Only in Lynn-redux

I went back to look at the Lynn Item this afternoon. There was an article about the Lynn Police Special Investigations Unit which sounds like the old Vice Squad. Since the article quoted their responsibilities as, "...cracking down on vices including sex, drugs and gambling."

I knew names and faces of the Vice Squad back in the day. They had their eye on me and I evaded them as best I could. Once, I was with an old time junkie and thief aptly named "Rat" Ryan on a pilgrimage for junk when an unmarked screeched up, disgorged two cops who started firing warning shots in the air. Rat was gone before they could take a bead. Through a yard, over a fence and poof. The cops took off down the street. It's always been the Wild West.

Apparently, nothing has changed but the price. In this same article, Lynn detectives crack down on prostitutes, johns By Jill Casey Monday, February 6, 2006, the police bemoan the facts that:

"It's very cheap here, because unfortunately (Lynn) is a source spot for it,"

When asked if it was disconcerting that they have not seen drug levels go down, the three officers interviewed said it is almost beyond control.

At $4 a bag, the most prevalent drug on the street continues to be heroin.


$4 a bag. 35 years ago it was $15 a bag. The price has decreased as the purity, we all know, has increased. I'd say Lynn lost the Drug War.

What is it about Lynn? Is there some crime overlord who owns this town? I don't know anything about the politics in this place at this time but something is wrong. Does the geography breed junkies? Is there some kind of communal cesspool of despair? Is it the waters? Or is there some hidden mechanism supplying and creating the need?

I'm not particularly proud of my part in reducing the quality of the civic life of my birthplace. Like I've said elsewhere in this blog, I was small time and a bad thief and for the most part bought my own drugs. I was crazy from Nam and from losing my leg. Nobody knew what to do with me and I didn't want help. But I regret contributing to the decline of this place by my own actions.

I have great memories of High Rock, the Martin Estate, the beach. I have friends who went on to great careers. Charley went on to be a Superintendent of a toney school system on the North Shore. Richie served 25 + years in the Marine Corps, he saw action at Khe Sanh and Desert Storm. Bob is an accountant somewhere, his brother still coaches High School baseball.These are guys who grew up on the block. They swam in the same water.

But I know the other side also. Mr. "Most Likely to Succeed", the National Merit Scholar, with his 12 felony convictions for possession of heroin. And his wife and their friends and their friends and on and on.

Lynn, Lynn. City of Sin.
You never come out,
the way you went in.

You ask for water,
they give you gin.
Craziest place
I've ever been in.