A Minor Personal Victory, in a political sense
If you're looking for big news, skip this thread because it's only about me and my 8-yr-battle in RedNeckLand with the gun-humping teabillies where I retired. Because of the remoteness of this tiny town, there's a rural minibus service called OATS that swings by a few times a week. For the nearly 5 years I rode that bus almost every week, sometimes at the other riders' urgent request to fill out a quorum so the rest of them could go; well, it was also because many are elderly and/or infirm in some way, and I used to be foolish enough to happily assist them every way I could, especially since the driver was lax in his duties, to put it mildly.
In a sane world this might've gotten me a few brownie points but remember we're talking rural MidWest here. What might still be called the Bible Belt, except I discovered a great many misuse the Holy Bible as a belt to beat on anyone they don't like for whatever reason. As an openly damnYankee Yellow Dog Democrat, I was treated viciously as an invader, even though I studiously discouraged political rows in such close quarters. But the reaction was at times downright dangerous during presidential campaign seasons; they really hated having to stop at my house with the big "VOTE DEMOCRAT" sign out front. The driver, a head case if there ever was one, worked on the natural rabid nature of most of his passengers, especially an ex-con with a history of drug use, violence, and psychiatric problems.
So in addition to becoming the focus of their insane terror and hatred of any supporters of Barack Obama, I received regular thinly veiled death threats and sexual harrassment. All my letters of complaint to official sources went ignored, and the head office eventually announced it had blocked my email address. They wanted me on the bus to boost ridership and help the infirm, but at the same time they wanted me off the bus because early on I took to raising such a stink about the way it was run. The big blowup came when the driver filed a false police report against me with the local LEO, claiming I carried a gun on the bus and threatened everyone. Several days ago in a destination town 60 miles away. The allegations were so ridiculous that our police chief waited almost another 48 hours before even asking me about it.
Next time on the bus all hell broke loose. Everybody started screaming and cussing me out, and after several years of personal reserve, I let them have it back in spades. After writing my usual letter about the sorry affair to the local weekly newspaper, I quit riding the bus anymore for about 2 years. But all the time I kept watching and waiting for the inevitable: this week there was a recitation of the minutes of the local OATS committee, and they had a cryptic note I'd been waiting for. The driver, quote, "was relieved of his duties." Not resigned or retired, but SACKED at last! See, he'd been pretty bad to a lot more people than just me, although I was definitely his favorite target. He even used to carry on about how he'd literally kill someone if they made him mad enough.
Knowing his unbalanced nature, I don't plan to get on that bus for at least a few months because he always seemed close to going postal anyway. But now he's been sacked at last, and w/o being there I know he didn't take it well. Regardless of what I perceive as a heightened period of danger, I'm still glad the SOB finally got the boot. Maybe I'll feel safe enough to get on the bus again to go for Christmas shopping out of town. Well after I'd quit riding the bus, the driver would still run out of any store where he saw me, I guess partly because he'd also convinced himself I'm a witch with spell-casting powers.
So if you read any interesting news stories out of the Midwest and you don't hear from me again, it was nice knowing you all.
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