Mr. Thomas M. Kelly

Waiting for Mahmoud Mr. Thomas M. Kelly

Seth Reynolds and his Columbia University colleague friend, Jeffery Weymuth, met when they began picketing their bank complaining about the exorbitant interest rate charged for their loans. The bank complained to the city...'n' the city forced them to picket fifty feet away from the bank entrance. They were"forced" to occupy the park. Jeff knocked up his high school sweetheart when she came to town to visit. Then he moved back to Sacramento to get married. Actually she begged him to move back home. Told him that her daddy had a good, well paying job waiting for him: Heating and air conditioning sales. Begging didn't work, so she got herself pregnant. Now we have at least four hundred occupy-ers. I have a Vietnamese family who are victims of BP, the banks foreclosure of their house and repossession of their shrimp boat. Jasmine is a Native American leading the Native's cause to 'De-colonize" America. That guy sprawled on the ground over there is a staunch Republican, highly decorated twenty-five year veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He lost his "junk" on patrol in a back alley of Kabul! He also lost the use of a leg! He's trying to set up a Veteran's Consul for me to direct homeless vets. That guy over there is a veteran of the War in Afghanistan, an Army Ranger. He's setting up a computer station to help people find jobs. He has no physical wounds, but he's a victim of PTSD. There are unemployed men and women here. There are under-employed men and women, like me, who have uber degrees, but are brewing four and five dollar coffees or slingin' hamburgers. Where's the fairness there? See that woman over there pulling that little red wagon? She has two degrees from Harvard: law and business. She's delivering sandwiches for Hymie's, across the street for minimum wage and tips, when she can get them from people with no or low income jobs. We've defied the mayor's order to dismantle and vacate the park. The retailers downtown have complained that it is a health hazard. Our port-a-potties are not sufficient, they say. The most vocal is a local medical marijuana retailer. Go figure! There are rumors that the mayor is organizing the police, the sheriffs and the highway patrol, local and federal drug enforcement, whatever, to invade the park and remove us with force using tear gas, beanbag rounds, pepper spray and flash-bang grenades. But we are and remain a peaceful occupy. We'll see.