Rhea County Informer

2010 Tennessee Pork Report - The Book Nashville doesn't want YOU to read!

2010-09-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

MTAS - Use of City Equipment; Is Dayton city employees violating law?

2010-09-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

The state of Tennessee's Jails

2010-09-23T12:47:00.001-07:00

OLD MEN AND YOUNGER WOMEN

2010-09-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

If youth is wasted on the young, perhaps old age is being wasted on me. I was recently in a coffee house when two younger women checked me out. Yes, the older men younger women fantasy flashed through my mind.

Now, now – I know the difference between people looking at me and looking past me at someone else or to a clock on the wall. I was sitting by myself in the corner, and there was nothing for them to see but me. My fly was zipped up, there was no food stuck in my teeth, no purple monkeys on top of my head.

These women were giving me the eye, pure and simple.

I was struck with a dilemma – do I give them the eye right back?

I’m a big fan of meeting women in real life situations, and know that simply starting a conversation can work better than using any supposed pick up lines that work every time. I guessed these two younger women were in their early twenties. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an older man who has no problem ogling an adult female, no matter the age. If my head turns, it turns, hopefully without giving me whiplash.

But I’m also an older man in my mid-forties, a father to a seventeen-year-old girl. I’m aware that older men sometimes eye my teen daughter.(By older, in her case, I mean any man over college age. Though I have seen men in their 30s check her out.) When I see that happening, I give those older men the stink eye, and send telepathic a$$-kicking brain waves for them to stay away from my little girl.

So here I was in the coffee house, a virile middle-aged single man with two young hotties at the next table, aware just how creepy the older men younger women thing would be if my own daughter was involved.

For the record, a Stanford study says it’s actually good for the survival of the species for older men to chase younger women. From my own personal experience, I know that a 20-something woman works well as a lover for a 40-something man like me. I hear in France, they take a man’s age, divide it by two and add seven to find the perfect age for his mistress. I think that’s too many years apart for a committed relationship, but the older men younger women age difference works great when it’s all about physical intimacy. Here’s why:

Older men are established and have no problem paying for dates

Younger women are full of life and energy

Older men are experienced sexually. In bed, they can focus on giving rather than getting off, and when it comes to sex have lots to teach

Younger women have naturally beautiful bodies (the female form is a wonder to behold)

Older men and younger women who realize the relationship will never last can simply have fun in the present moment and not worry about the future.(Even single parents need intimacy.)

I realize older women and younger men can make similar claims. Cougars are out there. And older men and older women can be great together. This older men younger women post isn’t a dissertation.

I suddenly noticed these women were studying from test prep books with the letters “SAT” on the cover. Doh! Talk about an older men younger women nightmare. But then I figured they must be high school girls, friends of my daughter who recognized me and wanted to say hello.

Oh, but wait. I eavesdropped a bit and heard them talking about law school. I looked at the books again. Turns out they were LSAT books. These younger women were college graduates prepping for law school entrance exams.

To make a long story short – yes I chatted them up (did you think I wouldn’t say a word? Flirt daily! It’s good for you.)

No, I didn’t ask for any phone number .

By: "mid forties"

Just what is “Labor Day"

2010-09-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

I slept in today as did probably many other Americans who got the day off today. Once again, the hard working man got to sit back, relax and unwind for an extra day, a holiday with pay (so cool) and some of us hop in boats and cruise the waterways. Cookouts, BBQ’s, ice cold beer, oh the good life of celebrating one of several holidays we get throughout the year. A great day to be an American!

Then it dawned on me. Just what is “Labor Day” and why is there even a labor day. I understand having Memorial Day, Independence Day, Christmas and so forth, but what was the deal behind this particular holiday. So I did what every other person does, I turned to wikipedia and found out.

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September.

The first Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882 in New York City, by the Central Labor Union of New York, the nation's first integrated major trade union. It became a federal holiday in 1894, when, following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with the labor movement as a top political priority. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.

Wow, Labor Day sounds more like a surrender treatise war concession than a turkey day.

Look at happenings today. Instead of making my comment a global issue, a national issue of sort, I’ll comment upon an area that I can help influence. Me, myself and I still make up one person, one vote. But a few more of us then we can change city elections, county elections and so on. Billy Ray Patton and a few others can attest to that. We collectively can change things, maybe not the world, the country or the state, but by hell we can shuffle things up on a county level. Imagine, if we stood up and took notice to such thing as “helping implement a change”, then maybe Tennessee would be the greatest state. In a way, who cares about the other states so long as MY state (your state) is bountiful. Let people move here but leave their trash at the state-line.

But back to my subject, we have young men dying in two wars as we speak, we have increasingly growing amounts of poverty, our economy has yet to actually hit bottom, we know family and friends that are suffering NOW as we speak, we have government from tiny local governments right on up to the mighty Uncle Sam (not Uncle Frank this time)that is in the impossible process of trying to keep this giant herd of over 320 million ostriches (myself included) from following each other into oblivion, but even they have seen the cause is far beyond "lost" and are scampering to some safe zone for them, to hell with the rest of us. The ones that created this mess are yelling to the others that allowed them to screw everything up (US) that its every "man's hole in the sand to themselves".

Most of you know this, even realize this, but ignore it. We know times are harder than we remember. I am almost 50 so maybe it's just me. Maybe it is me who is out of touch and fail to accept the reality. Then again, my head hasn't been in a hole, nor is it ever going into a whole, well, unless it's like something involving me playing an extra in the movie "Casino" with Joe Peschi and some cornfield out in Nevada somewhere ;)

By an ostrich seeing a lion gazing at him from a distance, slowly walking toward him, by the ostrich saying oh shit!!! and sticking his head in a hole and if no hole is available, expend tremendous amounts of nervous, scared energy into pecking the sand and dig some sort of hole, and then ramming his head down in there and think happy thoughts which will somehow magically make the lion go "poof", gone... all safe and sound now.

The holes we dig will NOT protect us. Our heads we willingly shove down inside those holes will not protect us. Our closing of the eyes, or changing the thought process to the "out of sight, out of mind" will prove in the end to be a tragic lesson learned …perhaps that why the smart birds chose the "fight or flight" way of thinking, or "reacting".

But from what little I even bother to read here is like me being some sort of big bird and I am waltzing around seeing a whole bunch of butts in the air with everybody's head stuck in a hole, blabbering and thinking about who the biggest scank is in the county. But as for me, when the lions come, and they will come, my big bird butt will have long since been gone. And when the lion eventually bites YOU personally on your butt, while that head is stuck in a hole think mindless "wizard of oz" fantasies, then you will wish at that time you would have at least "listened" to the big birds that were remotely smart about it and skedaddled on down the road.

MAYBE HEAVEN'S NOT SO CROWDED AFTERALL

2010-09-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

One of Landover's platinum tithers recently expressed a concern I've heard frequently of late: "Brother Harry, given all the people who say they've accepted Christ, will Heaven be overcrowded?" The answer, friends, is absolutely not. Granted, we have no idea how large Heaven actually is, but it doesn't matter, because there will be far fewer people in Heaven than you might think. In fact, the vast majority of people you know will roast in Hell instead.

We know the first plunged into the smelly, hot bowels of Satan's abode will be the members of the liberal cult. A cult is a group of individuals who share a common, outlandish belief they are not willing to subject to rational discourse. I am, of course, referring to those sacrilegious, blasphemous liberals who think the Bible is a tiny pamphlet containing nothing more than the verse, John 3:16. The liberal cultists say what you do wrong doesn't make one iota of difference – as long as you say, "I accept Jesus," you're going to Heaven. Can you believe that? According to this cult, once you say, "I accept Jesus," you can murder, rape, rob, plunger, pillage, blow up churches and molest babies, and you're still going to Heaven as though nothing happened, just 'cause you uttered the magic words. Needless to say, the liberal cultists won't debate you on this, because they know it makes no sense, hence making them cultists. But they have to hold this belief, because they know it's the only hope they have to go to Heaven despite their depraved, decadent, deviant, debauched, degenerate lifestyles.

True Christians know that the Bible, Old and New Testaments combined, promises Hell for countless sinners. And when you review the Bible in context, just about everyone is going to Hell. Through the apostle, Paul, Jesus told us the majority of so-called Christians cannot enter Heaven because of their sins (and if you don't go to Heaven, the only place left is Hell). "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)." I don't know where the liberal cultists get off suggesting otherwise. I haven't read any verse saying John trumps Paul. Just because John's verse appears on more banners at college football games doesn't make it preeminent. And under the long accepted legal doctrine that the specific controls over the general, Paul's pronouncement that these particular people are going to Hell is clearly an exception to the general rule vaguely enunciated by John.

When you consider Paul's words with the rest of the Bible, rest assured, there'll be plenty of room for driving ranges in Heaven. Studies show the majority of people have had premarital sex. They're condemned as fornicators. All those other than Christians are going to Hell as idolaters (and that includes the Catholics who worship that harlot, Mary, and the so-called "saints"). Studies show most people get drunk at times, so they're out. And, of course, the sodomites are out (but we knew that anyway, without Paul's words).

But even if you think you're somehow in the clear, guess again. Not only are individuals who marry a second time condemned, but so are their children, their grandchildren, their great grandchildren, etc. Because their second marriage is a nullity, any children of that marriage are illegitimate and are thus condemned to the 10th generation (Deuteronomy 23:2). In other words, not only must you make sure you do not engage in any of the sins Paul said would ensure eternity aflame, you must hope none of your distant ancestors ever divorced and conceived one of your great, great, great grandparents out-of-wedlock or during the second (and unrecognized) marriage.

You see, friends, Heaven is going to be a very select place, indeed -- more exclusive than even the best of country clubs. Now, I know some of you may find these condemnations a bit disheartening, but you really shouldn't. After all, God told us centuries ago that children would be slaughtered for the sins of their parents (Isaiah 14:21-22). Plus, these condemned people will be joined in Hell by individuals who did nothing wrong in their lives because they had no lives. God said not only that we are all born in sin, but that we are conceived in sin as well (Genesis 5:3; Job 15:14; 25:4; Psalms 51:5). In light of that sin, we have no hope of reaching Heaven unless and until we accept Jesus. Unfortunately, many never have that opportunity. I am, of course, speaking of all the unborn children who die in the womb or during delivery, the SIDS children, all the children who die before they reach the age at which they can understand Jesus, the mentally retarded who don't have the capacity to know Jesus, and all those third world residents the missionaries never reached with the good news of our Lord. What a shame that all of these individuals must spend forever in flames. Let us pray that Satan takes it easy on them in the hereafter. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

For God and Country,

June Griffin

Why can't people just not worry about what other people do

2010-09-23T12:25:00.000-07:00

When Matthew Shepard from Laramie, Wyoming was killed in 1998, that was a "hate crime" and those kids who murdered the young man should have received a severe punishment. When Eric Rudolf bombed the gay bars, and the people at the park in Atlanta, that was a "hate crime". If someone pinched you on the butt, and you jap slapped them, I don't think that could be classified as a hate crime. People should keep their hands to themselves.

I am a proponent of "hate crime" legislation. I could care less if two people of the same sex want to get married. What is the difference in some gay person who has worked all of their life, and paid into social security, and their spouse of the same sex receiving their social security benefits when they die, and some skinny good looking man who is married to a big fat ugly nasty slobby looking woman receiving his, or visa versa?
If you have dogs in your house and you like to tongue kiss them, then that is your business. I am not too excited about kissing anyone or any animals that eats crap, but if you want to do, go for it.
We need to try and take care of our lives, and let other people live theirs. 50 years ago, no white person dared to marry a black person or visa versa in this area. It is now common. It hasn't bothered me, because I did not care.
The missionary from Cleveland who got killed in Iraq, Iran or Pakistan a while back, he had no business there trying to change those people's religion. Again, their religious conviction is no more our business, than our religions are theirs. Christains are quick to say Muslims are going to hell, and Muslims are quick to call Christians infidels. Why can't we just not worry about other people and what they do?

The Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission

2010-09-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

John Adams - Founding Father 1798

2010-09-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

"The safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and blessing of Almighty God; and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty, which the people owe to Him, but a duty whose natural influence is favorable to the promotion of that MORALITY and PIETY, without which social happiness cannot exist, nor the blessings of a free government be enjoyed."

Righteousness exalts a Nation but sin is a reproach to any people.

"A Bully might enjoy his day" until Judgment comes.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings" Jeremiah 17:9,10
As in this Beloved Nation, all liars, cheats, and scoundrels will be brought to give an account because God's Word declares it.

For God & Country
Ruth Ann Wilson

A Look Back into Rhea County and IT's Evolution

2010-09-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

The Scopes trial was a BIG JOKE. Science has proved there is evolution occurring daily. We do not see it, or notice it because it is a slow process. Animal life has been evolving since the beginning of time, which brings us to another subject. What is time? I would suggest to you people who like to read, "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. You can't put it down.

As far as sexual orientation and race is concerned, you don't choose your color or your sexual orientation, any more than you choose to have Heart Attacks, Aneurysms, to some other physical problems like Psoriasis. It is all genetic, and has to do with your genes you have inherited from some relative.

It is possible J.C. Fugate has some homosexual genes and doesn't know it, or it could be that he has played around sometime in his life, the reason for his homophobia. Many people are homophobic, because they are homosexual and don't know how to deal with it. They become avid haters of those who are.

Racialphobics is because that has been what we have been taught through generations of our ancestors. What we have been taught isn't necessarily true. Some men of the cloth will tell you there were no Dinosaurs. How grossly mistaken these weekly Philosophers are. Many of them became authorities on Religion, Time, Evolution, Homosexuality, Racism, Creation, Science and many other interesting topics with out ever reading any book on the subject, or any training in their fields what-so-ever.

Those of us who believe something just because we have been told that, are not very good specimens of the Human Race, because we obviously do not know what our brain is for, and that is to independently "Think with".

If we depended on someone else to do our thinking for us, and tell us what to do and how to live our lives, we would be in one hell of a mess when that person died.

Does Dayton need a new Bypass

2010-09-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

So many times I travel on the what is referred to as a bypass in Dayton. It seems that you get caught at every light while doing the speed limit. One would think that the state would calibrate these lights so as to accommodate the drivers that are obeying the law. I have noticed that if you accelerate your speed to around 55 that you can make most of the lights on green. Is this attempt to slow the traffic? or a foolish ploy to compel drivers to turn downtown and spend some money? Or could it be an income producing scheme to try to catch people either speeding or running red lights. Whatever it is, it sure is aggravating and not a very good design plan by a civil engineer unless instructed to do so by his superiors. I think this definitely should be looked into in a time when gas is so expensive. this could be a smart issue to take charge of for someone wanting to look good in the public's perception. Probably would make a good story for the Herald News. I'm not sure if these intersections use the "inductive-loop traffic detector" technology but if not it would be a good idea to simply calibrate the lights like other city's have to move the traffic along as to alleviate some of the dreaded traffic Dayton has acquired over the past years. I don't think this is an unreasonable request for our officials. Another suggestion while on the subject, Is it possible to use flashing yellow and red for the bypass at night or times when traffic is at a minimum? There are times you can sit at a red light for what seems like an eternity with no traffic anywhere. Or if this is a plan that is working as directed then maybe we need another bypass to move traffic around the congested area of Dayton.

DENTON vs. RIEVLEY LAWSUIT: IS THE FOURTH AMENDMENT DEAD IN TENNESSEE

2010-09-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

On August 23rd, 2010, in the Eastern District United States Federal Court in Chattanooga, Pro Se Plaintiff, Roy Denton had his day in court before the Honorable Chief Judge Curtis L. Collier. Denton has served as his own attorney and has represented himself since the filing of his complaint against Dayton City Patrolman, Steve Rievley on September 7, 2007.

Mr. Denton has sued Patrolman Rievley in his individual capacity for a warrantless arrest inside his home and warrantless entry into his home on the night of September 9, 2006 in violation of the Fourth Amendment. On August 23rd, a second trial held in this matter as a result of a hung jury during the first trial on April 12th and 13th, 2010. Mr. Denton stated that he, “considered the first trial and hung jury as a victory since he is not an attorney and there would be a second trial as the issue must be settled.”

Since filing the complaint in September 2007, Mr. Denton says that he has spent countless hours involved in researching case law and building legal documents in which there have been over 130 filings between Mr. Denton and Patrolman Rievley’s attorney with the Federal Court. One of these filings was a Summary Judgment motion filed by Rievley’s attorney, Ronald D. Wells of the Chattanooga law firm of Robinson, Smith & Wells. Rievley’s attorney filed for a Summary Judgment hoping to get his client off without having to go to trial but Chief United States Judge Curtis L. Collier saw it differently. Denton managed to present an argument to the court that resulted in Rievley’s Summary Judgment being denied.

After the court denied Patrolman Rievley’s Summary Judgment on all counts of the alleged Fourth Amendment violations, his attorney Ronald Wells filed an Interlocutory Appeal November 17, 2008 asking the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to overturn Chief Judge Collier’s ruling in denying Rievley’s motion. Mr. Denton then had to submit a legal argument supported by case law precedence to the court of appeals and convince the panel of appellate judges to uphold the decision of Chief Judge Collier. Almost a year later, on November 13, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals upheld and affirmed the denial of Rievley’s Summary Judgment at the District Court level. Again, the pro se litigant prevailed. “I have never made it in any litigation on such a level as being one court below the United States Supreme Court and I think it would be a life time chance to be able to stand before the justices of the supreme court and debate a legal issue and not even be an attorney”, Denton said.

With Rievley’s appeal being denied and the jury hung on April 13th, Mr. Denton felt confident that he could, once again, hold his own in the justice system and again appeared in court representing himself on August 23rd. He was confident that he could prove to the jury that a grave wrong had been done to him by Dayton City Police patrolman Rievley.

Between the first trial in April and the trial on August 23rd, Mr. Denton with due diligence was able to uncover evidence from the first trial that he said proved that Patrolman Rievley had lied under oath in Federal Court On April 12th and 13th. Denton said that he “seized upon the opportunity to subpoena Rievley’s phone records and to once and for all, prove that patrolman Rievley had given false testimony”. Attorneys Ronald Wells along with a second lawyer Bonnie Dickson did all they could to stall off Denton getting those records which proved what Denton said he believed all along, according to Denton.

Denton said that whenever he questioned Rievley on the witness stand, his attorney objected to the phone records being introduced as evidence and that Judge Collier agreed with them and refused to allow Denton to show the phone records to the jury. According to Denton, the evidence contained within the phone records would have proven that Steve Rievley lied under oath, not just at the first trial, but the second trial as well. Denton said, “the phone records were detrimental to Rievley because he had testified in both trials that he had phoned the alleged victim at the jail to get permission to enter and search through Mr. Denton’s home and remove things from his home without a warrant. The phone records prove that no such call was ever made, thus Patrolman Rievley never received permission, nor did he have the right to enter or go through Mr. Denton’s home and retrieve anything.

Denton’s Fourth Amendment claim of police coming in to his home and arresting him without a warrant, exigent circumstances or consent started to evolve into something more serious. Denton said that he believed that Rievley, along with Dayton city patrolmen Jason Woody, Bryan Malone and Sheriff’s Deputy Gerald Brewer conspired to come and arrest him. Denton said that every officer who testified admitted that they didn’t have a warrant for Denton’s arrest, didn’t have a warrant to enter his home, admitted that there was no exigent circumstances and admitted that they never obtained consent. Yet, within four minutes of patrolmen Rievley and the entire third shift police department and one deputy sheriff arriving at Mr. Denton’s home, he was hastily taken away to jail.

The four officers arrived at Mr. Denton’s home at 2:13 a.m. and at 2:17 a.m. he was at the jail. Mr. Denton has testified that he was dressed for bed at that time wearing nothing but a pair of silk, baggie sleeping shorts. Denton was not allowed the time or opportunity to put on a shirt, nor a pair of shoes and was taken out of his home on a chilly early fall morning. Then Rievley, Brewer and Malone went back inside Denton’s home and discovered Dustin Denton, who was in the farthest back room of the home and without knowledge they were even inside the home, was knelt over his duffel bag looking through it.

When the police entered the Denton’s home, Deputy Gerald Brewer was the first to enter and patrolmen Rievley followed. At some point patrolman Malone caught up to deputy Brewer and patrolman Rievley where they each pointed their weapons at Denton’s oldest son and told him to remove his hands from his duffel bag. With guns drawn, he was ordered to remove his hands from the duffel bag and was immediately placed under arrest. According to testimony, Brewer never drew his service weapon. Also, according to testimony from court transcripts, patrolman Rievley testified that although he entered Denton’s home without consent or warrant, he didn’t search the home but he couldn’t explain how he could “find” anyone if he wasn’t “searching” for anyone. Dustin Denton was home visiting his family after his first 15 month tour in Iraq and also a Bronze Star Recipient after his second tour in Iraq.

Denton said that what he heard four police officers testify to was four different stories involving four minutes. According to court transcripts, while patrolman Malone was testifying on the witness stand, Denton asked Malone to tell the jury “when” an officer is lawfully permitted to enter someone’s home without a warrant and Malone said “exigent circumstances” and when I asked him to explain to the jury what was an exigent circumstance, Malone admitted that he did not know”. How can anyone say they can enter a home without a warrant if they have exigent circumstances then turn around and admit that they do not know “what an exigent circumstance is”, Denton said.

In the end, the jury ruled in favor of Patrolman Rievley. Over several objections from Denton, Chief Judge Collier presented the same jury instructions on August 25th that he had given the jury on April 13th that resulted in a hung jury. Denton said, “People need to realize that the jury verdict has basically nullified the predominant court case law of Payton v New York, a landmark supreme court decision that protects people from warrantless intrusions into their homes by over zealous police officers.

“The threshold of your home is a line that the police are not allowed to cross without legal process such as warrants. The jury in this trial essentially has ruled that a warrant is no longer needed. This jury ruling has now given the police free realm of your home and freedom to take you to jail without a warrant”, Denton said.
A recent online poll conducted by Micropolls.com indicated an astonishing 87% of the people who participated in the poll fears that this verdict, if remained to stand, will have in effect damaged each and every citizens right to be within the sanctity of their own home without fear of authorities such as police coming in and removing you from your home without legal process.

The verdict, was of course, a disappointing blow to Mr. Denton because he is a firm believer in the Constitution of the United States and the legal system in the United States. Although Roy Denton was the Plaintiff in this lawsuit, his loss, according to him, “is one that could now essentially be felt by any one of us should the Dayton City police, or actually, since this is in the federal courts, any officer in the whole state, can decide to come in to your home without a warrant and take you to jail”.

When asked what Mr. Denton was asking for in settlement if he had prevailed he stated, “I asked for the amount of one dollar. I did not take this patrolman to court to get rich. I could have easily filed suit and name Rievley, his boss, his employer (Dayton city) and pushed for a speedy settlement. I took this officer to court to stand up for my rights so that my family and I can feel safe within our home without fear of police taking anyone from my home without a warrant and entering my home again and pulling weapons.” He further said, “I will continue to fight for my peace of mind in my own home as it is a sad thing to not fear criminals in your community, but to fear the actual men who are hired and paid by its taxpayers to provide them with a sense of security, not fear.”

Mrs. Denton added a final comment before the end of the interview by saying, “When I first moved here several years back I was told by someone here that ‘things are done a certain way around here’ and I didn’t take them seriously until the night I arrived at our house and found that our home and our Fourth Amendment rights had been violated by none other than those we look to for security and comfort.” I no longer look at the Dayton City Police that way unfortunately. I would like the same person that told me how things are done around here to tell me just how am I to feel safe in my own home now?