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Since 1994, this is the 1657th issue of Randy Cassingham’s...
| 15 March 2026: The Work-Life Balance | Copyright ©2026 https://thisistrue.com |
As Recorded by the Chancery: The McKee (Ky.) Baptist Church called police to check out a man lying on its front steps — wearing only underwear at 8:00 a.m. in the winter. The county sheriff, one of his deputies, and McKee Police Chief Zach Bryant arrived to find Michael Wayne Chancery, 58, had “rammed several vehicles with his vehicle,” then drove into the front of “The General Store” building, causing significant damage. He then walked over to the church, where he allegedly threw abench through the church’s door. The local newspaper made a point of relating that Chancery is a “Florida Man”. Law enforcement called for EMS as it was clear that Chancery was intoxicated — and had admitted to taking “edibles” and smoking pot. Chancery also pointed out that “his arms were 10,000 years old,” and that he had come to the church to get “verified” that he is God. Once at the hospital, he told staff there that he had indeed been “verified as God.” Doctors provided medical clearancefor Chancery, and he was booked into jail on numerous charges. (RC/Jackson County Sun) ...Obliviocy: Verified.
Desperate for a Date: Florida sheriff’s deputy arrested. [Premium Only]
The Waltons: When the Walton County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office announced on March 5 that it had arrested two employees, news organizations all over the state — and beyond — jumped on it, with scandal headlines about how jail food service employee Kelly Jo Johnson, 56, was fired, and charged with having sex with an inmate. (Example: “Powerful Warning from Sheriff After Jail Worker Arrested in Inmate Relationship”.) Few mentioned the other employee: Jordan David-Lee Smith, 22, adispatcher, was arrested on more than 50 felony charges. Smith was, “over the course of approximately three years, possibly four years where he was communicating with individuals under the age [of] 17, some even under the age of 11 almost down to nine,” said Chief Deputy Dustin Cosson, soliciting sex with those children. The department received “multiple” tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Smith, of course, was also fired. (RC/WEAR Pensacola, WJHG Panama CityBeach) ...Sometimes the more disturbing part of a crime story is the newsroom’s priorities.
Unreliable: An A.I.-related legal precedent that shouldn’t have to exist. [Premium Only]
Clueless with a Cause: Man admits he smuggled drugs, but is still found not guilty (and appropriately so). [Premium Only]
Composer Composes: A fundraiser turns out to be a scam. [Premium Only]
Coyne of the Realm: Yet another scam, and this one is jaw-dropping in how stupid it is (yet someone fell for it big time). [Premium Only]
No Ad Again this week, and there is an update: now, special contributions will go toward a “scholarship” fund which will be used to upgrade deserving readers who can’t afford to upgrade. The idea: those who want to help True but don’t want to upgrade themselves can contribute toward the goal of 5 upgrades/week to omit ads. They benefit by providing support (and not seeing ads), as well as know exactly what their contribution goestoward. And deserving readers benefit too. Contribute $22, and that pays for half of a one-year scholarship. Contribute $440, and that pays for ten scholarships. Of course, upgrades also count toward keeping ads out. I did a test last week by funding five scholarships myself, and chose 5 recipients, all of which count so there will be no ad next week. (Do Not “apply” for one yet! I need more funds first.)To contribute, see this page and choose the new Scholarship option. Next week: a link for applications, assuming a fund is building. Thanks.
Roguebot: Another food delivery robot goes berzerk. [Premium Only]
Illiberal: Politician slapped down for a stupid idea (and appropriately so). [Premium Only]
The Right Tool for the Job: 14 months after a surgery to remove brain tumors, Stephanie Faure of Saskatoon, Sask., Canada, woke up feeling pressure in her head. She checked the mirror and saw what appeared to be a screw poking out through her skin, so she went to the hospital. After a 5-1/2 hour wait, she got to a doctor who immediately diagnosed her with a cyst. “He wasn’t even looking at it,” she said. “You could pretty visibly see what it was. And he was just telling me it wasn’twhat I was seeing.” She asked for a second opinion, but, “He said he had other people to help,” and she was asked to leave. That evening her boyfriend took a look and, with a pair of tweezers, removed a tiny, silver screw. Faure plans to file a complaint with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan to hold the doctor accountable, and hopefully help him “to realize that’s not how you treat people.” (MS/CBC) ...Turns out he’s the one with a screw loose.
Conspiracy Theory: Florida sheriff refutes a silly online meme (and appropriately so). [Premium Only]
The Patient Rushes: Wintzell’s Oyster House promises free oysters — if you’re a man, you’re 80, and you have your father with you. Jimmy Rush first had his father with him at Wintzell’s in 1972, when, he says, they would ride in a parade together and then eat oysters. For decades, his younger brother, Carl Rush, said, their family talked about getting those free oysters. “We felt like our dad was going to make it to 100 because he’s in great health.” Jim Rush is only 99 so far, butJimmy had just turned 80, and even though they’ve all moved to Florida, the three men returned to Mobile, Ala., for oysters at Wintzell’s. They were told they were the first to claim the free oysters. They may also be the second: Carl says they’ll be back for his free oysters in October 2028. (AC/WALA Mobile) ...You’ve got to have something to look forward to.
Oh, Sheet: A very cool (yet somewhat weird) rescue story. [Premium Only]
Will Win in a Landslide
Literally Anybody Else Is on the Ballot for North Richland Hills Mayor
KERA Dallas (Texas) headline
Did You Find an Error? Check the Errata Page for updates.
This Week’s Contributors: MS-Mike Straw, AC-Alexander Cohen, RC-Randy Cassingham.
Stories This Week were Written/Edited at sea (again) between Victoria and Tasmania, Australia.
Two New Blog Posts: I had more to say about the Florida Sheriff’s Office arrests: The Lunch Lady is Not the Story.
The second is advice for anyone who owns a domain name — thisistrue.com is a domain name. It’s vitally important that you have something set to Stop Spammers from Using Your Domain. It’s easy, it’s free, and it’s a nightmare if your domain is used by spammers to send their garbage, so get on it.
Kent in Saskatchewan, Canada, writes: “I just noticed the ‘why are we so often at sea when I write...’ in the last newsletter and wondered if anyone actually asked you that? As if you would skip (for example) experiencing an island in French Polynesia so you could type up a newsletter?” (The “why”: “Sunday [the day I write/edit, which is why issues have always been dated on Sundays] is a good day for longer sailings, when shops, museums, andtour operations tend to be closed.”)
Actually yes: I sometimes do skip going ashore to work, since that’s how I get the work done. If it was just a little typing, it wouldn’t take very long. But writing takes a lot of thought and work: getting the stories done takes about 10 hours each week. That’s after hours of research finding the right stories. An Honorary Unsubscribe takes 3-6 hours, and I have to skip or delay it if stories took longer than usual. Customer service takes an hour or two a day. And I’ve beenworking on updating my custom software. There’s more, but you get the idea.
Why would I do that? Because it’s my job — “it’s what I do.” Yes, I do love my job, but jobs are work, pretty much by definition. True is a more-than-full-time gig: there’s no way to do it well without putting quite a bit of time into it. If I really want to go ashore in a particularly interesting place, then I start my writing early so I can take Sunday or Monday off — Mondays are the day to research and write the Honorary Unsubscribe. Where we are right now, if I get upat 8:00 a.m., it's 3:00 p.m. in Colorado, and only 2 hours for the H.U. I tried to work on it last night, but was too tired to get much done on it. I got to sleep at 1:15 a.m., and slept until 9:00, so....
When we were in Colorado, I could hire someone to do most of the customer service work, plus some of the more “busywork” aspects of the job. But I can’t easily delegate those tasks anymore, so that means I have to do them. It would even be hard for Kit to do them, even if she was inclined to, because there is no easy way to network our computers together in the ship environment. It’s why I’ve removed quarterly payment as a Premium subscription option: it will help cut down on order entry time(though I have let existing autorenewals be).
It’s all a balancing act, just like life is in general. Living on a ship isn’t vacation, it’s a way of life, and work is part of life until one retires. I simply have to account for the way life is at this stage as I balance my work with the rest of life. Sometimes that means I don’t go ashore. But that’s life!
Ten Years Ago in True: Springtime for You-Know-Who.
The Two Sheriff’s Office employees being arrested is the Story of the Week, which means you’re welcome to share it from Telegram, Mastodon, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and/orFacebook, or grab from any of those to post elsewhere, and again there is more about the story in my blog.
This Week’s Sunday Reading: The first story to cause a HUGE ruckus among readers: the Austin Powers doll. Rants and Raves over “Austin Powers”.
The Latest Honorary Unsubscribe: Leah Stavenhagen. What do you do when you’re still in school and get a terminal diagnosis? Live — and help others do the same. That’s what Stavenhagen did, at least. The story is worth your 3 minutes.
Basic Subscriptions to This is True are Free athttps://thisistrue.com. All stories are completely rewritten using factsfrom the noted sources. This is True® (and Get Out of Hell Free® and StellaAwards®) are registered trademarks of ThisisTrue.Inc. Published weekly by ThisisTrue.Inc, PO Box 666,Ridgway CO 81432 USA (ISSN 1521-1932).
Copyright ©2026 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved.All broadcast, publication, retransmission to email lists, web site or social media posting, or any other copying or storage,in any medium, online or not, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author. Manual forwardingby email to friends is allowed if 1) the text is forwarded in its entirety from the “Since 1994” line on topthrough the end of this paragraph and 2) No fee is charged. I request that you forward no more than three copies to any oneperson — after that, they should get their own free subscription. I appreciate people who report violations of my copyright.
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