Music and Other Eccentricities

Information post

Please let me know any information so I can update, especially if you’re in one of the affected states that isn’t Nebraska.

NEBRASKA:

Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska is taking donations to help flood victims (make sure to select flood relief when giving a donation).

Nebraska Farm Bureau is taking donations to help farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. 

The Grand Island Community Foundation has established a Disaster Relief Fund for Central Nebraska. Donate here. 

A Facebook fundraiser has been set up. The money will go towards the Grand Island Community Foundation’s Disaster Relief Fund, buying bottled water for towns without water, and some of the towns most affected by flooding.

Facebook has set up a Crisis Response page with places to donate.

How to Help Nebraska Flood Victims (article)

MULTIPLE/ALL AFFECTED STATES:

United Way has set up a relief fund for flood victims in Nebraska and Iowa. You can donate by texting FLOODRELIEF to 41444. United Way is also taking donations for Wisconsin. Those donating should make checks out to the United Way of Fond du Lac, write “FDL Flooding” in the memo line and mail them to 74 S. Main St., Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 54935. Online donations can be made at fdlunitedway.org; the box checked should be “flood relief.”

United Way of the Midlands is accepting donations that will be directed to nonprofit programs meeting people’s needs for emergency shelter, food and more. Donors will have the opportunity to direct their gift to a specific community within Nebraska or Iowa if they so wish (@nebraska-doesnt-exist is making a list of affected communities so check their blog). You can text FLOODRELIEF (all caps, no space) to 41444 or visit here to donate now.

Red Cross shelters are being set up across all affected states. Donate by visiting their site or by calling 1-800-733-2767. You can also text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Salvation Army (I know the SA is bad but they are housing hundreds of families and the excess money will help repairs) is accepting donations to help those in Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota.

Local Nebraska/Iowa charities to donate to. None have established a flooding fund as far as I know, but most are homeless shelters who will need the money for repairs, food, clothes, etc.

Information/Shelters/Physical Donations for Locals

For more than two years, Clarise Coleman faithfully attended every track practice and every cross-country meet for her son, Chase.

A few weeks ago, Chase, who is a nearly nonverbal autistic child, was running in a meet in Rochester, New York, with his team from Corcoran High School - was assaulted by a stranger in the middle of a race.

Coleman was waiting for him at a part of the course where runners would come down a hill but he didn’t appear and she went looking for him. She was shouting his name and then she started to meet people who pointed in the direction of her son. One of them said:

“I see a grown man, who is quite tall and fairly heavy … exit the vehicle and give this young man a shove that puts him back 10 feet and flat on his butt. Like, just shoved him across the road. The kid didn’t seem to be doing anything but standing there, obviously had nothing in his hands and weighed all of 130 pounds. This guy was easily twice that.”

This tall white guy was a 57-year-old man named Martin MacDonald who told the police that the reason he attacked the Black kid was he thought Chase was going to mug his wife and take her purse.

“My son is a minor. [MacDonald is] a grown man,” Coleman said she told police. “He put his hands on my son. Of course I want to press charges.”

However the police was deaf and on Oct. 21, Rochester City Court Judge Caroline Morrison sent a letter to the Colemans that shocked them: 

She had denied their warrant application, and MacDonald would not be charged for second-degree harassment.

Now the autistic Black boy refused to go to practices and skipped running in his last meet of the season. He turned his running uniform in to his coach, who gently encouraged him to change his mind. Chase refused.

“We just keep telling him, ‘You didn’t do anything wrong. Chase is good. There are mean people and there are nice people and this person was just a mean person,’ ” Coleman said. “We just keep apologizing to him that happened. Especially me. I kept apologizing to him that I couldn’t keep him safe.” 

The attack deeply traumatized him and he lost one of the few things that gave him a sense of pride and belonging.

Please, make a shout out to this outrageous accident! The white man still didn’t receive any punishment for ruining life of the Black boy. THIS IS HELL!

What measures are taken to secure the building ?

Are the walls thin? Brief info of who lives in the building. Are they college kids? People that work through the day? Elderly? Is it a mix? Where does the garbage go?

when and for what reasons are your landlords allowed to enter your home? how much of a notice should they give you before entering?

can the landlord make modifications to your home or apartment without your approval? to what extent?

what are the options and conditions for breaking your lease early if there’s an emergency? (this is ESPECIALLY important for anyone moving to a new state/considerable distance where you are not able to visit the apartment/home before you rent – students get taken advantage of ALL THE TIME with this shit)

if your first or last month at the property is a partial stay (i.e. you move in on july 15th, and rent is typically due on the first) make sure you don’t pay the full first month’s rent before you know the area laws! in many states, you are only legally required to pay for the time you are occupying the property

is renter’s insurance necessary? many apartments want at least 30k coverage, which can run a couple hundred dollars extra per year

-ask if there’s been any consistent/frequent trouble with electricity/internet connectivity/cable if you have it

-what KIND of electricity? 

-what kind of heating (hot water/electric)

-how secure is the neighborhood (if you don’t know) 

- Do they have a policy on rent increases? (Also check if there’s a legal limit to rent increases in the area).

- Are utilities paid in a separate check or with the rent?

- Are utilities metered or pro-rated (in older buildings it’s common to be charged by square footage and/or number of occupants, which can leave you subsidizing the people who turn the a/c down to 60 in the summer or the heat up to 80 in the winter - you may not be able to avoid this but it’s worth trying).

- Are there any switched circuits in the apartment. Buildings built in the late sixties through the early eighties often have switched circuits. If they do, then with the number of devices used these days you will probably have to have something important on the switched circuit - tape the switch in the on position! (Trust me).

- What are the rules on hanging pictures?

- Who is responsible for paying for and replacing bulbs in permanent fixtures? If it’s you and there’s a fixture with weird/unusual bulbs (globe style, chandelier style, etc) ask where you can buy the bulbs.