Doom?

Today is the day. At 10:30am this morning, I must appear before a judge in small claims court to answer the City of Springfield and their Citation to Discover Assets.

As I've already satisfied the judgment for which that citation was issued, most would feel that this is no big deal. I've paid what the City said I owe, so they no longer will care to go forward with this.

Yet I'm sick to my stomach retching, as only those versed in the philosophy of law and politics can be. It is at times such as these that I wish I knew nothing, and was blissfully trusting in the system, knowing that nothing bad can happen to a good man doing the right things.

I'm going to put the system on trial. 

Katie was asking me about this last night, noting that while our day had been nothing but a good day that my head was pounding and I was continually sick at my stomach, with no appetite.

"Don't your motions settle it?", she wondered.

"They should", I answered, "but they do not have to. Depends on the judge.”

“How come?”, she asked.

“Remember how I explained that we’re not a nation of laws, but of men? By the law, it should be over, but given that the law can be read a variety of ways, it will be due to how the judge feels.”, I explained. “I filed three motions in my answer, with only the second one being really important. If he just goes with that one, all is well. If not...then it gets sticky.”

“He can go with whatever one he wants?”, she asked.

“Technically no...well, technically yes, he can go with whatever one he wants. The laws are written in such a way that you can always find a precedent or argument for whatever you want to do anyway. So the Judge can choose any way he likes.”, I said. “The right way - as far as I’m concerned, has me home quick. The wrong way...not so quick.”

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I get sick over any kind of hearing, however innocuous. Like a surgery, it may be “routine”, but there’s a chance of disaster each time all the same.

I’m not the only one aware of this. You’ll notice that even the uneducated dread going to any kind of hearing. They may know they’re right, they probably even believe in the system, but they fear it all the same. Unconsciously they know what I know consciously - that the Judge can go whatever way he wants with it, and if the other side’s trained lawyers out talk you, he probably will.

And it won’t be based on “right” or “wrong” or “good” and “evil” but only just who talked better and what mood the judge was in. Because whichever way the judge decides, there’s alway - ALWAYS - a precedent or argument to cite so as to defend the illusion that we’re a nation of laws and not of men.

You know what the Old English word for “Judgement” is? “Doom”. As in if you live in an area under the King’s Judgment, you’re in a King-dom. If you live where you can freely judge, you have “free-dom”. Dom/doom meaning “judging/judgment”.

It speaks volumes about our vaunted Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence that the word “judgment” could come so quickly - and for so many centuries - to mean “disaster”, as most take “doom” to mean.

What’s this matter I’m going on and on about all about?

I had a roof last year that the City wanted fixed. It was not leaking, but they believed it looked old. So I replaced it. But not as “fast” as they had wanted. So they held a hearing that they failed to invite me to, and having tried me in absentia, awarded themselves $365.

There are appeals to such things, of course - that’s what makes America great! - but they failed to notify me of the judgment or the amount owed until after the deadline for any and all appeals had passed.

I explained this to them in a letter I wrote them last year, in November, and asked - not demanded, but asked - that they waive the fee.

Now they could have wrote back and said, “No”, in which case they’d have been paid. Or they could have called me - saving the cost of that postage stamp - and said “No”, and they’d have been paid. Or they could have emailed me, equally for free, and said “No” and again - been paid.

Instead, they wait till February of this year, and only after my repeated inquiries as to when they’d answer my letter, had a summons served upon me. And a process server costs more than an email or phone call or postage stamp, notice.

And they had served upon me a Citation of Discovery of Assets which you do only when the person has refused to pay and you don’t know what assets he has to seize.

They are full well aware that I had not refused to pay, and full well aware of what the assets are, but they are - as I said in my response to the court - attempting to deliberately incur more “costs” so as to charge them to me. Thus generating more revenue.

For you see, the Citation, as such things always do, refers to the original fine of $365, “plus costs”.

Clever, huh? They knew I’d pay the $365 for the price of them making a $0 call or email, but this way, for really no cost to them, they can claim “process serving”, “hearing preparation”, “legal research”, time, effort, blah-de-blah. Neverminding that to the extent they burned any calories, I PAY FOR THEM TO DO ALL THAT ANYWAY each year with my property taxes!

Sorry.

So here I am. Showered, shaved, suited up, waiting to go there at 10:30am where I’ll no doubt be waiting 30 to 40 minutes as dozens of others are dealt with, then to meet with my own doom. Er, “judgment”. Of which I know there is a 99% chance it will go fine. Well, 90% chance. But that could still go wrong.

I should be let go with no further “costs” assessed. But they could assess almost anything. I should be let go without a real asset discovery taking place. But they could spend all day with me going over every jot and tittle of 8 years of annual reports, budgets, tax records, invoices and receipts.

I could be home by noon, when a good friend is coming to do more electrical work for free to make the lives of those we aid better. Or be there all day, as our “civil servants” justify their absurd salaries by making the life of the guy who runs a charitable non-profit a living hell.

Our system - though at this point, I think it fairer to say “their system” - is not as we taught in civics class.

Okay, I’m done now. I’ll be retching a bit more, a dry retch as I’ve ate nothing since early yesterday, then going to court.

Pray.

Arrived!

It was over 10 years ago (10 years and 5 months) that I arrived in Springfield in a beat up RV that was out of gas.  I was homeless, unemployed and back then, a fully active alcoholic.  My life was unmanageable, as they say in AA meetings.

I wanted it to be different, I made a conscious decision for it to be different, and it has been different for a long time.  Thanks to my Katie and the Missionaries and Church folk who have aided me in gaining and keeping my sobriety.

But when do you get to unfurl the “Mission Accomplished!” sign?  When can you say you’ve “arrived”?

There are many such mile markers on the way to being able to say you’ve “arrived”, of course.  And in some sense, it’s a purely arbitrary decision, and a personal one that you get to decide for yourself.

Was it when we incorporated as a bona-fide non-profit?  Was it with the first house bought and renovated?  The second?  The first guest aided?  The 40th?  Will it be even later, in the future, when we get our 501(c)3 status approved?  (A future much closer now as we are moving toward securing that!)

Any of those points could have been selected.  And I’ve felt the joy of those previous “arrivals”!  And I know I’ll feel the joy of the 501(c)3 “arrival” when that comes!  But all along I’ve had something else in mind as the ultimate mile marker.

Membership in the Chamber of Commerce.

As a child, I was raised in an upper-middle class environment, my father was an insurance executive with State Farm, my mom did Hospice volunteer work, there were bake sales, business trips, a bi-level house, blah de blah!  The church we attended weekly without fail was one of the prosperous Methodist ones where everyone there is some kind of businessman, entrepreneur or professional!

So you can see why I’d be the kind of kid who knew what the Chamber of Commerce was and is!

I hadn’t thought of it in the years since I left at 17 to join the Air Force.  Why would I?  It’s not like I had a business.

But there I was ten years ago, back in my town of birth with nothing and no one.  I knew I wanted a non-profit one day, though I still had myself to heal.  I knew I wanted it to be a going concern, I knew I wanted to succeed in ending my own relapses, and I knew I want to help others who had walked the same sorry path.  I knew what it was like for me to try to climb back up and I wanted to be in a position to aid others in that.

And for my own goals of success, for my own idea of what I wanted for my own life, I knew even then what the total opposite of being a homeless unemployed alkie was.

And that was to be a dues paying member in good standing of the Chamber of Commerce.

And now?  Now, this 20th day of February, roughly ten years later, I’m pleased to announce that we at the Liahona Mission belong to the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce!  Or simply “the Chamber” as they call it!

Why is that a thing?  Why did I want that so bad?  How is that the opposite of being homeless?  Isn’t just having a home and a job and being sober the opposite of all that?

Well, yes, in general a home, and job and sobriety are the opposite, and perfectly fine for most people.  But for me personally, I think that a bit more than that is “opposite”.  Having a home and a job and being sober are great things, of course.  Crucial things, in fact!  But that’s not the furthest you can go as a member of your community, and only the furthest point away is truly “opposite” enough for me!

And for that you need to belong to the Chamber of Commerce.  The Chamber, for those who are unfamiliar with it, is a group of business owners great and small who are bound together by two common elements.  The first is shared by everyone, even the homeless.  The second is shared by very few, even the well off.

The two elements are these:

“The desire to have their community grow and prosper.  AND the desire to make that their personal responsibility.”

And that is what membership in the Chamber is in two sentences.  If one is running a corporation or company, a coffee stand or a mega-conglomerate, and you agree with those two sentences, then membership is a must.

Ever drive past any of the numerous vacant lots and abandoned homes and think, “Gee, something should be done about that?”  The Chamber is made up of men and women who agree, and who work together to grow Springfield’s economy so that such can be solved.  

Ever hear of burdensome regulations and policies hampering and hindering the growth of local businesses - and thus jobs?  The Chamber is made up of citizens who are well aware of that problem and who work to help others find their way through those treacherous waters.

Ever read about how different communities offer different tax breaks and incentives and such to attract more businesses to their town and thus create even more employment opportunities?  Yes, that is again what the Chamber looks into and advises upon, for whatever town it is in.

Do you wonder about who advocates for beautification and better roads and well lit streets and easier traffic patterns and environments more conducive to business and jobs and prosperity in general?  The Chamber, the Chamber, the Chamber, and also, the Chamber!  

Political leaders may be elected and be paid, and they may at times work to solve such problems, but members of the Chamber are those who took it upon themselves to pay to get together and work together to solve those same problems!

As they know that a better town is not only great for everyone here, but for attracting more people here, and leaving - as each generation of members in the Chamber does - a better place for those who come after them.

Because at root, that is the only thing any Chamber of Commerce does - inherit a community and work to make it better for the next generation.  The Chamber is the caretaker of the community, and they invest their own time, talents and money to that end.

And now we get to be a part of that!  

And that is what I count as having “arrived”!  When not only do we have our own business up and running, not only are we helping others, but that we can now be a part of a greater effort, and join in the ranks of all the other responsible local businesses!

If that’s not being “arrived”, I can’t think what is!

Windfall!

We have received an unexpected windfall from a friend of a friend who wished to donate. I won't give his name, but he looked like Santa Claus! :)

By windfall, I do mean that this was truly unexpected. The first I knew the man was when he called about 20 minutes before arriving with a check. But he knew a friend of mine, a friend I had met through a church friend of mine, so that is how he had heard of us. He said he liked not only our mission, but that we don't have salaries or admin costs the way that other non-profits often have. Costs that tend to eat up the charitable donation and mean that less actually gets to the people who need help.

Given that it was unexpected, and that other things we desire are already on track to be acquired in the normal course of time, we are setting that sum aside, to go towards applying for our 501(c)3 exemption. A thing that the donor brought up as being desirable to have.

True, we almost immediately could think of plenty of other things to use it for, but really, we've waited long enough on this. It's time.

We will still need an additional $300 for the application fee, and at a given point, we'll still have to pay for a CPA to go over the application with us - the application being a couple of dozen pages long, with about 30 pages of instructions!

But this is sure a big push ahead!

So tomorrow I'll be at Brookens Library, starting the laborious process of the paperwork, so there'll be something for the CPA to review!

This is rather exciting, as not only will it allow donations to us to be declarable on a donor's taxes as a deduction, but it will aid us in accessing food programs to aid the guests of the sober living home!