thanks Isaac

puhleeze .. this is ridiculous. It's obvious the brunt of the joke is us. Not her.

And I love old people. 61 is NOT old. Sorry.

Been years since I lived in Duffy's area but it was pretty much a slum then and I doubt it has gotten much better.
It hasn't had the best reputation about upstanding policeing over the years either.
The advice to not feed bums is excellent.
Not Trying to take pictures of what you believe to be drug addicts is also good.
They could be more than willing to kill you for no more than the change in your purse and the pictures are inadmissable in court anyway.
Posting their pictures on line as drug addicts when you can not prove it makes you a sitting duck to liable charges and they could quite possible get a judgemet and then a lean against your home.
Getting a gun is more likely to get you pistol whipped to death in your own bed out of site of witnesses.
Getting a dog will only cost you money license fees and fines as they harrass you by making your dog bark, feed it poison, or steal it out right to sell to dog fighters as a bait dog. A form of death you would not want to imagine for your pet.
What I would do is contact your congressman, state omsbudsman for the elderly, the Urban league who can direct you resources as a protected minority, and AARP. If you are not getting satisfation from local police then go to the state police. Since it is and old story and not uncommon enough to be newsworthy I would not count on the media to be much help. There are free attorneys for family members of police officers that abuse their public office to harrass,intimidate, or otherwise commit crimes through the Methodist Church and Pacific Luthern University usually called the Justice League or something like that.
For those of you who want to beleive she is senile or attention hog ask yourself this question... Where would you turn if you were older, poor, and harrassed into a chronic stage of exhaustion and anger by living with people who have zero resect for the rule of society?
Perhaps it is a hoax solely for entertainment but it does pose some interesting views about how or if our comfortable little cyber community has any obligation to the greater society .

That is certainly one way to look at it.
Yea..some mentioned guns and dogs and other stuff that would not sort out the issue. There were others that mentioned police... What about family or friends?
Pretty soon she had answers that did not exist as options anywhere from a few minutes to pages before. Completely shooting down any reasonable solution. Then stealing husband.. and on and on...
Do I think she is ill? No. She seems plenty capable. Not the slightest bit helpless. Just because she is older.. does not give her grace to take advantage of that. Anymore then I have that grace over someone in their 20's or 30's.

I've worked with a wide variety of people suffering from mental illness, emotional disorders, addiction, criminal mindedness and people who were simply unable to function in any aspect of their life without being the center of attention. These things can often be confused in one another.

One thing I noticed that was very effective in getting people on the right path. Positive reinforcement for destructive behavior is not the correct path in the real world.

In a protected environment such as a nursing home? Where they are being fed and cared for.. not under stress, not having to make decisions... Being positive and supportive can be very appropriate.

This is not what we are discussing.

You might believe you are helping. You might believe we are having fun at a senior citizens expense... Think we are being cruel.

I cannot speak for everyone.. Sometimes kindness takes some strange forms. My humorous way of dealing with it also has a message for her... A very constructive one.

STOP! Be a part of your solution.

In my experience... Every time someone is supportive, consoling and acts as if this is factual? May do more harm than good.

^^ What he said. And for the record, I never mentioned one thing that was a beligerent answer to any of her supposed concerns.
Again, I think we are the gullible ones if we act as if all that was said was believed even by Duffy. Sorry.

Oh I believe she thinks this is happening... is it really? doubtful...

Morning gorgeous... your hair looks superb today might I say..

why thank you dahhhhhhhhhhhhhling

and how is LILY today? eh?

Tired, got the baby to school, and got a ton of work to do, and all I wanna do is crawl back into bed..... but I'll fight it....