All that's required is for you to move there from out of town/out of state, write a controversial letter to the editor of the Quincy Herald-Whig newspaper, especially if it involves politics and a religious faith other than what they expect from you, and you're bound to irritate someone who's been a Quincian all thier lives.
Trust me, it happened to me. I thought Quincy, Illinois was this all-American, fmaily and church oriented community. I thought wrong.
You see, the folks of Quincy have this misleading persona giving visitors and prosepective-residents the impression that they are all for decent, moral values and by God, thier communtiy is the place YOU want to raise your family.
"After all," they add, "Quincy has everything you need. You don't need to travel to Chicago, St. Louis, Kanasas City or points between, to enjoy a night at the opera or a good Summer eve's concert in the park on Sunday afternoon, and so forth".
There's one major catch to enjoying the priviliges (that's right, I said: P-R-I-V-I-L-I-G-E-S ) that Quincy has to offer: you'd better be Catholic or show an interest in converting to Catholisim!
You read that right: Quincy is a Catholic-oriented, Catholic-run city. They are proud of thier German heritage as well. A majority of Quincy's businesses (including real estate agencies) and city government officials are C-A-T-H-O-L-I-C!
A freind of mine who moved to Quincy from the South before I arrived. He was unable to secure any suitable employment until he converted to Catholisism. All of a sudden, all kinds of doors were opening up for him.
He was privy to something that I wasn't.
Several key members at Quincy City Hall are Catholic, with the exception of the police and fire cheifs. Nobody dares to mess with those area of public safety.
ALL of my employment was in Missouri, right across the river in West Quincy, Missouri. The good folks of Missouri were PRIVY to what was going over in Quincy, and felt bad for me and I got a great job doing what I want at the starting wage of $9.95/Hour!
The Quincy do-gooder tried to pull a fast one in late 1996, when they tried to take advantage of the fairly newly elected Marion County, Missouri County Supervisors and tried to create (not find, but create!) a loophole in Missouri law, in an attempt to annex West Quincy into Quincy city limits, though they are in two different states.
They didn't count on the good and decent folks of West Quincy and all of Marion County, to tell them to go screw themselves on a doorknob! They voted the whole she-bang down! I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, butsome of the voters came back to tell me that they attributed my first hand experiences at being discriminated against in Quincy, as the basis of thier vote.
When that got back to the idiots of Quincy City Hall, it wasn;t long before I noticed that life in Quincy was starting to get worse for me:
-I was banned from several restaurants in Quincy for allegedly "..making the other customer's and employees nervous".
-The chief mechanic at the Shell gas station at 12th and Main Streets in Quincy lost his job for going the extra mile for me when the tire they sold to me the week before, started losing air all the time. I still have the receits for all repairs and cash payments.
-When I dropped off some paperwork for an injured gentleman to his insurance company, I noticed, as I pulled into a parking spot, that some guy in a white shirt inside his office, was talking to some unknown on his cordless phone. I am a fairly good to very good lip-reader and I noticed he was talking about me.
Now unless someone else was present who looked like, dressed exactly like me, drove the exact same car with the exact same license plates I had; I would venture to guess he was talking about me.
So before I got out of my car, I switched on my police scanner (which included frequencies for cordless phones) and switched on my tape-recorder and upon finding the cordless frequency he was using, I began recording his conversation.
It's perfcetly legal to record CORDLESS phone conversation because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in an Iowa case.
It is illegal to moniter and record WIRELESS/CELLULAR conversations, under the 1986 Electronic Communications privacy Act.
The High Court ruled that CORDLESS phones are not communication devices capable of long-range communication, in fact, are just like childrens walkie-talkies; because they require a seperate base-modem to transmit the communication; whereas WIRELESS/CELLULAR phones are sophisticated because they have a direct access to the phone company host.
I recorded 12-minutes of wholesale character assassination about me, but one statement stood out that gave me all the proof I needed:
Mr. White Shirt was telling Mr. Unknown about me taking several papers into the office next door, assuming they were application forms. To to which Mr. Unknown said: "He can put in all the goddamn applications he wants! He'll never get a fuckin' job in this town. That's a fixed and done deal...!"
My attorney made a copy, complete with sworn affidavit, and submitted it to the FBI in Springfield, Illinois. Several of my civil rights were violated. The FBI told me to get out of Quincy as quickly as possible because "..when we start asking questions, someone's going to want you dead".
-The law firm representing WGEM-TV and KHQA-TV sent a nasty letter
a "friendly warning" they called it; informing me (get this!) "...to not, under any circumstances, bee observed out on the sidewalks, public of private, ajacent to the TV studios, as certain employees were leave work. These employees are not comfortable with your presence at anytime, anywhere in Quincy. Failure to comply result in further action which may involve a no contact order and possible jail time".
The General Manager of WGEM (herein referred to as "The Asshole") had
told his staff that a decision was made at the Freemason's of Quincy to make life so difficult for me, as to get me to leave or I will leave Quincy....in a bodybag!
I received an anonymous phone threat to that effect. Too bad I didn't have a it taped.
Anyway, getting back to that letter:
I took that letter to my attorney in Hannibal, Missouri and he checked into it. He got back to me telling me they had no legal basis for making such a threat because first, no one at either stuido made any kind of complaint as required by Illinois law. Second, I have the absolute lawful right to stand, sit or walk among any public sidewalk, alley or street, so long as I do not interfere with the free flow of pedestrian and/or vehicular traffic. My lawyer sent a letter to that effect to the law firm those idiots worked for.
-After my lawyer sent that letter to thier lawyers, a funny thing happened: I got a call from the Quincy policetwo days later, asking me to come in and discuss some complaints lodged against me. Two counts of disorderly conduct. One count of carrying weapons. Three counts of harassment and one count of refusing to comply with a no contact order. I refused to come in, and that if they want me, they can find me with my attorney in Hannibal.
I never heard from the Quincy police again. In fact, when my lawyer demanded copies of ALL of the complaints, the Quincy police admitted they had no such complaint on record.
-The next day, I received a letter of apology from the Quincy police department. I urinated on it, let it dry and sent it back to them!
-On January 2nd, 1997, I left Quincy for good.
I'm bringing now this up because The Asshole from WGEM spotted me at the hotel chain I work at as a security officer Missouri last weekend.
He attempted to slander and malign me with my employer and was asked to leave the hotel. I notified my new attorney and criminal charges are pending along with civil liability.
You would think that some people would just get over thier hatred after a certain time. I thought wrong.
So, why should I forget what they did to me if they're so willing to trash me, even to this day? If those in Quincy think payback's a bitch, they've seen nothing yet.
― Recon, Saturday, 19 April 2003 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)