Minor incident on Monday night

[bkoenig]

Ok, not really gun related so much as personal safety (although Mr. Ceska Zbrojovka was keeping me company the whole time).  But I thought I would pass this on.

Around 11:30 on Monday night I was upstairs in bed and my wife was still up baking cookies.  She was down in the basement with the dog when he ran upstairs and started barking, which was odd because I can count on one hand the times he has ever barked at someone, and each time it's been because someone shady was walking up to the house.  She went upstairs and saw a guy on the sidewalk in front of the house, but didn't think much of it because there's a church a couple of blocks away that shelters homeless people and we see them walking down our street pretty often.  Then about 10 minutes later she was walking through the living room and as she walked past the front door she saw the guy standing on our front porch with the storm door open, staring at her through the window in the door.  She screamed, and I came running down the stairs to see what what going on. 

Something was "off" with this guy - we tried to communicate with him through the door, but he just stared at us through the window with a glazed look in his eyes.  It really creeped my wife out - later on she said "there was nothing there behind his eyes".  He looked like he was high or mentally ill, probably both if I had to guess.  After getting no response I yelled at him that he needed to leave, and he wandered over to the house across the street and laid down on the lawn for a while.  We called our neighbors and let them know, and we called the non-emergency police line.  About 5 minutes later two cars showed up, but he had disappeared.  They spent about 15 minutes driving around the neighborhood shining lights, then parked at the end of the block where I couldn't quite see them for another 15 minutes.  I'm hoping that they found him and were able to take him somewhere warm for the night.  If I had to guess he was confused and looking for someplace warm to go.  If they weren't able to find him he could easily have died from exposure.

My wife felt guilty for not helping him, but I told her opening the door would have been a very bad idea.  Most likely we could have handed him a blanket and something warm to drink and he would have been grateful, but he also could have turned violent.  When someone is standing on your porch in the middle of the night and acting strange it's best to let professionals handle it.  They have the training to handle the situation and the resources available to get him to a safe place.

Just a reminder to keep your doors locked and listen to your dog when he tells you something's not right.

[SemperFiGuy]

Just Outa Curiosity..............

we called the non-emergency police line.

Why not 911??

sfg

[bkoenig]

We didn't feel the guy was really a threat.  If he had been acting violently we would have, but to be honest we were more worried about him getting help than actually attacking us.

[SemperFiGuy]

Makes Sense.   Good Move.

Wuz Thinkin'......

It Woulda Took Me About an Hour and a Half to Figger Out How to Call the Non-emergency Number.

sfg

[gsd]

In Lincoln, dispatch is 402-441-6000. I have used it numerous times.

[NE Bull]

Just you tellin' it made the hair stand on my neck! *Shiver*  I can only imagine how your wife musta felt.
I'm glad everything ended OK for your family and hope the fella got somewhere warm and the help he needed.

(and frankly, BK, these are the kinds of stories we need to hear (although I don't wish it to happen to anyone) so that we can all be reminded to always keep our guard up- anywhere, anytime. )

[Gary]

Your church down the street is not equipped to handle the mental health issues that often accompany homelessness.

While I do believe charity is better placed in the hands of churches and individuals, and not left to the works of the state, mental illness treatment should not be a community effort of the church, in most cases.

When some of us older posters here, were younger, mental health issues were swept away, to facilities made to care for them.  Today, mental health issues are not swept away, they are swept aside, allowed to linger, fester, and work themselves out.  Treatment is often outpatient, or ignored.   Treatment today is more pharmaceutical, and not so much nurturing development.   Kids in school, that are "Hand Fulls" are not given extra laps around the gym, they are handed pills by the school nurse.    This turns into lifetime dependence on medication and reliance on treatment.

[NE Bull]

Your church down the street is not equipped to handle the mental health issues that often accompany homelessness.

While I do believe charity is better placed in the hands of churches and individuals, and not left to the works of the state, mental illness treatment should not be a community effort of the church, in most cases.

When some of us older posters here, were younger, mental health issues were swept away, to facilities made to care for them.  Today, mental health issues are not swept away, they are swept aside, allowed to linger, fester, and work themselves out.  Treatment is often outpatient, or ignored.   Treatment today is more pharmaceutical, and not so much nurturing development.   Kids in school, that are "Hand Fulls" are not given extra laps around the gym, they are handed pills by the school nurse.    This turns into lifetime dependence on medication and reliance on treatment.

Here Here!

[AAllen]

Your church down the street is not equipped to handle the mental health issues that often accompany homelessness.

While I do believe charity is better placed in the hands of churches and individuals, and not left to the works of the state, mental illness treatment should not be a community effort of the church, in most cases.

When some of us older posters here, were younger, mental health issues were swept away, to facilities made to care for them.  Today, mental health issues are not swept away, they are swept aside, allowed to linger, fester, and work themselves out.  Treatment is often outpatient, or ignored.   Treatment today is more pharmaceutical, and not so much nurturing development.   Kids in school, that are "Hand Fulls" are not given extra laps around the gym, they are handed pills by the school nurse.    This turns into lifetime dependence on medication and reliance on treatment.

While echoing NEBulls Comments I want to add:  Most of us forget the horrible places that the mentally ill were sent, the asylums were not fit for man nor beast and were more places of inhumane torture.  But what we did is do away with that system and created no new options.  We need better options, and you are correct that relying upon the church to provide Mental Health Treatment is outside their ability to perform, and it should not be the purview of the State, so what should be done and how?  If we had the correct answer to that question, how to actually help the individuals while respecting them and their rights without burdening the charities that are not equipped to handle the situation, wow what a issue. 

Personally I believe that the modern over medicate, or medicate for everything, way of handling mental health has been caused by first a complete lack of anything else to do with those in need, and second by a pharmaceutical industry (which includes way too many doctors participating) that is looking for the way to make a dollar off of another's suffering.

[bkoenig]

Yeah, the sad truth is, there are people out there wandering the streets right now who aren't capable of functioning at a level where they can take care of themselves.  Caring for them often falls to churches and other charities, but as Gary said they're not equipped to fill that role, so these people just go on getting pushed to the margins of society.  The vast majority of them are not a danger to anyone but themselves, but you just don't know.  Desperate people are capable of pretty extreme behavior. 

For all of Obama's big talk about all the action he was going to take after Sandy Hook he hasn't done one single thing to address mental health care.  It's a shame. 

[abbafandr]

Mr. Ceska Zbrojovka was keeping me company the whole time

I  must admit you had pretty good company.  I'm glad no one was injured and Mr. Ceska Zborjovoka didn't have to be called to action.

[Gary]

While echoing NEBulls Comments I want to add:  Most of us forget the horrible places that the mentally ill were sent, the asylums were not fit for man nor beast and were more places of inhumane torture.  But what we did is do away with that system and created no new options.  We need better options, and you are correct that relying upon the church to provide Mental Health Treatment is outside their ability to perform, and it should not be the purview of the State, so what should be done and how?  If we had the correct answer to that question, how to actually help the individuals while respecting them and their rights without burdening the charities that are not equipped to handle the situation, wow what a issue. 

Personally I believe that the modern over medicate, or medicate for everything, way of handling mental health has been caused by first a complete lack of anything else to do with those in need, and second by a pharmaceutical industry (which includes way too many doctors participating) that is looking for the way to make a dollar off of another's suffering.

Not all institutions for mental illness were done like Hollywood B movies.  Back in the day, most hospitals had mental health wards, looked like all the other wings on a hospital.  Very little different.     Families regularly saw their family members, and love and encouragement was the norm.   

Autism was one in 10,000 births.  It is now 1 in 150 or worse in some locations.     The guy at the door, is going to be a gang at your door, if we do not get a handle on healthcare in this country.  Steps back are in order, not steps into socialized tax care.

[bkoenig]

Mental health facilities aren't all sunshine and rainbows these days, either.  Look at what's happened at the Beatrice State Developmental Center.

[Gumby]

Working at the computer very late one night during a mild evening this past summer, someone knocked on my sound-sleeping neighbor's front door.  Mr. Sheatfaste stumbled across our lawns, and I had 911 called before he fell more than sat down on my front porch.  He had scrapes and a noticeable amount of blood here and there on his knees and arms, reminding me of biker road rash.  I treated our uninvited guest to ice water while we awaited the arrival of Omaha's finest and an ambulance.  That night's story of woe involved some gal he'd found at a bar, but she kicked him out of her moving car not far from my block.  He said I was the only "response" he'd gotten after trying a number of doors.

The paramedics, wearing gloves and masks, knew the guy and wanted to make sure I had neither touched him nor handled the glass he drank from... something about Hep B or C or Z or all of the above.  Some of these poor Zombies do need institutional help, and my guy was just pathetic in about every way possible.  I waited outside unarmed because he was "harmless" in my opinion - plus it would have been utterly foolish to be outside and armed when the police arrived - but seeing the level of disease concern by those "in the know" was pretty sobering.  That may be a more likely risk than the potential for violence.

[Lmbass14]

Just you tellin' it made the hair stand on my neck! *Shiver*  I can only imagine how your wife musta felt.
I'm glad everything ended OK for your family and hope the fella got somewhere warm and the help he needed.

(and frankly, BK, these are the kinds of stories we need to hear (although I don't wish it to happen to anyone) so that we can all be reminded to always keep our guard up- anywhere, anytime. )

+1.  That wants me to carry on my property all the time. Know the wife would sh^t bricks if she found out.  You just never know.

Gary - like your avaitar.

[tackle8]

I  must admit you had pretty good company.  I'm glad no one was injured and Mr. Ceska Zborjovoka didn't have to be called to action.

Had to google it. +++

[rammerjammer]

You did what's best.  Keep the door locked, stay armed and call the cops.