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| Kristen and Chris Milling |
While Kristen Milling's words are more eloquently stated than anything Mike McGarity would be capable of, they reflect a mindset that is just like his. If she hadn't told me who she was -- and someone had told me, "Guess what family this young woman is from," I think I would have gotten it correctly in a matter of seconds.
Ironically, Mike McGarity also somehow managed to land a job in corporate Birmingham, with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama (BCBSA). How he managed to do that, while having at least eight criminal convictions on his record, remains a mystery. As a regional Medicare administrator, BCBSA is subject to strict federal oversight of its hiring practices. That is particularly true because various "Blues" around the country have experienced employee fraud, including a 2009 case in South Carolina. According to a whistleblower complaint from former auditor Frank E. Body, fraud has found a home at BC/BS of Alabama, too. With that as background, what does BCBSA spokesperson Koko Mackin think of McGarity's criminal record, which even includes getting into a fight at a gay nightclub in Birmingham? We intend to find out, soon.
As for Kristen Milling, what prompted her to write? It appears she was displeased that I had included the names of her mother (Nancy McGarity Lawrence, Mike's sister) and her grandfather (Edmund C. McGarity, Mike's father) in a post about the criminal histories of Mike and his three brothers (all Kristen's uncles). How did Kristen express her displeasure? Let's take a look at the first comment she left at 2:50 a.m. on July 17, 2017:
Kristen Milling has left a new comment on your post "Here's the Story of Family Dysfunction Behind My N...":
I am Nancy McGarity's daughter and am saddened by the hate you have for my family. For her to be pulled in this article, my grandad, and the rest of my family is so hurtful. I can't imagine how you or your loved ones would feel to have an article like this published about your family. I hope you can put yourself in others shoes and realize the frivolousness of this all. There is more to life than to waste so much time being hateful. I pray that love can be replaced by your hate as there is an exhaustion and burden that comes from exerting so much hate toward a family. I am deeply hurt by the statements made by my family. Deeply hurt. Prayers for you and your family to find compassion and not take your anger out on people you don't even know. God bless you.
Posted by Kristen Milling to Legal Schnauzer at July 17, 2017 at 2:50 AM
What do we learn from this comment? Here are several points that jump out at me:
(1) Kristen claims I have "hate" for her family, but she never points to anything in the post that is untrue or malicious;
(2) Kristen claims it is "hurtful" that I included mentions of her mother and grandfather in the post. But they are (or were) Mike McGarity's sister and father. One point of the post is to describe the environment in which Mike McGarity and his three brothers, all with criminal records, grew up. Nancy and Edmund McGarity were right in the middle of it. That's true, it's a matter of public record, and Kristen makes no claim otherwise. Carol and I lived next to Mike McGarity for roughly 15 years, and we took the the brunt of his belligerent, antagonistic, disrespectful, dysfunctional personality. Our impression is that members of the McGarity family have known about Mike's tendency to bully others, but they've done nothing about it. Now, Kristen claims my reporting on her family's blindness is "hurtful," showing no interest in the "hurt" Mike McGarity has caused for others.
(3) Kristen wonders how I would feel if an article like this had been published about my family. Well, thanks to issues that started with her uncle, I unlawfully was thrown in jail for five months in Shelby County, and that received international news coverage, with my mugshot spread all over the Web. My wife, Carol, has twice been unlawfully arrested and incarcerated in Missouri, with her mugshot spread around the Web. Neither of us committed a crime or even a civil wrong. We've been beaten -- Carol's arm has been broken -- all because of false charges brought against us. Yet, everything I've written about the McGarity family is true, and Kristen makes no attempt to claim otherwise. But she wants to lecture me about the "hurt" her family has felt? Puh-leeze.
(4) Kristen claims our issues caused by her uncle are "frivolous." She thinks having your jobs and your house stolen from you, largely because of her uncle, is frivolous? She thinks me being beaten up and kidnapped from my home -- and Carol having her arm broken by Missouri deputies -- is frivolous? Perhaps this young woman is in the dark about the reality of what has happened to us because of Mike McGarity. Maybe she doesn't care enough to educate herself about the issues. But her use of the word frivolous suggests a shallow mind that cares only about her little world -- and nothing that goes beyond that.
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| Mike McGarity: A criminal in the making |
Now, let's take a look at Kristen's second comment, which came a few minutes later, at 3:05 a.m. on July 17:
Kristen Milling has left a new comment on your post "Here's the Story of Family Dysfunction Behind My N...":
I am Nancy's daughter and this blog is the most insensitive and hurtful writing toward my family. I respectfully ask you to remove this as people are brought into your post that don't deserve it. It is beyond unfair and unreasonable to take out hate on a person's immediate and extended family. This is damaging, hateful, and hurtful. I would hope you could put yourself in other people's shoes and realize the magnitude of this.
Posted by Kristen Milling to Legal Schnauzer at July 17, 2017 at 3:05 AM
What do we learn from this comment? Here are several points that jump out at me:
(1) Kristen makes extraordinary use of the words "hate" and "hurt." By my count, in the two comments, she uses some form of the word "hate" six times; she uses some form of the word "hurt" five times. In each instance, she talks about "hate" that I allegedly have toward her family; no mention of the heaping helpings of hate that her uncle, Mike McGarity, has directed toward Carol and me. The "hurt" is always about the pain Kristen feels; no mention of the genuine hurt Mike McGarity, her uncle, has inflicted on us. Kristen gives no hint that she cares about, or even recognizes, our pain.
(2) Kristen complains that it is "beyond unreasonable and unfair" to report on a criminal and the family environment that produced him. Shelves of books have been written on that subject. If it is accurate -- and Kristen makes no claim that my posts are inaccurate -- how is such reporting unfair? Again, Mike McGarity has been a dangerous person for a long time; his criminality goes back roughly 40 years, into the 1970s. Kristen doesn't seem bothered by it, as long as others are taking the brunt of it. She only becomes concerned when accurate reporting about the criminality that has been lurking in her family for decades shines an unflattering light on her and her mother.
(3) Kristen complains that I don't "realize the magnitude" of my reporting about her family. Now, this might be her most interesting comment of all. In her first comment, she labels as "frivolous" the problems Carol and I have experienced because of Mike McGarity. But my reporting on her family? Why, that's of a magnitude that is so great, Kristen can't even find a term to put on it.
What do we learn from all of this? Kristen Milling's two comments include 15 sentences, and throughout, they display a stunning level of self-centeredness and unawareness, topped with a dose of shallow piety. I find it noteworthy that she makes no effort to defend Mike McGarity's actions. In fact, she doesn't even mention him by name. It's as if he's an "out of sight, out of mind" issue for her. He sure has hell hasn't been that kind of issue for us . . . but, hey, that's not Kristen's problem, so she doesn't care.
Public records indicate Kristen Milling is about 28 years old, and she holds a professional position of considerable responsibility. But the comments left here, suggest she has a self-centered worldview, a lot like the one we've seen from her criminal uncle. Perhaps she has some growing up to do. But if this is driven by the dysfunction that seems to permeate the McGarity family, it might be so deeply ingrained that time won't change it.
My prayers are with her. With McGarity blood running through her veins, she likely will need them.
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