The Need For Speed, and Other Small Town Observations

"The Need For Speed" - I recall that line from "Top Gun", however, I think Maverick was referring to the speed that is a catalyst for a totally different sort of rush than I will be covering lightly here. Meth. Yes. I have tried it. Let's put that into perspective. I am almost sixty. That little mistake was forty years ago for me. As much as I yet enjoy a good buzz, these days, and yes for decades now, I am quite content for that buzz to come from a bottle of Chilean wine, or a snifter of brandy, while in the company of my mate or a quite small circle of good friends. The closest I ever come these days to substance abuse, is after one of my periodic episodes with dental damnation, or my occasional miscalculation of my age and ability when it comes to sports, motorcycles, and the like, and have trouble believing that I no longer need to try to fill that friendly bottle of Vicodin, just one more time..........As far as quitting the meth, I had sense enough to know, even at twenty, that it would kill me, so I stopped. Also, the fact that Peruvian flake was readily available, and actually quite socially accepted among the lawyers, architects, doctors, and professors I hung around with at the time, made it a bit more justifiable, at least in my eyes, to try that little diversion instead.......and speaking strictly for myself now, when I opted to stop that little habit, it was simply a matter of economics and desiring to seek gainful employment, and I have never looked back. Case closed. And yes, I do realize that is not the case for most everyone else who has dabbled in drugs, and I do consider myself fortunate, and I will rain merciless hell on anyone that I discover attempting to involve my children in even the most "innocent" of drug use. You may call that hypocrisy - I choose to consider it a well informed decision.......

Now as for the story that prompted this, I must defer to the Advocate's coverage of the meth lab bust in this morning's paper. While it has some points to chuckle at, is is a serious issue, and I for one, am happy those folks are out of business, and would like to see all the rest of them shut down as well.

The story was actually fairly well reported, I thought, though as is frequently the case at the Advocate, apparently the copy editor who came up with the headline for it, just plopped down the first thing that came to mind. In retrospect, they might have used the word"suspected", or "alleged", in place of the word "possible", don't you think? But then, anything's possible. I like the fact that the raid was a collaborative effort among the agencies involved, and in particular, the fact that the press was invited, and chose to accompany them.

Now for the "small town" part. I find some humor in some of the comments by readers to the story. Cop hater Zorro's(zero?) was totally out of line, but not in the least surprising, based on his track record of commenting.
Wh1t3f0x's little comment "I just watched the report on fox and in the video was the Rock 'N' Blues truck parked in front of the building. Did anyone else see that? I'm not trying to spread rumors I'm just looking for a reality check"........was just a hair finger pointingish I think, despite his "I'm just sayin'" disclaimer, huh?

Equally amusing, but actually believable, was rbguy, the club owner's disclaimer to distance himself, and go on record explaining the fact that his truck was photographed at the scene of the bust.......some quick butt covering and brow wiping and "please God, make this go away" went on in that poor guy's head, I am sure....
Fact is, I have known more than one drug dealer in years past, who was in the automotive service business, in addition to their little moonlighting operation. That does seem to help with explaining some of the excess traffic coming and going as the result of a drug operation. Being a speed dealer(alleged), I'd be willing to bet he could tear down and reassemble a tranny in record time, ya think?(I'd bet the Rock 'N' Blues truck owner agrees with me on that) On the other hand, maybe he wasn't a speed freak, or was just a beginner.....as most speed freaks I have seen in years past, tended to have a little slimmer waistline.......

I noticed where patientearth thought that a better photo could have been used to accompany the story. That's a matter of opinion I suppose, but aside from the aforementioned perplexingly pudgy perpetrator(alleged) in the frame, I found the sign leaning against the wall of his auto/pharmaceutical enterprise, to be a bit ironic. I reckon that as the proprietor of a legitimate auto shop, such a sign would be in order to not get wiped out by being held liable in the event of a fire, but considering the double duty the place was doing as a meth lab(alleged), one does have to consider the possibility of a rather untimely spark from one side of the room causing the other side of the room to put the entire operation into orbit, doesn't one? You'd think a mechanic would know that..........