Silencing the voice: targeted for removal? You be the judge.

This blog is getting over 1000 hits a month, not counting the hits that would be counted when Andy or I log on to post.

Recently I got kicked out of GRH4V, the results of my blowing my top over something that should have never triggered it.. but hey, we all make mistakes..  I WAY WAY over reacted. Everyone blows steam once in a while and I did with this one because I saw something happening that was not, or so I thought.  My fault. No big deal right? Wrong. They think differently.

The question is, was this member targeted, and the incident set up to solicit such as response from the member? You decide.

Look at this picture. The yellow areas are for visitors, the pink areas for staff, and the blue for members. 

Just one problem. Staff and Clinic people park in members areas.

There are about 20 members that have their own cars. Some have handicap plates or window permits that allow them to park in the handicap area, The blue and yellow line above the main parking lot.

Members are supposed to park in the first row, (blue line) and the small lot out back (circled blue).

But it is difficult to park there when staff fills up the first row, and Government vehicles from the VA clinic are parked in the small lot in back. PLUS there is the extra need of members to be able to carry things from their cars to the building. A distance of about 100 yards in if you are in the small back lot.

Now some members were parking their cars in the visitors section by the chapel entrance. (Yellow C). There were about 4 or 5 guys parking here. This stretch is reserved for visitors, and for funerals. In the 2 years I was at the home, the only time that area got filled up was when there was both a funeral, AND when the public people were parking there while having a wedding photo shoot in the grotto, which is just north (up) from the picture. The grotto is for members only and technically NOT open to the public. But that is never enforced.

So October 1, 2012, in preparation for this years snow removal, the home started notifying people to move their cars to the proper lots.  But how does a member do so, when their parking spaces are taken up with Employee cars?

Most people found a notice put on their cars like the one below.. 

The last paragraph says "Vehicles found to be in violation of the homes parking policies will be issued one (1) warning citation. Te safety department will make (1) attempt to contact the owner of the vehicle via the PA system. After 30 minutes, the vehicle will be issued a citation and towed off the campus grounds".

Now then. How is one to take this? How does one park in the designated area when the home does not enforce what policy it already has.

Do you see the conflict here?

Well, this is the notice that was posted on many vehicles.

But not all of them.

Some of them, like me, got THIS first.. A warning.  When I saw it I went ballistic. They were threatening to STEAL my car. Why? Because if you are a member here, and you have no income, you get 20 dollars a month for personal use.. Anyone with a pension or what ever, gets to keep 100 a month and that is all. So if they tow the vehicle, the impound tow will cost over 200 bucks, plus the impound lot fee. You are talking 2 to 6 months of saving that 100 dollars, so that you can get your car out of impound. IF the impound lot doesn't charge you a daily fee. IF it does, then you are screwed.. might as well forget getting your car back.
Thus in a way, the home steals your car. And for many of us, our cars are the last thing we own. And I like any other veteran will not allow them to do this.

Another guy got a letter handed to him to remove his vehicle. His truck that sat out in the back lot for 6 years without being bothered.

There are those that think that guy and myself were targeted by the administration in part because of this blog, exposing the criminal acts going on here at the home, and  the abuses to older veterans and their families.   And, because the other guy and I had started a non profit charity called Veterans for Justice and we obtained 501c3 status.  So many are now thinking I got targeted because of that.

Well like I said, i took it the wrong way. I got very very angry and had to blow steam. I really thought those A-holes were going to try to steal my car.  So I photo copied it, and in writing told them that the first person to have my car towed, would be the first to go to the hospital to have their head re-attached.    and that it was not a threat, but a promise.

That was my first time in the 2 years I was at the home, that I lost my temper.

In the members handbook issued to me when I arrived in October 2012, it said that there is a progression before being discharged. 
The issuing paper work from the home claimed I was being discharged for the welfare of other members and employees, and that I was cited for "disrespectful, rude, inappropriate behavior, and general behavior, and Harassment. And this administrations actions was and is disrespectful of veterans.

WHO is harassing who here? And General behavior?   This is the first incident I have had at the home. Other guys go on screaming rants for hours, kicking doors, breaking things and NOTHING happens to them.  Yet I blow steam once and get kicked out.  Guys threaten staff and each other all the time and nothing is done about them doing it. Maybe because they do so verbally and I did mine in writing.

Mind you, I am a cardiac patient, recovering from heart surgery. I can barely walk around the building without needing a nap, let alone be able to beat someone up.  And who would warn someone that they intended to hurt them? 

The administration here has all the records.. Are they really telling folks that they truly believe me to be a big threat to their personal safty considering my medical history and situation?

Are they really that F_ing Stupid?!  Apparently.

Either that or this is a direct result of being targeted for expulsion, because I stand up for veterans rights, I speak out, and I helped form a nonprofit group to help other veterans. And I created this blog, so that others would know what is truly going on here.

   In other words, the greatest fear of the older veterans has been made real: Someone spoke up and got kicked out for doing so. THAT is how they are going to see this. 

This whole scenario was done the wrong way by both parties.. I should have seen it for what it really was, and made an inquiry of how the expected me to park in members parking when THEIR cars were in our spots. Instead, I blew my top.  And again, the question of, did they do what they did, because they wanted me to blow up, giving them a reason to discharge me?  Despite the fact that I had no other incidents in the 2 years I was there?

You decide.