Mary Cummins Investigative Reporter Los Angeles, California: 911

Showing posts with label 911. Show all posts

Saturday, June 30, 2018

Who is Alison Ettel of TreatWell Health in San Francisco? Besides a racist, here is her biography, history, family

Alison Ettel, Alison Lynn Ettel, san francisco, treatwell health, cannibis, flaming racist, water, permit, permitpatty, mary cummins, thc, oil, tincture, cbd, animal, wellness

UPDATE: No one especially no Cynthia Gonzalez has gotten back to me as a representative from TreatWell Health. I left a phone message and PM. I'm starting to think that Alison just used the name of someone she knew to be the fake representative.

ORIGINAL: Alison Ettel is the white woman who called 911 because a young black girl was selling water "without a permit." Alison was videotaped while she was on the phone with 911. Later Alison lied and said she pretended to call 911 but didn't. Alison said she only complained about the noise to the mother only. No, she complained to the kid.

Alison is dumb. She didn't realize that all 911 calls are recorded. Anyone can order a copy of them. Sure enough Alison told 911 that she was reporting someone for selling water without a permit. 911 operator put her through to the police department. Alison called 911 over someone selling water! 911 is only for emergencies. Here is word for word what she said,

In the call, Ettel tells the 911 dispatcher: "I have someone who does not have a vendor permit that's selling water across from the ballpark" and asks for "someone to talk to about that." The dispatcher asks Ettel to hold as he transfers her to the San Francisco Police Department. The call ends after a brief hold.

Here is the audio.

Since then people have stopped doing business with Alison and her company TreatWell Health which sells cannibis products. We still don't know if she has a cannibis permit. She appears to run her business from her apartment at 88 King St #524, San Francisco, CA (2 bed, 2 bath 1,106 sf, built in 2000 value apx $1.3M. Alison is renting it. She doesn't own it). She doesn't have a corporation that I can find in California. She claimed to be the sole founder until this week when she changed her website to say she was merely a cofounder.

Few days ago on June 26, 2018 Alison claimed to have resigned as the CEO. She had "Cynthia Gonzalez" send out a press release stating Alison the "co-founder" has resigned as she didn't want to distract from the good the business did. Alison is the sole founder per her website from a week ago. This is still stated in websites she hasn't yet updated. Here is but one.

The phone number Alison gave as Cynthia's is Alison's phone number. Alison did not resign. She's trying to run her business anonymously via this pseudonym. She already lost her suppliers and clients. People need to think before they do horrible things like Alison did. FTR I called the number. It's Alison's automatic personal assistant aka voicemail. I left a message and no one called me back. I sent an email and didn't get a reply. There is a Cynthia Gonzalez in Alison's Facebook friend list. I PM'd the person. They did not say they worked for TreatWell.

https://mjbizdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/TREATWELL-PRESS-RELEASE-copy.pdf

Treatwell Health
Cynthia Gonzalez, Spokesperson
415.493.0400
cagcanna@gmail.com
June 26, 2018

88 King St, San Francisco, CA is near the ocean. First floor 2 bed, 2 bath , 1,336 sf units sell for about $1.4M. They rent for $5,000 to $6,000 a month. Below is a first floor unit which sold two years ago for about $1.3M.

https://www.openlistings.com/p/88-king-st-123-san-francisco-ca-94107

Who is Alison Ettel? Alison Ettel, Alison Lynn Ettel was born February 8, 1974 in Harris County, Texas. She claims she's from Georgia but that's just another lie. Her father is Edward Emil Ettel III born 1940. Her mother is Mary Eunice Sanstag born 1941. Alison Ettel has an older sister named Erin Elizabeth Ettel French who is married with a kid.

Alison Ettel's father is in the military as was his father. For that reason they moved around a little. Alison Ettel lived in Texas, Georgia and Michigan.

Alison attended the University of Michigan and Georgia Tech. She worked for the Brookings Institute. Her sister Erin Ettel graduated in 1992 with a degree in environmental health from a school in Georgia. They look like twins.

Alison's paternal side of the family came from Texas and Ohio. They were well to do builders or in the military. Children went to college even the women which was rare many years ago. Paternal family from Germany but not Jewish.

The maternal side of the family is a tiny bit more mixed. Mother Mary Eunice Samstag was born in Clearwater, Minnesota. Her father came from Germany. Mother came from North Dakota.

Below is a preliminary family tree pedigree view. So far PermitPatty is white, white, white family from Germany. Maybe this is why she doesn't like black people. She needs to leave San Francisco if that's the case.

Alison Ettel, Alison Lynn Ettel, san francisco, treatwell health, cannibis, flaming racist, water, permit, permitpatty, mary cummins, thc, oil, tincture, cbd, animal, wellness, cynthia gonzalez, edward emil ettel, janet boerum, adam samstag, mary eunice samstag, eunice wilkins, germany, white, caucasian, texas, germany

Below is the full pedigree. I did not add that confederate flag. Someone else did.

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.

Mary Cummins, Mary K. Cummins, Mary Katherine Cummins, Mary Cummins-Cobb, Mary, Cummins, Cobb, real estate, appraiser, appraisal, instructor, teacher, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Brentwood, Bel Air, California, licensed, permitted, single family, condo, pud, hud, fannie mae, freddie mac, uspap, certified, residential, certified resident, apartment building, multi-family, commercial, industrial, expert witness, civil, criminal, orea, dre, insurance, bonded, experienced, bilingual, spanish, english, form, 1004, 2055, land, raw, acreage, vacant, insurance, cost, income approach, market analysis, comparative, theory, appraisal theory, cost approach, sales, matched pairs, plot, plat, map, diagram, photo, photographs, photography, rear, front, street, subject, comparable, sold, listed, active, pending, expired, cancelled, listing, mls, multiple listing service, claw, themls,

Friday, January 27, 2017

Donald Trump doesn't ban Muslims from countries where he does business - Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey

Donald Trump, Muslim ban, immigration, refugees, Al-waleed Talal, saudi arabia, egypt, turkey, Trump hotel, Trump resort, Trump gold, money, friends

UPDATE: Trump has banned 134,000,000 people in those nations. He also banned 500,000 people with US visas and green cards from returning home from overseas.

In retaliation the banned countries are banning US citizens from entering. Airplane stocks are going to dump come Monday. If you like making money on misery, now would be a great time to short the shit out of airplane stocks.

Woman just tried to commit suicide at JFK when she heard she would be deported to Chile.

December 8, 2015 Donald Trump said he would ban all Muslim travel to the US.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/07/politics/donald-trump-muslim-ban-immigration/

Donald Trump issued a press release about this. Text here in case he deletes it,

"DECEMBER 07, 2015 -

DONALD J. TRUMP STATEMENT ON PREVENTING MUSLIM IMMIGRATION

(New York, NY) December 7th, 2015, -- Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on. According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing "25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad" and 51% of those polled, "agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah." Shariah authorizes such atrocities as murder against non-believers who won't convert, beheadings and more unthinkable acts that pose great harm to Americans, especially women.

Mr. Trump stated, "Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again." - Donald J. Trump"

December 11, 2015 Al-waleed Talal in response tweets, "You're a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America. Withdraw from the U.S. Presidential race as you will never win."

.@realDonaldTrump
You are a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America.

Withdraw from the U.S presidential race as you will never win.
— الوليد بن طلال (@Alwaleed_Talal) December 11, 2015

February 3, 2016 President Obama gives a speech at the Islamic Society of Baltimore. Obama stated we are all one big family in America with many different religions. It was a very eloquent speech.

February 4, 2016 Al-waleed Talal replies with "President Obama @POTUS Your mosque speech shames @realDonaldTrump comments against 1.4 billion Muslims. Thank You for Your wise leadership."

President Obama @POTUS Your mosque speech shames @realDonaldTrump comments against 1.4 billion Muslims.

Thank You for Your wise leadership.
— الوليد بن طلال (@Alwaleed_Talal) February 4, 2016

Trump wins the election November 8, 2016. Al-waleed Talal graciously replies on November 9, 2016 with "President elect @realDonaldTrump whatever the past differences, America has spoken, congratulations & best wishes for your presidency."

President elect @realDonaldTrump whatever the past differences, America has spoken, congratulations & best wishes for your presidency.
— الوليد بن طلال (@Alwaleed_Talal) November 9, 2016

Here are the tweets on one page.

https://twitter.com/search?l&q=from%3Aalwaleed_talal%20%40realdonaldtrump&src=typd

Originally the ban was all Muslim nations. Today a few Muslim nations were missing from the ban. They are Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkey where Trump does a lot of business. Money talks.

Not a single American was killed on U.S. soil by citizens from any of those countries between 1975 and 2015, according to statistics tallied by the conservative-leaning Cato Institute.

However, the same set of statistics show that nearly 3,000 Americans were killed by citizens from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Turkey in the same time period — with the bulk of those killed being victims of the 9/11 attacks. Yet, people from those four countries are still welcome to apply for U.S. visas and travel permits.

Oddly enough a high number of convicted terrorists came from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkey. These are only the hijacker/terrorists involved in 9/11.

"The hijackers in the September 11 attacks were 19 men affiliated with al-Qaeda. 15 of the 19 were citizens of Saudi Arabia, and the others were from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon."

The Paris terrorists came from Turkey. If our safety were of top priority, shouldn't Trump ban ALL Muslims? FTR I am against banning people based on religion. It's unconstitutional and not good for our country. We need to weed out the terrorists who are criminals and not law abiding Muslims. Also FTR I don't have a problem with Al-Waleed. While I doubt he's a saint he does a lot of real charity work. He also is trying to help children become better educated and for women to have rights in the middle east.

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.

Mary Cummins, Mary K. Cummins, Mary Katherine Cummins, Mary Cummins-Cobb, Mary, Cummins, Cobb, real estate, appraiser, appraisal, instructor, teacher, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Brentwood, Bel Air, California, licensed, permitted, single family, condo, pud, hud, fannie mae, freddie mac, uspap, certified, residential, certified resident, apartment building, multi-family, commercial, industrial, expert witness, civil, criminal, orea, dre, insurance, bonded, experienced, bilingual, spanish, english, form, 1004, 2055, land, raw, acreage, vacant, insurance, cost, income approach, market analysis, comparative, theory, appraisal theory, cost approach, sales, matched pairs, plot, plat, map, diagram, photo, photographs, photography, rear, front, street, subject, comparable, sold, listed, active, pending, expired, cancelled, listing, mls, multiple listing service, claw, themls,

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Amr Anthony Ibrahim Elgindy November 28, 1967 Cairo, Egypt, July 23, 2015 San Diego County, California. Rest in peace.

Anthony Elgindy, Tony Elgindy, Amr Ibrahim Elgindy, Amir Elgindy, Inside Truth, anthony@pacific, stock broker, trader

UPDATE 04/07/2016: Many people have asked me for proof that Tony died. No one could find his death records. I also was not able to find a death certificate or record.

Originally after I heard he may have died I first called and emailed him. No response. I then called police, sheriff and finally called the San Diego Coroner. They said they had no "Anthony Elgindy" there. I asked if they had an "Amr" or "Amir" that died on that day. They said they had an "Amir Elgindy." This was over the phone so I'm hearing it phonetically.

On the phone the coroner's office told me he hung himself July 23, 2015. That is the truth. I was satisfied with that answer as others confirmed it to me the next day.

Other people said they had no confirmation that he died. The conspiracy stories went wild. I decided I'd get a death certificate to shut them up. I couldn't find one. There was no CA or SSI death record anywhere. I then went back to contacting sheriff, police, coroner...

Today the Sheriff and another dept told me they didn't have anyone by that name with that DOB. Finally one wonderful person did an extra search for sound-alike names who died on that date and found the record. Somehow someone wrote the name down "incorrectly" most likely phonetically. Perhaps his fiance did not know the exact spelling of his real name or maybe she didn't pronounce it perfectly because she was crying and upset.

Tony is listed as "Anthony Abraham El-Gindy" on his death records. His last name has always only been "Elgindy." His middle name has always been "Ibrahim." He was born "Amr" sometimes written "Amir" which he legally changed to "Anthony" in San Diego, California 2003. He of course went by "Tony." Tony came to the US as a baby. He is as American as you can get. You should find the records now.

anthony elgindy, amr ibraham elgindy, anthony abraham el-gindy, death record, dead, died, report, name, official, legal, california, san diego, rip, obituary, biography

I received more information today. Tony was upset about the same usual things which I totally understand and would agree Those of us close to him all knew that, nothing new. He sent communications to his close friends and fiance that he'd basically had it. It was too much for him and he was sorry that he couldn't take it anymore.

His fiance found him dead at his home. He'd hung himself. She ran and cut him down, called 911, tried to save him but it was too late. It was all too much for Tony.

Tony was not in jail, was not in violation of probation, was not involved in anything illegal or improper. He was just really stressed about things which he'd confided to me, his fiance, family and other friends. I totally understand. That said I don't believe his only option was suicide. Tony was smart, talented....he just didn't see it.

Anyone who knows Tony knows that he was a sensitive, emotional person. He'd made great changes in his life after he started outing scams. When he ended up in prison he made other changes. He was planning his new life with his fiance and sons. He was so proud of his son for graduating.

In prison they started an inmate message program so prisoners who would be leaving in the next few years could easily communicate with their families and friends. Tony made some friends in prison. Because he was older than the non-white collar criminals he ended up mentoring them. He told me he enjoyed it really wanted to help them be released and succeed.

Years ago he asked me to help send diapers to a prisoner's wife as she couldn't afford them and he was in prison. He took classes in prison. He ended up helping other inmates. He was so looking forward to his new life outside.

I told him before he got out that the world had changed a lot since he was outside especially the stock market. I thought he should take things slowly as did all close to him. He just didn't realize how much things had changed. He just wanted to get back to the old happy successful Tony making his family and friends happy and proud. Sadly it was not to be.
_______________________________

When I heard the story this morning I did not believe it. After doing a bit of research calling the San Diego Sheriff Department and finally the San Diego County morgue I can confirm that Tony committed suicide by hanging himself at home in his garage on July 23, 2015 in San Diego County at the age of 47. Sadly this was not his first suicide attempt but it was his last.

I'd just spoken to him two days earlier. He was upset that people continued to post on the Internet that he had pre-knowledge of 911 and used that information to make money in the stock market. That statement made by SEC's Kenneth Breen was of course absolutely false. The Judge in his case ordered that statement to be stricken because it was false.

I wrote the below obituary with help from his sentencing memorandum written by his attorneys Barry H. Berke, Eric A. Tirschwell and Erin A. Walter. I'd known him since 1994 through Silicon Investor, his thread Anthony@Pacific, website insidetruth.com and website anthonypacific.com. He would post the most hilarious stock outs on that thread. I may dig some up because they were truly entertaining. I also outed stock scams but never shorted. I was never a member of his private club.
_____

Amr "Anthony" Ibrahim Elgindy was born November 28, 1967 in Cairo, Egypt. He emigrated to the United States in 1970 along with his younger brother Khaled. His mother is Dr Laila Gomaa a retired medical physician. His father is Dr Ibrahim Elgindy an engineer. He has a younger brother Waleed and younger sister Mona both born in the US. Together the children grew up in Illinois as proud legal citizens of the United States.

Elgindy and his siblings went to Hinsdale Central High School in Hinsdale, Illinois. Elgindy was on the football and wrestling teams. He graduated in 1985. He took advanced honor classes and was awarded a certificate from the Governor of Illinois naming him an Illinois State Scholar. Later Elgindy attended USC and San Diego State University majoring in engineering like his father.

Elgindy has always had a fascination with cars. He started his career selling cars at C & M Chevrolet in San Diego. There he met a man who was a stock broker at Blinder Robinson. The man suggested he should sell stocks. Elgindy applied for the position and was accepted. Some time later "60 Minutes" did an expose on Blinder Robinson. Turns out it was a sham company selling shares in worthless penny stocks. Elgindy left then worked at JW Gant where he succeeded in making his clients money on their investments.

"In November of 1989, Anthony Elgindy married Mary Faith Lumpkin, the young daughter of a Baptist minister from Clarksville, Tennesee. Together they had three children Adam, Gabriel and Sammy."

Elgindy continued selling stocks. One day he realized that it would be more profitable to sell shorts instead of longs as it's easier to identify scam companies. "In 1995, Elgindy started Key West Securities (“Key West”), an NASD firm that he created specifically to expose fraudulent and corrupt companies and short them along with other overvalued stocks."

"In 1996, he and Key West were featured in Business Week, “The Mob on Wall Street,” for being the only firm to stand up to the mobsters who were manipulating shares of First Colonial Stock (FCVL).
He and other brokers had been threatened with assault and even death if they did not comply with the mobsters demands."

"During the time Elgindy was selling short positions he helped the SEC and FBI in their investigations into stock scams. Elgindy's cooperation against Mr. Richards and others at Armstrong McKinley allowed the government to bring major high-profile criminal cases against a number of notorious stock swindlers. Prior to Elgindy's cooperation, Richards had been sued several times by the SEC, had been convicted for tax evasion and conspiracy, and had faced a second federal indictment but had defeated the charges. When Mr. Richards and his co-defendant pled guilty in 1997 in the case where Elgindy was the primary cooperator, it was covered in The Wall Street Journal as well as Barron’s. (DX12066.) Later, the then-U.S. Attorney for San Diego, Alan Bersin, appeared on 20/20 in the same segment that featured Elgindy, and both spoke of the case against Mr. Richards."

"In 1998, after a string of successful cooperation relationships with the government, Elgindy decided to become a private researcher and trader and closed down Key West Securities to start Pacific Equity Investigations. Pacific Equity was formed to investigate “scam” or fraudulent companies for the purpose of determining good short selling opportunities. At the same time, he also started a thread on the very popular internet investing site SiliconInvestor.com. The thread was called “Dear Anthony” which became A & P Investigations and focused on overvalued stocks. The thread became extremely popular and Elgindy developed a strong following on the internet based on his colorful humor, his ability to identify scam and otherwise overvalued companies, and his successful trading techniques."

"By 1999 and early 2000, Elgindy was financially successful and very well known. There were newspaper and magazine articles, and several books published about him, his trading abilities and his tireless efforts to expose scam companies and the corruption on Wall Street.See, e.g., id.; John R. Emschwiller, Scam Dogs & Mo-Mo Mamas: Inside the Wild and Woolly World of Internet Stock Trading, Chs. 9-12 (HarperCollins 2000); Aaron Elstein & Jason Anders, Heard on the Net: Two Message-Board Posters Foretold eConnect’s Woes, The Wall Street Journal Online (March 14, 2000). Elgindy was considered a friend to the small and inexperienced investor."

"Anthony Elgindy has made remarkable and unusual humanitarian efforts in traveling to the war-torn country of Kosovo in 1999, rescuing numerous Kosovo refugees, bringing them to the United States, and financially and emotionally supporting them."

"Elgindy’s struggled with the serious and severe disease known as bipolar disorder were manifest as early as high school, when depression caused Elgindy to make his first (but not last) suicide attempt. Following his emotional breakdown several years later in 1993, Mr. Elgindy finally began therapy and started to learn how to deal with and how to minimize the severity of the mood swings caused by bipolar disorder, for example, by reducing certain stressors and changing his lifestyle."

"Elgindy was charged in January 2005 with racketeering, securities fraud and other crimes in connection with a supposed scheme to steal confidential law enforcement information relating to FBI and SEC investigations of various companies. After a four-month trial, involving allegations in 32 different stocks, Elgindy was convicted of "inside-trading" in five of those stocks with illegal gains totaling about $66,000."

June 2006 Elgindy was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison at Terminal Island, San Pedro. He was released early in January 2013 after serving seven years. Since that time he was working as the West Coast Director of Sales at Client ConneXion selling online lead services to car dealerships. He was also busy raising his three sons with his ex-wife. His youngest Sammy just graduated from Army and Navy Academy in Carlsbad, California making Elgindy very proud.

Elgindy is survived by his mother, father, ex-wife, fiance, three sons, brothers, sister and many nieces and nephews. He was buried August 1, 2015 at Al-Rahma Garden at La Vista Memorial Park in San Diego, California. Below are recent pics of him from his Google profile. My prayers are with his family.

Anthony Elgindy, Tony Elgindy, Amr Ibrahim Elgindy, Amir Elgindy, Inside Truth, anthony@pacific, stock broker, trader

Anthony Elgindy, Tony Elgindy, Amr Ibrahim Elgindy, Amir Elgindy, Inside Truth, anthony@pacific, stock broker, trader, 1984 high school

Anthony Elgindy, Tony Elgindy, Amr Ibrahim Elgindy, Amir Elgindy, Inside Truth, anthony@pacific, stock broker, trader, 1985

Anthony Elgindy, Tony Elgindy, Amr Ibrahim Elgindy, Amir Elgindy, Inside Truth, anthony@pacific, stock broker, trader 1984

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

911 remembered, Mary Cummins

911 remembered by Mary Cummins

I was sound asleep in Los Angeles, California when the phone started ringing around 6:00 a.m. My then husband picked it up. A co-worker told him that a plane had crashed into the twin towers. My husband repeated this to me. I thought he meant that a small two seater plane had crashed into the empty Century City twin towers. Upset at being woken up for no real reason I said with great irritation "so?" The person on the phone then said "no, no, no! Turn on the TV!" We reluctantly got out of bed and turned on the TV. The first plane had just struck one of the New York twin towers.

It was hard to believe what we were seeing. While I was watching the news the second plane struck the other tower. It was surreal. It really felt like I was watching a movie of the attack and not the actual attack. I was still watching the news when the first tower collapsed around 7 a.m. right before my eyes. I could not believe it. How is that possible? Were there bombs on the planes? I started to think that this was probably the beginning of World War III.

I had scheduled to get four kittens neutered that morning at Animal Birth Control in West Los Angeles. Still in a daze I loaded up the kittens and headed off to the vet. No one was on the streets. LA was a ghost town for a few hours that day. Everyone was glued to their TV sets. In my car I heard on the news that the second tower had collapsed. Then I heard about the plane flying into the Pentagon. It really felt like the end of the world as I drove alone on the empty streets.

When I got to the vet's office it seems no one knew what was happening in New York because there was no TV or radio. Everyone was sitting in the waiting room contentedly clueless and quiet. I didn't say a word. They would know soon enough.

I dropped the kittens off and headed back home. While I was driving home I was thinking "why am I getting kittens neutered when this may soon be the end of the world as we know it? Will cat overpopulation really be an issue after we all get nuked?" I really thought the US was going to instantly go to war.

By the time I got back home my husband was still watching the news while getting ready to go to work. I was having the bathrooms remodeled and the workmen had arrived. I kept thinking "why is he going to work? Why am I having my bathrooms remodeled if this could be the beginning of the end?" I really thought there would be more attacks on US soil and I thought Los Angeles was a prime target.

I went online and took a lap around the stock message boards. People were trying to find stock brokers who were in the twin towers. I found out that some people I knew had died in the twin towers. It was hard to believe that I'd never see them on the boards again telling everyone to buy, buy, buy some POS stock tout job. Even though I didn't like them I felt bad for their families.

The shorters and hedge fund managers I knew who normally would short on any bad news were telling people not to short the market. They said it'd be very un-American to short under these circumstances. They fortunately ended up closing the stock exchanges after share prices plummeted.

Later that night on the news I saw video of people in the middle east dancing and jumping for joy over the attacks. I had an intense desire to reach through the TV and beat the crap out of all of them even the little old ladies.

For the next few days I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. I really thought they might fly a plane into LA City Hall or maybe into a fully packed sports arena. I actually stayed away from City Hall for a couple of weeks for that reason. People who worked at City Hall said they had the same fear.

Over the next few weeks they started investigating 9/11. There were some middle eastern people at my husband's BMW dealership in Beverly Hills who had gone to a party in New York a few weeks before 9/11. They were questioned. They of course had nothing to do with 9/11 but if you looked middle eastern, you were going to be questioned. People were reporting just about any middle eastern person or person they just didn't like to the FBI. It was a very stressful time.

Time passed and things started to calm down. I no longer thought it would be the beginning of WWIII so I started remodeling my kitchen. Because of 9/11 I could not order the appliances I wanted because trucks were not allowed to transport them across the country. I had to buy whatever was on the show room floor. I was now a little pissed at 9/11 because I couldn't get the exact model of appliances I wanted for my kitchen.

It's now almost the ten year anniversary of 9/11. Everyone's a little worried about a repeat performance. If the bad guys were to attack us, how and where would they attack us? Maybe a monument building on the West Coast? A crowded sporting event? I'm sure I'll be looking up every time I hear a plane overhead today and tomorrow. September 12th can't come soon enough.

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

9/11 remembered - Mary Cummins

As I soundly slept around 6:00 a.m. in Los Angeles, California the phone started ringing. My now ex-husband picked it up. A co-worker told him that a plane had crashed into the twin towers. My husband repeated this to me. I thought he meant that a small two seater plane had crashed into the empty Century City twin towers. Upset at being woken up for no real reason I said with great irritation "so?" The person on the phone then said "no, no, no! Turn on the TV!" We reluctantly got out of bed and turned on the TV. The first plane had just struck one of the New York twin towers. It was hard to believe what we were seeing.

While I was watching the news the second plane struck the other tower. It was surreal. It really felt like I was watching a movie of the attack and not the actual attack. I was still watching the news when the first tower collapsed around 7 a.m. right before my eyes. I could not believe it. How is that possible? Were there bombs on the planes? I started to think that this was probably the beginning of World War III.

I had scheduled to get four kittens neutered that morning at Animal Birth Control in West Los Angeles. Still in a daze I loaded up the kittens and headed off to the vet. No one was on the streets. LA was a ghost town for a few hours that day. Everyone was glued to their TV sets. In my car I heard on the news that the second tower had collapsed. Then I heard about the plane flying into the Pentagon. It really felt like the end of the world as I drove alone on the empty streets.

When I got to the vet's office it seemed no one knew what was happening in New York because there was no TV or radio. Everyone was sitting in the waiting room contentedly clueless and quiet. I didn't say a word. They would know soon enough.

I dropped the kittens off and headed back home. While I was driving home I was thinking "why am I getting kittens neutered when this may soon be the end of the world as we know it? Will cat overpopulation really be an issue after we all get nuked?" I really thought the US was going to instantly go to war.

By the time I got back home my husband was still watching the news while getting ready to go to work. I was having the bathrooms remodeled and the workmen had arrived. I kept thinking "why is he going to work? Why am I having my bathrooms remodeled if this could be the beginning of the end?" I really thought there would be more attacks on US soil and I thought Los Angeles was a prime target.

I went online and took a lap around the stock message boards. People were trying to find stock brokers who were in the twin towers. I found out that some people I knew had died in the twin towers. It was hard to believe that I'd never see them on the boards again telling everyone to buy, buy, buy some POS stock tout job. Even though I didn't like them because they were con artists I felt bad for their families.

The shorters and hedge fund managers I knew who normally would short on any bad news were telling people not to short the market. They said it'd be very un-American to short under these circumstances. They fortunately ended up closing the stock exchanges after share prices plummeted.

Later that night on the news I saw video of people in the middle east dancing and jumping for joy over the attacks. I had an intense desire to reach through the TV and beat the crap out of all of them even the little old ladies.

For the next few days I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. I really thought they might fly a plane into LA City Hall or maybe into a fully packed sports arena. I actually stayed away from City Hall for a couple of weeks for that reason. People who worked at City Hall said they had the same fear.

Over the next few weeks they started investigating 9/11. There were some middle eastern people at my husband's BMW dealership in Beverly Hills who had gone to a party in New York a few weeks before 9/11. They were questioned. They of course had nothing to do with 9/11 but if you looked middle eastern, you were going to be questioned. People were reporting just about any middle eastern person or person they just didn't like to the FBI. It was a very stressful time.

Time passed and things started to calm down. I no longer thought it would be the beginning of WWIII so I started remodeling my kitchen. Because of 9/11 I could not order the appliances I wanted because trucks were not allowed to transport them across the country. I had to buy whatever was on the show room floor. I was now a little pissed at 9/11 because I couldn't get the exact model of appliances I wanted for my kitchen.

It's now almost the ten year anniversary of 9/11. Everyone's a little worried about a repeat performance. If the bad guys were to attack us, how and where would they attack us? Maybe a monument building on the West Coast? A crowded sporting event? I'm sure I'll be looking up every time I hear a plane overhead today and tomorrow. September 12th can't come soon enough.

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.