My husband has worked in public service for 28 years. At the age of 61 he was sacked by a community college that he had worked for 5 years as a director of facilities. He was not given a work evalution for the 5 years he was there, but he was finding a lot of waste and theft, like a credit card that showed gas fill-ups one after another within minutes. He did not know who used this card so cancelled it. He also found his director of transportation had two cars that he did not even know was in his fleet. The cars were found when the wife of the director was caught by a local K-12 police office, which called it in and found it belonged to the college. My husband started to research the inventory and another one also was missing. My husband knew that his director had these vehicles. He handed all the info and proof to the director of business, who swept it under the carpet because the college was trying to get a bond passed by the public and didn't want bad media. Because my husband stepped on toes, the employees, with the union's help, started a campaign to get rid of him. We contacted many district and local government lawmakers, including the newpaper and attorneys, which all fell on deaf ears. There was no dirt to be found on my husband, he had a spotless work history during his whole complete career. But he was the only employee at the college who was given his letter. We have local Board Members elected by the unions, and the unions have taken the power away from the Administrator and Boards. This is why none of our government agencies can make decisions on behalf of the majority and why government spending is out of control. I hope we can rid ourselves of these people in decision-making positions. They are fleas. A flea has only a brain of a flea and its only function is to suck blood. The people are their victims.

I have been a pastor for 35 years. I always saw the church as being an institution that teaches values, integrity--character. However, the church, like many of our older institutions, too often slips into being a non-threatening, minimally effective institution. Why? Because leaders and members seek to remove all risk from what they do. "Let's not rock the boat" becomes the status quo. After 35 years of seeking to challenge both the hierarchy and the laity to meet the challenge for doing good with integrity and risking ourselves to bring about necessary change, I am now looking at alternatives other than the church to accomplish all of the above. Again, why? Because my experience in seeking to be just and to see that the church did not take advantage of people has resulted in my feeling very much an outsider. Leaders and members do not want the status quo threatened. Those who question, get marginalized. Therefore, I now seek to work at programs and activities beyond the church, in helping youths and families value the qualities of being a good citizen, a good person, a good neighbor.