Right or Wrong, CCA is in our business at schools

Guest Contributor

Corrections Corporation of America Used in Drug Sweeps of Public School Students

by Beau Hodai — November 27, 2012 - 7:00am

Topics: Children, Corporations, Education

Projects: ALEC Exposed

Share this In Arizona an unsettling trend appears to be underway: the use of private prison employees in law enforcement operations.
The state has graced national headlines in recent years as the result of its cozy relationship with the for-profit prison industry. Such controversies have included the role of private prison corporations in SB 1070 and similar anti-immigrant legislation disseminated in other states; a 2010 private prison escape that resulted in two murders and a nationwide manhunt; and a failed bid to privatize nearly the entire Arizona prison system.
And now, recent events in the central Arizona town of Casa Grande show the hand of private corrections corporations reaching into the classroom, assisting local law enforcement agencies in drug raids at public schools.



Trick or Treat

At 9 a.m. on the morning of October 31, 2012, students at Vista Grande High School in Casa Grande were settling in to their daily routine when something unusual occurred.
Vista Grande High School Principal Tim Hamilton ordered the school -- with a student population of 1,776 -- on "lock down," kicking off the first "drug sweep" in the school's four-year history. According to Hamilton, "lock down" is a state in which, "everybody is locked in the room they are in, and nobody leaves -- nobody leaves the school, nobody comes into the school."

"Everybody is locked in, and then they bring the dogs in, and they are teamed with an administrator and go in and out of classrooms. They go to a classroom and they have the kids come out and line up against a wall. The dog goes in and they close the door behind, and then the dog does its thing, and if it gets a hit, it sits on a bag and won't move."
While such "drug sweeps" have become a routine matter in many of the nation's schools, along with the use of metal detectors and zero-tolerance policies, one feature of this raid was unusual. According to Casa Grande Police Department (CGPD) Public Information Officer Thomas Anderson, four "law enforcement agencies" took part in the operation: CGPD (which served as the lead agency and operation coordinator), the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Gila River Indian Community Police Department, and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).
It is the involvement of CCA -- the nation's largest private, for-profit prison corporation -- that causes this high school "drug sweep" to stand out as unusual; CCA is not, despite CGPD's evident opinion to the contrary, a law enforcement agency.
"To invite for-profit prison guards to conduct law enforcement actions in a high school is perhaps the most direct expression of the 'schools-to-prison pipeline' I've ever seen," said Caroline Isaacs, program director of the Tucson office of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker social justice organization that advocates for criminal justice reform.
"All the research shows that CCA doesn't properly train its staff to do the jobs they actually have. They most certainly do not have anywhere near the training and experience--to say nothing of the legal authority--to conduct a drug raid on a high school," Isaacs added. "It is chilling to think that any school official would be willing to put vulnerable students at risk this way."

Welcome to Prison Town, U.S.A.

Eloy Detention Center (Source: CCA)CCA, the nation's largest for-profit prison/immigrant detention center operator, with more than 92,000 prison and immigrant detention "beds" in 20 states and the District of Columbia, reported $1.7 billion in gross revenue last year. This revenue is derived almost exclusively from tax payer-funded government (county, state, federal) contracts through which the corporation is paid per-diem, per-prisoner rates for the warehousing of prisoners and immigrant detainees.
And, CCA has a substantial presence in Casa Grande and throughout Arizona's Pinal County (Casa Grande is the largest town in Pinal County). The corporation owns and operates a total of six correctional/detention facilities in the county, distributed through the towns of Florence and Eloy.
These facilities hold a mixture of prisoners from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Hawaii Department of Public Safety Division of Corrections, TransCor (a detainee/prisoner transportation subsidiary of CCA), the Pascua Yaqi Tribe, the U.S. Air Force, the Vermont Department of Corrections, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In September of this year, CCA was awarded a contract with the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) to house 1,000 medium security prisoners at the corporation's Red Rock Correctional Center in Eloy.
In 2009, the Central Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation listed CCA as the largest non-governmental employer in Pinal County. To boot, CCA is a "Board Level" member of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a powerful trade/lobby organization, and is active in the Eloy, Florence, and Casa Grande chambers of commerce. (For more on CCA's political influence in Arizona, see "Brownskins and Greenbacks," DBA Press, June 2010.)
This CCA presence, coupled with the location of two correctional facilities operated by GEO Group (the nation's second largest for-profit prison/immigrant detention center contractor) in the county, as well as two ADC-run prison complexes, makes Pinal County -- which once cited mining and agriculture as its economic bedrock -- a de facto prison industry community.
Despite the obvious differences between CCA and actual law enforcement agencies, those involved in the Vista Grande High School drug sweep seem unable to differentiate between CCA employees and law enforcement officers.

"CCA is like a skip and a hop away from us-- as far as the one in Florence," said Anderson. "We work pretty closely with all surrounding agencies, whatever kind of law enforcement they are-- be they police, or immigration and naturalization, or the prison systems. So, yeah, this seems pretty regular to me."


For his part, Hamilton seems equally unable to differentiate between law enforcement officers and employees of a for-profit prison corporation.

"To be honest with you, I couldn't tell if they were Casa Grande Police, Pinal County police, Gila River, the sheriff's department-- they all look the same," said Hamilton.

Questions of Legality

But they are not the same.
Aside from the fact that CCA is a private corporation that derives its profits from the incarceration of human beings-- such as minimum and medium security drug offenders -- Arizona Administrative Code provides that, in order for any individual to engage in the duties of a "peace officer," that individual must obtain certification from the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board. Arizona Revised Statutes defines "peace officer" to include such law enforcement personnel as: municipal police officers, constables, marshals, Department of Public Safety personnel, and community college/university police.
The POST Board is comprised of the Arizona Attorney General, the director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, the director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, municipal police department chiefs, county sheriffs, state university personnel, and other public safety/law enforcement personnel. POST's essential purpose, as defined by Arizona law is to "prescribe reasonable minimum qualifications for officers to be appointed to enforce the laws of this state and the political subdivisions of this state and certify officers in compliance with these qualifications."
And, Arizona Administrative Code is very clear on this point: "a person who is not certified by the Board or whose certified status is inactive shall not function as a peace officer or be assigned the duties of a peace officer by an agency . . . "
According to POST Executive Director Lyle Mann, POST provides two types of certification: standards and training certification for "peace officers," and standards and training certification for correctional officers. Arizona Administrative Code mandates that ADC officers be POST certified. However, according to Mann, employees of private prison contractors are exempt from this standards and training requirements. As such, said Mann, no CCA employee is POST certified -- as either a "peace officer" or a correctional officer.
It is important to note that Arizona Administrative Code explicitly states that non-regular "peace officers" -- secondary parties engaging in certain limited aspects of law enforcement under the command/supervision of regular peace officers -- must also be POST certified.
According to Arizona Administrative Code, a "limited-authority peace officer" is defined as "a peace officer who is certified to perform the duties of a peace officer only in the presence and under the supervision of a full-authority peace officer." The Code goes on to state that duties which may be performed by a "limited-authority peace officer" in the presence of a "full-authority peace officer" include: "investigative activities performed to detect, prevent, or suppress crime, or to enforce criminal or traffic laws of the state, county, or municipality."
This definition seems to fit the description -- with the exception that CCA employees aiding CGPD "peace officers" are not POST certified -- of what occurred at Vista Grande High School on the morning of October 31, 2012.
According to Officer Anderson and Principal Hamilton, the raid was organized and conducted at Hamilton's request.
"We need to keep drugs off our campus," said Hamilton when asked why he requested the raid. "We wanted to make sure our campus . . . we wanted to send a message to kids that we don't want that stuff on our campus."

Hamilton stated that, outside from this desire to send a "message to kids," he had no knowledge of any particular drug use problem on his school's campus.

CGPD then issued a request for assistance to what it considered to be other local law enforcement agencies -- including CCA.
According to Anderson, CCA provided two canine units (handlers and dogs) to aid in the high school "drug sweep." These CCA canine units worked under the command of the lead CGPD canine unit.
According to Anderson, there is no contract or formal agreement for such services extant between CGPD and CCA. Rather, said Anderson, CCA simply agreed to participate in the raid when approached by CGPD "K-9" officers. Anderson stated that he does not know whether CGPD ever contacted POST-certified correctional canine units at either of the two nearby ADC-operated prisons.
As to the general role canine units play in such school "drug sweeps," Anderson stated that the dogs and their handlers are typically utilized to detect the presence of illicit materials in classrooms and school parking lots.
This activity, as was conducted by CCA employees, would seem to fall squarely under the Arizona Administrative Code description of duties performed by "limited-authority peace officers" -- officers who may perform "investigative activities" for the purpose of detecting, preventing, or suppressing criminal activity, and who are only authorized to do so while in the presence of "full-authority peace officers," such as CGPD. Such "limited-authority peace officers" are required to be POST certified.
Regardless, according to both Anderson and Hamilton, this type of activity has been going on for years in Pinal County.
According to Anderson, a similar "drug sweep" -- utilizing CCA canine units -- was conducted at Casa Grande's Union High School in 2011. Anderson has been unable to provide further details relating to this event.
According to Anderson, the Vista Grande High School raid is unlikely to be the last instance of CCA partnership with local law enforcement, as he assumed CGPD would use the corporation's canine teams again, if needed.
And, according to Hamilton, he requested and had executed "drug sweeps" utilizing CCA canine units "two or three times a year," while serving as principal at Coolidge High School in Coolidge, Arizona -- also located in Pinal County, roughly ten miles from the private prison mecca of Florence. Hamilton was principal at Coolidge High School from 2003 through 2007.
CCA did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding their involvement in law enforcement operations at public schools in Pinal County.

Conflict of Interest: From the Cradle to the Cell

According to Anderson, three students were arrested as a result of the October 31 Vista Grande raid: two female students, ages 15 and 17, as well as one 15-year-old male. According to Anderson, the 15-year-old female was found in possession of .10 grams of marijuana; the 15-year-old male student was found in possession of .50 grams of marijuana; and the 17-year-old female was found in possession of 10 ounces of marijuana. According to Anderson, this last quantity was "individually packaged." 


According to Anderson, the students were referred to the juvenile division of Pinal County Superior Court. All students were then released to their parents/legal guardians. 

According to Hamilton, the school will commence expulsion hearings against all students arrested.
It is worth noting that, while (as of November 12, 2012) charges have yet to be filed against students arrested in the October 31 Vista Grande drug raid, it is possible, under Arizona law, for the 17-year-old female allegedly found to be in possession of 10 ounces of "individually packaged" marijuana to be sentenced as an adult if charged with possession with intent to distribute -- a felony which would could carry a prison sentence.
In addition, it is important to note that, under Arizona law, individuals arrested for illicit activity/possession of illicit substances on or near school grounds may face "drug-free school zone" sentencing enhancements. Those convicted of drug (including marijuana) offenses in Arizona courts, and sentenced through the stringent criteria of "drug-free school zone" sentencing enhancements, lose the possibility of sentence suspension, parole, or probation (which would rule out the possibility of a deferral or diversion). This sentencing enhancement also adds a mandatory year to any prison sentence handed down by the court.
While the recently-awarded 1,000 CCA Arizona prison beds have yet to come into operation, it is exactly this kind of low risk, minimum to medium security prisoner that corporations such as CCA derive much of their profit from.
Furthermore, according to Anderson, the Vista Grande High School marijuana arrests have sparked a broader, ongoing investigation.
Given the fact that such high school raids may serve as the foundation for larger narcotics investigations which may net additional adult offenders -- and given the tremendous pressure for information a prosecutor may exert on a student through discretionary use of "drug-free school zone" sentencing enhancements -- concerned citizens say that CCA's involvement in such raids constitutes a clear conflict of interest.
"They're [CCA] not the criminal justice system. They are benefactors of the criminal justice system," said correctional specialist and prison reform advocate, Carl Toersbijns.
Toersbijns, now retired (he retired in 2010), served as a deputy warden of operations at ADC-operated Arizona State Prison (ASP) Eyeman, as a deputy warden of operations at ASP Safford, as a deputy warden of operations at New Mexico Department of Corrections-operated Western New Mexico Correctional Facility (Grants, New Mexico), and as an associate warden at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility (at Los Lunas, New Mexico). Collectively, Toersbijns' career in corrections has spanned over 25 years in both Arizona and New Mexico. Such work, said Toersbijns, has entailed everything from details with prison canine units, to prison gang units.
"They [CCA] use the criminal justice system as a means of making income -- for profit," added Toersbijns. "So, their interest in the criminal justice system is totally opposite of the police officer. The police officer is public safety. The primary interest for CCA and associated entities is profit. So, there most definitely is a conflict of interest."

Profit-Driven Roadmap to the Present: "Tough-on-Crime" Mania and the Introduction of the "War on Drugs" to the Classroom.

As some opponents of prison privatization attest, CCA embodies the worst pitfalls of public-private partnerships, in that the corporation has worked in the past to advance criminal justice legislation that has contributed to both a swell in U.S. prison/detention center populations and, consequently, CCA's bottom line.
For example, CCA was active (both as a co-chair and member) in the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) Public Safety and Elections Task Force (formerly the ALEC Criminal Justice Task Force) through the 1990s, to the end of 2010.
ALEC bills itself as "the nation’s largest, non-partisan, individual public-private membership association of state legislators," working toward the advancement of the "Jeffersonian ideals" of limited federal government. In reality, ALEC is almost entirely funded by corporations and sources other than legislative dues, and it is overwhelmingly comprised of Republican state lawmakers and an untold number of large corporations and influential law/lobby firms (although at least 41 companies have announced they have stopped funding ALEC in the wake of public exposure of its activities). ALEC's primary objective is to adopt and disseminate "model legislation," much of which is drafted entirely by its private sector members. ALEC boasts that nearly 20 percent of this "model legislation" introduced in state legislatures nationwide is passed into law annually.
In the wake of reporting outlining CCA's involvement with ALEC and the spread of immigration law based on SB 1070, CCA told the Arizona Republic, in September 2011, that the corporation left ALEC at an undisclosed time in 2010.
Records obtained by DBA Press show the direct sponsorship of both CCA and of Management and Training Corporation ("MTC," currently the nation's third largest for-profit prison/immigrant detention center operator) of the August 2010 ALEC Annual Meeting, as well as the likely involvement of lobbyists employed by both CCA, MTC and GEO Group in the December, 2010 ALEC "States and Nation Policy Summit".
Arizona lobby reports also show clear GEO Group involvement with ALEC during the December, 2009 ALEC States and Nation Policy Summit -- the meeting at which then-Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce introduced legislation (that would later be introduced in the Arizona legislature as SB 1070) for adoption as a piece of ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force "model legislation." Subsequently, copycat legislation similar to this ALEC model bill -- the "No More Sanctuary Cities for Illegal Immigrants Act" -- began appearing in state legislatures throughout the nation.
Furthermore, the ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force was instrumental, during the years of CCA's membership and leadership, in proliferating such 'tough-on-crime' legislation as: "three strikes," "truth in sentencing" and "mandatory minimum" sentencing guidelines.
And ALEC also advanced the model "Private Correctional Facilities Act," which allowed private corporations to operate state prisons.
These guidelines and pieces of "model legislation" (including the "Private Correctional Facilities Act") were advanced by ALEC in partnership with CrimeStrike, a division of the National Rifle Association ("NRA," a longtime ALEC private sector member), throughout the first half of the 1990s. Critics of this effort saw CrimeStrike largely as a response to the Clinton administration's desire to strengthen firearms violence prevention laws. As such, the CrimeStrike campaign spawned the saying, "guns don't kill people, people kill people"-- and posited that the solution to crime would be found through the use of greater criminal penalties. This strategy took advantage of, and perpetuated, the "tough-on-crime" sentiments of the day.
Largely as a result of model laws/sentencing guidelines advanced by the ALEC/NRA CrimeStrike partnership, the United States experienced a boom in the number of incarcerated individuals (in state and federal prisons, as well as in jails)-- from just over 1.1 million incarcerated in 1990, to nearly 2.3 million in 2010.
During the years of CCA's Criminal Justice/Public Safety and Elections Task Force involvement, ALEC also advanced and advocated "model legislation" that not only resulted in greater drug law enforcement presence on public school campuses, but that also mandated tough sentencing enhancements for drug offenses committed in "drug-free school zones."
The ALEC "Drug-Free Schools Act" called for the use of federal funds provided through the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act of 1986 for "enhanced apprehension, prevention and education efforts" in joint cooperation between law enforcement agencies and local school districts.
Multiple ALEC publications (including the ALEC "Sourcebook for American State Legislation 1993-94," which lists CCA among the organization's private sector members and advisors), along with the ALEC "Use of a Minor in Drug Operations Act" reference the "model Drug-Free School Zone Act," although it is unclear whether this "model" bill originated with ALEC.
It is clear, however, that the model "Drug-Free School Zone Act," which establishes "drug-free school zones" and carries sentencing enhancements similar to the enhancements codified in Arizona law, was promoted by a broad coalition of public interests groups during the 'tough-on-crime' fervor of the early-to-mid 1990s. The model bill enjoyed such support that the 1992 National Office of Drug Control Policy (NODCP) established federal assistance in establishing "drug-free school zones," as well as mandatory sentencing enhancements nationwide.
Interestingly enough, this NODCP initiative, which was set forth in a report discussing the agency’s "national priorities" for 1992, advocated state adoption of several other known pieces of ALEC model legislation, such as the "Use of a Minor in a Drug Operations Act," as well as other ALEC "models" calling for the suspension or revocation of occupational licenses for professionals convicted of drug crimes, the eviction of drug offenders from public housing, and the use of "mandatory minimum" sentencing guidelines.
Not surprisingly, ALEC, along with several other public policy groups, was credited by the NODCP as having been "especially helpful in the formulation of this strategy."
In April of 2012, following widespread criticism and loss of corporate sponsorship due to such pieces of "model legislation" disseminated by the Public Safety and Elections Task Force as the "Stand Your Ground Act," the "Voter ID Act" and the "No More Sanctuary Cities for Illegal Immigrants Act," ALEC announced that it would disband the task force (an announcement that PRWatch has critiqued as a "PR" maneuver).
Unfortunately, as the October 31 Vista Grande High School drug raid illustrates, the purported discontinuation of this task force comes only after the damage of two decades of private prison industry influence in the legislative process has taken its toll.

Is Any of this Right?

Vast differences between law enforcement agencies and private, for-profit corrections corporations aside, former ADC deputy warden and corrections specialist Carl Toersbijns said he sees a greater underlying problem in the practice of using any prison -- public or private -- personnel in school drug raids.
The simple fact is this: correctional officers -- people who work on a continual basis around adult criminal offenders-- have a much different mentality than a teacher, principal, or police officer. This mentality, he believes, may not be the most suitable mentality to subject school children to.
"Children are different -- they don't act like adults, and I don't think you ought to use corrections officers around children," said Toersbijns. "It's a different culture, it's a different setting, it's a different approach. It's inappropriate." 

For example, the term "lockdown," said Toersbijns, may mean an entirely different thing to a corrections officer than it means to school personnel, students, or police.


"They use that terminology, 'lock down,' in the police department too. When they've got something going on in the neighborhood -- a robbery suspect in the neighborhood -- they lock the schools down [. . .] If you have a group there, that you've called in to do a job, and some of them are correctional officers, and they hear the words 'lock down,' it has a different meaning -- it has a total different meaning [. . .] You don't tell a correctional officer 'this school's on lock down,' because the mentality is: 'oh, I can go anywhere I want and tear up anything I want and grab anything that I want. That's the mentality we use in prison. Prisoners don't have rights -- you and I both know that -- when it comes to search and seizure, they don't have no rights. Children have rights."
---
Thanks to Alex Friedmann, associate editor of Prison Legal News (www.prisonlegalnews.org) for his contribution to this article. CMD staffers Rebekah Wilce and Alex Oberley also contributed to this article.

Shit Happens - ~ Awkward moments

Shit Happens

By Carl R. ToersBijns

 

A phrase that has been around for the last several decades, it is the most perfect American expression today or any other time in the past to describe life’s imperfections and unexpected surprises. Some people have shit happen to them on a daily basis while others experience it only once in a while being more fortunate than others in this phenomenon.

One can relate to the expression whenever something goes wrong. It is realistic that no matter how careful, how well planned or how organized we are as individuals, there is no guarantee that shit won’t happen to you.

We always hope for the best and that shit happens to others before it happens to ourselves. However, as you age you become more aware and face the facts more realistically that shit happening is completely out of span of control and not worth worrying about as you always prepare for the worst in life.

No amount of preparation will avoid it from happening. It has to be accepted as a part of life. These awkward moments will surely test your skill to handle crisis, accidents or other events. You have to learn to be prepared to openly respond and face the fact that everything in life does not have a happy ending. Picking up the pieces, moving on and dealing with this reality allows you to handle awkward predicaments better and makes you stronger in the long run.

 

November 26, 2012

 

 

Reflections of Life

Reflections of your Journey

By Carl R. ToersBijns

 

It has been often expressed that life can only be understood in two modes. The first mode is commonly referred to as a 20/20 hindsight concept and the second method is what we call looking backwards and understanding what and where we have been.

 

As flawed humans, we tend to see the worse in ourselves rather than the greater good we might have accomplished through time and meeting other people. It is commonplace for someone close to us to tell us what or where we really are or have been in life. This reality check if often appreciated and understood to be a viable link to those around us.

 

Reflections are often blessings of the past. Through this process we see vulnerabilities and weaknesses as we learn more about ourselves through the thoughts of others.

 

Never meant to discount your prior misfortunes or mistakes, you must consider the fact that to be human is to err and to err is to be human giving us the imitative to do better as we walk every step of our journey in life.

 

It is rare that reflections don’t bring regret or in some cases, repressed memories. Some memories from the past are sad one and some are realistically unforgettable. They can bring nightmares, torturous moments of misfortune or the loss of friends or lovers as time spares you from loneliness but never allows you completely free from the past.

 

Reflections can bring realization of plastic or artificial life as you get a chance to evaluate your existence within a most realistic moment in time. You can recall how you chose your friends or if you allowed them to choose you.

 

Never given the gift to be able to read crystal visions or interpret your hand like a palm reader’s definitions of your life lines on your hand, you must rely on mortal abilities to tell the difference between the past, the present and the future.

 

Agatha Christie once said “one of the saddest things in life is the things one remembers.”

It takes a certain ingenious faith in life and its journey to be able to read and understand the paving stones laid forth for you to travel. Even with moments of complete silence you can hear a distant echo of your mind as your memory reverberates your thoughts over and over until you drown out the noise and separate the good from the bad as you recover your historical years one moment at a time.

 

Moments are remembered how you where you were mad or glad, sad or happy and everything in between. Regardless of the overall or overcoming feelings, your can recall the sweet as well as the sour times of your life with accurate recollections and actively jot down in the tracks of your mind unwritten diary notes that will last forever.

 

Forever along with possibilities of passing them on to others as you share these precious moments in the tone and spirit that increases possibilities of happiness or sorrow as we suffer or endure our lives in retrospect in order to teach yourself or others to learn more about life as it is.

 

Reflections occur at any time your psyche starts to process your memory as words or sounds trigger your mind. They appear to work best when in a state of solitary meditation or in a solitary walk. It offers the greatest relief for the mind as it will indulge you to recover all those moments and indulge in nostalgic and sweet memories of life as it was before.

 

Ripping yourself away for an instant from reality, you must take the time to convince yourself that it was the solitude that offered you the reflection. To many, it is the ideal condition for reconciliation and peaceful feelings. 

 

We know that the past cannot be changed and we would be foolish to do so as we can surely ask for forgiveness but never to forget. Opening the door to regrets solves nothing and upsets the equilibrium of life and the tranquility it has to offer when you focus on the right things in this journey.

 

Life is about friends and lovers. Life has no time where it stands still and does not allow you to do anything about the past.

The musical tune of life can be happy or sorrow but it can be clearly heard by those who understand the lyrics as they were written and expressed in a most expressive way.

 

Reflections will point out how people like us think different and how others might do what we may have wanted to do or have done in the past. It allows us to see how we agreed and how we agreed to disagree.

 

Life does not collapse by the thoughts of others. It allows you to hear the words or see the actions to determine inward or outward movement of your heart beat and towards your own existence and the reality you live with throughout your years developed through your own moral values and priorities in life.

 

Most of all, reflections allow you the knowledge that you were created by a most loving God and that your existence reflects His creativity, wisdom and love for those you hold close to your heart.

 

November 24, 2012

An Old Timer’s Christmas Wish

An Old Timer’s Christmas Wish

By Carl R. ToersBijns

 

Life in the late 50’s and early 60's was simple as there was a limited amount of income coming in for a lot of families who lived on the minimum wage. The economy was fair and crime was low but the pay for those lucky to be employed was low. The cost of living was rising and the only way one could survive is to have both parents working so they can consolidate their income to meet their needs.  Only a few families could afford to celebrate the holidays and then, on a very limited level. The cold war was looming and the air raid drills were real in school and in the city.

 

The holidays were always celebrated with vigor and blessings of all that we were thankful for either during the holidays or the entire year. Thanksgiving is a special occasion where we could express our appreciation for the good things in life and the ability to pursue our own version of happiness down the road.

 

Anxiously waiting, we could hardly wait for the arrival of Christmas.  The economy was so bad, it was hard to earn a dollar and more stressful just to make ends meet as jobs were hard to find and parents were struggling to make ends meet. Living on meager wages, we stretched the food thus it was urgently important that we saved every bit of scraps we had and make a meal from the leftovers the next day's supper. Money tight and clothes worn out, we made sure we had what we needed to get by for Christmas as we wanted this holiday to be special as we just had a baby girl in the family and she was a treasure to say the least.

However, when it came, it was a simple celebration focusing on God, the birth of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit.  Gifts were meager tokens of our appreciation for our blessings. We did not splurge or attempt to buy any more than we could afford. Times were tough and it was like that all over in America and not just in Ohio.

 

Growing up in the ghetto tenements of the south end of Columbus Ohio during the early 60's was ethnically challenging and a time for constant friction and controversy. Racial issues in our neighborhood continued to dominate our family's daily strife as the black and white environment we lived in was frequently falling short for reaching a harmonious relationship. Witnessing the racial wars and conflicts grew us closer together as we saw how cynical and ridiculous adults behaved related to the world being black or white. The deployment of the Ohio National Guard into our neighborhood heightened our awareness of how divided we really stood on life. Those who knew how to live in harmony were ridiculed and those who spewed hatred into every direction were martyred by their own in their respective neighborhoods.

 

Learning slowly the perils of mixing racial relationships in this side of town could end up inside a hospital emergency room waiting for the doctor to stitch you up after you just survived a razor blade attack on your body thinking to yourself "what did I do to deserve this".  

Thinking more of the offspring’s state of mind and personal wellness than the impact on adults, kids these days endured much harassment and bullying inside the school and playgrounds.

 

Life in the 70’s was not so simple as before as there was the end of the Vietnam war that left many homeless and traumatized because of the conflict and shock they were involuntarily inflicted by and sadly left untreated to fend for their own with no help from the government upon discharge of service. The music was rocking with big name bands and the mood was laid back as the world tried to find peace with the nuclear war still hanging over our heads and communism spreading like wildfires in Asia and Eastern Europe.

 

Life in the 80’s was much different from the 70’s as things began to come together and the world seemed to have settled down a bit. The economy seemed to have picked up and more jobs were available and more plenty in Ohio and other places. Moving to New Mexico to follow my parents, it was a new journey that allowed me to leave all my troubles behind and start fresh with a new mindset that allowed me to gather my thoughts and heal my aching heart for all the misery and pain I had left behind to start anew.

 

The 90’s brought more joy and the families I once knew to be far apart were coming together as we saw a new direction and new hope for changing some of the things that had happened in the past. Stability was a main ingredient and the ability to launch new ideas and new challenges grew into a reality unmatched by anything in the past.

 

The coming of the new millennium brought more opportunities and happiness. Children, my children, were growing into adults and having families of their own makes the heart fonder of the good things that happen in life with faith and hope coming from above. The world seemed to get better and the air was filled with fresh feelings of hope and prosperity for many.

 

But the happiness was short lived as the morning of 9/11 revealed that America was again engaged in war but this time, the war had come to New York City and the Twin Towers were assaulted by radical Islamic terrorist flying two large commercial aircraft into the gigantic and elevated skyscrapers making them easy targets to hurtle into with loaded fuel and innocent Americans unaware that danger had came from above and brought them immediate hell, death and disaster.

 

Recovering from the Twin Tower disaster was most difficult for Americans. Their own sovereignty had been endangered by small groups of radicals preying on large commercial ports of entry and landmarks that represented America’s power and influence throughout the world and Christianity. No longer safe inside the own territorial borders, the new Homeland Security Agency promulgated policies that would invade the privacy of our lives forever as new technology advanced body [scans] searches and the detection of weapons and other contraband determined by the TSA coming onboard aircrafts.

 

Moving to the Grand Canyon state in late 2005 brought a new element of hatred into our lives. The subject of illegal immigration had invaded Arizona politics and statutory legislation as well as regulations.

 

Suburban and rural neighborhoods were once again divided and many left to avoid the persecution of laws that focused on legal and illegal residence status that had been ignored by the federal government for years if not decades and now making a political impact for those running for elected office.

 

Families became divided under SB 1070 as the law demanded ICE detainments and eventual deportations and compliance with the laws of the land. Congress offered no resolution as states drafted their own immigration laws to control their sovereignty and borders within their control.

 

Then almost inconspicuously, some of the old ideology from the 60’s crept back into our lives and on television and newspapers. The country elected a black president for the first time and the world [as we knew it] inside America rocked with a renewal of racism as many could not understand, accept or conform to the new ideology created by those born in earlier decades that all men are created equal regardless of race, creed, color or nationality and that anyone could be president if they get the electoral votes to win the office.

 

The likes of the infamous Klux Klux Klan were reborn geographically and demographically as the hatred spewed up everywhere with provocation to incite racial hate crimes through written dialogues and detestable language and social media cartoons. Muslims sought shelter inside their mosques as they became targets of a new generation of haters and degenerates. Gangs grew inside our large cities and crime took a rise that would fill our prisons to the brim of hell’s own periphery of insanity and madness. Black killing blacks and inter-racial killings that had no boundaries or honor.

 

There was also a significant change in the way we celebrate our holidays nowadays. Compared to the old ways where we focused on Christ, the angels and the celebrated music as our means to find happiness and peace with God, we are losing the bonds we established so hard in the past. Commercialism invaded our ideology of celebrating the holydays focusing on gifts and other self fulfilling presents that were meant to please oneself rather than others. 

 

The spirit of giving had changed to the spirit of receiving and ignoring the giving aspect of a most worthy cause to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  It appeared the word “reborn” had taken a new meaning as it again divided our neighborhoods through extreme ideologies and biases. Xboxes and large screen televisions invaded the homes as the Holy Bible was put on pause and stashed away in a drawer somewhere collecting dust and ignorance by those who chose to cast it aside for personal pleasure and addictive entertainment. Technology was swallowing life into a vacuum that would be difficult to recover from if at all.

 

After every Thanksgiving after 2001, the mood on the street never changed, it was naïve to believe that with Christmas nearing and only a few weeks away, there would be peace and joy throughout the world and angels singing hymns to bring the faithful gathers together for a song or two. Caroling in our streets during Christmas used to be a common event but is hardly happening anymore, anywhere in America today.

 

The economy was so bad, it was very hard find a good job and to earn top dollar for good work done. Life was becoming more stressful just to make ends meet as jobs were hard to find and parents were struggling to make ends meet. Savings accounts depleted and Wall Street taking a deep tumble into corruptive practices and financial troubles, the earnings of a life’s savings disappeared for many Americans.

 

The newly elected president in 2008 ended one of the Middle East wars and promised to end another in Pakistan. These senseless wars have been fought for decades and as these fine and honorable young men and women came home, they found empty hearts and pockets leaving them at the mercy of a struggling economy and high unemployment rate. Many experienced PTSD from the war and received no assistance for such service as they were discarded and many left homeless for service to their country and injured in the line of duty. Many came home broken in spirit and mind as they suffer irreparable harm to their wellness

 

After the elections of 2012, fifty states have filed petitions to secede from the union. A re-elected president ponders how to heal the nation. The citizens’ viewpoints are different than those elected in Washington DC and wish to rule their own way of life began to appear in society just like it did before the start of the notorious American Civil War. Although symbolic in nature, they represent the truthful feelings of the many as they struggle with the social and political conflict that impairs them daily to be productive and gainfully employed as the economy and debt has faltered to a new low each day we go on.

 

The world appears to be riding on the shoulders of Satan and Judas as it has been turned upside down in morality and tranquility. The lyrics sung in the past have been replaced with slogans of war, violence, corruption and power as the government struggles to meet the solutions to its humongous debt and our burdensome fiscal cliff is ready to fall off into the ocean and drift towards the economically dominant Republic of China that today holds our debt as collateral and owns what we once had as our own. Our national security and defense at jeopardy, we pray change will come from Congress and reshape our journey to financial and economic independence once again.

 

The spirit of Christmas has dwindled down to a silent wish for hope. Hope that America will wake up from this nightmare and turn it around with those same ingredients our founding father had to birth this nation. A dire need to re-birth America will require strength and courage by those elected as leaders as we journey and navigate these dire straights to hell.

Negativity is ascending as hope dissipates into thin air. It appears the electoral vote is now in direct disagreement with the popular vote and people are upset their candidates lost. So in the end I have a Christmas wish that would end all the fighting and all the misery inside our country and in our neighborhood.

 

My wish is to restore the faith in God that built this great nation. Allow the pledge of allegiance to return back to the classrooms and stop banishing the words of in “God we Trust” from the lips of our children. Let us find the courage to again place our hands crossing our hearts as our Flag passes by and represents what is the greatest nation on earth, indivisible and under God. Reestablish patriotism as it was once before and bring home our men and women in uniform and keep them safe with support to assist them back into civilian livelihood and become good civilians again.

 

My wish is to rebuild and rekindle our spirits that allowed us to feel good about ourselves and others as friend and neighbor rather than enemy or foe.  Stop the fighting, the racism, and the hatred and become good neighbors again. Let our children live in peace and love each other unconditionally.

 

My wish is a return to good economics and stop sending jobs elsewhere around the world to allow us to prosper again and make us free. Free from the slavery that these conditions impose on us as we must follow involuntarily the whims of those in power that benefit from free labor of men and cheap products that need to be replaced often to increase the profits.

 

My wish is an end to these chains of entitlement feelings and give each man or woman an opportunity to work for a living and support those whom they love. Free those enslaved and dependent on government services and put them back into the hands of themselves so they may become self-reliant again and earn and learn the meaning of self-responsibilities, self-efficiency and self-support.

 

My wish is to heal America and bring us all back together again. Stop the violence and bring a level of sanity back into our lives. Allow each one individual the rights conceived by our Constitution and let no man or woman alter the meaning of our “Bill of Rights” to shadow and destroy the main fiber of our nation.

 

My wish is to stop the congressional bickering and unite this nation as a one party family that will heal all wounds and bring us together again and bring our nation back into a resolved condition and strength with reserves independent from foreign powers or influences.

 

My wish is to bring peace, hope and faith into our lives and allow us to be a nation whole once again and without the division we have today. Bring back contentment and allow us the bliss we so desire in God’s name and spirit and bring us together into one accord.