Sorry Everyone - Broke and Homeless

Sorry I haven't been able to update my WP blog.
I am currently homeless and living in my car.
I can't get a job and
if you want to know why read on...

if you don't then all I can say is
Thanks for the years of great experiences. I'll always love Widepread Panic!


Many years ago I had a business with my husband and good friend Ron. We were doing well until Ron developed a drug problem and started embezzling money from the excise tax and employee withholding tax funds that he was in charge of.

After a couple of years we learned that we owed the IRS a substantial amount of money. Money that we did not have. We began to try and repay the huge amounts principal and interest charges that the IRS wanted, sometimes as much as $5000 a month, while trying to run a business and make mortgage payments.

At the same time our mortgage holder was being bought by another company and our mortgage auto-payments were sitting in an account not being processed while their buy-out was being processed.

Soon we found we were in default on the mortgage and paid a lawyer $2500 to handle this for us.
The day we were to appear in court our lawyer called and said he felt he couldn't handle us properly and quit. We went to court without him and the judge was unsympathetic and actually said "... you should have chosen a better attorney".

Needless to say we eventually closed the business, lost the house and then had the IRS taking money from our bank accounts on a regular basis.

My husband found a low-profile job to stay afloat and I moved back to my mother's house.

The next bad thing to happen:

My brother got into some trouble with the law and my mom had to mortgage her house to help him. Which it didn't and now my mom is losing her home.

In the meantime I was trying to find a job and learned that employers now check potential employees' credit scores. Go figure!

I couldn't even get a job at a department store.

When I did land a job it was short-lived since the IRS located my new location and started taking a good part of my $7.50 per hour earnings.

This is not enough to live on. So my next thought was to return to college and finish my degree. I got a Pell Grant and the University accepted me on financial aid. I was all set to go until the University asked for my last years tax returns.

I submitted a prior year tax return to the IRS even though I had made next to no money. This began a 8 month odyssey of writing, calling, faxing, back-and-forth information to and from the IRS which resulted in losing my acceptance at the University.

So here I am now living in my car because apparently I can't have a job and not allow to finish my degree. If I get any money the IRS will just take it so I have nothing.

Don't get me wrong...I'm willing to work and try to pay the IRS if they would be fair, recognize the money I've paid them in the past, and stop adding insult to injury with their constant interest and penalty charges and relentless pursuit of ruining my credit and taking what little money I can make.

I'm now survive on collecting aluminum cans and scrap metal for recycling cash to buy gasoline and food and if you think I'm filing a return to pay taxes on this money then you are crazy.

I'm not a young girl anymore and thankfully I have no children...I have a little dog that I've adopted from a puppy mill and try to take the best care of her.

The hardest part about living in your car is finding a place to sleep. I sometimes find a no-fee camping spot but they are a long distant from the city where I need to be to make a few dollars.

Anyway this is why I can no longer afford seeing any Widespread Panic shows or continue my blog for them.
I still have many of my Panic shows on disk! Some things you never part with!

Once again, thanks for over 20 years of great experiences. Viva la Widepread Panic!

Peace and Love - Sweetpea