Miasmatic Review

Ashamed to be from Rockford.

I know I've said this before, but this time I'm really pissed off. It has nothing to do with the government or politics. It has to do with a group of people that live here in the city.

I was browsing the local rag newspaper when I saw the headline Neighbors worry about home intended for homeless veterans. It took me a second, I had to re-read the headline. I was sure that I misread that. No, it said exactly what I thought it did. Then I thought to myself, "Maybe, just maybe the Rockford Register Star is putting a spin on the headline to attract attention". So I read the story. Nope, the headline was pretty farooking accurate.

Carpenter’s Place closed Friday on the three-bedroom ranch home at 3426 Ridge Ave. It moved in furniture over the weekend, and on Tuesday, a group of employees and volunteers stood in a circle in the living room, held hands and prayed for the people who will live in the house and the neighbors.

The only thing missing now is the tenants, and that’s what has neighbors worried.

Located in a quiet northwest neighborhood, the home will be used to house three military veterans who are transitioning back into society.

“It’s got the neighbors in an uproar,” next-door neighbor Betty Percey said Tuesday afternoon. “They’ve been exposed to war. What happens if one night one of them goes off the deep end? All of this looks fine and good now, but is it going to last?”

I know, maybe it was just one of the neighbors, there can't be more right? Wrong

Betty, and her husband, Curlee Percey, sat in their driveway Tuesday afternoon and watched a contingent of Carpenter’s Place workers tour the home. They were joined in their driveway by neighbor Oneal Tennial.

“You see people who have had flashbacks or relapses,” Tenniel said. “A lot of people look normal, but they’re not.”

Barbara Garrison-Harris, also a next-door neighbor to the veterans’ home, expressed her reservations as well.

“First of all, if they don’t have a problem why do they have to be put in a house and watched over? And why didn’t they talk to us before they (bought) the house? And what about the senior citizens here who helped build this neighborhood? Don’t they have any regard for them?”

Holy cow these people actually think that they should be consulted before the sale of a house? Remind me of this the next time one of my neighbors moves out so I can tell them that they have to run all approved sales by me first. Since when do neighbors get a say in who buys a house or lives there? They don't get a say for rental properties either. It's kind of arrogant to think that they should.

Now I know some chuckle head is going to pipe off with "This isn't the same". The heck it isn't!

Located in a quiet northwest neighborhood, the home will be used to house three military veterans who are transitioning back into society...

...Through a special Veterans Affairs program, Carpenter’s Place was able to buy the Ridge Avenue home for $53,437, or half the market price. The only requisite is that the house be used for housing homeless American veterans. Because the home will house only three nonrelated people, no special zoning from the city is required and the sale did not have to go before City Council for approval.

Carpenter's Place, the group that bought the house, is basically using it as a staging point to help homeless veterans get back on their feet. It's no different than habitat for humanity giving houses to the homeless or renting homes for the homeless to live in. The only difference is that the men in this case fought a war for our country.

These are soldiers that at one time put their lives on the line because their country asked them to. They fought and bled for this country. They watched friends and colleagues get injured or even killed. These men did something that a lot of others have never done in this country, including probably the individuals quoted above. Don't they deserve us treating them with some kindness and thanking them for their service? Shouldn't we offer them any assistance that might be needed to help them get back into society? Isn't it our duty to help take care of and look after these heroes?

As for the comment about them being exposed to war... There are more mental issues out there than Post Traumatic Stress Disorder... or what ever the catchphrase for it is now. I know a lot of people that have served and fought in wars for this country. From World War 2 all the way to the current conflict. Most of them have returned to normal life with out any noticeable difference. The one that I have met that hasn't, I couldn't tell he was having issues until he told me about it.

Now if you'll excuse me. I'm going to go cool off.