from the 8.14.07 print edition of the herald-gazette:
the imagery is from talented cartoonist ric leonard who formerly lived here on greenwood street.
By Walter Geiger
How sorry can you get?
That’s the question I asked myself after stumbling over testimony in what I found to be a disturbing case in court recently. I was there to report on another matter but this one reared its ugly head.
A father and son - Senior and Junior - were in court on a theft case - a petty theft unless, of course, the stolen goods belonged to you.
It seems Senior and Junior had pulled well off a state highway to relieve themselves near a shed on private property adjacent to a commercial venture that is active primarily on weekends. The theft occurred during the week.
While near the shed, Senior and Junior stole some items they said they thought had been “abandoned” and loaded them into their van for resale. Well, the plans for resale went awry, somebody spilt the beans and Senior and Junior ended up in the crossbar motel.
From the testimony, I knew the exact location of the shed. The property has not been abandoned. Additionally, Senior and Junior were within two miles of two separate convenience stores with restroom facilities, casting further doubt upon their account of events.
Senior and Junior were in court to plead guilty, take their punishment and get on with their lives.
Senior, pushing 50, told the judge he was disabled in an automobile accident as a teenager and has not worked since. He draws supplemental income from Social Security.
This testimony raised the hackles on my back.
This man was well over six feet tall and, perhaps, a stolen ham biscuit shy of 275 pounds. He did not appear disabled in any way.
He and Junior had loaded some relatively large items from the shed into their van without any apparent problem. The scam alert and sorriness warning devices in my head began sounding the alarm.
Is this, I asked myself, what Social Security is supposed to be about? I was convinced the man was no more disabled than myself and had been running a game on the taxpayers for at least 30 years.
Do the people at the Social Security Administration even bother to verify such claims or do they just hand out the money of those of us who work and pay into the system without regard for the truth or giving a damn?
I sized Senior up as one sorry SOB of a Dad engaged in leading his son down the same path to sorriness. From the looks of him, Junior was taking well to his birthright.
We see sorriness around us every day. We see so much of it, we have grown to expect it - become immune to it.
People fake disabilities all the time. They brag about “getting a check” and others look up to them for it. Our government promotes sorriness with countless entitlement programs we are told are necessary but are not.
We, as a society, lack the intestinal fortitude to stand up, shout ‘enough is enough’ and demand people make at least some semblance of an effort to support themselves before the government opens our wallets against our wills and supports them with our hard earned money.
These things ran through my head in the courtroom. My blood boiled.
Fearing a contempt of court charge, I did not stand in the courtroom to protest.
I regret that now.
Sorry Senior and equally sorry Junior left the courtroom with a slap on the wrist.
They’re probably under a shade tree right now, beating the heat with a cold one purchased in part with my money and yours while planning their next heist.
I count myself among those to blame for their sad state of sorriness!
