|
 | | | | | | Quote |
"Augusta is officially on the world map, being a destination for mountain biking." -- Andy Jordan, bicycle shop owner, on NBC Augusta
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | ARCHIVES 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | Guest Column Issue #19.26 :: 01/23/2008 - 01/29/2008 In the war on meth, it’s the civilians who lose |
By Alan Tanner
AUGUSTA, GA - Bill Larisey is a man in his 70s who has worked hard to have what he has. He’s a good Christian man who played by the rules he knew — work hard, obey the law, treat people right and, in this country, you will prosper.
So he tried his hand at rental property, investing in several trailers. He charges reasonable rent. He fixes things when they break.
But this winter, one of his units sat empty for a while. Because copper is bringing good prices these days, and because some methhead decided he needed a fix, Larisey’s rental unit became a target.
Before I stepped into the home, I thought I’d seen it all. I’ve seen the war on drugs. I’ve seen the stupid things people will do on crack or cocaine. But meth is the most addictive substance known to man.
When I stepped into Larisey’s rental, I realized that only now have I seen it all (though I probably haven’t). Now I’m convinced there isn’t enough ink in the world to describe the people who thought they could play with something like meth and found out otherwise. And there is certainly not enough ink to describe the damage they do.
Almost every electrical receptacle in Larisey’s trailer had been pulled out of the wall. Then the wiring was ripped out through the wood paneling. Now, this is one of those “you had to be there” moments. I tried to do it myself. I wrapped the wire around my hands and pulled back with all my weight, jerking it until my hands hurt worse than my butt when my mama paddled it. And I got nothing.
Believe me, ripping out copper wire is a lot of work for little pay. They had to pull out the wire then strip it clean. And what did they get? Maybe three dollars a pound. There couldn’t have been a pound of wire in Larisey’s trailer. But let’s say there was two pounds, or four pounds. What did they get? Perhaps $10 or $12.
Unless you’re a methhead or crackhead or whatever kind of substance your feeble brain has in it, you will come to the same question Larisey did: Why do so much work for so little money?
His place didn’t have a wall in it that wasn’t totally ruined. The whole ceiling was ripped down. Larisey said he might as well give the place away because it would cost too much to repair. That’s one home gone, one man’s rental income lost.
Larisey asks why the man who did this doesn’t just get a job. But it’s really simple: Dopeheads can’t hold a job. Even if they got one that didn’t require a urine test (and every employer should), they couldn’t work because being a dopehead is a full-time job. In fact, it’s more than their full-time job.
Most of us work our 40 hours and do other things in between. Not them. Larisey doesn’t get it, but I’ve seen the pathetic world that methheads live in. A methhead will spend all day ripping $10 worth of copper out of a wall because his complete focus is on the getting the drug. But he couldn’t focus long enough to keep a regular job even if it paid him $100 an hour.
How do I know? If you want to understand sewer rats you have to go down the sewers with them. I have literally crawled down a sewer pipe to see if some doper has hidden the drugs in the sewer. And because I have seen the sewers, literally and figuratively, I have come to despise these people and their sad excuses about what they have done and what they’ve become.
Yet nobody shoved the powder up their noses or forced the needle into their arms or pushed the meth down their throats. And the sad part is that Larisey didn’t sign up for this, but he’s the one who is paying.
A general whose name I can’t recall once said that no matter who wins the war, the civilians are always the losers. And in the war on drugs, it’s no different. So civilians of this war, this is dedicated to you.
And to the person who destroyed Larisey’s trailer, maybe next time the owner won’t be someone like Larisey who will think before he acts. Maybe next time the owner will be someone like me, who knows you and your life. Then the trip you’ll be taking won’t be to the local scrapyard.
Put that in your crack pipe and smoke it.
| |
| |
|
|
| | | |
|
|
