Our nation is home to hundreds of great charities. They do great work and have served our country well. I have made donations to many charities in my life and hope I’ve helped a few people who really need it. That’s why it’s distressing to hear that some may be taking advantage of other people’s good will.

Senators Grassley, Coburn, Kyl, and Cornyn have decided to look into the accusations that the president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America took in over a million dollars in compensation in 2008. There were also expenditures of over $4.3 in travel expenses and $1.6 million for conferences.

I am glad that these senators are questioning these facts and hope they call out those who are taking advantage of this situation. A charity organization should be led by people who put the money where it was supposed to go in the first place!

Many shows on TV have some prison scenes in them. I have watched a number of them and have not seen any that are remotely true. Prisoners’ banging on bars with their metal cups comes to mind. While from time to time there may be some excitement, for the large part, it’s very boring. Prisons are extremely controlled. You will not see prisoners unsupervised at any time.

The worst part about these shows is that many people actually believe what they see. They think that there is a large population of angry killers who are just waiting to get out and create havoc. While once in a while this may be true, for the large part it is not! I wish the television shows would do a better job of showing the truth.

With me being a prisoner and they being guards, there was little conversation between us. I was a little nervous with anticipation about where I was going, but glad to see some scenery that I had for so long been denied. The trip lasted about six hours and was uneventful except for a stop at a seven eleven.

The guards did not offer to get me anything, which I thought was a little rude. I had known this guard for a year. We weren’t great friends or anything, but we had a casual relationship. After eating jail food for a year, I would have loved to have anything from seven eleven! A slurpee, a hotdog, even the infamous Truck stopper hamburger would have been a singular treat. Nothing! Out of all the things I went through in prison, that one thing always stands out to me as being the most telling of the fact that I was now considered by the “good people” of being “not worth consideration”. Being denied a one dollar hotdog!

As I was walked through the door into the garage; I struggled along, trying to learn the penguin walk. By the time I got to the car, my ankles had taken a beating. It’s quite embarrassing, shuffling along. The chain drags on the floor and makes a sound that reminds you that you are nothing to the common world. No matter what kind of person you are; a hatred of the injustice, even if deserved, comes to the forefront of your mind.

The garage was just large enough to hold one car, maybe two. There were large garage doors at either end, but they were locked shut. I was put into the back seat of a police car
The driver of the vehicle was male, and he was escorted by a female officer. I was dressed in an orange jump suit with my chain accessories and placed in the back seat. A metal screen separated the front from the back.