johnny wilson - 32. 1995

by bofa xesjum

part thirty-two of 52

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on april 19, 1995, a truck exploded outside the alfred p murrah federal building in oklahoma city, killing 168 people, injuring over 600 others, and destroying or damaging buildings within 16 blocks. 27 year old timothy mcveigh, a gulf war veteran angered by the us government’s actions at ruby ridge idaho in 1992 and waco texas in 1993, was apprehended by authorities within two hours of the blast, and eventually charged, tried, convicted, sentenced to death, and executed for the crime. despite his wife sally’s departure, johnny wilson and his mother jenny still wanted to try to adopt a child. olive johnson thought that johnny and jenny had been scammed by the adoption agency in reno, and she felt bad that she had recommended it. olive made further enquiries and located an unlicensed agency in east st louis which she assured jenny would provide them with an actual child and not just promises. on may 23, johnny and jenny, accompanied by olive, made the trip to east st louis, to sunny day enterprises, which operated in an office with no sign on its door, or any listing in or on the building it was located in. a smiling but businesslike woman who identified herself as mrs gonzalves presented them with a three year old girl whom she repeatedly assured johnny and jenny - though they had no reason to doubt it and did not really care - was a “korean orphan.” “what a little sweetie,” jenny addressed the unsmiling child. “i think we will call you lola. isn’t that a pretty name?’ “my name is kim,” the little girl replied. “yes, it’s kim,” mrs gonzalves said. “she is used to kim.” “kim it is then,” johnny, who had come this far to humor jenny and was having serious second thoughts about the whole enterprise, quickly agreed. this would be the first of many conflicts, large and small, that kim would have with johnny and jenny. she would win most of them. on october 3, a los angeles jury returned verdicts of not guilty against o j simpson, in his trial for the murders of nicole brown simpson and ronald goldman. 33. 1996

johnny wilson - 31. 1994

by bofa xesjum

part thirty-one of 52

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on january 6, 1994, u s figure skating champion nancy kerrigan, as she was leaving an arena in detroit, was attacked and wounded on one of her legs by a man who would be identified as an associate of rival skater tonya harding. in may, jenny wilson made some phone calls to adoption agencies she found in the yellow pages, and was discouraged by the information she received as to the time and red tape involved in the adoption process. but from her old friend and high school classmate olive johnson, jenny learned of an agency in nevada that might be quicker and easier to deal with. on june 6, johnny took three consecutive days off for the first time in five years, and he and jenny drove to the adoption agency in reno. the friendly woman at the agency, who seemed to think johnny and jenny were man and wife, took an up front fee of $500, gave then some brochures with pictures of smiling, mostly white children, and told them they would be contacted as soon as a child “right for them” was available. when johnny and jenny returned home, they found that sally had left with all her possessions - “at least she didn’t steal anything”, jenny noted - and left town with hank browning. on june 17, former football star o j simpson was arrested in los angeles, after a widely televised two hour car chase by police, and charged with the murders of his ex-wife, nicole brown simpson, and her friend ronald goldman. on september 19, sally and hank were married in las vegas, in the same chapel in las vegas where sally had married johnny, this time with eight other couples. 32. 1995

johnny wilson - 30. 1993

by bofa xesjum

part thirty of 52

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on february 28, 1993, agents of the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms attempted unsuccessfully to storm the waco texas living quarters of some members of the branch davidians, a small christian religious group. four agents and six members of the group were killed in a gun battle. on march 13, johnny wilson suggested to his wife sally that they adopt a child. sally was planning to leave johnny and move in with hank browning, and she said, “sure, that sounds like a great idea.” on april 19, the fbi launched a tear gas attack on the branch davidian compound in waco. a fire broke out in which 76 members of the branch davidians were killed, and 9 survived. on august 14, joe wilson was drinking a cup of coffee by himself at a burger king in abilene kansas when a man sat down at his table, introduced himself as burt abercrombie and told joe that joe’s preaching had brought him, burt, to the lord and turned his life around. joe bought burt a cup of coffee and they had a friendly conversation. 31. 1994

johnny wilson - 29. 1992

by bofa xesjum

part twenty-nine of 52

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on april 29, 1992, a jury in ventura county california delivered not guilty verdicts on four counts of assault, and three counts of using excessive force, with a hung jury on the fourth count of using excessive force, against four los angeles police officers involved in the beating of rodney king, an african-american man the police had been chasing for speeding. the beating of king had been videotaped and widely shown in news media. six days of rioting in los angeles county ensued, in which 63 people were killed and over 2,500 injured. johnny wilson cointinued to work the graveyard (10 pm to 6 am) shift at wal-mart, while sally mostly worked 4 pm to midnight at costco. the actual nights of the week they worked varied. sally worked more overtime than johnny, so the times they saw each other varied. jenny maintained a regular schedule of sleeoing, eating, and watching television. sally struck up a friendship with hank browning, a fellow worker at costco. hank was full of stories about his adventures as a “highly trained” navy seal, which sally did not believe for a minute. but she found hank amusing. they began seeing each other after work. sally sometimes told johnny and/or jenny that she was working overtime on these occasions, but at other times did not bother to account for her time. one night when sally was at work but johnny at home, jenny got up the nerve to suggest to johnny that he and sally should adopt a child. to her surprise, he showed some interest in the idea. on november 24, the united states ended its 94 year military presence in the phillippines. 30. 1993

johnny wilson - 28. 1991

by bofa xesjum

part twenty-eight of 52

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on april 3, 1991, a ceasefire was signed that ended the “first gulf war,” fought between saddam hussein’s iraq and united nation forces led by the united states. total casualties for the united states totaled 292 killed and 467 wounded. casualties for iraq’s armed forces were estimated at about 25,000 killed and 75,000 wounded. johnny and sally wilson settled into married life together. sally had looked forward to fighting with jenny, who continued to live with them, but jenny did not oblige, sitting placidly in front of the television and never complaining or arguing about anything. a new costco opened six miles down the road from the wal-mart where johnny and sally worked. they had previously agreed that it would be a good idea if they did not work at the same place, and that as johnny was earning a foreman’s pay, sally would look for an opportunity to move somewhere else. she applied to costco, and began work there on the night shift on june 10. jenny watched some shows about adopting children and thought it would be a good idea if johnny and sally adopted a child so that she, jenny, would have a grandchild to brighten her existence. sitting in front of the tv in her old broken down chair, which she insisted she “loved” and did not want to replace, she pondered the best way to bring the subject of adoption up. on devember 25, mikhail gorbachev gave a televised speech resigning his position as president of the soviet union, conceding that the soviet union had ceased to exist, as all the republics forming it had declared their independence from it. political leadership of russia passed to boris yeltsin, president of the independent russian federation. 29. 1992

johnny wilson - 27. 1990

by bofa xesjum

part twenty-seven of 52

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on february 9, 1990, the central committee of the communist party of the soviet union announced that it would make “no claim for any particular role” in the new constitution being drafted under the auspices of president gorbachev, and that in effect it no longer claimed final political power in the soviet union. joe wilson had moved on from st louis and found a somewhat less hostile environment for his preaching in omaha nebraska and in lincoln nebraska. he began traveling back and forth between the two cities. on the early evening of july 8, in omaha, joe was preaching one of his favorite themes - the infinite forgiveness of the lord - when he was challenged in vociferous fashion by a rival preacher, who accused him of “preaching false doctrine”. “you are a false prophet!” cried the rival, an older african-american man, “you preach false doctrine!” “i make no claim to being a prophet,” joe replied mildly, “i am only a servant - a servant of the lord.” “you are a false prophet!” the rival roared back, to the cheers and laughter of the small crowd of spectators. a couple of intoxicated young african-american men in the crowd began egging the old man on, and the scene became quite loud and rowdy, though no blows were struck or even threatened. a police car pulled up and a young female officer got out. she recognized the rival preacher. “what did i tell you about making these disturbances, ike? i’m sorry, but i’m going to take you in.” “hey hey, you can’t arrest the brother and not the white man too! they both be stirring shit up!” lying in his bunk in the jail that night, joe felt a great peace. he felt he was truly fighting the good fight for the lord. on october 11, johnny wilson and sally malmberg were married in a chapel in las vegas, along with ten other couples. 28. 1991

johnny wilson - 26. 1989

by bofa xesjum

part twenty-six of 52

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on february 14, 1989, iran’s supreme leader, the ayatollah khomeini, issued a “fatwa” - a sentence of death to be executed by any muslim in the world - against the british novelist salman rushdie, and anyone else involved with the publication or distribution of his novel the satanic verses, a book the atyatollah and other devout muslims considered blasphemous. on may 1, sally malmberg was hired to work on the night shift at wal-mart’s where johnny wilson, now twenty-five years old and in his ninth year of full time employment, had recently been promoted to foreman. sally was forty-three years old, had been married four times but was now single, was a bit on the heavy side, and was an experienced and dextrous fork lift operator, which impressed johnny. a week after being hired, sally asked johnny , when they were getting off in the morning, if he would like to join her for breakfast at a nearby wendy’s. johnny agreed. he called jenny, who was usually awake when he arrived home, and told her he would be late. “tell me a little about yourself,” sally addressed johnny, when they were seated at wendy’s with their coffee and breakfast sandwiches. on nonember 9, the government of the german democratic republic announced that its citizens were free to cross the borders into the federal republic of germany and into west berlin. 27. 1990