Alachua County Judge Mark Mosely

When my family requested a restraining order against a 16 year old kid who has terrorized my son with a pellet gun, a Molotov cocktail, a 2x4, and a gang of people who wanted to fight one boy (my son); when evidence proves that this 16 year old stole my son's cell phone and sold his SIM card (costing me well over $125); when this kid stalked my son on campus and attacked him at a friend's home; and when this kid's friends are bragging that he vandalized my son's car to the tune of more than $500; Judge Mark Mosely decided that there was insufficient evidence to issue a temporary 2-week restraining order and that we needed to wait 2 weeks until we could have a court hearing. This harrassment has gone on for more than 3 weeks. The SFCC police daprtment and ASO are taking this complaint seriously. Judge Mosely apparently doesn't think that upstanding citizens deserve the protection of the court.

While I have filed a supplemental affadavit for the restraining order, the court tells me it will be 3-5 days before a decision. Every day that this kid is free from legal action is a potential problem. Thanks very much, Judge Mosely. Anything can happen in the interim. I hope you realize that it will be your repsonsibility if things go awry.

Please let everyone know how Judge Mark Mosely handled this request for a restraining order, We are professional people, upstanding citizens, and have no previous record. If I am paying this guy's salary (and I am) I expect a little more consideration.

No Protection from the Court

The court denied my request for a restraining order. The did set a hearing date, 2 weeks from now. I don't think I can take 2 more weeks of this. I'm filing a supplemental affadavit, but my optimism isn't too great at this point.

Many Thanks

To all my friends, family, extended family, and friends of friends:

Thanks to each of you who have provided so much support to me during times of stress. You know who you are. Without you, life would be much tougher. Although every one of us experiences bad times along with the good, you have each helped me to remember that the bad times are simply are necessary part of living.

I am deeply grateful for each and every one of you. And Sma, I still sleep with the blanket you made for me every night. No day goes by without my remembering how much you gave to me during that especially rough time.

Life is about relationships, and each of you are special. Thank you so much for being the wonderful people you are.

Much love,

Deb

You Are Judged by the Company You Keep

I used to roll my eyes when my mother would make statements about being judged by the company you keep, along with a lot of other things. Sorry, Mom. I wish you were here so I could tell you how right you were. But I never kept really bad company, so I couldn't really understand the true meaning (and truth) behind this particular saying.

I've learned it now, though, the hard way. My family's life is now controlled by one sick individual who my son became acquainted with over the summer. This kid (Jon) is the next door neighbor of my son's best friend. He is 16 years old. His parents are doctors. They leave him alone 3 - 4 nights per week while they spend time at their beach house. He deals drugs from their home. He steals from other kids. He stole my son's cell phone "as a joke" and sold his SIM card. (We have proof of this.) He threatens people. He trashed my son's car to the tune of more than $500.

Jon has recently decided that some money was taken from his room. He has also decided that my son and his friend are the only ones who could have done this. At least that is his excuse for terrorizing all of us, assaulting my kid's friend's house, and stalking them both on campus with threats and demands to fight. Nevermind that he was probably too stoned to know if he ever really had the money, where he left it, or how he might have spent it.

We've reported it all to SFCC police, who have been very helpful. We've also had to report it to ASO, who were also very helpful. Now, we have to obtain a restraining order just to try to protect ourselves. I hate having to drag all this law enforcement into my life. The worst thing I've ever done was get a speeding ticket.

I'm embarrassed, but worse, I am scared. We can't get the car fixed until we know this is over. We cannot afford to continually repair vandalism. There are constant threats that come in via text messages and voice mail (ASO was pretty shocked to hear those). My son's best friend lives next door to Jon, and his parents have witnessed the drug activity and the assault on their house, but are too scared to make an official complaint. Jon has already hurt one of their dogs, and they are afraid to file a complaint because they think he will hurt their dogs again or worse.

Jon's parents don't care a bit. When they were told by their neighbors about suspicious activity at their home when they are gone, they waited 3 weeks to respond and then asked the neighbors to watch their house. Maybe a restraining order will get their attention, but I doubt it.

It doesn't take much to get involved with the wrong crowd. It can be a huge task to get uninvolved. We had hoped that the whole thing would burn itself out if ignored, but that isn't the case here.

Let's face it, if my son and his friend had never gotten involved with this jerk none of this would be happening. However, at the ripe old age of 17, none of us is really very well versed in the ways of the world. One out-of-control kid can wreak havoc that you cannot even begin to imagine.

If anyone has any good ideas about stopping this, let me know. In the meantime, I highly recommend getting a wonderful dog over having children. Dogs don't talk, don't make friends you don't want them to have, and are always happy to see you. They are predictable and reliable. They rarely cause terrible stress on your home life.

Damn, I need a vacation. Too bad I'm afraid to leave town.

Tenants from Hell

Actually, most of our tenants are pretty good people. Like the rest of us, they have their idiosyncrasies, but generally speaking they are good, normal folks just like the rest of us. Recently, though, we have had the tenants from hell. I might post a few photos just to show you how awful things can be, but what made this worse was that this guy was my advisee when he was a freshman. I remembered (too late) his mother telling me, "he's not a bad kid, but he's always trying to make the system work for him." Then, when I checked around the college, I found that he had a reputation for "acting without authorization". He has a degree in the highest paying field on the planet, but cannot get a job. (At least the employers are on their toes.) We had to make them leave after only 6 weeks in the place. Here's the letter I really wanted to send him after he tried to make a case for his security deposit. (Trust me here, we are well known for returning entire security deposits unless there is a legit problem.)
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THE LETTER I WISH I COULD SEND

Dear Minions of Satan:

Further correspondence with you is made tolerable only by my deep faith that your ignorance and gall are not contagious, and that in time the memory of your toxic trip through our lives will serve as a warning for others. You are never satisfied. It’s insufficient for you to have been born stupid – you insist on seeking to increase your birthright in every utterance.

In response to your brilliant letter regarding the security deposit deductions, let us first state that you obviously don’t know a damn thing about the law, life, or much of anything else.

Couch disposal. The couch was still in the cottage on the evening of October XX, 2006. That it somehow migrated to the patio after this time is irrelevant. E--- stated at the time that your intention was to give it to Goodwill (also irrelevant). It really doesn’t matter if you had left the freakin’ thing on the roof. You abandoned it, we had to dispose of it, and you are, in fact, according to the law, responsible for it’s removal. Dumbass.

Carpet repair. Of course you are unaware of any damages to the carpet. Even if you thought you had damaged it,

1. you wouldn’t admit it, and
   
2. you couldn't possibly know because you couldn’t see any of the carpet while you two were in residence. While we can easily believe that you never used an iron during your tenancy, and we might have jumped to an erroneous conclusion in thinking that either of you would utilize such an appliance, the burn to the carpet did, in fact, occur after you moved in.

Carpet Cleaning. OK, sure. You cleaned the carpets. We should know that from the bits of lint all over the carpet during the inspection at 6:30 pm on Oct. XX, 2006. It’s also backed up by your note that says “carpets cleaned” that showed up sometime after October XX. It is further supported by your bluster and a significant lack of real documentation. Had you cleaned the carpets, your responsibility was to notify us ahead of time. We simply don't believe you.

GRU Bills. So which is it, Genius? Either you were out of the premises before October xx, and therefore abandoned the couch in the living room, or you were still in residence and are responsible for the GRU bills? Hah! It doesn’t matter what you say, because by your very own logic you are trapped. The cottage was inspected on the evening of October xx. You had left furniture there and not yet returned keys or left your note stating that the keys were with the other tenants. You obviously used power on October xx, and very likely on October xx+1, as well. The GRU bill for this period stands.

As for the remaining utilities, unbunch your panties, Idiot Boy. This amount has been held out simply as security – as agreed in the original agreement for you to vacate – until the actual bill comes in. At that time, we’ll refund any difference to you and provide a copy of the bill.

We truly hope that this finalizes any further correspondence with you beyond mailing the final GRU bill. Your tenancy, brief though it was, has truly demonstrated that some people stay longer in an hour than others can in a week.

Very best regards,

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These people were awful in the worst sense. While you were evicting them, they would invite you in to sit down. I would not have let one of my dogs sit in that place. I have never seen a frat house that messy. They are so ignorant of the world. She is pregnant, he is unemployed, they are unmarried. They moved to his parents' home after we asked them to leave. (His parents are a lawyer and a doctor, so no hardship there.) I will never rent again to someone I "know". This whole mess has cost us a fortune and really affected my faith in humanity.

I Recommend Small Dogs Over Children

Just in case any of you out there are wondering, small dogs are a much better choice than children. While your beautiful golden haired child will thrill you for several years, he will eventually turn into a teenager and make you wish you were dead. My advice: don't breed. Adopt a small dog who will always love you and who you can put to sleep when it gets to be too much. Motherhood sucks.

Dedicated to the girls who have been here before

My dignity depends on a small piece of elastic. Usually benign, inconsequential, and given little thought, this modern substitute for the drawstring simplifies our lives in many ways. It helps our clothes conform to our bodies. It eliminates unsightly bulges where unwelcome drawstring knots would appear. Today, elastic was the enemy.

I left my office this afternoon delighted at the thought of a long weekend. As I walked down the hall, I felt a strange tightness around my hips. Damn! I know I gained back 2 pounds, but this skirt has never felt like this before. Time to hop on the treadmill and get over the Burrito Brother's Primo Beef Burrito I had for lunch. OK, I can do that. As I walked to the parking lot, that strange, binding feeling started to move lower, creeping from high on my hip to the top of my thighs. @#$*! I can't be gaining weight that fast! OK, so I had a couple of chips, too, but gee whiz, I'm still way under my points for the day. How can one burrito make me so fat so soon?

Now I am hurrying. If I walk a little faster, I can burn off a few extra calories, right? That tight feeling is now midway to my thighs. This is a full, flouncy skirt. What is going on?

I step off the curb, my vehicle in sight. I look down as I step, and see a flash of beige hovering around my ankles. What the ....?

Ladies, there in full view of any passerby was my slip, sliding south, ready to tangle me up in an undignified knot and topple me face first to the pavement. Betrayed by my very own undergarments! The same ones I have carefully washed on delicate and dried on low heat.

Two thoughts came to mind immediately. The first, I am on my way to an appointment, I can't wear this skirt without a slip. So I climbed into my car, and carefully tucked the offending and now useless elastic into my pantyhose. The second thought was that this was really pretty funny. I am not the only one who has been here. Reference my pal's blog . Her Mom and my grandmother also related similar experiences.

Sometimes I guess we just need a little quirky experience to make us stop taking life so seriously. I mean really, it could have been much worse. I remember seeing a woman in a restaurant whose skirt had gotten tucked into her panty hose when she used the ladies room. We all had an eyefull of pantyhose and buttocks that evening. Thank the gods for small mercies.