Terry Duncan dropped out of high school when his dad died. He wanted to earn some money and help the family. He got a job laying sod. That job didn't last forever, but it set the tone for his career. He's had a series of jobs, most of which involved physical labor. He's done a little sales work, and he once ran a tavern, but mostly he's worked with his hands and his back. Ten years ago, when he was 45, he got a job in maintenance with the Edward Jones Family YMCA in Maryland Heights. He started part time in 2003 and went full time in 2004. Funny how things work out. He had been reared in Maryland Heights, and when he found the job, he was living in Maryland Heights. That's where his wife's house was. They'd both been married before. [continues 721 words]
Several of my young colleagues were talking wistfully about establishing a commune. "I'm in," I said, although I had not been invited. There was an awkward silence. Perhaps the commune they had in mind was not going to have a shuffleboard court. "What skills would you bring?" one asked me. That might have been meant as a trick question. I'm always asking for help with the computer. I can't master the new phone system. I bump into things. I would not be a lot of help if the commune wanted to build a barn. So I considered the question. What skills would I bring? [continues 721 words]
Let's take a pop quiz. John Wright comes from a prominent family. He has degrees in economics and law from Yale. He worked as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs. He was a principal at a venture capital firm. Mitch Richards used to volunteer for Show-Me Cannabis, an organization working to decriminalize marijuana. The two are running for a seat in the Missouri Legislature. Which man is from which party? Wright is the Democrat. Richards is the Republican. For the purpose of the quiz, I have, of course, greatly condensed the two resumes of the candidates for Missouri's 47th District. Campaign stories from the Columbia Daily Tribune -- the district includes that city -- indicate that both men are much more than the abbreviated resumes would make them appear. [continues 614 words]
It would be great if our state went to pot Bernice and Wylie Williams walked along Delmar Boulevard in the Loop in University City late Thursday morning. Because they approached everybody they saw, they seemed, at first glance, to be panhandlers. But unlikely panhandlers. Respectable-looking. Kind of old for that sort of thing, too. They were trying to collect signatures on a petition to put a measure on the November ballot that would legalize marijuana in Missouri. They are unlikely activists in this cause. Wylie is 73. Bernice is 69. They grew up in Texas and met at Texas Christian University. They married after Wylie graduated in 1961. Let me explain something to young people. What we now call the '60s did not start until 1966 or 1967. [continues 668 words]
Would you like to see Missouri become a tourist destination? It's possible. The door is open. The zany voters of California -- once again, they elected Gov. Moonbeam -- voted not to legalize pot. What were they thinking? What were they smoking? Actually, that's it. They were smoking marijuana. You know who was against the proposition to legalize pot? The medical marijuana industry. And why not? At the moment, they have the market cornered. Approximately 250,000 people have prescriptions. Some suffer from anxiety or insomnia. If each shares his or her legal pot with just one friend, that's half a million pot smokers. [continues 710 words]
Many people are making light of the Michael Phelps situation. With the price of marijuana these days, how could any pothead in his right mind let a guy with the lung capacity of an Olympic swimmer take a hit on his bong? Also, why doesn't some fast-food chain make an endorsement deal with Phelps? "When I have a craving for something to eat at midnight -- and I have those cravings! -- I know where to go." But when you put the jokes aside, Phelps is a national security issue. [continues 855 words]
Noel Reeves, who will be 34 later this month, did not finish high school. He had a hardscrabble childhood on the city's South Side. He had a hardscrabble young adulthood, too. He had a number of failed relationships with women - two children resulted from those relationships - and a string of low-paying, temporary jobs. Three times he was busted on marijuana charges. It wasn't until last year that he got a job with benefits - health care, a retirement plan, all the accouterments of the middle class. By then, he also was married. Along with his mother, he and his wife bought a modest home in High Ridge. [continues 761 words]
Circuit Court Judge Julian Bush seems like a low-key fellow. He is a slight and studious-looking. He is an 11-year veteran of the bench. Last month, he sentenced Eddie Woodfin, a career criminal who had been convicted of possession of crack cocaine. Woodfin is a tall, husky fellow with long hair. He looks younger than his 48 years. He has been in enough trouble that there is some dispute about how much trouble he's been in. One official in the court system told me Woodfin had eight felony convictions for stealing. His attorney said he had 16. At any rate, the Missouri Department of Corrections reports that Woodfin has done a couple of stretches in prison for stealing, and at the time of his sentencing, he was on probation in St. Louis County for stealing. Admittedly, stealing has a certain built-in momentum. If you're a neophyte, you have to steal $750 worth of something to qualify for a felony charge. But after two convictions, all subsequent cases count as felonies. Steal a pack of cigarettes? A felony. [continues 714 words]
On a Monday morning in February, Joseph Butts was headed east on Interstate 44. He was driving a 2001 Chevrolet pickup with Arizona plates. He was stopped by a Missouri Highway Patrol officer in Franklin County. According to the police report, the officer stopped the truck because of erratic driving. Perhaps so. Then again, I-44 is known as a major thoroughfare for drug traffickers, and it's possible that a pickup with Arizona plates had caught the eye of a veteran cop. Or it could have been a combination of things. The report mentions that the pickup had begun to pass a tractor-trailer when the pickup suddenly decreased its speed and fell in behind the tractor-trailer. Was that erratic or just suspicious? Maybe the driver of the pickup had seen the patrol car. At any rate, the highway patrolman pulled over the pickup. [continues 540 words]
Let's raise a toast this morning to a Republican from New York, Erie County Executive Joel Giambra. After a spate of drug-related killings in Buffalo, including the Good Friday murder of a nun who was killed by an addict who wanted her cell phone so he could trade it for crack, Giambra had the courage to state the obvious. The war on drugs isn't working. We ought to talk about legalization, he said. He was immediately ridiculed by other politicians. The folks from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition rallied to his side. Peter Christ, a retired police captain from the nearby town of Tonawanda, appeared with Giambra at a press conference and said that legalization made sense. [continues 555 words]
Although I don't support the war, I like the troops. I'm talking about the war on drugs. I like the cops and the prosecutors, and I have mixed feelings when their good efforts go for naught. That is what happened in a case I wrote about for Wednesday. Robert Lindsey Jr. was on trial for drug trafficking. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Meyer presented a very strong case. The narcotics detectives who testified for the government were good witnesses. At least they seemed credible to me. A confidential informer had told them that two men - Heavy and Junior - were selling drugs in front of an abandoned house in which they stashed their dope. Surveillance seemed to confirm that. So the detectives got a search warrant and returned to the house. They saw a man go in and out of the house and apparently make transactions of some sort on the street. When he left the house, they followed him and then arrested him. [continues 548 words]
Howard Woolbridge came to town last week and talked some truths about the war on drugs. It's a failure. Let's legalize everything and say that addiction is a medical problem rather than a legal problem. Woolbridge is a retired cop from Lansing, Mich., and he is a member of LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. The organization is four years old, but Woolbridge has been singing from the legalization hymnal for a bit longer. He told me he's seen a shift in the public attitude. [continues 598 words]
Howard Woolbridge came to town last week and talked some truths about the war on drugs. It's a failure. Let's legalize everything and say that addiction is a medical problem rather than a legal problem. Woolbridge is a retired cop from Lansing, Mich., and he is a member of LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. The organization is four years old, but Woolbridge has been singing from the legalization hymnal for a bit longer. He told me he's seen a shift in the public attitude. [continues 596 words]
This year, the body of 17-year-old Jacob Bowers was found in a parking lot behind a furniture store in Cape Girardeau. He had been shot once in the back. The bullet went through his heart. A small quantity of cocaine was found in one of his pockets. He had also been carrying a two-shot derringer pistol. It was loaded. Both bullets were dented from the gun's hammer. Apparently, the pistol had misfired. Three days later, Bernard Richards, 19, was arrested and charged with Bowers' murder. The interesting thing about the case was the total absence of virtue. [continues 737 words]
CBC high school is a private institution and has the absolute right to drug-test its students. Furthermore, high school kids should not be using illegal drugs. Still, I get chills when I think about the school's plan for mandatory drug testing. Part of it is the libertarian in me. We are a free people - although getting less free all the time - and none of us is guilty until proven innocent. The presumption of innocence should include high school students. In fact, I'd waive it only in matters of public safety. I am not bothered by metal detectors at airports. [continues 617 words]
NINE YEARS AGO, Vladimir Noskov called members of the local media to let us know that he and his girlfriend were going to try to send bandages, children's aspirin and hydrogen peroxide to the children of Iraq. We will not be allowed to send these things, he said. That was because of the sanctions imposed on Iraq after the Persian Gulf War. To members of the peace movement, which was floundering in 1996 - what was there to protest against? - these sanctions were criminal. Thousands and thousands of children were dying, the activists said. So Noskov and his girlfriend decided to make a scene. [continues 634 words]
Thirty years ago, I lived in a small apartment near a dry riverbed about two blocks from Mill Avenue in Tempe, Ariz. The big literary event of each month was the arrival in a local head shop - Mill was lined with them - of the latest edition of the comic book, The Furry Freak Brothers. The brothers' motto was this: Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope. To be entirely honest about it, I had much more experience with the no-money part. [continues 673 words]
Friday morning was unseasonably warm, and nobody appreciated that more than Joe Babb. He works outdoors. In fact, he's starting his own landscaping business. He's also raising his 8-year-old son, and Friday, you might remember, was Halloween. What a morning - a gorgeous day, an excited child. How could a father not feel blessed? Especially Babb. He appreciates what he has. His slice of paradise is of the paradise-regained variety. He lost it once, and almost forever. He was a crack addict. He started 12 years ago when he was 29. [continues 598 words]
Thanks to technology I do not understand - blogs and links - Monday's column attracted a wide audience. I have received e-mails from all over, including such exotic locales as Ireland, Austria, Canada, Japan, South Korea and California. In the spirit of El Rushbo, let's move the conservative callers to the top of the screen. "I believe the difference in Klinton (sic) and Rush is that one was a President of the United States in whom we had lost all faith, and the other is a talk-show host who many of us have come to trust. Most of us can understand the failings of a friend, but not the repeated lies of history's most corrupt politician." Marc S. of Peoria, Ill. [continues 558 words]
Somewhere in a parallel universe, where we are the same people but things have happened in slightly differently ways, Rush Limbaugh greets his loyal listeners this morning. "Lots to talk about today. You all know already that Bill Clinton, our former president, has admitted an addiction to prescription drugs. "It's interesting to see the way the liberal media are playing this. I'm looking at a copy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Saturday, October 11th, edition - the day after the big announcement. Well, the story is on Page 2, and right next to his photograph, in large boldface print, is the following quote: 'I take full responsibility for this problem.' [continues 636 words]
