In early May of 2011 a member in my brother's family was allegedly murdered by her police officer husband and the home was set on fire in an attempt to destroy the evidence. His fool proof plan he bragged about wasn't adequate. The FBI was called in, and he was convicted of murder, arson and child endangerment. The trail is pending.
Encouraged by her family to do so, she was afraid to file for divorce because he chronically bullied her, threatening to kill the whole family if she left him, but it became too much and she filed anyway. A few days later she was dead, leaving two darling little boys without their caring mother.
This tragedy has opened a deep wound in my own life, and I am having to deal all over again with the flashbacks of four decades of law enforcement and other "authority" mobster-type bullying that has destroyed my hopes and dreams to preserve our very rare historic downtown located in South Central Kansas. (This included Rosalea's Hotel.) It has been a painful lesson to learnthat countless law enforcement in small towns of the prairies are horrendous bullies and get away with it because there is no where above for the victims to get help. The limited selection pool for qualified, ethical, educated, intelligent law enforcement compounds the problem--the more qualified have moved away years ago. It is a disgrace that the AG's office throws severe problems back onto the people of the community who have no training or conscience to deal with the horrors. As I have written in the past, the Kansas Attorney General will not help with any violence in small towns until someone is murdered. This death is a case in point.
Because of the many years of personal targeting I have endured by small town bullies ever since I opened Rosalea's Hotel in 1968, I have become an observer, aware that there are many types of bullying. One type is the Judgmental Bully who tries to make every bullying victim they meet into their particular brand of religion. When a person is cornered by this type of bullying, they can't even enjoy a meal in peace without being hounded. Never mind if you remind them that they are preaching to the choir, it does not stop them in their vain glory to make you knuckle down on your knees on the spot so they can gloat at "winning for the Lord" or whoever their God might be. (One homeless man I know says he always plays their games in the city as it means a free meal. He doesn't recall how many times he's "been saved' but he's overweight.)
I have often wondered why these Judgmental Bullies don't attack the attackers, rather than the victims? I suspect they are cowards.
When I try to eat out in my hometown I get the pounding on one side of the room by the Judgmental Bully types, and then an emotional pounding by the pompous Law Enforcement Bullies who gather in a clique on the other side, smug in their knowing they have Abuse of Power on their side. At times like that, food becomes to unpalatable, I finish as quickly as I can without choking, pay and leave.
Surely, small towns are hell unless you stay to yourself (the Internet helps), live in abject denial or booze it up or pop so many tranquilizers you don't sense a thing. Once a therapist told me that only 5% of the people are worth knowing--those who have truth, honor, integrity and are reasonable. This knowledge has helped me much through the years to provide an invisible wall of protection for emotional and mental survival.
I don't know the answers to restore hope, respect, peace and honor to the lives of people who live in small towns. There would be plenty of healthy growth to a community if that was accomplished as many people would want to live in a community that functioned as a genuine community. I do know that creating public awareness regarding bullying is a first step. Teaching children how to identify bullying and standing up to it is a second step. They are our future. But how to rally people broken by years of bullying and intimidation to embrace courage and integrity that defends and supports victims is something I do not have an answer for. And until that day arrives, a victim's life in small towns of the prairies is going to continue to be hell on earth. Now you know why I leave a lot--emotional survival!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
I can hear it now. The minute I die suddenly the Suck Ups in Harper will want to claim Rosalea's Hotel as "their project."
I could have thrown up the other night at City Council meeting when all of a sudden the conversation at the table turned to how terrible downtown Harper looks, and it just is in dire need of restoration, blah, blah.....now the main words came from a council member who was aboslutely hell bent on demolishing Balmer Fund 1885 Buckeye building three years ago. Her hyporcrisy exudes with her churchy long skirts and devious ways. (I left real estate because I could not deal with the likes of her.) So she decided to get involved in the Main Street program because our town looks so terrible, and asked the city for money to train four people about how to save our downtown. HUH? I don't get it. Where has she been hiding since 1968 when I have been working as a volunteer to save downtown and have been knocked down time and time again, costing us thousands of dollars trying to placate the council, only to have an hisotric building demolished anyway--and the mayor and city clerk/FAUX manager danced and laughed in the streets as the city confiscated our trailer we were not allowed to remove. (The last time it was put to use was for the Free Store I took to Pratt for the Greensburg tornado victims...,the story was on Woman's Day website.)
I have been a volunteer editor for the Prairie Connection since 1994 and have documented time and time again the adversity I've endured by these Harper County Suck Ups. The Mayor would not recognize me until someone from the floor told her to.....and I explained that 15 years ago I showed the Main Street literature to the then-mayor who walked over and threw it in the trash. And that I recently attended a Main Street workshop and would present what I learned to the NEW council after the election in April. But never mind, I was totally ignored and the fool council of More Suck Ups gave her tax payers hard earned money.
I was wired and hot.......I told them that there was not one person in the room (it was a large crowd due to a previous session) who had ever given even one dollar in support of the Balmer Fund. (Mission: to preserve the history art and culture of the prairies for future generations.) I reminded them that in all these years they have never attended a Balmer Fund fundraising, and that all of our money has come from people on the outside. ( One anonymous outside donor gave almost half a million dollars over a decade before he threw up his hands and quit, and said he had never seen anything as corrupt as Harper County.)
And now suddenly this Mrs. Suck Up decides, as if it is a new thought, that we have a derelict downtown and need the help of the sweet naive girls who put in those gol darn ugly black cold wrought iron park benches (they don't know what Feng Shui is) that no one sits on as people do not talk to each other in Harper County except in cliques at the Lodge, Church, Bar or Club.
I have a loud "farm raised voice" and this enrages them as they don't know what else to pin on me so I quickly said I was getting loud and did not want to be arrested and was going home. I walked out. They gave Mrs. Suck Up the money of course as they are all Little Sucki Ups too. (It is odd to me that one of the council members has a father with a notorious loud voice, much louder than mine, and he never has threats of arrest for his loud raspy voice or told to shut up.)
As an outsider (and goodness know if you grew up here you are probably emotionally and visually stunted just like the current locals and won't give a dime either) you have the opportunity with the Donate button to help preserve Rosalea's Hotel 1968 (Patterson House 1883), the icon of the prairies, the one thing that has put Harper County on the map and on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and featured in PEOPLE.
Thank you for being Intelligent and Visionary. How about becoming a New Prairie Pioneer?!
I need company!
I could have thrown up the other night at City Council meeting when all of a sudden the conversation at the table turned to how terrible downtown Harper looks, and it just is in dire need of restoration, blah, blah.....now the main words came from a council member who was aboslutely hell bent on demolishing Balmer Fund 1885 Buckeye building three years ago. Her hyporcrisy exudes with her churchy long skirts and devious ways. (I left real estate because I could not deal with the likes of her.) So she decided to get involved in the Main Street program because our town looks so terrible, and asked the city for money to train four people about how to save our downtown. HUH? I don't get it. Where has she been hiding since 1968 when I have been working as a volunteer to save downtown and have been knocked down time and time again, costing us thousands of dollars trying to placate the council, only to have an hisotric building demolished anyway--and the mayor and city clerk/FAUX manager danced and laughed in the streets as the city confiscated our trailer we were not allowed to remove. (The last time it was put to use was for the Free Store I took to Pratt for the Greensburg tornado victims...,the story was on Woman's Day website.)
I have been a volunteer editor for the Prairie Connection since 1994 and have documented time and time again the adversity I've endured by these Harper County Suck Ups. The Mayor would not recognize me until someone from the floor told her to.....and I explained that 15 years ago I showed the Main Street literature to the then-mayor who walked over and threw it in the trash. And that I recently attended a Main Street workshop and would present what I learned to the NEW council after the election in April. But never mind, I was totally ignored and the fool council of More Suck Ups gave her tax payers hard earned money.
I was wired and hot.......I told them that there was not one person in the room (it was a large crowd due to a previous session) who had ever given even one dollar in support of the Balmer Fund. (Mission: to preserve the history art and culture of the prairies for future generations.) I reminded them that in all these years they have never attended a Balmer Fund fundraising, and that all of our money has come from people on the outside. ( One anonymous outside donor gave almost half a million dollars over a decade before he threw up his hands and quit, and said he had never seen anything as corrupt as Harper County.)
And now suddenly this Mrs. Suck Up decides, as if it is a new thought, that we have a derelict downtown and need the help of the sweet naive girls who put in those gol darn ugly black cold wrought iron park benches (they don't know what Feng Shui is) that no one sits on as people do not talk to each other in Harper County except in cliques at the Lodge, Church, Bar or Club.
I have a loud "farm raised voice" and this enrages them as they don't know what else to pin on me so I quickly said I was getting loud and did not want to be arrested and was going home. I walked out. They gave Mrs. Suck Up the money of course as they are all Little Sucki Ups too. (It is odd to me that one of the council members has a father with a notorious loud voice, much louder than mine, and he never has threats of arrest for his loud raspy voice or told to shut up.)
As an outsider (and goodness know if you grew up here you are probably emotionally and visually stunted just like the current locals and won't give a dime either) you have the opportunity with the Donate button to help preserve Rosalea's Hotel 1968 (Patterson House 1883), the icon of the prairies, the one thing that has put Harper County on the map and on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and featured in PEOPLE.
Thank you for being Intelligent and Visionary. How about becoming a New Prairie Pioneer?!
I need company!
Who boy, isn't this a hoot? After 43 years of every vandalism and violence imaginable, Dist. Court sent me a check for $25 restitution a few days ago. Nearly every upper floor window of original historic handmade glass of Rosalea's Hotel has been shot out (now boarded over). Nearly every windshield of every vehicle I've ever owned has been smashed. Dents, key scratches and spray paint to my vehicles is common. The Valentine Diner Sandwich bar has had every window broken out. A retired sheriff told me the other week that is "just impossible to catch criminals who vandalize in small towns." HUH? Yet I can make a statement and within hours it is all over town. So after 43 years it is impossible to catch a criminal who has done things to try to hurt and destroy me? None?
Once there was even a recorded confession I heard in a Sheriff's office, of someone who broke out nearly every plate glass window of Rosalea's Hotel and the Anchor Oyster Parlor...a.bout 30 years ago or so. Yet nothing could be done to arrest the couple. HUH? And she still roams free and when I ask her about the violence she says "oh that was a long time ago". Well thank you very much--you have helped ruin our historic town and tainted the minds of simple minded people who believe Rosalea deserved your violence because it was never prosecuted.
I understand La Cosa Nostra moved into Harper in the 1920s and perhaps is still here in one form or another? In those days it was farmers with secret stills (including some of my Mennonite brethern) who made hooch for the mobsters to sell. And why do we have "secret" secret tunnels under the streets? And why does a person who demolished one of the underground bases now have a hotshot job in Topeka? Any body smell a rat, and I don't mean a sewer rat.
Of course in the late 60s Harper County mobsters, eerrrrr, business men, got involved in drug trafficking, gun running and who knows what else. Oh the stories I could tell of vehicles rammed thru store windows, pay-offs, people who suddenly left town, unsolved murders, silence, etc. Anyone with fame and clout want to help me co author a book for Kindle? ha ha
So now I seek the people with a sense of history and integrity who will help restore the famous Rosalea's Hotel of 1968! (Patterson House 1883). See that "Donate" button in the side bar? Just click on it ....every dollar counts--$5 or $5,000. Thank you very much for saving an important slice of Kansas history.
Once there was even a recorded confession I heard in a Sheriff's office, of someone who broke out nearly every plate glass window of Rosalea's Hotel and the Anchor Oyster Parlor...a.bout 30 years ago or so. Yet nothing could be done to arrest the couple. HUH? And she still roams free and when I ask her about the violence she says "oh that was a long time ago". Well thank you very much--you have helped ruin our historic town and tainted the minds of simple minded people who believe Rosalea deserved your violence because it was never prosecuted.
I understand La Cosa Nostra moved into Harper in the 1920s and perhaps is still here in one form or another? In those days it was farmers with secret stills (including some of my Mennonite brethern) who made hooch for the mobsters to sell. And why do we have "secret" secret tunnels under the streets? And why does a person who demolished one of the underground bases now have a hotshot job in Topeka? Any body smell a rat, and I don't mean a sewer rat.
Of course in the late 60s Harper County mobsters, eerrrrr, business men, got involved in drug trafficking, gun running and who knows what else. Oh the stories I could tell of vehicles rammed thru store windows, pay-offs, people who suddenly left town, unsolved murders, silence, etc. Anyone with fame and clout want to help me co author a book for Kindle? ha ha
So now I seek the people with a sense of history and integrity who will help restore the famous Rosalea's Hotel of 1968! (Patterson House 1883). See that "Donate" button in the side bar? Just click on it ....every dollar counts--$5 or $5,000. Thank you very much for saving an important slice of Kansas history.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
FORMER GUESTS OF GTHE 1970S, TAKE NOTE!
If you were a guests in the 1970s, share what you'd like to see in the restoration of Rosalea's Hotel (1883 Patterson House). Same "hippie" collage decor with the tinfoil on the walls? Shag green carpeting? Waterbed? Big lobby area? Sitting room upstairs? Membership? Salons? Share your favorite memory of the way the building looked. Tulip red on the outside?!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
BEEN AWAY FAR TOO LONG
It's time to get back to this blog. I've been gone far too long. But the time was filled with the usual Harper County Hell & Damnation Corruption to target and destroy my decades of endeavors to preserve our rich history. Let's see now, how can we catch up? They put me in jail in Anthony for entering our historic King Parrot/Frazier's warehouse to remove our piano and other items. It was for only a day but the stress for a 68 year old woman was horrible and the costs incredible. Never mind, we had paid over $50,000 in repairs and legal fees to appease them. Then the City of Harper spearheaded by female bullies (No men this time), demolished our historic Buckeye to make darn sure their pals would get the new library out on the busy highway in their lemon building for sale. They confiscated our historic Palace of Sweets candy case, 10 ft trailer, historic Harper Truck hand trucks, and many other items. I've never endured so much bullying in my life. And where was the law enforcement? Ha ha ha Surely you jest? And where was our KS Attorney General? Ha ha ha Surely you jest again? Was there any type of kindness or community support during all of this loss and sorrow? Ha ha ha--now maybe you are starting to get the picture of what life is really like in Harper County Kansas America for a creative women who thinks and refuses to succumb to evil, hate and ignorance.
Now I am back concentrating on Rosalea's Hotel and will use Social Media to raise the funds to restore it. It certainly is not going to come from the locals who live in tranquilized fear and apathy. Rosalea's Hotel has been closed since the early 1980s. And no, it was NOT the den of iniquity folks thought it was--that rumor was started by the then-Chief of Police in 1968 who was the one trafficking drugs, running guns, and was later put in prison for it--and then murdered. His relative was the Mayor in Anthony who put me in jail. They made me "famous" as their Red Herring. (diversion tactic). And use your head--do you think I'd still be alive and healthy today at age 74 if I had used drugs??!! My heart breaks at all the people I knew as youngsters who are now ruined for life, or are deceased, simply becauase they got caught up in the world of drugs....drugs were NOT being sold at Rosalea's Hotel. And if anyone used them, I never saw it. It was a safe haven, an intellectual oasis from the madness of the masses.
I live quietly on a SS pittance in a small apartment with my pets and have an office in a corner of Rosalea's Patterson House Hotel to write all the time. The Hotel is not reopened to the public just yet but I relish intelligent, reasonable out- of -town visitors if you will just please let me know ahead of time, and we can meet somewhere for coffee/tea and a visit.
rosalea@prairieconnect.com or iread@prairieconnect.com
It is my hope to restore Rosalea's Hotel before I die--to leave a prairie icon for the enlightenment of future generations. It was unique, one of a kind, especially for the Midwest. Thanks to a curator who had vision, I now have a huge 43 year collection in a university Special Collections. If you ever sent a letter or a note to me, I have it archived for posterity! And so, your memories of Rosalea's Hotel at this time will also be hard copied and donated, too!
So make it truthful and interesting!! And let me know how your life turned out!!
Now I am back concentrating on Rosalea's Hotel and will use Social Media to raise the funds to restore it. It certainly is not going to come from the locals who live in tranquilized fear and apathy. Rosalea's Hotel has been closed since the early 1980s. And no, it was NOT the den of iniquity folks thought it was--that rumor was started by the then-Chief of Police in 1968 who was the one trafficking drugs, running guns, and was later put in prison for it--and then murdered. His relative was the Mayor in Anthony who put me in jail. They made me "famous" as their Red Herring. (diversion tactic). And use your head--do you think I'd still be alive and healthy today at age 74 if I had used drugs??!! My heart breaks at all the people I knew as youngsters who are now ruined for life, or are deceased, simply becauase they got caught up in the world of drugs....drugs were NOT being sold at Rosalea's Hotel. And if anyone used them, I never saw it. It was a safe haven, an intellectual oasis from the madness of the masses.
I live quietly on a SS pittance in a small apartment with my pets and have an office in a corner of Rosalea's Patterson House Hotel to write all the time. The Hotel is not reopened to the public just yet but I relish intelligent, reasonable out- of -town visitors if you will just please let me know ahead of time, and we can meet somewhere for coffee/tea and a visit.
rosalea@prairieconnect.com or iread@prairieconnect.com
It is my hope to restore Rosalea's Hotel before I die--to leave a prairie icon for the enlightenment of future generations. It was unique, one of a kind, especially for the Midwest. Thanks to a curator who had vision, I now have a huge 43 year collection in a university Special Collections. If you ever sent a letter or a note to me, I have it archived for posterity! And so, your memories of Rosalea's Hotel at this time will also be hard copied and donated, too!
So make it truthful and interesting!! And let me know how your life turned out!!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
40th Anniversary Celebration, May 1, 2008
HIPPIE HAPPENING IN HARPER! There is going to be a 40th anniversary "hippie happening" in Harper the first weekend in May, 2008. FORTY YEARS! Bring your guitars, camping gear, GRANDKIDS, wear your old hippie clothes, and let the good times roll again! Like the old days, whatever happens happens...nothing structured, nothing planned! Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. Bring your friends, sleeping bags, food and music! We will gather in the vacant lot west across from the post office in downtown Harper. You may camp on our vacant lot east of the fire station. These are private properties of The Balmer Fund, the nonprofit organization that now owns Rosalea's Hotel, aka Patterson House Hotel. The purpose of this weekend event it to raise funds for the restoration of Rosalea's Hotel as a "hippie museum"! The hotel is NOT fit for habitation at this time (has a good roof, now) but we are seeking a couple of gentle volunteers to help clear out the lobby for gathering that weekend. You must be able to follow instructions precisely as there are collectibles to deal with. We are also seeking a couple of volunteers to oversee our yard sale for us on Saturday. If you have any special hippie trinkets bring them along to swap, share or donate to the museum.
If you have questions, send an email to rosalea@priarieconnect.com Or call after 7:00 at 620.896.7566. Tell your friends!
If you have questions, send an email to rosalea@priarieconnect.com Or call after 7:00 at 620.896.7566. Tell your friends!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
ROSALEA REMEMBERS
As May l, 2008 approaches, I (Rosalea) become more and more nostalgic, thinking of the years that passed when Rosalea's Hotel opened in 1968, and how for more than a decade, I kept it open (during the summer for ten years while married). Then in the mid 80s the natives turned so ugly once again, and I could endure no more. I moved away.Tis a shame that they allowed that first week in 1968 to ruin a wonderful business that would have improved downtown Harper and restored an historic 1883 building...that first week the ole Police Chief Hatfield turned on me and I could not figure out why. Only in later years have the pieces come together--he thought I was running drugs in his territory. It wasn't me. It was Bill Earl, so he had him killed and covered the evidence by setting the jail on fire. Then he left the state and was later imprisoned for running guns and drugs...and then he, too, was murdered.
In 1994 I returned but nothing has changed. The poor locals addled on booze, meth, tranquilizers and fanatical religions still don't get it that an evil man ruined Rosalea's life forever in their town, ruined the town, ruined a viable business, ruined honesty and integrity, and allowed the Mennonites to disown and shun one of their own for the rest of her life. They still gossip and shun, just as they did 40 years ago...different faces, same family names. But there's still hope and despite the local apathy and oppression, there's still time to restore this amazing icon of the 70s....send your tax deductible donation today to The Balmer Fund, 121 West Main, Harper, KS. Or simply request to be on the irregular e-zine mail out: iread@priarieconnect.com And plan to Come celebrate the 40th with us in May 2008!
In 1994 I returned but nothing has changed. The poor locals addled on booze, meth, tranquilizers and fanatical religions still don't get it that an evil man ruined Rosalea's life forever in their town, ruined the town, ruined a viable business, ruined honesty and integrity, and allowed the Mennonites to disown and shun one of their own for the rest of her life. They still gossip and shun, just as they did 40 years ago...different faces, same family names. But there's still hope and despite the local apathy and oppression, there's still time to restore this amazing icon of the 70s....send your tax deductible donation today to The Balmer Fund, 121 West Main, Harper, KS. Or simply request to be on the irregular e-zine mail out: iread@priarieconnect.com And plan to Come celebrate the 40th with us in May 2008!
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