Strange Days Indeed

These past few weeks have been strange days. Storms, political and otherwise, whipped across the landscape. And yet we go on. Sometimes just satisfied the winds have stopped blowing and breath that sigh of relief the damage happened to the other guy and not us.

The Akron Beacon Journal had a article a few weeks ago about some neighbors harassing another neighbor, who was a registered sex offender to the point where the police department encouraged him to press charges against his harassers. The neighbors say they are just protecting the children. The un-indicted criminal neighbors, are fearful they haven't been good parents and haven't taught their children that the monster does not always come in a scary disguise. The monster can come in a form as pretty as a beauty queen. It would be nice if, instead of going after those who have paid their debt to society, the neighbors went after the drug dealers; Those parents that serve alcohol to teenagers; The dead beat mom or dad that lives across the street; The welfare cheat or the drunk drivers or the speeders. Or better yet, if they just made sure none of those things were taking place in their own lives, imagine how nice their neighborhood could be to live in.

There will always people with the financial resources to quite literally get away with murder. Locally, we have former beauty queen Cynthia George as example "A", nationally we have former football hero OJ Simpson. Both went through the justice system. Both had their day in court. OJ actually went through both the criminal and the civil proceedings. OJ lost the civil case, he was found guilty of wrongful death. I wonder why his neighbors aren't placing pointed signs on their manicured lawns that read: Murderer lives there- He may do it again- Saw him with a young man and woman in his living room-. I wonder why his neighbors aren't scared for their lives and the lives of their children.

And what about the neighbors of Cynthia George? She was found guilty in a criminal case before being let loose on appeal. I haven't heard if she will go through the civil court. Who would want Cynthia George, a murderer for a neighbor? I guess the perk would be, if you are a neighbor of Cynthia's you would have a really nice house. But where is the outrage that a wealthy woman, convicted of murder, is now walking the same malls as us? What about the children? Maybe her neighbors too busy in the beauty salons to be worried their loved ones may fall victim to her wicked ways, and goodness why risk chipping a nail to place a sign in the yard warning passers by they just passed a evil doer's house.

Another notorious person has been back in the news: Nan Talese. She is the powerful editor and publisher that allowed author and liar James Frey to write A Million Little Pieces, and market it as a the truth, was in the news again, upset over her treatment on Oprah Winfrey. After Oprah confronted them about the fraud the committed with the book.
She still doesn't understand the harm she caused from robbing people of their money by telling them what they are buying is true story when it is lies. Even after being tried and convicted in the court of public opinion and even after reaching agreement to the outlines of an out court settlement that resulted from the class action lawsuit brought against her and James.

Cynthia, OJ, Nan and James, I wouldn't want to live next door to any of them. It is too bad there wasn't a law that required murderers and sneaky thieves who are let loose to register where they live their local law department. And require the local police department to post their address on the web. I would feel much, much safer knowing the address of the nearest convicted thief or murderer was in a neighborhood that was not my own.