Hit-and-Run

Vern

Last week a guy I knew as a kid, Vernon (Vern) got killed in a hit-and-run accident in Pontiac. He was best friends with my cousin, when we lived in the "Project", or Lakeside Homes in the late-70's and early-80's. Vernon had a crush on my sister, and we would tease him about that and everything else about him. He was so quiet and shy, he took it all in stride. My cousin is a wild and crazy guy, and he and Vern were perfect friends. I remember, skipping rocks with the two of them on "mud lake". He was there when my cousin taught me, and I got over-joyed from finally skipping a rock.

As time went on, Vern kind of fell into the life of drugs and street life. My cousin, a stellar man, never stopped being his friend. He would have days, if he could find him would hang out with him talk about old times. I don't think they ever left each others hearts. It's just that they had taken different roads. Not that my cousin is a doctor or lawyer or anything, but he tries his best to live his best and Vern had just chose a different kind of life. Addiction is a monster that I don't wish on anyone. My father was an addict that died from the effects of drugs on his life at 46. His drug use effected me so much, I've never gotten high. I've never done crack or heroine. I've smoked weed and drank, and I was purposely given crack in my weed, but I didn't know it.

In Pontiac, that is something that sets me apart from other people. Pontiac, is a drug city. You either use it, sell it or both. I'm not going to win over people in Pontiac with this post, at all. I'm hoping that by writing these blogs and subsequent book that people with understand the ill-effects that drugs have on our community. It's true, it's like alcohol. Some people can drink socially, some people can survive with a drink or two a day, but then their are the others. Drugs are such a demeaning part of the community that we should readdress it's impact on every sector of our lives. No one has ever hoarded alcohol, organized prostitution rings for drugs and they surely never killed for alcohol. Not since 1920 - December 5, 1933, during Prohibition, when alcohol was illegal. Legalizing drugs does sound good to me! It'll take the power from the police who are running them, anyway.

Vern is one of several people who have died off Baldwin Avenue. The first, that stands out in my mind is Deb. She was an addict and prostitute on Baldwin. She spent a lot of time in the Oakland County Jail (OCJ). I heard several different accounts of what happened, but she was run down and killed on the streets of Baldwin. There is the man that was killed on his way to work one morning, walking in the dark. I'm sure over his life span, and being on them streets that Vern had spent time in OCJ. I keep asking, "What is it?" The only thing that I can say is that they are picking them off, because some selfish reason that has to do with their corruption. They seen something or done something that threatens their racket.

I worked at HQ in 1996. It was a home improvement store similar to Home Depot. I met a young woman there named Machekia. HQ was pretty much like Sears. Everybody there was stealing and I was caught in the middle. I had become a supervisor and that had mad a lot of people upset. First my car began to stop for no reason in the middle of me driving. I was driving down Telegraph one day, and I just stopped getting gas. I caused a three car pile up one day. When that didn't work, they just had man hit my car, one morning on my way to work. The man actually swerved into me as I made a left hand turn and they said it was my fault, because I turned into traffic and he was trying to avoid me. I had made it to the middle of the street and had crossed all three lanes traveling south. So, he swerved into me, and not away from me. But they are crafty.

Machekia, although a part of the racket was a sweet girl, and didn't give me an ounce of trouble at HQ. In fact, I can't remember her talking. I'm sure she was the life of the party with her friends, but she wasn't at work. When I heard she was dead, and the way she died, I was so shocked. Again, it was crafty. Her ex-husband was released from prison early and came home and murdered her and her two small children. It was gruesome, and frankly unbelievable. The first thing I thought was that I had never heard of anyone being released from prison on accident. It just doesn't happen. There are too many people, too many checks and balances and paperwork with your out-date on it. There couldn't be such a horrific mistake. Now, I have been to prison and know that is the biggest lie ever told since JFK. An Officer will know your out-date, better than you. Crafty, really crafty...

People who worked at HQ worked at Sears. If they didn't work there, their family or friends worked there. Brothers, sisters, mothers and daughters and sons. Five of my HQ ex-coworkers walked right passed me one evening, while I was working at Sears. These hit-and-runs are simply an extension of the racket that I keep telling you about. They are ridding themselves of parts of them that is either a threat or an obnoxious nuisance.  Yes, I think about my safety, everyday, especially with these white SUV's that follow me and the semi-trucks that try to frighten me off the road. They know when I leave my house, have people at any route I take and will never let a day go by without letting me know they are there.

They sleep together, male-female, male-male or female-female. They use drugs together, and they have built an empire of sex, drugs, prostitution and murder. You can join in if you do all of the above and can keep your mouth shut about what's going on. I have accidentally run into these people my entire working life. I've dated them, I've had them as my friends, and I have had to leave them alone. They are Black, White, Hispanic and everything in between. If you ever see me, I'm alone, unless I'm with my family. I don't fit in any of those categories, except male-female. I'm sure from past experiences that's not enough.

I want to help people with addiction, who are homeless and disenchanted with life. People like Vern and Deb deserved to be affiliated with sober people. But when you are strung out, and your associations are using socially or privately it's hard. It can make them believe that it's possible for them, and it's not. Then when you go to places where you are supposed to get help, the people that are supposed to be sober, aren't sober and don't want you to be either and you get high on site. Even worse, they sell you and make you their prostitute, or engage in an illegal sexual relationship with you. The reason people run from sobriety houses is not because they want to get high, but because they are getting high, but it's not enough. Plus, people get tired of being used. Many of these women have been abused as children.

Then they end up back in jail, and of course they are sold there. That's how they got into the drug program in the first place. They are fed drugs and hot food, and forced to have sex with the same sex and then one day, they get hit by a car and left dead on the side of the road. It's a consequence of your choices, but is it? If people get the right help, from the right people, and with the right heart. Could they live? Could they not be slaughtered on the side of the road like animals. If only someone really cared about the people who have lost their way, and not look at them as an opportunity to make money, Oakland County's crime rate would actually go down and Pontiac would be a better place to live.