Andrew Wordes, an American Hero

This story beggars belief. The City wanted to put a park where his lot was, and so they engaged in a coordinated campaign to drive him out, expecting that they could pick up he property for a song. Most incredible of all is the neighbor who thinks Mr. Wordes deserved his fate, because he “couldn’t observe [illegal] city ordinances,” and was driving down neighborhood property values: scroll down to the comments beneath the short article, and read the first two, and then what follows.

1.  I don’t think anyone who kills himself in the face of lawful authority can truly be called a hero. 

2.  I believe there is much more to this story than the simple theme of “evil government/victimized citizen” that has been presented in this article.  There is way too much of “His chickens died mysteriously, so agents of the Government must have killed them” or “The Government refused to send his request for aid to FEMA to punish him.”  I live in a city with several thousand old homes severely damaged by a flood.  Houses below a certain market value could not get FEMA loans for repair.  IIRC the loans had to be less than 50% of the market value of the house for the property to qualify.  There are other possible reasons for all these examples of alleged persecution than just “The Gov’t was out to get him.”

This sounds to me like a Libertarian cause célèbre.  The wise man will remain circumspect about it.

carl

I take it you did your research, Carl?  You read the numerous articles about this on the web?  You read the comments from people who knew him and his neighbors?  You listened to the interview?  You checked the ordinances which allowed him to have chickens and which were then rewritten?  You read the court proceedings where he won only to be sued again?  Did you read where the City contacted his mortgage holder?  Did you read where he was not allowed to attend his own bankruptcy proceedings because he was being held on an ORDINANCE VIOLATION?  Surely so, as THAT is the course the wise man would take.

We each are free to choose who we select as hero.  I wish Mr. Wordes had chosen to stay among us.  One never knows how much another can take.  Afterall, wasn’t a young man just sent to prison because his actions were considered such grevious harrassment that he was held culpable for another’s death?  I have a friend who just took his own life.  While I mourn for the fact he felt it was the only road open to him, it does not diminish my love and respect for his life. 

You may elect to point your finger and yell - Crazy Conservative Conspiracy - and join in with a long line of liberals who take that road.  After all, it’s still a free country, even for us conservatives.

Carl,

I believe that it was not just the city that was causing the problems. Wordes had a neighbor who filed the initial complaint and apparently aided the city in its persecution. Those in the know seem to be convinced that this neighbor, who seems the vindictive type, is the one who poisoned the chickens. This would make sense since that is how it usually is in disputes like this.

I believe the FEMA thing is mentioned to show how Mr Wordes was boxed in by a city government that was hostile to him. He clearly did not have the option of getting out. Once you have sunk your money into a place but you can’t get any money for it, then someone threatens to take it away from you without compensation, anyone would feel out of options entirely.

I think that Wordes angered the wrong people with his independence and probably his political views as well. Someone in power sensed the opportunity to get the property for free and steps were taken to grab it. I doubt it was a planned out conspiracy. All it took was a general animosity towards him and then as the opportunities presented themselves those with the power take advantage of them did so.

It might seem far-fetched until you add up the crusades we have seen lately against those with “incorrect” views. There is a whole faction of society that openly believes that it has the right to punish and ruin private citizens for their speech. That people who don’t bow to leftism are a danger to society that must be crushed for the common good. If Mr Wordes was seen as too much of a “loose cannon’ it is not hard to believe the city bueracracy acting to clean up the problem. That is a truly chilling thought because then we all have to wonder when someone will determine that we are unacceptable and that we must be destroyed.

I wanted to add one other thing to my (badly-spelled and punctuated) comment above.

Its not hard to imagine some bureaucrat deciding that it would be wrong to help a public nuisance move from the property with tax payer money when they could use their statutory powers to do it. Sure they spent tax payer money on the case but that would be easier to justify in the context of prosecuting a rogue citizen than to put the money in the guy’s hands so he could move.  All of their actions seem to point to this conclusion. They wanted him gone and they did not want to have to put money in his pocket to get it done.

This would thus be a shining(?) example of the banality of evil.

Jackie

I take it you did your research, Carl?

Have I done enough research to have a fixed opinion on this case?  No, I haven’t.  That’s why I used the word ‘circumspect.’  I did however do enough research to question the one-sided presentation in this weblog post.  And it didn’t take me too long to find phrases like “complaints flooding in” and “explosion in coyotes” and “Not just chickens but pigs.”  Is any of that definitive?  No, but it should make you want to ask questions.  Questions the post at “Whiskey and Gunpowder” discreetly and adroitly avoided.

This is especially when the case for persecution is nothing more than correlation turned into causation,  and dark motives attributed to circumstances - all without so much as a shred of substantiating evidence.  To be honest, I reach for my wallet anytime I read someone suggesting that Law Enforcement Officers are involved in a conspiracy to defraud a citizen of his rights.  I remember a lot of people claiming law Enforcement was out to get Don Armstrong as well - right up until Armstrong (effectively) plead guilt in court.

This man is no hero.  He burned a house down around himself and in the process committed suicide.  He could have killed someone else.  He defrauded the rightful owner of his property.  Normally we call that theft.  And for what?  Pride?  “If I can’t win, they won’t win either”  Can I attribute motives to him the way motives were attributed to other people in this story? 

And please don’t make arguments about ‘how much he could take.’  Is there one blogger on this website who will attempt to make the Christian case for suicide on that basis?  I suspect not, for there is no such case to be made.  Suicide is a cowardly selfish act, and a denial of the sovereignty of God in all circumstances.  It is a rebellious presumption of man to arrogate to himself the rights that alone belong to God.

The only thing that could mitigate the above is if he was mentally ill.  And it is certainly a thought that comes to mind when you read he resolved his conflict by burning a house around himself.  Either way, there is no heroics here.  There is only a desparate man who chose a desparate path to end his problems.  I don’t know whether he was a victim of persecution or not.  I do know that he threw away any claim to sympathy the moment he chose to kill himself in the way that he did.

carl

Carl, It’s great to know that your research gave you “enough” information to form your opinion, albeit, a one-sided opinion.  For what it is worth, I approached the article with the same jaundiced eye.  It was the hours of research that changed my mind, although, I do admit almost all the msm articles take the same approach you do.  Might be a new career for you.

You certainly seem intent on making hay where none grows.  No one on this site has attempted to justify suicide. 

You are wise to hold on to your wallet.  Uncle Sam seems ready to relieve you of its contents.

Carl, just because you are paranoid doen’t mean that they are not out to get you!  He well may be a crazy old man who lives in a small farm type area, sort of like Naboth who lived next to the rampartts of Jezreel that got the king,s attention.  Probably his neighbors were not liking him.  He probably was not facile at handling bureaucracy.  He may have not had a good lawer if at all.  After all, we now must have a lawyer to do anything,  dealing with government power.  But it is for government, the church, and Christians to care and help such people.  Someone wanted his property.  Under our idea of “sovereign immunity”  the state and its agents can not be help responsible.  No judge can be dealt with who abuses power, except maybe other leagal experts and after a long time.  Now I have a good friend who is an engineer who is going through just this sort of things because some ding bat greenie neighbors don’t like his house.  They have a friend who is a corrupt judge who has made life hell for him and are making him do expensive things or go to jail.  He has been ruined ecconomically and it isn’t over yet.  Call it libertarian, but I believe it was President Madison that said more destruction would be wrought by the run away big government than any war.  We shoud weep for this deranged, poor man.  Our obsolete Constitution was written to limit the power of the State.  After all, that was why the colonist fled big countries to a wilderness to escape such doings.  So what are we going to do now?  IMHO

Jackie

I am not taking any approach at all.  I had never heard of this case before last night, and I have no idea how much truth there is to all these things that have been said.  I am saying only two things.

1.  The case presented in the posting was built on innuendo and post hoc fallicies.  I was less likely - much less likely - to believe the case after I read the post on ‘Whiskey and Gunpowder’ than before I read it.

2.  The man is not a hero.  He does not deserve the designation of ‘hero.’  That erroneous designation of ‘hero’ is why I responded to the post.  His actions weren’t just tragic.  They were wrong.  They were evil.  They were cowardly.  They were selfish.  They were without justification.  These are not words that describe a hero.  What if a fireman had died in that fire while trying to save Wordes’ life?  Would Wordes still be a hero?  He created the conditions that would have caused the death.  He cannot take credit for that fact that no harm resulting from the conditions he created because he intended to create those conditions without thought for the consequences.  To be frank, I think you should withdraw you description of Wordes as a hero. 

carl

The case presented in the posting was built on innuendo and post hoc fallicies.  I was less likely - much less likely - to believe the case after I read the post on ‘Whiskey and Gunpowder’ than before I read it.

  As I’ve stated previously, you are entitled to think whatever it is you think.  As I also stated I did not base what I wrote on one article, which you apparently have.  Different strokes and all that.  Since you claim my article was based on innuendo and post hoc fallicies, could you please cite the source you used to debunk the article?

The man is not a hero.  He does not deserve the designation of ‘hero.’  That erroneous designation of ‘hero’ is why I responded to the post.  His actions weren’t just tragic.  They were wrong.  They were evil.  They were cowardly.  They were selfish.  They were without justification.  These are not words that describe a hero.

  How do you know it was suicide?  The officials still are not sure.  Do you have inside information that he planned not to escape?  He certainly did not exhibit suicidal behavior.  Even the local news station stated they had talked with him the day before and he was very upbeat.  Guess not, those EVIL people - well, they are just plan evil, aren’t they?

Just to be clear here - doing the wrong thing for the right reason is always wrong, wrong, wrong.  Plain evil.  Davie Crockett - evil.  Stepping in front of a bullet to save your child or a perfect stranger is a suicidal act.  EEEEEVVVVVVIIIILLLLLL. 

What if a fireman had died in that fire while trying to save Wordes’ life?  Would Wordes still be a hero?  He created the conditions that would have caused the death.  He cannot take credit for that fact that no harm resulting from the conditions he created because he intended to create those conditions without thought for the consequences.

I guess since he is so evil he should not get credit for telling his neighbors not to come on his property that day or for calling the local TV station to make sure no one was in his yard.  Nah.  That was just stupid stuff since evvvviiillll people don’t do anything right.

To be frank, I think you should withdraw you description of Wordes as a hero. 

Since we are being frank here, why don’t you denounce me and Mr. Wordes on your blog?  Be sure to send me a link.  I’ll come in and explain the actual facts.

RE: “I do know that he threw away any claim to sympathy the moment he chose to kill himself in the way that he did.”

Just to place myself on the record on this thread—I disagree with that assertion.

I’m not sure how a person’s sinful act results in throwing “away any claim to sympathy.”

Further, dead people don’t make “claims” for sympathy—they’re dead. 

Perhaps what is meant by the word “claim” is that other people are claiming sympathy for him—but I think the more accurate phrasing would be . . . “I do not sympathize with Wordes because he committed the gross sin of suicide.”

However, other people *do* sympathize with him.