Lee – Page 6 – lee-lawmaster.com

What a Week

This week has been full of accomplishments for me as the president of The Janeway Collective.

I was working on a couple of things at the same time that came out beautifully. I will write about each one separately.

May 20th is the birthday of our namesake. A date we decided based upon a listing in the library of congress. It was one of our first points of order actually, as an “exact” date was not set in stone as it is now.

We wanted to have a celebration much like our unveiling but unfortunately were unable to; partially due to the pandemic but also due to our other goings on. But we had a couple of things in mind. To petition the City of Bloomington to declare the day Janeway Day, and to ask persons attached to the show to give the captain some birthday greetings. We accomplished that goal.

The Video

With our former “Media Director” firmly banned from the Collective, it was on me to put together an easily digestible video for our fans, and fans of the good captain. While I certainly have the skills to edit video, I have never considered myself an editor. More of a “cut and chop” guy that fixes errors or removes flaws.

When we received the first two of four videos we received; I was given inspiration by the singing of “Happy birthday.” The song has built in pauses, which give an opportunity. Everyone knows that song. To most, just a video of that would be quite boring, not entertaining. So I intertwined a portion of each clip in those pauses. Nothing fancy; but it really didn’t need to be.

I then had to do some work on our logo for the credits at the end. Our existing logo, created by the aforementioned Media Director, was only suitable for display on white/light backgrounds. I was using a black one. I knew how to invert colors in Photoshop but it became far more complex than the video editing. The red in our logo spilled over into other areas, something I still need to touch up actually. Thankfully it was not noticeable however.

We released the video on her birthday, and I felt proud. The response was overwhelmingly positive. I even sent it to the man to whom I’ve always considered the standard to be judged by with regards to video editing, Editor B.

The actress who played Captain Janeway, Kate Mulgrew liked it so much that she asked the Collective to tweet it so she could re-tweet it. I felt honored. While it wasn’t my words, or my voice, it was my work.

Without further ado, I present to you the video:

Kathryn Janeway Day

Several of us have connections to people on the Bloomington City (common) council. In early April I reached out to my friend and contact, Steve Volan about it. The council had just dealt with some heavy issues and he told me now was not a good time. To wait a few weeks and ask again. So I did.

I also found a “proclamation” template and filled it out accordingly. Steve suggested some edits; which were completely understandable and made. He said he would be in touch. I then waited; somewhat impatiently. We wanted to be able to announce this, but we had to know. We didn’t know proper procedure, and we didn’t want to do anything that would upset the city in this regard.

The night of May 19th, I watched the live stream of the city council meeting; but I did not see a word of the proclamation. My only other experience with such matters was pre-pandemic and was announced at the meeting itself. I assumed the same would happen.

The morning of May 21st, as I woke up I found an email from Steve, with a scanned PDF of the proclamation attached with an invitation to city hall to pickup a physical version.

YES! We had done it. I told Steve how appreciative I was, as he and I have had a rough personal history due to the previous annexation issue that I wrote about previously. I only hope I have continued to show him that I am his friend even if we disagree on some local political points of view.

I picked up the physical copy the same day

The Collective is going through a major stage in transformation right now, as we work on the foundation of being our own non-profit. These things are a definite boost to not just morale but goodwill.

Non-Profit Creator

That’s a line I should add to my resume. It’s not something I was ever interested in. Along with others I was a part of the creation of The Janeway Collective, and built a statue for a certain Star Trek captain.

After our unveiling on October 24th, 2020 our group was in free fall. There were several arguments that led up to that point that spilled over afterwards; ones based on items I was not involved in nor had real decision making capabilities on. Something had to be done, or this trip was over.

The Reddit contingent saw more to be done. The possibility of scholarships, to be stewards of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics). I told both of my daughters that this was a lifelong commitment. I meant that.

So I did what I do, when indecision is running rampant; and I see a clear path forward, I make that decision. Firstly, I incorporated the Janeway Collective as a non-profit. I then applied for an EIN for us. We then had to make and agree to a set of by-laws to govern our activities. Once that was complete; I applied for federal 501c3 non-profit status, which involved a $250 fee.

Then we waited, and waited some more.

The first sign of anything was a response from the IRS, asking for our income/expenses over the last 3 years. Thankfully we had that information, which I was able to provide to them. They also had a few other questions; which we were able to answer quickly.

Last Sunday night, I checked my mailbox and inside of it was a singular envelope from the IRS. IT WAS A DETERMINATION LETTER! We did it. It was a group effort, but I did a lot of the leg work needed.

I then applied and received state designation on the same day.

We are now able to give Artisan Alley our 30 days notice. While they did us a world of good when it came to raising funds, and connecting us with artists for the statue; the rest has been quite over reaching. We have been obligated to name them in anything we do, but I have not seen anything in kind done for us. It’s quite frustrating.

Financially it has been draining as well, as they have charged us a pretty steep amount, monthly for well over a year now. We don’t sell things; we aren’t in the business of “making money.” Each dollar we receive really counts. From a simple point of view, that cost has been HUGE for not much benefit received.

I’m excited for the future of The Janeway Collective. I am proud that the cornerstone of my presidency will be this. I am incredibly happy that most of the original people have stayed on. I’m also exicted about our new people; and what marks they may leave on this legacy I am happy to be a part of.

A Nail in the Coffin

This week, the Bloomington city (common) council voted yes on amendment 2 of the UDO (unified development ordinance), which allows residential properties that are zoned as “single family” to be converted to a “plex” meaning there can be multiple residences on that property.

It has caused a large outcry with many, for reasons I completely understand. I will try to outline my points of view with this post.

The city of Bloomington has for as long as I can remember, and for as long as we’ve had a university presence, had issues with housing. In the beginning the students stayed with families who had extra space, paying them for their trouble; and helping out with their household.

The price of housing for those not affiliated with the university, the life long residents; has been out of line with the earned wages in the community for as long as I have a memory. My mother would move constantly simply because the price of her rent would increase; sometimes by $100 a month.

Fast forward 30 years. We are in a housing crisis. It is almost impossible to find an apartment under $700 a month. There is an entire industry of apartment complexes that rent by the bedroom to mask the true amount the apartment rents for, which in many cases is $2500.

Most of the construction happening in our area is focused directly to the student population; one that typically does not have to worry about the normal struggles life brings. Beginning in the late 1990’s, this construction has filled our downtown area with an ugly form of architecture that is plaguing our country. I call it “The future ruins of Bloomington” as an ode to what the Bloomington of my youth was called. There has been no sign of it letting up either.

Those who can afford to purchase a home keep facing an ever upward trending slope of pricing that invites those coming from the coasts as “cheap” and “affordable”, directly pricing those who live and work here out of the market. Many are forced to the surrounding counties to find affordable housing.

When I do the math; I cannot afford a more expensive place than what I have lived in for the past 15 years. AND I MAKE THE MOST I EVER HAVE. Almost double the median income level for Bloomington per The US Census. The only way to increase my income in my job title is to move to San Francisco or Washington D.C. Meanwhile, a home just up the road from me that had been abandoned for years was flipped. It was purchased for $60k, and placed on the market after remodeling it for more than 10x the original purchase price! They have since dropped the original asking price by $80k, and for all purposes the home no longer appears to be for sale.

While wages have increased significantly in the area; the housing market has increased even more. There’s no chance to get ahead, many are forced to choose between food or electricity, etc.

While the more affluent neighborhoods of Bloomington, with their historical and stately homes will not be affected by the UDO and plexes, the poorer ones are under direct and immediate attack. Those working class neighborhoods will be priced out of the homes they worked hard for due to a mix of tax rates and plexes increasing the values of the area to a point where they can no longer afford to live there.

Due to the Indiana state legislature’s all out attack on “home rule”, the city officially does not have many tools in their toolbox to give assistance or regulate housing costs. They clearly saw this as a method to help ease the ever increasing pressure on our local housing market. When your only choices aren’t what you ideally want; but something that helps – I get it. I just believe it’s a wrong move, one that will dramatically change the nature and character of the city in coming years.

This gives monied interests another tool to continue the plundering of the city for their own financial gain. Instead of remodeling a home; turn it into a quad-plex and make 4 times as much!

At the same time; Annexation is on again. So these policies will move to other areas that are ripe for that sort of development if it passes.

I still can’t help but see these policies as a sign from the city that they are broke. The debits are more than the credits. Prior to all of this, the Mayor pushed to increase the income tax rate for the entire county; to which the city council has a majority vote on. All other boards put out messages of non-support; and the city council did not put up enough votes to make it happen.

Yet, a 25 million dollar park with bond the city tax payers are paying for is a good use of money? A park that more and more, I see reports of issues with families encountering homeless shooting up heroin and or having sex in public bathrooms.

Which brings me back to my original point; our homeless population is exploding simply due to the sheer expense of housing. Yet the city is doing everything to attack them, not support them.

Please, sign me up. I totally want to be a part of this, said no person ever.

Where’s my 5G?

Today I received my 2nd dose of the Pfizer Sars-Cov-2 vaccine.

The first dose gave me some really strange side effects, and I have planned the 2nd to give me the same if not more intense bodily reactions. So I took the rest of the week off work. Although I can never truly take off work.

I actually got dragged into a situation that happened in the new building. Numerous emails; missed phone calls; the whole 9 yards.

Then I laid down most of the day. It’s now 11:45pm.

I am proud to be part of the part of society that appreciates science and how it can positively impact the world.

That Damned Jeep

While my last post was about me fixing a problem with my daily driver, another reared it’s ugly head. The starter went out.

I’m going to give a bit of a personal history of me and Jeeps, because it relates.

At the end of 2015 life was good and it was horrible at the same time. I had just divorced my wife of 11 years, but I had also just started the same job I hold today which doubled my salary, which has now essentially tripled.

Said Kia. I tinted the windows, put new shocks on it and put new speakers in it

The divorce left me with the hand-me-down Kia Rio that my now ex-wife received as a graduation present from her parents. I called it the Clown Car due to it’s small size when compared to my stature. On the way back from taking my daughters shopping for Christmas, the AC Compressor went out. This essentially killed the defrost capabilities of the car. It was the middle of winter in Indiana. I needed it fixed or I needed a different vehicle. The repair would have cost what the car was worth – and I was tired of being cramped. Enter my first Jeep, a 2010 Wrangler Unlimited Sport.

Starting it sounded a little off to me, but I bought it anyway. Then, the night before I was about to take off on a large cross country trip; while at a gas station getting fuel – it wouldn’t start. I was 30 miles away from home, with no tools, nothing. There was only 1 starter for my vehicle available in that town; and it was a mile away (I was literally right next to a parts store).

It was due to the kindness of a good samartitan who went home to get his tools; and helped me swap out wrenching duties that I was able to get that starter changed out that night.

Well, I was faced with a similar situation yesterday while leaving work. I had some things working in my favor this time however. The parking lot I was parked in is relatively flat, and I had plenty of space. I called my insurance companies road side assistance service, but hung up out of frustration; as the person on the end of the line seemed to not be able to understand or spell the word “discovery” which was the name of the road I was parked off of. I then called two towing companies, who nonchalantly said that they could handle the job, but it would be 2 hours or so until someone would get to me. So I got to pushing, almost getting it to where it could be pushed to try to start it manually.

That’s right. MANUALLY. Manual transmissions may be dying, but this is one significant advantage to them. If the starter goes out, you can roll start them. Commonly referred to as “popping the clutch,” this is where you push/pull the vehicle to a arbitrary speed, typically between 5 to 10 mph. You engage the clutch and put it in gear. You then simply release the clutch. If you have enough speed for your particular vehicle/engine – poof it will start!

With the help of the custodian (who worked with my father) and the building manager, I had enough man power to push it to a point where there is a downward slope that I was able to build up enough speed on. I then drove it to a buddy’s shop; as I was not exactly in the mood for replacing a starter.

It’s been less than 24 hours since I noticed the problem; and it’s done.

A Jeeportunity

If there’s a single complaint I have about my daily driver, it’s the hinges on it. You see, I drive a Jeep Wrangler. The hinges are not hidden on them, like they are on most vehicles.

While this image doesn’t highlight the issues I have with the hinges, the following ones will. The issue relates to how Jeeps were assembled. The problem has been mitigated with the new model, called the JL.

The body on the vehicle is steel, but the hinges are aluminum. The entire body is assembled before it is painted. Due to reasons that are entirely beyond my understanding, this bi-metal situation causes oxidation. The oxidation leads to the paint bubbling and coming off, which is exactly what is happening in my case.

My first resort was to just find replacements. This way I could just replace a part, and not have to worry about alignment issues or have any downtime. The down side is that a new set of hinges for all 4 doors would be $480, just for the ones that mount to the doors. The ones that mount on the body are $352. Pretty damn expensive!

So today I started on this years long quest that has been stewing in my brain. This is the lower hinge on the driver rear door.

I’ve owned a Jeep since the end of 2015, and taking the doors off has always made me nervous. I’ve read numerous horror stories about people having significant troubles removing them; then not being able to put them back on. The ease at to which I was able to remove this hinge makes me believe I won’t have the troubles I thought I might. Perhaps I can give my little girl a thing she wanted finally. To drive around without doors.

My next step was removing the paint, and the oxidation that has built up over the years. For that, I got my wire wheel and new drill out. That alone removed a vast majority of the paint and all of the oxidation. Some of the paint was very stubborn however, and required I get the paint stripper out.

As you can see, the door is all shiny and fresh. To help eliminate this from happening again, it is recommended to put a coat of paint on either the backside of the hinge or the door itself. I decided to put a thin coat on the door; to protect it from possible rust happening overnight. I used a small paint brush that my daughter lent to me.

There’s some pitting and some primer that I just couldn’t get off. It’s okay. I’m no expert on this, and will never claim to be. I discovered that I’m out of spray primer; so I will be leaving first thing in the morning for some to proceed with the next step.

One thing that I’ve noticed is that anytime I wash my Jeep, there always seems to be a “backwash” of sorts that comes out from the hinge area. Hopefully I’ll resolve it with this.

The door and the back side of the hinge were covered with a hard but thin layer of a calcified like substance. I think that is the remnants of the oxidation, which created a sliver of space between the door and hinge itself allowing for the seeping I mentioned.

The day up and flew by on me, I can’t wait to complete this tomorrow. I’ll update this post with my results.

Update:

As promised, here are the results. I’m not 100% happy but I am pleased with the results. I woke up this morning to my neighbor commenting on my facebook post offering to sandblast the hinge for me. I took him up on that offer.

Sandblasted and cleaned in soap, ready for primer

I think the sandblasting really helped in the areas I was unable to reach with my crude methods of wire wheel and sandpaper. I really appreciate his offer, and will be buying him more media as a thank you. He makes really awesome things out of glass, you should check out his work!

I was headed out to get primer anyway, so meeting him at his shop was no big deal.

Then I put two coats of primer on it. I wanted black but all I could find was grey. Oh well. This was fairly straightforward.

While this was drying, I decided to multitask and mow the yard; well sections of it. Now it was time for the Mopar color I have been sitting on for a while now.

I put a coat on and it reminded me of the days when I put together model cars. The paint acted very similar. I went with it the best I could, but the bottle had no instructions.

As I was mowing a section of my yard; the wind decided to blow some tree pieces onto the wet paint. I tried to remove a “helicopter” from one of my maple trees, but it removed the color AND some of the primer! Boo.

Running against a time crunch, I decided to make the best of what I had. I can always redo it later on if I’m not happy. I sprayed two coats on the hinge in it’s entirety, then added a couple of more coats on that particular area where the paint and primer had been removed. It helped even it out some.

As you can see, it’s not perfection. I didn’t expect it either. I need to do some touch ups all around the area of the hinge itself but mother nature had other plans. It began raining. Thankfully the paint had dried. Since it was raining, I decided to wait to do any touch-ups until after it quit raining.

All in all, I’m very happy with the results. It makes my Jeep look so much better.

NO!

I was hoping to wake up at 7am and begin working on a test I need to update for a faculty member. My hopes were dashed, and I ended up not really getting out of bed until about 10am.

I then began my morning routine of going through all of the emails I had received overnight. When I was almost finished with that task, another email hit my inbox, from The Bloomingtonian. The City of Bloomington is beginning a retry at annexation. Sigh.

The green, purple, red, pink, yellow and orange areas are to be annexed.

Surprisingly, I guess I did not write anything on my blog about it when this originally popped up in 2017. The map above was originally a much larger area to be annexed.

I can’t say that it was due to my input, but all of the “1” areas were originally a singular area. I kept telling a friend who is on the city council that those areas needed split up, as they differ greatly. The next map produced was wildly similar than the one shown here.

During that time, he would provide me with information in confidence and I would spew it out and about, frustrating him to the point where he almost ended our friendship.

This is one area where he and I are diametrically opposed, and I failed to consider our relationship in the grand scheme of things with the words I said. I failed him, and for that I will not pester him and then blab my mouth in the clear on social media.

BUT I WILL WRITE MY OPINIONS

A button I received at the first “informational session” during the original annexation push in 2017

I feel that I must provide some history on this since I did not write about it previously.

In 2017, seemingly out of the blue the mayor of Bloomington, John Hamilton unleashed this wide plan to annex over 10,000 acres of “fringe” area into the city of Bloomington. The city hadn’t annexed anything for a period of almost 20 years, and there are certain areas that quite obviously need to be. Over that period of time the city has changed significantly, and the population has increased as well.

There were several township meetings held so the residents of these areas would have an opportunity to redress the elected officials about this. The one for Van Buren township (where I live) was quite lively. With many boos, etc, etc. It was there where I was first introduced to Geoff McKim, a county council member. I call him the “numbers guy”. He broke down what would happen fiscally if annexation went through. It wasn’t pretty.

I do not live in an area that will be annexed, but per what he said in 2017 my taxes would increase by 26% due to the loss of others on the tax roll for the county and my township.

The only play against annexation in Indiana is remonstrance, where I believe it is 63% of the property owners officially state they do not want to be annexed, it will be stopped.

Back in 2017, the city also stated that many of our township fire departments services would be essentially gutted; and people including me would have to rely upon the Bloomington Fire Department. Their closest station is almost 5 miles away. My township fire department has a station less than 2 miles away, and they have been here in under 2 minutes.

The city pulled some blows that were quite frankly below the belt back then too, as the issue of remonstrance waivers became a major issue. Many new subdivisions outside of city limits would connect to city utilities, and the city would provide it given waivers were signed for these properties. This gave the homeowners no say in the process. It essentially silenced them. This angered me, greatly.

Then it was announced that Cook would pay the city $100,000 per year in order to not be included in the area to be annexed. This made it very clear to us poor working stiffs that this was clearly about money, and a pay to play system was in place locally.

My buddy Steve was right, “All Politics is Local.”

Then, something came out of left field that shocked us all. The state added language into a bill that killed the annexation. Bloomington quickly filed suit stating the bill violated the state’s prohibition on special legislation. The city eventually won that case in the Indiana Supreme Court.

I was happy to see that play out, and work it’s way through the court system. I am no scholar on our states constitution and do not understand many of the rules and mechanisms in play for situations like these. I may be against the annexation; but I am not against our judicial system for these decisions.

So, here we are again. Four years later, a whole lot of arguing in person, online and before the highest court in the state. I don’t know what will happen, but I am still against this massive annexation plan.

The city has went on a wild spending spree, built a $25 million dollar park but still seems to need more money.

By contrast, my township recently completed construction on a new fire station at it’s secondary location. No bonds were issued, no taxes were raised. It was done through fiscal responsibility and saving funds for the expense.

I’m going to end post I’ve been working on all day long with something short, but sweet. This is an image of me in 2017, at the first informational session the city held on annexation. It was promised to be almost like a round table discussion; but it ended up being just a lot of poster boards around city hall. It felt like they were just trying to hide from those who they wanted to bring into the city to me. I proudly held that sign then, and I feel the same today.

Don’t make me bring the crazy eyes back out!

Time Keeps on Slippin’

As Steve Miller sang, “Into the future.”

This weekend has flown by, but I did get some things done that I wanted to get done. As of late, it’s as if the weekends have been used to recuperate from the week I’ve had, with my body feeling as if I’ve been through a marathon.

Saturday, I finally installed my missing outdoor water spigot. The way my houses plumbing was installed just puzzles my mind. All CPVC. This is just the start of my eventual replacement of all of the plumbing in my house, as I’m converting it to PEX.

Today, I mowed my yard. My grass grows rather quickly, it had grown about 4″ since it’s first mowing of the year exactly a week ago.

I then setup a new WAP (wireless access point). It’s a Ubitiqui Flex-HD. When I started to set it up, it didn’t want to work with my existing systems at all. So I went down a wormhole of setting up their controller software, called Unifi in a Docker container on my Plex server. That last part took a large portion of the day itself.

With it, I was able to segment my network and create a IOT network for all of those “smart” devices we have these days – that aren’t really so smart. I take my network security and personal security pretty seriously, and this will show them who the boss is.

A Touch of Normalcy

Yesterday I did something I haven’t in over a year. I spent some quality time with my youngest daughter during the week. Pre-pandemic, I would get her every Wednesday. We would have a bit of a date night, and then go back to my house. It was short, but always sweet. Time I loved and appreciated.

We went to a place we used to go all the time, Steak N Shake. We both wanted to see the changes they announced. It sadly all was true. I have hundreds of photos of her at Steak N Shake over the years. I called them “Still life at Steak N Shake.” Often times showing a happy girl wearing the infamous paper hat. After yesterday, that experience is and has died.

We then went to the Hawaiian Shaved Ice place just down the road. A place I remember fondly when it was just a temporary “shack” on a trailer, a place where I first asked a girl out.

We then just drove around the big city of Bedford while waiting on her Volleyball game. She was going to play the sport last year, after her first practice everything was cancelled, it broke her heart – but she understood.

I’ve been telling and teasing her for years that her great-great grandparents are buried right next to her school and the Limestone Boys & Girls Club. Due to the family photos I’ve been going through, I was able to somewhat triangulate the exact location. I don’t even recall going to it, so I had no memory either.

Ever since her move, 30 miles away from the only place she knew of as home it’s been important to me to show her that she has roots in her new hometown. My great-grandparents are the core of our roots in Bedford, as they moved our family there in 1920, when my grandma was a baby and the last time our world was experiencing a pandemic.

The building in the upper left is the gym of the Boys & Girls club.

We then kept just driving around, experiencing things I had not seen before. Amelia was calling me a stalker, as I drove 20mph down city streets taking in the variety of home types and styles.

We then headed back to the Boys & Girls club, as she had photos to take and two games to play. This is where the stark contrast between our communities showed themselves.

Monroe county still has a mask mandate, Lawrence county however does not. When entering this secondary gym, there was a sign that said masks had to be worn inside the building – with a box of masks available. Some wore them, myself included. The vast majority did not however.

The gym where the games were played was packed, with the stands not having any room to spare. There was also a line just to get into the gym.

I was able to find a chair to sit in, off by myself. I stuck around for her first game but decided to leave at the end of it. I’m not sure if I have mask anxiety or what. What I do know however is that until we as a country are ~70% vaccinated, I will be nervous when I do not see masks outside of my own family bubble.

Oklahoma, How I Miss Thee

It’s a Monday morning, and a weird one at that. For some reason the subject of Elohim City came up. I did what I do, I started reading. I came across this post from almost 10 years ago about the place, but it did something none other have done. It explained in great detail what I love about Adair county Oklahoma.

“The western edge of the Ozarks begins here in Adair County, a sparsely populated spread of bucolic communities with a mere 22,000 residents (43 percent of whom claim Native American blood) over 577 square miles. The pastoral beauty of the majestic, unpredictable terrain stands in stark contrast to the rural poverty that plagues much of its population. Roadsides are often littered with garbage—discarded, empty cans of Busch beer, cast-off plastic grocery bags, cigarette butts—and road signs are peppered with bullet holes. Gutted shotgun shacks and ramshackle houses with landfill front yards rest precariously next to forests of resilient pines and dead, twisted post oaks. Multitudes of modest white churches adorned with hand-painted signage offer a point of communion for residents to congregate and socialize.

Underneath the surface malaise and natural wonder of Adair lies an explosive history, one that informs Elohim’s existence. This is the heart of the Cherokee Nation, the last stop on the Trail of Tears where 11,000 Cherokee Indians were forcibly relocated. The area’s history is America’s history, fraught with instances of revolt and rebellion, of fierce individualism repeatedly clashing with a government status quo. This is the territory where Cherokee general Stand Watie held out against Union troops, making him the last Confederate general to surrender at the end of the Civil War, thus ending the South’s campaign for secession. It’s the home of Ned Christie, a Keetowah Cherokee traditionalist falsely accused of killing a federal marshal. When he wouldn’t surrender, a posse of hired guns from Fort Smith pushed a burning wagon into Christie’s fortified home.

The James Gang hid out here, as did Belle Starr and her bunch, the Dalton Boys, and Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd. In 1977, Gene Leroy Hart, a Cherokee, was accused of the brutal rape and murder of three girl scouts in Mayes County. Hart was a violent local fugitive who’d previously been convicted of raping two Tulsa women. Despite the public outcry, a Mayes County jury acquitted Hart.

Today, the Cherokee Nation is humble home to small-town Oklahomans, many of whom are largely untouched by 21st century development. The landscape is wild and primitive, and self-governance is necessary for day-to-day survival. And the area’s legacy of isolationism and individualism continues, carried on in large part by Elohim City.”

I asked my aunts about the place the last time I was out, just as this pandemic was starting. I got different answers from each of them. One said that they were “Survivalists” while the other told me “Don’t even go around there or you’ll get shot.” I cannot remember what my 3rd aunt said.

I’m still coming to grips with the fact that there is a community like this so close to the area I’ve grown up loving, the area that makes me feel free as a bird. I’m not trying to start a conversation about these issues however. I understand the separatist lifestyle, that could have been me and my family at Ruby Ridge. I guess finding out about this place was the day I that I officially grew up.