Today I am thankful for a threat from the City of Aurora to take me to court over another tree: it reminds me that a deal with the government is akin to a deal with the devil
(if you believe in the devil).
(if you believe in the devil).
There is a tree on the property line. It was planted by the person who owned the house prior to me and the guy who used to own the house next door.
I think there was something going on between these two because there was actually a secret entrance from my fence into the neighbor's backyard. There is a little sidewalk that used to go into each property. The woman who owned my house was a single mom. The guy next door was married and he said he was at my house all the time.
Oh...
Now the entire sidewalk in on my side of the neighbor's illegal fence. Yes....my former neighbor wanted to put up a fence that was against the code. The city told me to ignore it so I made him do it on his property.
This guy started to engage in crazy home improvements on his property without permits. He'd cut down my fence (and was forced to rebuild it). He cut the cable. He did all sorts of strange things.
Worst of all, his contractors would fight in my front yard on those days when I stayed up until 4:00 am making meditation recordings.
Their fighting woke me up....so...
One Tuesday, I did a ritual to Ares outside to show them how people who love fighting honor the art. There is probably a blog entry about that. His contractors were kids who liked to wear their pants so low that their underwear was exposed. One does not have to act like a gangster to wage war.
The guy wound up moving shortly afterward and selling to my gun-toting neighbor.
I guess the bloody steak and my ritual crooning was too much for him to bear.
I should act that one out again if the hot foot powder doesn't work.
Because I fear the new neighbor losing his cool if he's asked to pay to cut down the tree, I agreed to let the city help me with that expense*.
They asked me if they could write ME up for the tree on both properties. Because I expected them to help cut it down, I allowed them to write me up for the dead tree.
Once they wrote me up, all communication seemed to be cut off. I called once two weeks ago asking what was going on and I was assured they would help...
but today.....they're threatening court and jail.....
That's what I get for trusting the local government.
I'll take care of it.
I'm going to start by going to the county to see if they put a lien on my house. If not, I'll ask the city to send me back the documents they had me sign.
I am considering sharing feedback with the head of Neighborhood Services. The reason I don't share feedback with the city is that they tend to illegally fine their employees in cash for crazy crap. I've heard of fines ranging from $300 (for answering a hypothetical question about voting) to $1,000 (for staying home with a sick child). My family was hit for $500 because my ex had a book on his desk; my ex sued and found out that the fine was to intimidate him into quitting because he was overweight. I should publish the transcripts from the depositions and share the nasty emails I received from the former head of the Tax Audit Department. No, I'm not a monster: I'll block out the names.
The fines are the only thing I have been unable to get fixed at the city. Recently, I visited with the HR and was told that they haven't changed their employee handbook. The illegal fine policy is listed on the last page.
Sigh...
That's why I wind up fighting tax hikes and running for office. It's really the only way to expose the devil in their details without causing someone to be fined.
*******
I'm wondering if I should ask the neighbor for help and risk a bullet in my head -or-
if I should take out another credit card.
I found myself saying in a phone message to the code enforcement officer at the city:
"I'll take care of it."
I will.
The last time I said that to a government employee, it was to an Assistant City Attorney. It was August 6, 2008. I reported the illegal $500 fine and the freaky city lawyer became nasty about it, laughed and asked what I was going to do to stop them.
She hung up the phone before I could answer.
I prayed to my Gods about it.
Hermes answered in the strangest way.
I also blogged about it in numerous venues. Shortly after that, I met some politically minded people and we started a Political Action Committee to fight the city's funding.
I hope I'm too busy for that now.
There is a mood I get into when I take on the government;
I talk differently,
I walk differently,
I fight differently,
and my fear goes entirely out of the window.
This is just another lesson that the government cannot be trusted.
I'll take care of it.
*****
I'm filling out credit card applications online.
I'm asking for tree removal recommendations.
I'm debating if I should risk the guy next door shooting at me.
I have ways of getting my money back. I just don't like to utilize them.
I'll take care of it.
I wonder if those funds for home improvement ever get audited?
Hmmm….
I'll take care of it.
Every month when I pay that new credit card bill (if I qualify), I'm going to think about how many other people this happens to
and I'll vow to take care of it.
They waited until my birthday to threaten me.
Isn't that cute?
That's my worst day of the year.
I'm always in a shitty mood on my birthday.
This is going to be fun.
Worse.....
I believe that whatever you do on your birthday is indicative of what you're going to be doing for the next 365 days.
Since I just learned of an incredibly unconstitutional thing out of Morgan County that probably should go to the press (may have to wait until October just to see if they have the balls to risk trouble with the State and Federal government....that's when the judge will rule on the Sheriff's illegal request).
and then I was threatened with possible jail time for cooperating with the city...
It would seem that I'm going to spend the next year fighting the government and scheming against people who are not quite honest and transparent.
I promise to do my very best not to resort to curses.
I try to avoid witchcraft.
I'm good at the dark magick. It scares the holy crap out of me.
I avoid casting spells. I've fallen back on my old ways of late.
Yeah.....I have a quick little spell that I call the Law Enforcement Revenue Enhancement Spell that I cast on people who tailgate me or nearly run over pedestrians and motorcyclists. It empowers vehicles to become cop magnets. The intention is to educate motorists about driving safety.
Maybe I should change that up into a car break-down spell just so the universe gets them off the road.
It's stupid for a libertarian witch to wish to increase government funding.
I'll take care of it.
I promise.
I only hope that I will be as kind as I was in 2009. It only cost $70 million smackers and one person had a jeep accident (but she was very violent....seriously....violent.....she sent me the nasty emails and probably had some road rage going on). She continued to harass me until the high priced lawyers the city hired told her to leave me alone.
I should know better than to trust the government.
Lesson learned.
If this was done on purpose, I guess the City Council misses my frightening face.
That won't have to be the case much longer.
Although this blog is partly fiction, some of the material is real.
Truth be told, magick won't necessarily fix anything. There are more obnoxious ways of reminding them that they cannot be trusted. I don't want this to happen to someone else.
I'll take care of it.
I'm not sure how I'll do it yet.
Rest assured I will.
I feel betrayed and set up by the local government...…again.
I should know better.
I'll take care of it.
I wonder where the promised funds came from in the first place?
I'd bet there are rules that the city must follow to get these funds.
I'd bet that those rules were broken.
Let me do my research.
I'll go back to filling out credit card applications.
I'll try to avoid my famous "get a better job" for city employees spell. If these people were put up to setting me up, they need better jobs.
The city manager will fine them if they do not comply with requests, even if they are illegal. Gosh, that policy needs to change. It can only lead to corruption.
I just learned that I was duped. I checked the city website. There is no program that would help with the tree. So why did they need all my financials, paycheck stubs, and bank statements? Why did they visit my yard?
This is heartbreaking.
It's sad. It truly is.
I was hoping that my mistrust was wrong.
I wonder who the mastermind was?
Well, bitches and witches don't need names to cast a curse.
We just target the program.
It's a good thing that I have a lot of war paint.
It would seem that the universe wants to remind me that the government isn't trustworthy.
Perhaps its a reminder that I need to get back into activism.
Lesson learned.
I could cast a spell for money but I don't like casting spells - so I'll look for a fourth job. My hours were cut down to 18 a week, so I'm doing hypnosis on the side. I have school and am trying to get my hours so I can be licensed.
If I need more money, I'll guess I'll have to find it somewhere else.
The universe must want me to continue to fight the local government. I guess that's what I need to do.
I tried to cooperate. One cannot cooperate with people who play games, lie about nonexistent help or try to trap you into taking responsibility for an issue that doesn't solely belong to you.
I'll take care of it.
I'll get my money back in spades.
Love ya,
S.
Edit three days later: I have learned that the city will pay for the tree using tax dollars collected from people who smoke pot. I really don't like being in a situation where I cannot come up with a couple of thousand dollars on the fly.
My engine gave out on the way home. A driver pulled up behind me as my hazard light flashes and followed to the nearest mechanic, who luckily, was the guy who fixed the head gasket and exhaust manifold a couple of months ago.
The car feels like they're still bad.
I have to say that the people who live in Aurora are great.
The government scares me. It's not really the employees so much as it is the leadership. It's not the Mayor, he's just a figurehead. It's the legal team and the City Manager that I don't trust.
As individuals, the people seem all right. It's the gestalt of the organization that bugs me. The organization is too darn big to get answers. The individual people come together to create this monstrosity that is hard to navigate.
The punitive management style is irksome. The most distressing thing to me is that a government, tasked with creating laws and enforcing them, fails to honor the most basic Federal laws.
They illegally fine their employees.
The fines make it hard to share feedback. I don't want someone fined for bullshit so I stay silent about things - good and bad.
I owe a cop some gratitude. He told me about a volunteer opportunity with addicts.
It's the little things...
My prayers about the fines may have been answered but I'll have to stay quiet for now.
Good magick and good activism have to be done stealthfully.
Let's just say....others are disgusted about the way that some governments illegally create revenue. They really shouldn't be creating revenue on the backs of their employees.
I need to seek them out.