Wow! Good grief...
Strength, healing, and better days to you, Rand-Man! Unbelievable... so sorry you have had such a crappy time of late.
Hoping for much better (and so happy to hear you are on the mend, in more ways than one.)
Love,
Baba.
My Near Death Experience
by Dogpatch 40 Replies latest jw friends
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BabaYaga
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nuthouse escapee
(((Randy))) so glad to know that you will be okay. Your hospital experience was awful. Some people just shouldn't be in the medical profession. A smile and a few minutes to explain why they are doing whatever it is they are doing would go a long way. It's been a horrendous year for a lot of us. Thank god it's almost over. Just keep telling yourself it's almost 2013! lol -Leslie
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flipper
DOGPATCH- Randy, I'm so sorry that you have been going through these awful times . Jesus christ it never ends, does it ? My wife and I send our love and wish you a speedy, complete recovery and I do hope you get some kind of justice or compensation for the turd like person who ripped you off. Hang in there my friend, Sincerely, Mr. & Mrs. Flipper
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whathappened
Dear Randy,
What horrible news about your accident. It is hard to believe a driver could hit a person and not stop to help and call for help. How does that person sleep at night? You could have died! Thankfully, it sounds like you will recover.
Are the police looking for the driver? Perhaps if they find this person, their insurance will pay some of your bills.
Please continue to keep us posted.
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A.M. Number 1
"The greater damage was done by the freeloader in the end."
What does that mean? Do you mean you were hit by a front end loader"
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MrFreeze
Man, sounds like a rough time. Hopefully things will get better for you.
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Dogpatch
Thank you my dear friends and I VERY MUCH appreciate all your thoughts and prayers. I am almost back to normal physically, though very shaken and mentally fragile from this whole experience. My thoughts are clear as day now, I just have to avoid stress. I am apparently not permanently damaged or have to receive any more special treatment. I will be writing more shortly. I will send out thank you cards shortly to those who have been concerned. I AM NOT requesting money. But I like get well cards. :-)) THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH, I love you!!
It appears I may still be receiving harassment from a certain person (I screen all my calls now so if you want to call, just leave a message.)
As for the person who I had to quit using as a 1099 worker, I will share a little.
(1) NO MONEY HAS EVER BEEN STOLEN FROM THE FREE MINDS ACCOUNT. I can deal with the petty theft of a $700 laptop, but not with the horrible, evil harassment of a person who reached the end of his budget because he could not even manage his own affairs and did virtually no work in the end, though helping with a few odd jobs as at 60 I am entirely overworked. I was training him with a limited time budget to help him get back on his feet, so spent many long hours teaching him how to do web work. My goal was in the end to teach him to be self-sufficient as webmaster of AJWRB.ORG, then divorce myself from the AJWRB site, which was too much work for me with no returns. But I could teach HIM how to raise funds and get his life together. He was a former Bethel Farm worker (was there for about 6 years I think) and lost his 6-year job as a schoolteacher for some infraction.
FYI: No one who has ever stolen money from Free Minds Inc. or has had access to my account... simply because I never gave out spendable access to such to ANYONE. My bank, Wells Fargo in Manhattan Beach, can attest to that. Even my Treasurer cannot have but limited viewing access to it for paperwork purposes. I have never had any problem with Paypal and never keep over $200 in that account, for misc. purposes to co-workers through a debit card... but they canot access even my Paypal account, and can only spend a max of $200 for necessary expenses. I am very tight with money, and yet my W-2 income is 24k a year. I have to sdhare a house with 4 other guys, as I cannot aford to live on my own anywhere in L.A. I have lived in the same place with a good landlord since 1980 on the beach with a rent of $700 a month, and medical insurance that just went over $1000 due to turning 60.Rather than going to court over a stolen $700 laptop, I decided for my peace of mind and not having to deal with a dangerous person in "nice" disguise, to drop any attempt to recover it. But he did not steal any monies from me or Free Minds... he was on a time-limited $5000 budget to do a job as a 1099 worker.
But when he overran that budget and would not do the work promised, I told him that he is on his own. The computer did not have any sensitive information that was accessible to my accounts. He DID have a dozen emails to send out in a newsletter for my AJWRB.ORG domain (now given back to Marvin Shilmer after his graciously giving it to me).
Some have apparently expressed concern over donating to Free Minds. If you are concerned about giving to Free Minds, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization with an immaculate record you can call and leave a message and if I am home I will pick it up if I know who you are. My number is 310-545-7831. Since the person is ignoring my attorney and still trying to call and harass me, I screen all my calls unless I see in caller ID weho it is and I know them.
My attorney ordered the part-time employee to cease and desist. His response was to rudely insult the attorney. Even my attorney was shocked at his responses which were made in complete contempt. His response is (being financially broke) that "I have nothing to lose (he was unemployed and could not pay his bills so suing me will get you nothing," and made all kinds of ridiculous counter-threats, extreme insults and taunts which are still on my answering machine as I did not pick up the phone. He even thumbed his nose at my attorney (Jeffrey Hersh at http://hershlaw.net/). I decided to just have a "cease and desist" order issued and accept the financial loss, none of which monies were from my regular contributors. If it wasn't for the large cobntribution of one man and three pastors in Australia, I would not have embarked on the project. The monies from my regular contributors were not touched for any of this AJWRB project (I could not afford it as I am on an extremely tight budget, so no one's contributions were misused. My usual funds are still safe and sound in my bank, wehich are needed to run the everyday affairs of Free Minds, Inc.
He did not "steal" and money or have any access whatsoever to my bank account. Even my Treasurer, Lance G. (former Gilead student and just graduated from non-profit and business school, and a blogger at Free Minds and many of you know him personally) only has read-only access to the Free Minds account. I am not a fool so as to allow loopholes for anyone to steal my funds. Hey, I have been doing this for 30 years, and was a pastor of a Foursquare Church (Hope Chapel West Manhattan Beach) for many years - I know how to protect assets!
Also for the record no one has ever had access to my bank accounts, they have never been compromised in 32 years, nor has my Paypal account, so all of the funds donated to Free Minds are and always have been safe. At no time has anyone else in 30 years had access to my Free Minds accounts but me. My dad taught me how to be smart enough to protect my assets, as did church-planting, which I did without taking a penny of a salary.
A special project was budgeted out of the blue for a special purpose, and I hired a 1099 worker who turned out to be a thief. But Paypal has a great way to prevent someone else from breaking into your account. It is a limited debit card system where you put a limit on how much can be spent. It was monitored almost daily and I budgeted $5000 (donated by one person overseas for this special project. ) He never had access to that account, and if he tried to spend over a couple hundred dollars a day, the tranaction was denied (and was severasl times because I only keep about $200 in my Paypal account (which has NEVER been "broken into" since I began the account in 1981 or 1982, when I began Bethel Ministries, later becoming Free Minds.) I kept a daily eye on the Paypal account and it never had over about $200 in it, as I transfer all funds to my bank immediately. My banking records and safely has been impeccable. Even Lance G., my Treasurer who is a former Bethelite and posts on this Board as "Awakened at Gilead" has viewing only access to the Free Minds account to keep bookwork, but even Lance, despite being on ther Board of Directors of Free Minds, Inc., cannot transfer, take or otherwise even pay bills or transfer monies. He can only view my balance sheet.
Lance is a great guy who is aso a blogger at Free Minds. He recent graduated from finances and non-profit school and was and is perfect for being my secretary, needed by a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization. I have a perfect record for over 20-30 years with bookkeeping, maintaining tight control of Free Minds' funds, etc. If you look on the front page of freeminds.org currently, in the right column you will find links to legal government documents like forms 990-199 "Great Non-Profits" and our financial records, including non-profit reports for the last three years. My only problem recently was recently being a little late in reporting and having to file for extensions in reporting due to my work overload, but these are all up to date now.
Although the Free Minds laptop purchased for website work was stolen, I had no desire to deal with a dangerous person in "nice" disguise, and to to drop any attempt to recover it. But he did not steal any monies from me or Free Minds... he was on a $5000 budget to do a job as a 1099 worker. He is simply a dangerous, untrustworthy person. I did not attempt to recover the laptop as I knew it would be ruined or bugged or broken or whatever. The computer did not have any sensitive information that was accessible to my accounts. He DID have a dozen emails to send out a newsletter for my newly-donated AJWRB domain (now given back to Marvin Shilmer after his gaciously giving it to me.) Marvin and the others have reassembled AJWRB the way it was, eliminating all traces of access or writings of this person.
No one who has ever contributed to Free Minds Inc. has ever stolen money from and of my account... simply because I never gave out access to such to ANYONE. My bank, Wells Fargo in Manhattan Beach, can attest to that. So rather than going to court over a stolen $700 laptop, I decided for my peace of mind and not having to deal with a grifter in "nice" disguise, to drop any attempt to recover it as I knew it would be ruined or bugged or broken or whatever. The computer did not have any sesitive information that was accessible to my accounts.
Paypal has never caused me any problem in years.
Since this person was only a hired 1099 worker, I can (and did with Paul Morrison and "V") issue debit cards with small limited amounts of withdrawals (but no actual access to my Paypal account (Hey, I'm not stupid.) . Despite his efforts to withdraw more often, it was refused because I will never keep over $200 in that account before transferring it to my main bank account. No one except my Treasurer has ever had access to my Free Minds funds but me. My Treasurer, known on this board as Lance Goller, a great person, has viewing- only rights. In 30 years no one has ever been able to take anything out of my bank account but me, and will continue as such. I know business quite well and am not so stupid as to give anyone full access. In 31 years I have never lost a dime. So no money was stolen, only the laptop. Petty theft.
I am going to have to edit this and repost it and add things as a separate thread shortly, as I have to do a couple of errands.
Thank you all,
Randall Watters
310-545-7831
PS I am well enough to answer calls, but expect some delays if I don't respond immediately as my work load getting out of the hospital is tremendous. You must identify yourself as I will be screening my calls, as it appears I am still being harassed. Or you can email me at [email protected] if it is important. All email responses will be slightly delayed, as will be my thank-you cards.
None of this is a request for money... but my 30-year reputation and peace of mind are at stake, so I am careful.
I love cards from my friends so you can write me at:
Randall Watters
FreeMinds, Inc.
PO Box 3818
Manhattan Beach CA 90266.
Thanks!
I will repost and and to this later as I have to go for now.
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cofty
Randy, that's terrible. I'm so glad you made it. Get yourself better asap.
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jgnat
Be well, Randy. May that person be permanently booted out of your life.
It is obvious that you have taken good care of the contributions under your responsibility.
The miserable hospital experience sounds like another kind of hell.
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Dogpatch
Thanks y'all from this old okie!
Now that I am getting my energy back, I am ready for the fight of my life, and I am no longer afraid of being taken down. Read my new article on the front page of Free Minds today and on this site put up this AM. And by the way, I am doing much better after getting all the hospital drugs, IVs and bad treatment which brought me very close to death.
Randy Watters