John Fenley is an investor, landchad, family man and an autist for music. When he heard the news of Murfie going out of business he stepped up immediately and offered to buy the remaining digital collection.

It wasn't his first venture into this type of busines. Fenley had a similar business that to Murfie that he started years ago, but was unable to find investors for his company. But this a second chance for him, because he knew what he could do it right this time. This was his white whale.

Shortly after, Fenley sold about 150k dollars worth of stock he received from another company and purchased an abandoned warehouse in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Before we continue let's discuss Pine Bluff for those unfamiliar with it. The only aspect you really need to know about Pine Bluff is that it makes third world shitholes look like a paradise in comparison. Let us look at some statistics to truly understand it

Homicide rate:

Pine Bluff had 29 homicides in 2021. Pine Bluff had 23 murders in 2020 - a rate of 56.5 murders per 100,000 people. The national average was 6.5 murders per 100,000 people in 2020

Poverty Rate:

The per capita income for the city was $17,334. About 24.3% of families and 30.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 45.6% of those under age 18 and 13.7% of those age 65 or over.

Demographics:

A fairly dangerous city to say the least. But, Im guessing at the time Fenley didn't understand this and would come across many problems in his journey for his whale.

The journey

Fenley has been documenting his adventure on twitter. These tweets are mostly in chronological order, but these aren't all of his tweets. You can check out Fenleys twitter account to see his full journey, but im just going to show some of the highlights.

Right off the bat, Fenley has issues with the Pine bluff city hall fining him for building violations:

Was handed this today by PineBluff zoning. Apparently semi truck trailers, shipping containers, and tents aren't allowed anywhere in the city. Even in industrial and commercial zones. Is this real? Just shut down the whole town.

He eventually meets with the mayor to discuss his future prospects but that ends up going nowhere:

Was handed this at the end of my meeting with the Mayor of cityofpinebluff. It's basically an eviction order barring me from living on property I own. I told them I would not leave the #Murfie containers unguarded regardless of their threats. Meeting did not go well.

I should mention too, that Fenley is also trying to turn the warehouse into a science museum and that he's attempting to build a fusion reactor

I was playing around with a GPU accelerated Penning Trap simulator we are building to help understand my fusion reactor and came up with a very weird idea based on what I was seeing when I start with a flat disc of particles.

Tragically for Fenley, the PineBluff goverment are a bunch of chuds that don't trust the science:

What kind of city government tries to prevent someone from opening a science museum?

Fenleys frustrations with the city government only continue to grow:

Pine Bluff just seems to want to tear everything down. All they know here is destruction. It's amazing to me that they act like this. Can you imaging any other city working so hard to bulldoze houses? They don't want anyone to fix things.

The downward spiral only continues for Fenley:

Had another break in at the warehouse yesterday. This time they were able to open all 4 containers. They stole the security system, 2 telescopes, 2 turbo molecular pumps and other high vacuum equipment tools, welders, RC toys, sculptures, etc. Murfie media seems mostly OK

He does offer a $3 bounty to whoever catches those robbers

Had over $20,000 worth of equipment stolen last Saturday. Putting a bounty on catching the crooks.

They never catch them lmao

I never could have imagined that I would have to lock up all my valuables, and carry a loaded pistol with me, to feel safe walking to the bathroom at night in my own home.

Fenley also starts sneeding at the police for being shit at their job:

I think we need to change the way the police in this town are paid. I say double the budget, but every time a crime happens, the police pay the victims to make them whole until they reach 75% of their current pay. Let's see how fast that stops crime.

Despair grows inside Fenley:

PineBluff is a cesspit. What do I do? I've put about half a million into trying to get started here, but I can't get anything done. I only have about $100k left to work with, and that's not going to buy much anywhere else. I will not put Murfie media in rented space again.

I should mention that Fenley is also married and has kids that live in another state. It appears that he's somewhat abandoned them in pursuit of his dream.

Surprise... I was robbed again in PineBluff today.

7 days later...

Robbed again! WTF! Pinebluff 2 guys in sniper gear and gloves came and robbed me again this morning. I've lost track of how many times I've been robbed. I'm seriously going crazy.

Several hours later....

Twice in one day... called 911 immediately. I went out and had the guy on the ground at gunpoint. Police were on site in 6 minutes.

Would you believe I was robbed again?

Febley is also is his own security guard too. He'll often confront those on his property with a gun of couse:

Robbed again? Seriously?

Fenley called the cops on the guy in the above video, and the police actually arrested him! But the guy was quickly released from jail and came back to Fenleys warehouse:

And they let the guy go, and surprise, he came back again today.

PineBluff happening right now. Two thieves were scoping my place out with this U-Haul filled with thievery tools. I had them at gunpoint but they ran away.

Three kids seeing if they can steal stuff. Just another day in PineBluff.

The constant stress continues to pile on our neurodivergent Ishmael:

3 years ago today I read an article that changed my life. Murfie had shut down and all the media they stored was headed to the dump unless a miracle happened. I stepped in to try to save the situation, but being stuck in containers for 3 years isn't much better. I'm so sorry.

I should clarify that he's basically living at the warehouse fulltime to ensure that one is trying to rob it. At least one has ever tried taking his security cameras:

PineBluff this is why I hate this town.

Can anyone tell from the sound what kind of gun I just heard firing shots outside my warehouse?

Fenley has been here for 3 years at this point and still hasn't been murdered somehow

I nominate PineBluff for "Most Purge -like" town. Criminals here have learned that nobody will stop them, and they won't pay any consequences for their behavior.I actually wonder if the city is complicit in this. Lack of investigation and prosecution is tacit approval.

Good movie reference!

I was having a pretty heated argument with somebody last night over a truck that they stole from me, and I'm pretty sure they burned one of my houses down. #PineBluff

Hopefully 2023 brings better luck to our hero

Not 4 hours into the new year and I'm already injured while dealing with an intruder. 2023 is off to a great start!

Its never going to get better for him

So far that's Fenleys entire story. An interesting one to say the least. Hopefully he doesn't get murdered so we can get more updates on his pursuit of happiness. Fenley doesn't look like he's giving up on PineBluff yet, since he's bought over 75 properties in the city so far. I truly hope he does catch his white whale one day

Thanks for reading!