Recidivism

We met our leather store friend “James” while he was assigned to The Villa, a halfway house a few blocks from our business.

James is an Oklahoma man who was doing time in Colorado on a conviction of driving while under the influence of alcohol.

He had been in Colorado working at his trade, industrial welding. James came to our store to pursue a hobby of leatherworking. He was exposed to leatherworking . . . while he was incarcerated earlier, DUI then too.

What a nice man. He always rode a bicycle, since he had not much hope of getting a driver license any time soon. James wore the typical welder’s hat, the bill of which usually shaded his thick-lens glasses.

He was, and I think still is, a gentle person, kind, generous, attentive. I was immediately drawn to him in friendship. He is easy to like. Sober, he has an enviable calm and dignity about him.

Here’s a letter we got last week, with name changes to protect the innocent:

“Hello Tom and Laura:

“My name is Dee. I am James’ ex-wife. I have several letters for James from you all, and I was gonna give them to him and now I will tell you why I did not get to.

“He has been in prison again for the last 3½ years for drunk driving. He was released Dec. 15 and came to my home Dec. 16 drunk as a skunk. I fed him and asked him not to come back unless he was sober.

“He left to go see his mom, and after he left her house was arrested again for DUI. So now he is facing another seven years in prison.

“He was a free man for less than 48 hours. It is a shame but I don’t know what else to do for him. Anyhow I am sending you his address where he will be until they send him to a Department of Corrections facility. I know he enjoys mail. –sincerely, Dee”

If you didn’t say “Damn” when you read that story, if you didn’t shed a tear, I’ll eat my hat.

What a waste. Aww James, dammit. James is what is known as a recidivist. The dictionary says “recidivist” comes from the Latin, recidere, to fall back. It’s a fancy synonym for habitual criminal.

What about Bob?

A man who was once our neighbor, we’ll call him Bob, repeatedly ends up in the slammer.

Something less than 18 years ago, Bob had a brief relationship with a young woman. The relationship didn’t result in much – with the exception of one very alive baby.

The woman sued for child support. She won. Bob refused to pay. He went to jail. Jail wasn’t fun. Bob asked for a hearing, and half-heartedly agreed to begin paying child support. He was paroled on condition he keep current.

In the ensuing 18 years, Bob has repeatedly gone back to jail on the same charge. He was absent from the neighborhood five times that I know of. Couldn’t seem to force himself to do what he had agreed in court to do.

If you didn’t say, “Awww, Bob” when you read that . . .

Is Bob a criminal? Well yes, he habitually doesn’t pay his child support, which is a crime.

It’ll be a moot issue when the kid actually does turn 18; so why not just pay? Because Bob is a recidivist. He’s in the same boat as James. Each man does the same stupid thing, repeatedly.

The result of each of these cases of recidivism is criminal. Criminal acts are committed when each man fails again.

However, not all recidivism results in crime. For example, it is not a crime to become repeatedly married and divorced. It is messy, costly, tragic, exhausting but serial marriage is not a crime.

Another form of recidivism is habitual cigarette smoking – every cigarette is another recidivist act.

This one will chill you: Ted Bundy was a recidivist.

Caution: Abrupt Segue

Return with me now to the mid-1970’s, and travel to Blackfoot, Idaho, proud home of The Eastern Idaho State Fair.

There, in the hot summer sun, an inside story took place that I have kept to myself until this day.

Times were intense; the nation’s culture was in flux. There was hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing over a hotbed of “religious” activity going on during the fair.

The local Baha’i community was up in arms because the Hari Krishnas were passing out literature without a permit. The Baha’i leadership had complied with the rules, paying for the permit and renting the required booth.

The Krishnas did pay for tickets to enter the fairgrounds. But they refused to pay for a permit, and refused to pay to rent a booth. And the yellow-robed smelly skinheads were brazenly handing out flyers!

So I, a young and eager news seeker employed by The Blackfoot News, hot-footed it down to the fairgrounds to observe the brewing storm.

I walked, since there was no such thing as a parking place at the fair. Along comes Blackfoot Mayor Art Bergener, walking on the sidewalk away from the fair, toward me, shaking his head.

He’d been to a conference at the fair involving the police, fairgrounds security guards, the mayor and the Krishnas.

Now here comes the part I kept to myself all these years.

Art and I stopped to talk for a moment. He brought me up to speed on what was happening at the fair. And then in frustration he said:

“These Hari Krishnas. If they would just have a normal religion like everybody else, we’d get along fine.”

Didn’t I do good to keep that to myself all these years? Didn’t I? Huh? Huh?

-0-

Word of the week: Paraclete. In the Latin, it’s paracletus, and in the Greek, parakletos, to call. In English, it means an intercessor or advocate. In Christianity, it means the Holy Spirit, our comforter.

Next week’s word: Xylophone.