Читать книгу Brilliant Minds in Captivity - Roger W Upchurch - Страница 4

The past is behind you, so this the chance for your future.

Thursday, January 18th, 2018 I just finished reading a book called “Three Felonies a Day” by Harry A Silvergate. This book states that the average businessman wakes up every morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, has a few drinks, watches TV, and goes to bed unaware that he has committed at least three crimes that day.

The answer lies in the very nature of the modern Federal criminal laws, which not only exploded in number but alone with countless regulatory provisions, that have also become broad and vague. The Federal Criminal Justice System has become dangerously disconnected from common law traditions of due process and fair notice of laws expectations enabling prosecutors to pin arguable a Federal crime on any of us even the most minor mistake or behavior.

The prosecutor’s job is to at all cost to get to a plea deal and not go to trial. When they accomplish that and 95% of the time, they do and it is a win for them, another feather in their cap, or maybe another steak dinner. Winning is their goal no matter how they get it done. “Guilty or Not”

They will mysteriously find something if they cannot find something obvious.

If you are a business owner, a professional such as a doctor, accountant, politician, or even an attorney and even if you think you totally comply with everything and have broken no laws think again. If something or someone tips them off an upset customer, a disgruntled employee, a vendor, or just a jealous person who envies you because you are making a lot of money. If you make a lot of money, you must do something illegal. A “Whistle Blower” that wants in your checkbook. If the Justice goes after you then you are part of their game and they win 98% of the time.

Later I called Shelby my daughter, and they sold their home and made an offer on another one in Fishers, too bad I cannot be there to help with advice. Ryan my son-in-law was just released from his job and I hope that does not interfere with them getting a loan for the new home. His company said that they were cutting back.

Friday, January 19^th, thank goodness it is (TGIF). Fridays and weekends are not much different from any other day for me, I still work at the Library at the same hours. We do have movies in the chapel on the gigantic screen and with surround sound. Sometimes I have someone work for me if I want to see the movie.

Saturday, January 20th, I got up at about 7 am and heard that there was a raid last night and several cell phones were found, and three men went to the hole. They also found a lot of contraband liquor, cigarettes, and some pot. One guy I thought would be caught would be a Jew that is what he is just called. Jew is a hustler and if you want something he will get for you. He is always selling candy and many other things. If you want a McDonalds Big Mac, beer vodka candy cigarettes just put your order in, and he will get it for you. You must put money on his account or pay with the commissary. I am glad he was not involved as I like him, and he leaves in two months. He is a true entrepreneur. Prison will make you a better criminal. I believe if they break the rules here, they will when they get on the outside. With so many guys getting busted I believe the officers may protect Jew, maybe he is paying some officers, I do not know.

I keep telling my temporary friends in here that I do not lie, cheat, or steal. I never cussed much either, but I have more since I have been here. Mother Fucker are the most used words in here.

Here is another story of how the Justice system goes after you.

Pete my fellow inmate and we both work in the library. Pete works during the day with Mrs. Whitley. Pete is a doctor and had an MD practice in Tucson Arizona. Pete says that billing for Medicare was confusing and the medical procedures had codes for each procedure. For several years he kept asking the insurance if he was presenting his bills right and he thought he was getting underpaid and shorted. He said that he could not find a code for some procedures. At one time he thought the insurance company owed him over a million dollars. He found out that the insurance was not well financially and was searching for anything wrong so they would not have to pay him. After trying to work with the insurance company he got a notice that he was under investigation for Medicare fraud. The insurance said that Pete was over billing and owed them money. The Feds got involved and when they get to you, they will charge you with something. He said the Feds were threatening him and saying he did not plea he was facing twelve years and millions in restitution. He gave in and did a plea for six years. Again, his attorney was just a shadow charging him fees. Pete is appealing his case but maybe out before he gets that done.

Monday, January 22nd, 2018, I got up fixed my coffee as usual and there was an announcement on the PA to get things cleaned up as the company is walking through. After this announcement’s somebody walks though and sometimes, they do not, but the announcement works.

As I am writing and drinking my coffee, I am listening to FOX news and we are on our third day of a partial government shutdown. I am not sure what that accomplishes. It seems like President Trump’s hands are tied to getting things done. Trump tweeted this morning that the Democrats are turning down services to build a powerful military for services of non-citizen illegal immigrants.

Wouldn’t it be great if politicians would all be businessmen and women and concentrate on the business at hand and not the party? Make the decisions in the boardroom and do not leave until they make a decision and then act on it by delegating now! How many millions of dollars would this save the Government? How about now getting paid until a task is completed and funded? So, much for dreaming, too much common sense.

I have been playing some pool lately and one friend that plays is JR. His name is Weldon Rogers and he is about seventy years old, not in the greatest shape mentally but he can sure play pool. One day as we were talking, he said that he was a professional pool player. Jr was and still is a great- one-handed player. Here is an article about him.

Weldon Rodgers and “Bakersfield Bob” were both from a small town in Arizona, Eloy, I think. I do not remember, for a goodly number of years, anybody beating any of us playing even up bar pool. Weldon and Bobby played great with the big rock while I did most of the small cue ball playing.

We ended up being around each other quite a bit in Woodward, Oklahoma, (pronounced with the second w silent). We all thought it was home to the best steak house in the world. We certainly tested it every night. There was a ton of action at the Hilltop Bar and Motel. Sixty miles away in Longdale resided Bill Duggan, a weak player who might arrest you and throw you in jail for not gambling. When Bill said “the store is open” that meant you could bet anything you wanted.

Players like “One Eyed Tony”, Andy O’Gean, and a host of other excellent players whose names do not come immediately to mind, frequented this great action spot. Ten miles south of Woodward, in Moreland, lived Verl Horn. Verl owned the local body shop and tow truck company and rolled out the red carpet for all visiting pool players. It was not uncommon for him to give a gentleman such as myself a couple of thousand dollars and the use of a new Cadillac while I was in town. Later in life, Verl dabbled in cue making and did a fairly good job at that.

I knew Weldon and Bobby before the Woodward era. We had had an exceptionally good friend and a sure to be top player named Johnny Draine, from Tucson. Johnny sadly died in Vietnam in the service of his country.

After reflecting about all the years in my pool playing life, I have to say Weldon (Those of us who were close to him, prefer to call him Junior.) was the greatest pool hustler who ever lived. To wit: 1... He started his trips with $10,000 or more; that is $80,000 in today’s money. 2...He carried a thousand-dollar bill in his hatband. 3...He tried to get a good game and he was an exceptionally fine game maker and then bet as much money as possible. 4...He was honest to a fault with those with whom he did business. 5...He raised his family properly and if you were Junior’s friend, you just could not have a better guy in your corner.

I was asked what I meant by using the Weldon Rodgers school of gambling. When I had lost a game of Snooker for $300 and raised the bet to $1,000 a game, even though my opponent had run the entire table. In a famous match of Junior’s. He was with our mutual friend Will Willingham and playing Johnny Edwards in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The first set was an eight ahead and Johnny ran the whole set out. Instead of quitting, as many modern-day greats would, Weldon and Will doubled the bet. Junior ended up getting the money.

One time in Woodward, I had “stalled” with Indian John, a shortstop player, and gotten him to spot me the seven ball. It was a work of art on my part and Junior was in with it. I won $3,000 and was delighted with the effort. We had played in Longdale and we drove back to Woodward to our motel. As we were pulling into our parking space in front of our room, Weldon hollered at me, “There’s John. He is still got $300 left. I’m going to go get it.” “Junior,” I cautioned, “we’ve already got almost all the money. Why don’t you leave the poor guy alone?” But Weldon liked to get all the money, so he lost the entire $3,000 plus $1,500 of ours. Please do not get the wrong idea. This was a rare exception. Weldon practically always got the money.

He was fast, winning two- or three-foot races when we were together. The most famous of which was against Eddie Bellmore, a smart guy who got crippled for life in Los Angeles when he got robbed and would not give up his watch. Weldon and I got shot at a couple of times and threatened with being tarred and feathered but we survived and enjoyed our times together greatly.

I have been conversing with Freddie the Beard and I am going to put a little teaser out there for you interested readers. We have been threatening for years to put together a Top Ten Rogues’ List. I do not know exactly when this will come about but we will get it done and I promise we really have some qualified candidates.

I would like to thank the posters who remembered and appreciated the play of Johnny Drane.

Somebody made note of Weldon’s one-handed talents, which reminds me of an interesting match. Weldon and I were in Denver where we had both bested a young Danny Medina on the bar table in a tough Mexican joint. Eddie “The Hat” Burton had insinuated himself into our company, not something we really wanted, so Danny got all his money back playing Eddie even up bar pool.

After some good-natured matching up, Danny spotted Weldon the five and the break with Weldon having to shoot one-handed. It was no contest. It looked almost as if Junior played as good as Danny. This is not meant to denigrate Danny’s game. He was noticeably young and within a couple of years, he played about as good a game of 9 Ball as anybody.

Dennis Porterfield, from a well to do family in Albuquerque, was good and tight with Weldon and me and oftentimes would accompany us on our expeditions. He is a sharp guy who moves well although his pool game was suspect. Dennis was the straightest guy I ever knew then, the most unlikely individual to ever drink, smoke, or take drugs. Then I found out that he found his way to Seattle where he had married a wonderful woman who took real good care of him and he had quit the bad habits entirely. He still loved the pool and it happened that he was getting some decent action in a local bar, but Dennis’s game had not improved. After about a three-month period he found himself $10,000 loser. He discovered that I was going to be in town for an exhibition. He got my phone number, called me, and arranged for me to come out a couple of days early. “I don’t care about the money, Grady,” he said, “I just want to see this guy beat. He’s really a creep”.

I do a first-rate job of “lemoning” this guy and after a couple of nights, I am $4,000 winner. He does not know that Dennis has anything to do with this play, but he is suspicious, even though I really laid it down well. When he had Dennis $10,000 stuck, everything was hunky-dory, peaches, and cream, laughs and giggles, etc. He did not like being stuck one little bit. His recourse was to contact the bunco squad. Like Dennis said, a real creep.

I referred in my last post to a negro being tarred and feathered incident. This took place in Lamar, Colorado, home of a man-made lake in Two Buttes reservation. I got slapped one night for telling a young lady that she had two beauts. We found a tavern in Lamar where the activity seemed lively and the place had a pool table and a bowling machine. After introducing ourselves, Dennis, Weldon, and I began trying to drum up some action. The owner of the place was present, and he said, “I’ll play any of you on this bowling machine”. We responded by offering him a pool game. He declined that offer and it looked like nothing was going to happen. Dennis called us off to the side and said “I can bowl fairly good on that machine. Why don’t we have either one of you guys play him 8 Ball while I bowl against him? I’ll win at least one game out of five on the machine, and you’ll have to hold him scoreless at the pool”. So, that’s what we did and after we were about $500 winner, the owner said to the tough-looking crowd in attendance “Didn’t we say we were going to tar and feather the next pool hustlers that came through town?” Another of Dennis’s talents emerged and he talked our way out of there, with the losers liking us and with us keeping the money.

One time in Cochrun’s, Weldon had come all the way to the west coast mostly to spend some time with me. As we were sitting at the counter, somebody eased up and snuck Weldon’s Balabushka out from between his legs. That really broke my heart, and his, because that was a much-prized cue.

All this talking about my old friend has made me miss him more than usual but my old numbers for him are no longer good. If anybody has a good phone number for him, please pass it on to me at grady101@sc.rr.com.

I hope you enjoyed these musings. Grady