I drove my good friend Tom to jail this afternoon. He'll be spending at least the next thirty days in a branch of the Sacramento County jail for damaging the property of a family member after learning that, according to him, she had taken full control of his deceased mom's finances and appropriated for herself the inheritance he says he was promised. He was frustrated and angry, as any of us would be, and he took action that many of us might (or might not) have.
This action resulted in protracted legal proceedings that recently culminated in his being sentenced to a couple of months in jail, three years of probation, and orders to make thousands of dollars in restitution to his relative and the court.
I don't know how he's going to make restitution. He's been homeless for over a year and jobless while waiting for his legal case to drag its way to resolution. He has no savings, no income, and when he gets out of jail, he'll be an ex-felon. He has a hard road ahead of him.
I don't know exactly how Tom ended up homeless after his mother died. I don't know exactly why he went to his relative's house and smashed her windows with a crowbar instead of taking legal measures to retrieve his part of the inheritance he claims he was due, short of the fact that he didn't have any money to retain a lawyer. But I DO know that, despite his actions before and on that fateful day, Tom's a good person at heart, a good friend, and, ordinarily, a gentle-man.
I will do what I can to help him and be here for him in whatever ways I can be. That's what real friends do.
Vote Early Vote Often
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I got into an argument recently about whether or not America is the
greatest
democracy in the world. The center of the argument was the on-going protests
...
6 hours ago

