fucked-up situation on the homefront:
about a week & a half ago as I was getting ready for work I got a call from the Sherriff's office asking me to come pick someone up.
I didn't have to be told who it was.
J. was my mom's boyfriend for the last ten years of her life, & they've lived together for much of that time.
when she passed away about a year & a half ago, he came to live with me for about 6 months while he got his life back on track.
he's a good guy, but he's a heavy drinker & a depressive, as was my mother. neither of them really got the hang of taking care of themselves.
anyway, he moved out here in June & got a job & his own apartment & was doing pretty good, but he didn't cut down on the drinking much.
my sister & I had given him mom's car to get to work & back, & I helped him get it registered a few months ago, but he never got around to getting it insured. (I think he was a bit nervous about it because he had 2 DUI's on his record)
anyway, when I went to pick him up, I figured that he'd been pulled over after a few too many beers.
turned out that a woman he'd been seeing from his work had a jealous ex-husband who'd gotten sauced & did a hit & run on the back of the car. J. called the cops, who came to investigate, & hauled him in on account of his not having any insurance.
they impounded the car until he could get it insured & picked up the other guy (who's now being held on 2 felonies)
(ah, small-town life, eh?)
anyway, my sister called today to say that it's a bit more complicated than that...
she knows the officer that took him in, & he informed her that J. HAD been drinking a bit when he called the cops, just barely enough to qualify for a DUI (he seemed sober as a judge when I picked him up)
the computer picked up one DUI, but didn't spit out the other until yesterday.
3 DUI's means felony, means mandatory prison time.
that's bad. what's worse is that my sister & I are pretty much all he's got, but if he get's convicted (he has to go to court for the whole thing soon), we're technically supposed to cut off all contact with him, both while he's in prison & when he get's out. (both my sister & I are prison guards & are barred from any contact with felons or ex-felons, except in a professional capacity)
we can't visit, can't write, can't send him money (& prison's bad enough, but multiply that by a factor of ten if you don't have anybody on the outside sending you money from time to time--that's one of the reason's inmates are such good letter-writers)
there's a bit of lee-way if the convict in question is a member of yer immediate family, but since he & our mother never married, it get's a bit wiggly.
it's fucked up, yo.
about a week & a half ago as I was getting ready for work I got a call from the Sherriff's office asking me to come pick someone up.
I didn't have to be told who it was.
J. was my mom's boyfriend for the last ten years of her life, & they've lived together for much of that time.
when she passed away about a year & a half ago, he came to live with me for about 6 months while he got his life back on track.
he's a good guy, but he's a heavy drinker & a depressive, as was my mother. neither of them really got the hang of taking care of themselves.
anyway, he moved out here in June & got a job & his own apartment & was doing pretty good, but he didn't cut down on the drinking much.
my sister & I had given him mom's car to get to work & back, & I helped him get it registered a few months ago, but he never got around to getting it insured. (I think he was a bit nervous about it because he had 2 DUI's on his record)
anyway, when I went to pick him up, I figured that he'd been pulled over after a few too many beers.
turned out that a woman he'd been seeing from his work had a jealous ex-husband who'd gotten sauced & did a hit & run on the back of the car. J. called the cops, who came to investigate, & hauled him in on account of his not having any insurance.
they impounded the car until he could get it insured & picked up the other guy (who's now being held on 2 felonies)
(ah, small-town life, eh?)
anyway, my sister called today to say that it's a bit more complicated than that...
she knows the officer that took him in, & he informed her that J. HAD been drinking a bit when he called the cops, just barely enough to qualify for a DUI (he seemed sober as a judge when I picked him up)
the computer picked up one DUI, but didn't spit out the other until yesterday.
3 DUI's means felony, means mandatory prison time.
that's bad. what's worse is that my sister & I are pretty much all he's got, but if he get's convicted (he has to go to court for the whole thing soon), we're technically supposed to cut off all contact with him, both while he's in prison & when he get's out. (both my sister & I are prison guards & are barred from any contact with felons or ex-felons, except in a professional capacity)
we can't visit, can't write, can't send him money (& prison's bad enough, but multiply that by a factor of ten if you don't have anybody on the outside sending you money from time to time--that's one of the reason's inmates are such good letter-writers)
there's a bit of lee-way if the convict in question is a member of yer immediate family, but since he & our mother never married, it get's a bit wiggly.
it's fucked up, yo.