Fiction and True Stories from J. Timothy King's Websites

Quote of the Day from the Police State of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas

admin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:05:05 -0700

(This post is a follow-up to yesterday’s post, “Update on Helena-West Helena Police State: They could be ripping off my book for their press releases.” Catch the whole true story from the beginning, starting here.)
Cited in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Northwest Edition yesterday, also found at ArkansasOnline and other sources:

“Under the old curfew, everyone was subject to some minimal intrusion,” [Mayor James] Valley said. “Now, if people are sitting out in their yard talking, it’s not going to be a big deal. But if they are out drinking or smoking a blunt, that’s going to be a problem.”
Valley and Scott said police officers will continue stopping and questioning people in the saturation zones, just as they did in the first curfew zone. As long as a person has a “legitimate reason” for moving through the saturation zone, Valley said, he’ll be allowed to pass.
“And a legitimate reason can be basic. They don’t have to have a great reason,” Valley said. “It can be as simple as ‘because I am going for a walk.’”
“The officers are going to use common sense and traditional police tactics,” Valley said.
Papers, please…
Meanwhile, the ACLU of Arkansas noted that it’s illegal for police to stop and question residents without probable cause and raised concern that any arrests made in the new saturation zones could be thrown out in court.
As reported by MyEyewitnessNews (of the ABC and CW affiliates in Memphis, TN), and by CNN (search for “Holly Dickson”):

Police Major Ronald Scotts says, “When you have a high crime area police have the right. We have a right to contact people in high crime areas.”
Holly Dickson with ACLU of Arkansas argues, “They feel they have a right. They do intend to continue to saturate and question everyone who happens to be in an area. But that is the unconstitutional nature of it.” She adds, “The fact they think they can stop everyone for no reason.” Dickson says, “these residents giving up their right to travel, giving up their 4th amendment rights it’s not making them safer.”
Mayor Valley says, “I understand her view and I appreciate it but it’s academic. It works in the law schools of the world but out here on the ground what we’re doing is perfectly legal. Nobody’s constitutional rights are being violated.”
Valley says the police crime fighting action plan will run on a trial basis for 30 days and at that point city council will assess its progress.
Back to ArkansasOnline: “The mayor also plans to ask the City Council to approve $5,000 more each month in overtime for the Police Department to staff the saturation zones. He also plans to ask for additional money for new surveillance equipment and to rent vehicles for undercover work.”
I don’t know about you, but I sure feel safer. (NOT!) But then I again, I read Wendy McElroy. Hey, maybe George Orwell was right.
I swear, whenever I need story ideas for The Conscience of Abe’s Turn, I need look no further than the newspaper. How many ways can a police department abuse its citizens, if it feels a need to? Enough to make for plentiful Abe’s Turn story ideas.
The challenge I always face is making those ideas plausible in the context of the story. It isn’t enough to say that the villain Chief Baedes is evil, because he isn’t; he’s just wrong. And it isn’t enough to say he’s on a power buzz (even though he is), because he has plenty of good-sounding reasons for everything he does. And it isn’t enough to say that the story is based on real life (even though it is) and that it actually happened (even though it did), because this is America, and things like that just don’t happen here.
Well, actually, they do.
-TimK

Update on Helena-West Helena Police State: They could be ripping off my book for their press releases

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:36:38 -0700

As reported by KARK (channel 4 in Little Rock, the NBC affiliate), Helena-West Helena politicians have come up with an alternate plan, after the ACLU lambasted the mayor for imprisoning citizens—both innocent and guilty—in their own homes since last Thursday.
(I’m actually not clear on whether the whole neighborhood has been under blanket, continual curfew, or whether it’s only part of the neighborhood. What I had read last week led me to understand it was the whole neighborhood. Now, I’m seeing some reports like that of KARK, which says “Second Street and the surrounding blocks.” Others, however, still talk only about the whole neighborhood. Blog posts I’ve been able to find have been no more helpful. But I’ll keep an eye out for an eyewitness with a blog. If you know of a local with a blog posting about this story, please leave a link in the comments!)
The alternative, as KARK reports it, is what I would call the “Can I see your papers?” plan.
Anyone under 18 is still confined to quarters. But now, adults are “allowed out,” but only “if they can answer questions about their need to be outside their homes.”
How’s this for an answer? — I gotta get as far from this fucking place as I possibly can, as fast as I possibly can!
Of course, from the sound of it, anyone with the means and any sense has probably long gone. The crime that the Helena-West Helena government is so desperate to stop is due to a drug turf war. I personally would probably have been out of there after the second shooting. I have family that could put us up in a pinch, until the insanity subsided or we found a new place.
(I guess it doesn’t occur to the Helena-West Helena city council members to prevent drug turf wars by changing the way they respond to drugs, any more than it occurs to the feds to prevent forest fires by changing the way they mismanage our forests.)
I recently watched The Hunt for Red October again. With each viewing it becomes more of a favorite of mine. As you probably remember, this film revolves around a fictional USSR submarine, the Red October, during the height of the cold war. This sub uses cutting-edge stealth technology, and as the story goes, its senior officers hatch a plan to defect to the United States, taking the sub with them. This viewing, for some reason, I remember one particular scene, a conversation between Captain Ramius (of the Red October) and his second, Captain Vasily Borodin.
“I will live in Montana,” Borodin says. “And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck, maybe even a recreational vehicle. And drive from state to state. Do they let you do that?”
“I suppose,” replies Ramius.
“No papers?” he asks.
“No papers,” Ramius says, “state to state.”
“Well then, in winter I will live in Arizona.”
Fine, just stay out of Arkansas.

Meanwhile, the Pine Bluff Commercial Online Edition reports, “The Helena-West Helena City Council voted 9-0 Tuesday to allow police to expand the program into any area of the city. The council said those living in the city want random shootings and drug-fueled violence to stop, no matter what the cost.”
Uncanny. They could have ripped that right from the back-cover copy of The Conscience of Abe’s Turn: “For Baedes’s sole ambition is to ’protect’ the town of Abe’s Turn, at all costs…” (I have proof that I wrote mine first. It’s on The Conscience of Abe’s Turn “about” page, and I have revision records for changes to that page.)
Don’t tell that to a magic genie like the government. It’s like wishing for “world peace,” as Mulder did in The X-Files. His genie granted him “world peace” by disappearing every human being on Earth, and the world was finally at peace. Funny, that wasn’t what Mulder had in mind. (Well, then, what the hell did you mean by “no matter what the cost”?)
I haven’t talked about it much in Abe’s Turn, because it hasn’t come up in the story yet, but (in the back-story) Baedes and the Abe’s Turn town council have exactly this kind of sympathetic relationship. Baedes was not elected by popular vote. He was hired to his current post. And the town council has the authority to fire him and to reward him, and they consistently choose the latter. They say, people want to feel safe, and with each passing year, Baedes does more and more to make Abe’s Turn a safe place to live.
Of course, that isn’t true… But I don’t want to give away the end of the story.
-TimK

If You Thought It Couldn't Happen Here: A Real-life Police State in the Real, Live U.S. of A.

admin — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:27:13 -0700

Buried in a Zogby poll about the right of secession—35% of those under age 30 would support their state if it decided to secede from the US!— Buried at the bottom is a separate question, “I believe the United States’ system is broken and cannot be fixed by traditional two-party politics and elections.” 44% of respondents agreed with that statement, that the US political system is broken.
Little wonder, considering the growing dissatisfaction with the political process and the general feeling of helplessness when one looks at the choices we’re given by the ruling elite. Or maybe I’m just projecting.
In any case, I then ran across this tidbit, which I’ll have to work into Abe’s Turn at some point. This is just so Sam Baedes. (Thanks to Chris Brunner from The LRC Blog for posting a link to this story.) As reported by KTHV, the CBS affiliate in Little Rock, AK, Mayor James Valley last Thursday confined everyone who lives in Helena-West Helena (a neighborhood on the Westside of Helena) to their homes, in a non-stop curfew that “could last for days.” (As of now, Monday night, August 11, I’ve been able to find no word that martial law.. er, I mean, the curfew has been lifted.)
The justification? Fighting crime. Yes, you read that right. This dickwad has apparently made everyone, innocent and guilty, a prisoner in his own home, because he wants to curb the actions of a few criminals.
Get these quotes:

“Nobody can walk down the street and be safe, that is, be free from police interference,” says Valley.
They know exactly who’s doing the shooting, the robbery, but it seems like we’re never going to get any justice around here,” says [neighborhood resident Mary] Stevens.
Assistant Police Chief Ronald Scott says since the curfew was implemented late Thursday afternoon, people are sleeping better. “We’ve taken some drugs off people, a couple of guns off people,” says Scott.
OMG! I definitely have to steal some of this stuff. This is too sick and demented for even me to make up.
I wonder what all the people are going to do when they run out of food. They can’t go to the grocery store, because that violates Stalin’s order— er, I mean, Valley’s order.
The ACLU quickly faxed Valley an open letter, informing him that this Stalin-esque order is “blatantly unconstitutional on numerous grounds,” and then they set to lay out what those grounds are, saying that he has put innocent residents under “house arrest” and that by his order “the Fourth Amendment is waived for all persons, including those suspected of no criminal activity.” (And I swear I wrote my own comments above even before I read the ACLU letter.)
The ACLU’s summary begins:

Notwithstanding the City Code and Curfew Order, the residents of Helena-West Helena have the right to sit under shade trees in their front yard, to ride their bicycles along the streets, protest this policy, and drive around the city with the full protections of the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Citizens, including those expressing opposition to the curfew order, should be subject to no special scrutiny by law enforcement unless they are suspected of some criminal activity.
Hmm. I wonder how the Conscience would handle this…
-TimK

Book Give-away: Pre-register NOW

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:10:23 -0700

I’m busy at work, finishing up the extra chapters of the first volume of The Conscience of Abe’s Turn. And when that’s done, it’ll take a few weeks to get the first real copies. I’m going to be giving away a limited number of these very first copies. (I don’t know how many yet.)
Here’s the thing: I’m only giving away these free books to people who pre-register by signing up for the “Abe’s Turn Premium Content” email list. This is a low-volume email list that will include announcements of contests and giveaways, new Abe’s Turn products, and links to stories and essays not published on the website.
Also, I ask that if you enter the giveaway (when the time comes) that you be willing to give me a short testimonial. Just a quick, one-line review (positive or negative). Or that you post (and email me the link) a review on your blog, or on a third-party article site, or somewhere else on the Internet. The review can be positive or negative. (“Love me. Hate me. Just please don’t ignore me,” as they say.)
If you don’t know whether you’ll want to enter this giveaway, start by reading why you might hate The Conscience of Abe’s Turn and preview the text of the story online.
To Become Eligible for the Giveaway…
So if you want to be eligible for the upcoming book giveaway—Or even just to find out the details (when the time comes)—use the form below to sign up for the “Abe’s Turn Premium Content” email list:

Your name:Your email address:

Risk-free Guaranteed
I use AWeber, a professional email service to send out the Abe’s Turn Premium emails. I pay for this service, because AWeber has strong policies and systems to prevent spam, so you can be sure that what you get from me is information you actually want. And AWeber includes a link in each and every email to let you to unsubscribe. With literally a few clicks of your mouse, you can change your mind and never get these emails again. It’s easier to unsubscribe than it is to subscribe.
-TimK

Government Reps that Act like Mob Bosses (but not as nice)

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:58:22 -0700

Michael Feathers brought this story to my attention. Although I can only speculate as to what his meaning was, I do know what I got out of it. Stories like this are definitely part of the inspiration behind some of the characters in Abe’s Turn.
It seems that U.S. Army recruiters in one recruitment office have been threatening high-school seniors in order to get them to join when they graduate. As reported by KHOU, Houston, TX, here’s how it works:
First, students sign up for the Delayed Entry Program. This is a free-trial program that allows potential recruits to try out the Army without actually enlisting. If they decide they want out—or so they are told—no harm, no foul.
But when they actually do decide they want out, the recruiter tells them they signed a contract to report to basic training—even though they most certainly did not—and tells them they’ll be denied government benefits, arrested, and hauled off to jail, unless they show up at the appointed time.
One victim was even told that if he really wanted out, what he needed to do is to report to basic training, and then to tell the prison chaplain— er, I mean, the base chaplain that he didn’t like it and wanted out. What the recruiter didn’t mention, of course, is that once you report to basic training, then you really are a soldier, and it’s much harder to get out.
These government abuses are endemic to a certain recruiting station. They may not happen across the board. (Or maybe they do. Who knows?) But even if they don’t, that doesn’t soften the tragedy for those victims of the abuse.
Why does this work? Because recruiters get points for each victim— er, I mean, warm body— er, I mean, each recruit they send to basic training, even if he doesn’t make it through basic training. The Marines follow a different model, where a recruiter only gets credit if the recruit actually wants to be in the Marines, actually makes it through basic. And the Marines apparently don’t have this particular problem with their recruiters. But that’s apparently no concern of the Army, where recruiters who follow heavy-handed, bullshit tactics are rewarded and promoted, even while the Army’s official stance is, “We don’t do that here.”
True story. But you knew that, because there’s nothing new here.
Do you see a similarity between this story and that of Abe’s Turn? A pattern that applies to both?
You may not realize it, because it has not yet entered the story line, but Baedes has been called on the carpet many times for police brutality, planting evidence, withholding evidence, denial of due process, abuse of process, and most anything else you can think of. The official response is always that the government of Abe’s Turn does not condone abuse of power. But the town council can’t fire him, because he actually gets the job done. As long as they can hide or draw attention away from any possible police scandals, they like the job he’s doing, and they reward him, just as he rewards those under him. Because his force actually does stop crime, and reported crimes have been at an all-time low in Abe’s Turn. Of course, that has the unfortunate side-effect of a gung-ho police force with too few actual criminals to catch.
“You know why they attacked you, don’t you? They were afraid of you… All creatures feel fear… Especially the scary ones.” (Thomas Wayne, Batman Begins)
Why is Baedes’s force so gung-ho? Because Baedes hates criminals. He loathes them, despises them, because he fears them. There’s a story to this, something that started when he was just a boy. As a young boy, he himself was victimized by a gang of older, stronger boys in the neighborhood. Like Batman’s enemy Two-Face (which you may have seen in The Dark Knight), Baedes let his own victimization tear down his self-restraint. At the same time, also like Two-Face, Baedes denies culpability for his actions. With Two-Face, it’s his coin that’s responsible for his actions. With Baedes, he counts himself innocent, because he can get away with what he does under the law. The result is the same in both cases. Each villain becomes as much an enemy to justice as an ally. To Baedes, it really doesn’t matter which he is, as long as he has the power.
And so he attacks, lashes out at anything that represents his fear, the so-called criminal element in society, not only of real crimes but also of made-up crimes and of crimes no one can see. His ideal is literally a police state. The one thing he would change about American society, if he could, is all those darn civil-rights laws that force him to sneak around to do what he needs to in order to get the job done.
And that is what our heroes are up against.
-TimK

Abe's Turn Advanced Reading Copy Version Posted

admin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:58:22 -0700

I posted the new, edited & expanded “Advanced Reading Copy” (ARC) version of The Conscience of Abe’s Turn. Click here to preview The Conscience of Abe’s Turn online.
I hope to have actual ARC hardcopies in my hands within a month. And I’m planning a special promotion through which you might be able to get one of them, for free. So stay tuned.
-TimK

You Might Hate My Novel if...

admin — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:53:42 -0700

Now that the expanded, edited version of the first 4 episodes of The Conscience of Abe’s Turn is almost ready to be posted…
(And yes, I realize I said it would be done over a month ago. I’ve learned so much from the process, however. The first lesson: Editing your first novel-length work will take 5 times as long as you think it will.)
Whereas: Just about every great story has had those who hated it, frequently with great passion. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Godfather, Firefly and Gilmore Girls, all had and still have their detractors. No great work of fiction or non-fiction has ever failed to piss off a few million people, because every great work must say something. And as soon as you say something, you please the few people who “get” it, and you piss off everybody else.
Therefore: I knew I was onto something special, when I started getting angry emails from people I’d never met, roundly criticizing me for writing something so stupid, so unrealistic as The Conscience of Abe’s Turn.
In the spirit of the great works of literary, film, and television history, you might hate The Conscience of Abe’s Turn if…

You might hate Abe’s Turn if you were sad when Bones’s Sealy Booth got shot.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you thought Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was ridiculously implausible, because it could never happen.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you can’t read Kathy Reichs, because her fiction is too violent.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you thought Gilmore Girls was stupid, because talking fast is not funny.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you still think The Godfather glorifies organized crime.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you think Prison Break glorifies convicted felons.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you can’t stand Firefly, because it’s un-American.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you think Penn & Teller’s Bullshit lives up to its name and is dangerous for America.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you called the IRS, heard a recorded message referring to you as a “customer,” and felt fuzzy inside, as if that not at all insulted your intelligence.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you think there’s a global climate crisis, or that organic foods are more expensive because they’re good for the environment.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you think there was too much sex, in the city.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you think The Fountainhead is a classic, but Ayn Rand was a political nut.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you consider yourself one of the religious right.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you are a liberal atheist.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you think the War on Drugs is good for America.
You might hate Abe’s Turn if you think gun control is good for America.

Basically, Abe’s Turn is for only those who understand the first-season Dr. Brennan, and who like Kathy Reichs’s Dr. Brennan even more, who agree that Sealy Booth is one of the villains of the story, who sympathize with Vito and Michael Corleone, and with Mal Reynolds and Simon Tam, who actually believed Lauren Graham felt the feelings that Lorelai Gilmore did, who walked away from Firefly and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress feeling that those universes actually came alive with fondness and wonder.
Abe’s Turn involves feelings and desires, profanity and sex, because it’s a story about people as they are in the real world. But Abe’s Turn is also a story about government corruption in the line of duty, and it therefore involves violence and lying and unethical behavior, because those are the results of politics. I’m not saying that you have to believe in conspiracy theories in order to “get” Abe’s Turn. You might be able to understand it if you simply say of 9/11, “Yeah, well, the government might have known about it. Give 20 or 30 more years, to be sure we’ve heard the whole truth.”
Everyone else… Sorry. I guess this story just isn’t for you.
-TimK

Episode 01-4, Chapter 5: For What Ails You

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:11:07 -0700

This is the last chapter of the last episode of the first half-season of Abe’s Turn, an extremely difficult chapter for me to write. It’s true what Holly Lisle says about your characters. You need to empathize with them, but do not dare to sympathize with them. I goofed. I allowed myself to sympathize with them.
Read the last chapter of this special episode: The Conscience of Abe’s Turn, Season 1, Episode 4, Chapter 5. And subscribe via RSS or email to keep up to date. (See the “Keep Up to Date” block in the sidebar, with the big, orange logo.)
The book is still coming. It will have revised and expanded chapters, which I’ll also post on the website, as well as bonus extras. The latest schedule for the book is that I’ll have advanced copies somewhere around the middle of May. At that time, I’ll have a contest and give away a number of them.
-TimK

Episode 01-4, Chapter 4: For What Ails You

admin — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:20:48 -0700

Previously in Abe’s Turn:

“Let me show you,” he said, “what will happen if I don’t get the right answer.” He folded the belt in half. Holding the ends in one hand and the fold in the other, he pulled his hands rapidly apart, causing the belt to let out a sharp snap.
The interrogator walked up to Clyde and snapped the belt again, this time right in front of her face. The sound rang in her ears, and she blinked, but she immediately returned to staring down her attacker, his face now inches from hers.
He enunciated each word. “What is your name?”

“Do you love him?” Clyde asked.
Mira blushed. “No. That’s silly.”
“But it’s Ike,” Clyde protested.”So? How much can you fall in love during lunch? It wasn’t even a real date.” Mira’s eyes seemed to light up at the thought of a date with Ike.
The next words came out of Clyde’s mouth almost without a thought. “Does he love you?”
Mira’s face froze for a few seconds. Then it fell. The color seemed to drain out of Mira’s cheeks. Then she forced a smile and said, “I don’t know. What does it matter? We can figure that out later.”
“You asked me what I thought you should do. I think you should find out how he really feels about you and how far he’s willing to take this relationship.”

“We have a probable cause hearing tomorrow morning,” Ted said.
“Please just try your best. I don’t want to wait in jail for God knows how long while you get a trial ready. I hate it here.”
“Do you know Nona Williams?”
Anthony stared at the steel bars for several seconds. “Yes, I know Nona. But we’ve kept our relationship a secret.”
“I have a feeling the truth will out.”
“There’s no way to keep it a secret?”
“Not if she’s telling the police about it,” Ted replied.
Read the fourth chapter of this special episode: The Conscience of Abe’s Turn, Season 1, Episode 4, Chapter 4. And subscribe via RSS or email to keep up to date. (See the “Keep Up to Date” block in the sidebar, with the big, orange logo.)

Episode 01-4, Chapter 3: For What Ails You

admin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0700

Previously in Abe’s Turn:

Clyde paused a moment, thought about her sanity, shook her head again at herself, snorted, and turned back toward the living room.
From nowhere, something soft and mildly sweet-smelling hit her in the face. She had run into it, and now she couldn’t get it off her. She gasped for breath, choked, coughed, pushed at the thing. Someone was behind her, pressing himself to her back, smothering her with his hand. She knew she should do… What was it she should do? She couldn’t remember. Even if she were able to remember what she should do, she couldn’t think of it. Or something like that. Her mind was a blurred jumble of thoughts, sounds, and images. Or was the room actually dissolving into chaos? She continued hacking under the thick, empty smell that was suffocating her, struggling against it, ever more desperate, ever weaker.
She didn’t remember what happened next.

“Anthony.” Ted spoke softly. “We have a probable cause hearing tomorrow morning.”
“Okay. Do you know Nona Williams?”
Anthony stared into Ted’s eyes. “We were having an affair.”
This puzzled Ted. “Why have an affair? Neither of you is married. If you want to be together, why not just date?”
“Because she has a boyfriend, Paul Randolph.” Anthony stared at the ceiling for a moment. “Look at me. She’s out of my league.” He looked back at Ted. “I don’t think she wanted to be embarrassed. So we kept it a secret.”“I see. Let’s talk about Tuesday night. I understand that someone raped her and beat her up pretty badly.”
“If what you’re telling me is true, someone attacked Nona after she left you.”
Anthony nodded.
“And she’s covering up for him.”
“I guess so.”
“Do you have any idea who it might be?”
Anthony thought for a minute. “No, I don’t know.”
Read the third chapter of this special episode: The Conscience of Abe’s Turn, Season 1, Episode 4, Chapter 3. And subscribe via RSS or email to keep up to date. (See the “Keep Up to Date” block in the sidebar, with the big, orange logo.)