Animal abuse cases aren't my only hot button. I couldn't believe a news story out of a town to the north of me. The police arrested a man for abusing his invalid, wheelchair-bound wife. They found the naked woman lying on the floor under piles of garbage. She had been lying there so long a wire clothes hanger was embedded in her back. The police removed two bags of garbage just to get to her. You just know that the sob husband yelled at her as she lay helpless on the floor, calling her 'garbage' and then throwing the stuff on top of her. He came and went, going to work.
Hideous. I'm assuming she had some income, such as disability, that came in to keep him in the marriage. I hope the authorities throw away the key on him in jail. If he couldn't take being married to someone disabled, then get a divorce. Breaking vows makes him a cad; abusing his wife in this heinous manner makes him despicable.
However, the other sickening twist was the neighborhood. When the news camera panned in on the house, it was an 'ewwww' moment. The man had nailed boards over the windows during the 2004 hurricanes and never removed them. The house/yard were unkept. Then the reporter speaks with a neighbor. The neighbor explains that while they didn't see the man and woman much, but when they did see the woman, she would be crawling around on the ground, not in her wheelchair. The neighbor said she was used to it!?!?!!!!!!????
Aw come on. The house in and of itself spoke of trouble--long term trouble. If the neighbors were afraid of the man, they could have gone to a public phone, said they wanted to remain anonymous and reported what they were seeing.
We don't know for sure what goes on behind closed doors. While I would hope that I would recognize trouble, I do try to be alert to my neighborhood. Once in a blue moon, I run a predator search. When a female predator moved into our neighborhood briefly, I made sure the word got to people with children. When I saw a young boy getting too close to a van as if he was giving directions, I pulled my car up practically on the van's bumper and then warned the parents. If I see a car out of place in the neighborhood with the driver behaving strangely, I'll stand there and watch until it moves on.
This is my neighborhood and I care for people to be safe here. I would hope that if I'm ever in trouble, a neighbor would help.
Who knows how long that woman had been brutalized, but it sure sounded like people at least suspected something was wrong. I wish they would have taken action sooner. Carol
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