Life could be a dream...
...Hello, hello again! Well, today my cable was turned off which means that my computer access is also gone. My wonderful daughter is handling that for me. I had my little bit of cash sent to her to hold in case I needed to pay someone off to get the heck out of jail so she'll just pay the bill with her credit card and take the money from the cash of mine that she has. My utilities NEVER get turned off and this week I've had TWO of them turned off...so far. If I hadn't gotten out of jail Monday, they'd just have to stay off. Anyway, I can't wait to see what goes out tomorrow...gas or electric. I could take bets on that if you'd like. I hope it's something cheap because I don't have the cash to pay much. But, I AM FREE so I can deal with this silly crap. My computer access is through my cable company so I won't be able to post this until it comes back on which should be within 2-3 hours after my daughter calls them. So, I won't have any major black outs on the blog postings.
I had just gotten back from my first visit to my Bartow County probation officer who was an extremely nice and helpful woman. What an amazing contrast to my Cobb County "lady" (Miss McCoy). I had considered having the Bartow County probation transferred to Cobb so that I wouldn't have to worry about getting rides 45 miles away but the Cobb probation officer...in my opinion...is far too unprofessional (outside of the judges' presence) and she so much as told me that she has it in for me so I think I'll just do my best to get rides to Bartow. My chances of staying out of jail are much better with the professional (and helpful) folks in Bartow. I told them what happened when I called Miss McCoy and they were appalled. They reassured me that if I did find myself in need of any help that I could call them and they would do their best to assist me. As a matter of fact, she went out of her way to tell me not to hesitate to call and not to let my Cobb County expereince stop me from asking for help if I were to need it. I believe this lady and I'm usually a pretty good judge of character. I had never met Miss McCoy before I called her for help so there was no way that I could have known what kind of person she was.
For some crazy reason, I just assumed that those people were there to help me. Chip tried to talk me out of calling and he was Johnny-on-the-spot with the "I told you so" after I did.
Anyway, it's nice to know that there ARE some decent human beings in the "system" after all. I had about given up on whatever system probation officers are part of. You wouldn't have believed the way Miss McCoy's demeanor changed from the courtroom to the holding cell. As I said before, my attorney and the judge had convinced me that I had made a mistake in my judgement of Miss McCoy and I was ready to start over again in my assessment of her...for about 3 minutes. That's how long it took before she morphed from a sweet, professional woman into someone who acted as though a house had just fallen on her sister.
You know, the only group of people who consistently behaved in a decent manner were the judges. I've seen two of them during this nightmare and they were both extremely fair, objective and worthy of their positions, not to mention my respect. I thank the Lord for that, considering that they both held the keys to my freedom in their hands.
It's rather frightening to realize that there are people out there who use their positions to "punish" those whom they don't like, for whatever reason they don't like them. As a nurse, there have been patients that I have found offensive for one reason or another, but they would never have known that. The worst that I dish out is strict professionalism when I find a person to be less than likable...whether they are a patient or co-worker. The best example that I can think of to compare the behavior of Miss McCoy to that of an unprofessional nurse is something like this...say a nurse didn't like a particular patient who was in pain. The unprofessional nurse might give them some pain medication, but not right away, maybe after a long lunch.
My attorney told me that a probation officer can be your best friend or your worst enemy so I should remember that when dealing with mine. Then, the judge told me that Miss McCoy was an extremely fair and decent person. At that point I decided to treat her with the respect that I would want to be treated with. But, her behavior back in that holding cell showed me that it really doesn't matter what I do, she was going to pay me back for what had been posted on my blog. I honestly believe that the woman won't rest until she puts me back in jail. I won't do anything to give her a reason to do so, that's for damn sure. But, I can only do so much. She so much as said that she was going to be on my ass like white on rice so the best that I can do is to follow the terms of my probation to a tee and hope for the best. Beyond that, it's out of my hands.
That woman spoke to my ex husband's wife (Deanna Colletti) and that nutcase did her best to keep me in jail. I've not seen her twice in ten years and she still can't get over the fact that I'm not a freak like her. She must inherently know that I'm a much better human being than she is and that drives her nuts. And, since the things that she said went along with what Miss McCoy wanted to do to me, Miss McCoy believed her even though she had never met her, she was a jealous wife of my ex and her stories made no sense. Luckily, no one else bought any of the bull that she was spewing. OH! By the way, one day while I was locked up I looked up to see a mini-Dee! There was a chick in jail who looked EXACTLY like Dee only she couldn't have weighed more than 250. Talk about frightening.
Other people who had violated their probation in the same way that I did went home the same day that we went to court but Miss McCoy wanted me to serve 45 days, if I pled out...60 if I went to trial. She knew that if I spent that much time in jail that I would lose my home and that didn't bother her one bit. Again, thank God for the judge.
During my time in jail, I spoke to far too many people who knew this woman and they all had the same opinion of her. There were other "probationers" who said nice things about other probation officers so it's not as though they disliked ALL probation officers...just that particular one. They had dealings with her and they all felt the same way as I did so I know it's not just me. Unfortunately, the people who are aware of her and her attitude toward her "clients" are usually trying to get out of some sort of penalty when they are in front of the judge so they aren't about to complain at that point.
..........................................................
OK...it's now the morning after I wrote the stuff up there and I'm sitting in a house that has lights, cable and a phone. I've somehow managed to get through another month of that stuff. The only thing I have left to pay is the gas bill and the rent (last month's). I'll figure something out.
By the way, I wanted to tell you a few of the things that we did to pass the time in the pokey. A few of the ladies had decks of cars so we played a lot of spades...but every single inmate had their own rules so that took some getting used to. We played Jailhouse Scattergories where we wrote lists of topics and then, since we didn't have dice, the play ended when the first player said, "I'm through." I read the paper everyday and one morning, Dear Abby was missing. I shouted, "Which one of you crooks stole Dear Abby?" By the way, imagine my frustration when I saw stupid answer from Abby and couldn't tell you guys about it! At some point, I'll go into more detail about the time-passing things that we did.
Oh, I never told you about the crap that they gave us to eat. In Cobb County jail, we were given a white styrofoan tray every morning and in it was cereal, a piece of sweetbread of some sort and some pile of shit that was supposed to be pureed/diced/shaved fruit of some sort. Then, along with breakfast, we were given a half pint of milk and a baggie with 4 pieces of bread in it, two pieces of something that sort of resembled bologna or turkey and two little squeeze packs of prison Miracle Whip. We had to carry those baggies around until we got hungry again...that was supposed to be lunch.
For dinner, there was a piece of breaded and fried meat by-product. One night they called it chicken, the next veal. Then, it would be called country fried steak. Everyday that round fried thing was served upon rice or a whitish mixture that almost looked like mashed potatoes. There would be a different color of congealed pudding like crap on that stuff every night. They had boiled weeds quite often...I don't do boiled weeds (of course, that's what got me in there in the first place). There would be a piece of not sweet-bread and a half pint of red liquid every night. Oh, the baggie with the bread in it also contained our dessert, most often an oatmeal pie. After the "food" in Cobb County jail, Bartow County food was wonderful. Apparently they don't try to add to the punishment through the dietary department.
OK, that's it for now, I have to suck coffee and get dressed for the day so I'll be back shortly.
See ya,
Meg
email me at megbkelso@gmail.com
...Hello, hello again! Well, today my cable was turned off which means that my computer access is also gone. My wonderful daughter is handling that for me. I had my little bit of cash sent to her to hold in case I needed to pay someone off to get the heck out of jail so she'll just pay the bill with her credit card and take the money from the cash of mine that she has. My utilities NEVER get turned off and this week I've had TWO of them turned off...so far. If I hadn't gotten out of jail Monday, they'd just have to stay off. Anyway, I can't wait to see what goes out tomorrow...gas or electric. I could take bets on that if you'd like. I hope it's something cheap because I don't have the cash to pay much. But, I AM FREE so I can deal with this silly crap. My computer access is through my cable company so I won't be able to post this until it comes back on which should be within 2-3 hours after my daughter calls them. So, I won't have any major black outs on the blog postings.
I had just gotten back from my first visit to my Bartow County probation officer who was an extremely nice and helpful woman. What an amazing contrast to my Cobb County "lady" (Miss McCoy). I had considered having the Bartow County probation transferred to Cobb so that I wouldn't have to worry about getting rides 45 miles away but the Cobb probation officer...in my opinion...is far too unprofessional (outside of the judges' presence) and she so much as told me that she has it in for me so I think I'll just do my best to get rides to Bartow. My chances of staying out of jail are much better with the professional (and helpful) folks in Bartow. I told them what happened when I called Miss McCoy and they were appalled. They reassured me that if I did find myself in need of any help that I could call them and they would do their best to assist me. As a matter of fact, she went out of her way to tell me not to hesitate to call and not to let my Cobb County expereince stop me from asking for help if I were to need it. I believe this lady and I'm usually a pretty good judge of character. I had never met Miss McCoy before I called her for help so there was no way that I could have known what kind of person she was.
For some crazy reason, I just assumed that those people were there to help me. Chip tried to talk me out of calling and he was Johnny-on-the-spot with the "I told you so" after I did.
Anyway, it's nice to know that there ARE some decent human beings in the "system" after all. I had about given up on whatever system probation officers are part of. You wouldn't have believed the way Miss McCoy's demeanor changed from the courtroom to the holding cell. As I said before, my attorney and the judge had convinced me that I had made a mistake in my judgement of Miss McCoy and I was ready to start over again in my assessment of her...for about 3 minutes. That's how long it took before she morphed from a sweet, professional woman into someone who acted as though a house had just fallen on her sister.
You know, the only group of people who consistently behaved in a decent manner were the judges. I've seen two of them during this nightmare and they were both extremely fair, objective and worthy of their positions, not to mention my respect. I thank the Lord for that, considering that they both held the keys to my freedom in their hands.
It's rather frightening to realize that there are people out there who use their positions to "punish" those whom they don't like, for whatever reason they don't like them. As a nurse, there have been patients that I have found offensive for one reason or another, but they would never have known that. The worst that I dish out is strict professionalism when I find a person to be less than likable...whether they are a patient or co-worker. The best example that I can think of to compare the behavior of Miss McCoy to that of an unprofessional nurse is something like this...say a nurse didn't like a particular patient who was in pain. The unprofessional nurse might give them some pain medication, but not right away, maybe after a long lunch.
My attorney told me that a probation officer can be your best friend or your worst enemy so I should remember that when dealing with mine. Then, the judge told me that Miss McCoy was an extremely fair and decent person. At that point I decided to treat her with the respect that I would want to be treated with. But, her behavior back in that holding cell showed me that it really doesn't matter what I do, she was going to pay me back for what had been posted on my blog. I honestly believe that the woman won't rest until she puts me back in jail. I won't do anything to give her a reason to do so, that's for damn sure. But, I can only do so much. She so much as said that she was going to be on my ass like white on rice so the best that I can do is to follow the terms of my probation to a tee and hope for the best. Beyond that, it's out of my hands.
That woman spoke to my ex husband's wife (Deanna Colletti) and that nutcase did her best to keep me in jail. I've not seen her twice in ten years and she still can't get over the fact that I'm not a freak like her. She must inherently know that I'm a much better human being than she is and that drives her nuts. And, since the things that she said went along with what Miss McCoy wanted to do to me, Miss McCoy believed her even though she had never met her, she was a jealous wife of my ex and her stories made no sense. Luckily, no one else bought any of the bull that she was spewing. OH! By the way, one day while I was locked up I looked up to see a mini-Dee! There was a chick in jail who looked EXACTLY like Dee only she couldn't have weighed more than 250. Talk about frightening.
Other people who had violated their probation in the same way that I did went home the same day that we went to court but Miss McCoy wanted me to serve 45 days, if I pled out...60 if I went to trial. She knew that if I spent that much time in jail that I would lose my home and that didn't bother her one bit. Again, thank God for the judge.
During my time in jail, I spoke to far too many people who knew this woman and they all had the same opinion of her. There were other "probationers" who said nice things about other probation officers so it's not as though they disliked ALL probation officers...just that particular one. They had dealings with her and they all felt the same way as I did so I know it's not just me. Unfortunately, the people who are aware of her and her attitude toward her "clients" are usually trying to get out of some sort of penalty when they are in front of the judge so they aren't about to complain at that point.
..........................................................
OK...it's now the morning after I wrote the stuff up there and I'm sitting in a house that has lights, cable and a phone. I've somehow managed to get through another month of that stuff. The only thing I have left to pay is the gas bill and the rent (last month's). I'll figure something out.
By the way, I wanted to tell you a few of the things that we did to pass the time in the pokey. A few of the ladies had decks of cars so we played a lot of spades...but every single inmate had their own rules so that took some getting used to. We played Jailhouse Scattergories where we wrote lists of topics and then, since we didn't have dice, the play ended when the first player said, "I'm through." I read the paper everyday and one morning, Dear Abby was missing. I shouted, "Which one of you crooks stole Dear Abby?" By the way, imagine my frustration when I saw stupid answer from Abby and couldn't tell you guys about it! At some point, I'll go into more detail about the time-passing things that we did.
Oh, I never told you about the crap that they gave us to eat. In Cobb County jail, we were given a white styrofoan tray every morning and in it was cereal, a piece of sweetbread of some sort and some pile of shit that was supposed to be pureed/diced/shaved fruit of some sort. Then, along with breakfast, we were given a half pint of milk and a baggie with 4 pieces of bread in it, two pieces of something that sort of resembled bologna or turkey and two little squeeze packs of prison Miracle Whip. We had to carry those baggies around until we got hungry again...that was supposed to be lunch.
For dinner, there was a piece of breaded and fried meat by-product. One night they called it chicken, the next veal. Then, it would be called country fried steak. Everyday that round fried thing was served upon rice or a whitish mixture that almost looked like mashed potatoes. There would be a different color of congealed pudding like crap on that stuff every night. They had boiled weeds quite often...I don't do boiled weeds (of course, that's what got me in there in the first place). There would be a piece of not sweet-bread and a half pint of red liquid every night. Oh, the baggie with the bread in it also contained our dessert, most often an oatmeal pie. After the "food" in Cobb County jail, Bartow County food was wonderful. Apparently they don't try to add to the punishment through the dietary department.
OK, that's it for now, I have to suck coffee and get dressed for the day so I'll be back shortly.
See ya,
Meg
email me at megbkelso@gmail.com
posted by Meg Kelso | 5:34 AM
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