I wanted to thank of you who sent me birthday greetings. Very nice. Yes, I turned 66 today but have the heart and mind of a 30-year old, or so I believe. Thank you.
Also, to all my friends and family, I do not do Twitter, Face Book or other services. I just do E-mail. In the past I've lost a couple computers from contamination I received and now limit my social contact. But, my E-mail told me of your birthday greetings and that was really nice of you.
John, our eldest son, was here yesterday and I was surprised by all his gray hair. He's busily working two jobs; U.S. Marshals and City of Whittier Police Department. Still, he comes by his gray hair naturally, as I am all white haired. My Dad, who died in his late 50's, was also turning gray/silver. Mona though has only a few gray hairs and she actually wishes for a few more. Our eldest daughter Elizabeth is supposed to visit today.
We've had two days of rain, so weather a bit cooler. Weather to warm up the end of this week. Trees are starting to blossom with new leaves, grass is growing and the arctic hares and the coyotes are making their presence known, driving our dogs crazy. Canaan has a new load of brand new kittens. This Friday were headed north to Anchorage so I can finally apply for Social Security. I'm told to expect several hours of waiting time as the office there is always busy, have to leave here by 6 a.m. for the 90-mile drive. I believe the feds should of satellite offices down here on the peninsula to handle all the people who live down here. But Alaska only has 3 offices: Fairbanks, Anchorage and Juneau. Tried to apply online but it wouldn't take my application and then began refusing my application process all together. Must have thought I wasn't who I said I was.
Solstice Festival will be coming up in mid June. Big celebration for Moose Pass. Will try to sell some of my books there.
I continue working on my latest book project, telling about my time in Whittier and weathering the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and all the people that came to Whittier in search of jobs. Quite an experience. My public safety department averaged 300 calls a year before the spill and most of this was due to EMS/Search & Rescue call outs, but by the end of summer we had over 3,000 calls. I had to hire two extra officers and lost half of my volunteers to the high paying beach clean-up jobs.
The saddest part of the oil spill was the loss of animal life because of oil contamination. One of my jobs had to do with processing the dead critters bing brought into Whittier, as Exxon wanted to know how many animals had died. I did catch a 3-foot tall barn owl that landed right outside my office and was unable to fly away because of the oil on its body and 14 porcupine quills in its face. I had the kids come down to see it, while I waited for the helicopter to arrive to have it flown to the veterinarians in Valdez for care. They then told me they released it back into the wild. Thing had 3 inch claws, but seemed to sense I was trying to help it. Did the "Exorcist" thing with its head turning around, that was really weird.
To give you an idea of all the money spent/wasted, I processed a dead seal and advised Valdez Vet Command of it and they wanted to argue with me that it was a sea otter, as Prince William Sound reportedly had no seals. I told them I knew the difference and described the large critter. "You have a seal!" The Vet told me. A few hours later, THREE helicopters filled with scientists came over to view my seal and take custody of it. One helicopter could have picked it up. But that was a prime example of all the waste during that disaster.
I let Exxon/VECO use half of my facility to set up their hiring office for beach workers and skippers of boats, and in trade they would bring me their hiring lists so I could run some of the people for felony warrants. Picked up two federal fugitives that way and a couple dozen people with felony warrants out on them.
This was such a strange summer and it came with a good many crazies. I had one guy, my size, who came to Whittier to kill lawyers. He actually put this on his job application. He wanted to chain all the lawyers together, place them on a sea barge and then it sink slowly. Now, there is a lot of lawyers I dislike, but that was a bit drastic. I ended up responding to the clinic, where he was behaving strangely and wanting to know where all the bodies were. Mona happened to be working as the clinic receptionist. So, I was not happy. I arrested him and transported him to Anchorage for a 3-day mental hold. Police officers can do that up here if they have just cause. But when he was released, he showed right back up, but now he favored the idea of killing cops too. I ended up scooping him up one early morning while he was threatening to kill one of my officers. I came so close to shooting him because he wouldn't take his right hand out of his trench coat pocket and was behaving aggressively. This time they put him under a 30-day mental hold. The docs then notified me they were shipping him home to Wisconsin for long term care. The townspeople were happy to hear that as he had frightened a lot of people. Like I said, it didn't help that he was my size and he had intimidated a lot of citizens. I do hope he got the care he so badly needed. But he wasn't the only one of those lunies who seemed to be attracted by this spill.
Whittier was also visited by a lot of prostitutes, gamblers, con men and drug dealers, hoping for a share in all the money circulating. I finally started meeting the trains and putting these sorts of people right back on board for the trip back to the highway. Actually, you can spot these people with enough street experience, then you interview them and once satisfied put them back on the train. Civil suits were threatened a lot, but no one ever filed one. I informed them they could file their complaints with the state troopers, but again, no one did. Made me feel like a sheriff in the old west, kicking the bad guys out of town to protect the good citizens. It helped that the train was the only way in to Whittier back then...now they also have a road. Valdez had the largest hiring center and Exxon Emergency Station, so I felt real sorry for that Police Chief.
My City Manager had informed me that once a year the town's city manager was presented with a $1 million check, a day the man really looked forward too. That's how they got all their sidewalks, or so I was told.
But I owe what I learned in Whittier that would become a major help in obtaining my job with the State of Alaska's gambling unit. For sometime I would be the only investigator in the state, making for a lot of traveling and climbing into small airplanes. This was a good job and I got to see a lot of Alaska and meet all kinds of people. My boss was 360 miles away, I had my own secretary and a take home car. Great job. I kept a record of my stats and ended up working just over 750 investigations during my 4 years with the State, then I retired. Meanwhile, Mona had the tougher job, staying home and homeschooling the kids.
Here's some headlines: "Report: Antisemitism Alive and Well in US and UK, a 67% Rise in Incidents From 2017-2018".... "Outrage After University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Students Call to 'Gas' Campus Jews".... "Taiwan Approves Same Sex-Marriage in a First For Asia"...."Homeless Population Jumps by the Thousands in San Francisco Bay Area".... "U.S. Terminates Turkey's Preferential Trade Agreement".... "Girls Under 14 Can No Longer Wear Hijabs to School in Austria".... "5 Killed, 2500 People Displaced as Heavy Rains Hit Tanzania".... "South Korea to Push for Humanitarian Food Aid for North Korea".... "9 Terrorists Killed During Shootout With Police in SW Pakistan".... "Panic Ensures Over HIV Outbreak in Pakistan"...."Report: California Forcing Radical Sex Education Classes On Children in Public Schools, Which Teaches 'Children' How to Engage in Sexual Acts".... "Turkey's Pro-Government News Service Praises Destruction of Notre Dame Cathedral".... "Arson Suspected in 3 Fires at Jewish Centers".... "Measles Confirmed at Berkeley".... "USC Gives Nearly $1 Million to Exit Pay to Medical School Dean Linked to Drugs".... "Citrus Farmers Facing Deadly Bacteria Turn to Antibiotics, Alarming Health Officials Who Warn Antibiotic Resistance in Humans"....."Swedish Woman Stabbed 9-Times Identified as Wife of a Rabbi".... "Chinese Gangs Threaten Chaos in Cambodia"...."Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger Assaulted During Event in South Africa".... "Tourist Bus Hit by Roadside Bomb Near Egypt's Giza Pyramids"...."Spain Sees surge in Migrant Crime"....."Ford Slashing 7,000 White-collar Jobs".... "Eiffel Tower Closed/Evacuated Because Man is Trying to Climb it, Now Negotiating With Police"...."Weather Forecasters Warn of 'Catastrophic' Tornadoes in Midwest"...."Measles Outbreak Spreads to Oklahoma With 41 New Cases"...."Over 1,000 Bodies Found in Holocaust-era Mass Grave in Belarus" .... "6.7 Earthquake Hit New Caledonia"
I hope you all have a great day and an exciting week. May the Lord bless you all. BILL