a good time to meet. Yesterday, Thursday, ended up being the day. I pushed for Saturday or Sunday but the nephew was hell-bent it had to be when he said. So be it, right.

The trip from my house to Lake Charles is about 2 hours so I figured it wouldn’t be too bad of a trip during the week to make. I loaded up my truck and trailer and set off to Louisiana. I wasn’t familiar with the address I was given but I did know the area of town I was going. When I arrived at my destination (as said to be correct by my GPS and the GPS in my cellphone) I was presented with the house (pictured above). Thinking there was a mistake I reset my GPS. Apparently I was at the address I was given. Thinking there was a mistake I took a picture of it and sent it to my wife to let her know I was sent on a wild goose chase. She wasn’t happy with me to say the least and explained to me I needed to figure out what in the hell was going on.

After 20 or so attempts I was able to get ahold of the nephew who explained to me that I sounded like a white cop on the phone. He further explained that they didn’t do business with white cops. I was given the address to the abandoned house so I could be checked out by friends of his. When I asked if there was a problem with me being white he told me no as long as I had the cash and wasn’t a white cop. He told me he was sending his friends over to the house to check me out in person and if I checked out then they would escort me to his uncle’s house to pick up the truck. He informed me two of his friends would be there shortly and I was to give them the cash. Once they had the cash I would get a call that it was okay to follow his friends. I was warned I better be legit because this was the wrong place to be a white cop.

Once I hung up with him I decided to just leave. In my head I ran down the scenario and it ends up with me being robbed and killed, leaving me to rot in the abandon house. Even though I did have my twins (Desert Eagle .50AE x2) accompanying me on this little excursion I was not prepared to be in an ambush gunfight with an unknown number of people. I headed out shortly before sunset to return home. I will never know who showed up for the meet and greet last night. Tell you the truth I really don’t care. I haven’t heard from the man with the heavy Cajun accent or the nephew and I don’t suspect I will either. Sad, if you ask me, that this all played out the way it did. Perhaps my wife was right, the deal just was just too good to be true. Apparently so.

I have had some time to analyze this whole thing. Since I was troubled with heavy concern that allot of assumptions were made, inaccurately I might add, about me. Okay, they assumed one thing that was right, I am white. I won’t do them the same disservice by assuming I know what race my new friends are because I never met any of them in person. Accents, slang, and how someone talks are not tell signs of one’s race. Being I was bothered still by the events, I contacted the local sheriff’s department for that parish in Lake Charles where I was given a very hardy “yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ll look into it when we get an officer freed up”. Who cares, right? No harm no foul, right? Sure, I guess so.

Now that this bullshit is over all I can think is how sweet that old beast would have looked when I go done with her. So, my hunt will continue and sooner or later I will get the body I was always looking for. I think what pisses me off the most is that I never would have guessed that junk sellers would be scamming people or trying to roll people for that cash. Makes re-think how I will do business in the future for sure. What a stupid reason to get killed. But, my optimist side has thought that perhaps I drove away from a fantastic deal and there was nothing to be worried about. My realist side says I made the right choice.

Cracks Me Up!

Shattered Dreams

This entry is provided by KL who lives in Bunnell Florida. He states he is in his mid 30s and travels most of the state of Florida for his employment. He didn’t state what he does for a living except that it keeps him gone 6 days a week. Since he travels so much it has left him little time for romance and his mother and friends keep telling him to settle down so he doesn’t die a lonely old man. He started to fulfill what he thought was a dream by getting on Christian Mingle. He went thru the normal steps and follow ups and found his perfect match. Now that the minor background has been defined I leave the rest for KL to tell. Hold on, this one has a few twists and bumps in the road.

About a year ago is when this all occurred for me. I had grown tired of being taunted and teased all the time by friends and family that I would never find love and that I would never get married. It all sat really hard with me because I’m now 36 and have no life other that travel and work. I had become discouraged with Facebook because it didn’t seem like any of the singles my age were interested in anything except extra-marital affairs and I didn’t want to get mixed up in that at all. With the advice of my mother I created an account on Christian Mingle and loaded up my profile. In the beginning my inbox stayed empty, then I would get the empty conversations, and after about a year I began corresponding with a woman my age named Ashley. We seemed to both have quite a bit in common and she says she wouldn’t mind my traveling. We didn’t live too terribly far apart, with her north of Orlando and myself in Bunnell.

After the usual talking on-line through the site we saw trust within one another and exchanged cell phone numbers so we could talk while I was on the road. After about a month of texting and talking she started sending me pictures of herself. They started off with her being fully clothed, then in bikinis, then erotic lingerie, and finally just her in her birthday suit. I have to admit, she was stunning to look at and I could not wait to meet her in person. I sent her only one picture of myself compared to like 60 she sent to me. Mine was simple, just me fishing from the beach one summer. She really had my attention. Eventually we made arrangements to meet in a central location to both of us and at a place that was neutral for both of us as well. She knew allot about Daytona Beach and started listing out hundreds of places we could meet. Finally we settled with meeting at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant right on Daytona Beach. The weekend was finally here and I packed a small bag with a change of clothes so I was sure to have my bathing suit just in case we decided to actually go down to the water.

On my drive down to Daytona I go a call from Ashley informing me she was already there and since she got there so early she decided to get a room at a local motel off the beaten path by the beach. I agreed to meet her there as we both agreed that it might be best to meet for the first time in a not so public forum. She texted me the address and I found myself heading her way. She was definitely right, the motel was off the beaten path a bit and kind of secluded from the view of the street. My anticipation was growing by the moment and I was getting really anxious to get to meet her. When I pulled up I found my way to park in front of the room number she had given me. Being polite, I called her while sitting in my car to announce I was here and coming to the room. She told me it was perfect timing and to come on in because the door was open.

I was raised better than to just barge into someone’s room, so I knocked on the door and waited for her to answer it. The door slowly opened reveling Ashley standing there without a stitch of clothing on her wet, nude body. She apologized for being wet and naked and told me that she had just got out of the shower and heard the knock on the door. I remember thinking that this was odd since I just called her a few minutes ago, but oh well, I’m here now. She grabbed me by my hand, leading me into the hotel, and then she shut the door. That was the last thing I saw, the light just before the door completely closed. I woke up around 7 hours later. I realized at this point that the back of my head was bleeding pretty good. When I got up off of the floor to head to the bathroom to get a towel I realized I was completely naked and completely alone as well. After making my way to the bathroom I looked in the mirror to see I had a black eye and was missing a tooth. Further examination of my body would reveal that I had bruises and small cuts everywhere. Further observations would reveal that all my clothes, my wallet, my cell phone, my keys, and my car were all missing.

I got on the motel phone and called the Daytona Police Department to report the robbery and assault. A male and female officer arrived after about 15 minutes to take me report. I had found a robe tucked in on the top shelf of the closet so I felt a little better. I let them in, the female officer immediately began talking with me writing everything down while the male officer looked around the room and asked neighboring rooms if the heard or saw anything. Then the kicker. I was informed this motel was notorious for being used in prostitution scams and robberies. Shortly after I was read my rights and was told I was being arrested for solicitation of a prostitute. With no identification I was treated like an actual criminal. I was loaded into the car and drove to the police station where I was duly processed in accordance with the law. With my one call I contacted my mother and explained what happened. She said she will call the insurance about the car and bring me my birth certificate to prove my identity. But, she can’t come until the following morning because she doesn’t drive after dark.

So there it is, I spent the night in jail because I got robbed and beaten. I understand the police department’s point of view but what about what really happened, does that even matter. The answer is no actually. After my release I got busy changing locks on my house, luckily they never came here and robbed me here. I called to cancel credit cards and order replacements, as well as getting charges stopped on my bank account. They managed to remove $4679.92 from my bank account as well as spending another $2109.89 at a variety of places, all in a matter of under 24 hours. When I go to Christian Mingle to retrieve what information I saved about Ashley her entire profile was gone, of course. My car was found a few weeks later torched and burnt to the ground in Las Vegas Nevada. After my insurance claim went through I got another car. Since all of this happened most of the money I lost was “refunded” to my new bank account. To my knowledge this is still under investigation because they have never been able to identify who actually did this to me. I don’t personally see it being solved. She is long gone and I helped her get long gone. On a personal note, I have given up on internet dating sites. I will just need to find the right woman for me some other way. I have learned my lesson and wanted to share with people so they don’t go down the same lonely road that only leads to despair and agony.

Note: The images used in this story were provided by me. I found them on the internet via a quick Google Images search in a public domain.