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Sept. 26, 2005 I have never lived in Hurricane Country - but I do remember a few Earthquakes and floods. One year, I dreamt that I was riding on an ocean wave. My hubby interrupted my dream to tell me that we've just had an earthquake. "So what, this is California, it's a holiday, let me finish my dream." Suddenly, hubby is listening to the news on a battery operated radio. It occurred to me that this may be more than the usual California shaker. I remembered that my sons were having a backyard camp out that weekend. I went into the backyard and banged on the tent asking the boys if they were okay. They were groaning, "Mom! what are you waking us up for? It's Martin Luther King Day. No School!!!! Let us sleep." Later on, I found out that my boys kept snoozing in sleeping bags directly on the ground during a six point something earthquake. At least, I was on a waterbed. Those things move all the time. Later that year we had flooding. Many of the homeless folks lived in the Riverbottom. This was Hobo Jungle which had existed since the 1920's. These were my clients. The National Guard had to fish the hobo jungle residents out of the Riverbottom which was suddenly filled with rushing water. They would call the office and report that their food stamps got washed away in the flood. "These people are lying," my supervisor advised me. "Yeah, but can we prove it, I told her as I handed her the authorization to get the food stamps reissued. Hobo Jungle was eventually outlawed. Some of the folks were given HUD Housing which they eventually lost because of selling Food Stamps to buy recreational chemicals and utilizing them on the property. They moved back into Hobo Jungle illegal or otherwise.. I often wonder if it would have been better to relocate Hobo Jungle rather than to outlaw it all together. My great granddaddy was a hobo. He disappeared when my Grandfather and Great Aunt were young. He was legally declared dead - so my great grandmother remarried and they relocated to California. She remarried another alcoholic who was killed to a barroom brawl. Years later, my family found out that my great granddaddy was living in nursing home in Louisville, Kentucky. I often wonder what his life was like. I am sure that there is a hobo jungle in Kentucky. There were no food stamps for him to sell for booze. He would have to do casual labor to buy booze and food to cook in Hobo Jungle. The government didn't try to save him, they allowed him to be. Current laws would make it impossible for someone like my great grandfather just to be. Maybe he just didn't want the responsibility of paying rent and taxes. If he wanted to get saved, he could have gone to the Midnight Mission. The choice would be his, not the Governments. I am glad that my girlfriend didn't want to go to court ordered 12 Step Meetings alone. I went along with her to give her support. They kept me instead of her. I inherited my great-grandfather's sensitivity to firewater but I didn't have to inherit the path he followed. Nevertheless, the choice was mine not the government's. Dubya could have been a hobo - a silk sheet hobo but nevertheless….. He made a choice and got to be President instead. I wonder if there was a hobo jungle in Hurricane Country. Are there hobos in Texas ? Did all the Louisiana hobos move to Texas.? Maybe they can all relocate to the Bush Mansion. Barbara can operate a soup kitchen right on the property. They can hire Ron Lewis to give the hobos a hurricane Survival Course. The possibilities are endless……….. ad infintum!!!!!!!!!! ------------ About the author: Bonijean Isaacs is a freelance writer and Astrologer in West Virginia. Email: inez4liberty@gmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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