Gillemonster and His Dog-Poop Alibi

(Continued from 1/25/14) Chewbacca knelt over the dead body as tears lightly fell on the seared flesh that smell of burnt hair.  Crying, he mourned the loss of his friend.

Let's come back to the fatality left behind by the Great Fire of '69 and turn back to our list of possible arson suspects.

Out of the 16 or 17 on my original list, I have narrowed the suspects to a mere four:

1) Rita Nargie
2) Sea-Shell
3) Anti-War, Draft-card-burning, peace-loving hippies
4) The Owner

RITA HAD MOTIVE. She had been rejected by one of the "Frat - guys" and was holding a grudge. When my brothers and crew went down to the "Frat-House" in drag (dressed as women) and two were invited in - it only served to intensify her female hormonal angst against every man in the world. From the kitchen window of her house next door, she was allegedly heard screaming at the top of her Italian lungs that she would get even someday.  Unfortunately for Rita, the entire neighborhood heard her threats and this is why I felt she needed to be investigated. It does turn out that she had not come out of her room for more than a month, which I was able to verify by the dirty stack of surplus dinner plates left just outside her bedroom door.  Her mother had been in no mood to clean up after Rita, which the neighborhood also knew about.

I refer to that incident as "The Leaning Tower of  Stand-off Soufflé"   
 So Rita went off the list and the fire somehow brought closure to all the hurts she had suffered and had seemed to exact the vengeance she was looking for and the next week at church it was mentioned from the pulpit by the droning-monotone Irish accent of  Father Hoban as a miracle.  One lady said, "Hallelujah" and was promptly asked to leave the church.

I'm am now left with 1)  Sea-Shell, the 11 year-old-sister of the Frat-House President who had been
                                      dropped on her head.
                               2)  Hippies - other than my brothers
                               3)  Mr. Malon, the owner of the Property.

As for Johnny the Gillemonster...as I mentioned before he had motive!  He was a paperboy for the our local Herald Examiner newspaper. His route included the Harding Avenue Fraternity House. You can only imagine what a nightmare it must have been for the poor kid to collect the Newspaper fee from a bunch of transient squirrely irresponsible college-dropout types!  Every time Gillemonster knocked on the door, a different person answered and told him to come back tomorrow. After about 10 such visits 'O Gilly figured that they were running him around and that no one was ever going to pay.  He turned bright red and shook his fist at that house and said he's get payback. "You just wait and see!"  he yelled and spun dirt on the porch  from the back wheel of his customized Schwinn Sting-Ray (bicycle) as he spun out.  (Every kid in America had a Stingray bike).

Remember I told you about the lyrics that Four Eyes sent in to Creedence Clearwater Revival... about Do..do...do... looking out my back door... and all the other words the nuns told me when I interrogated them... well it wasn't "do...do...do"  It was literally "Dooh...Dooh...Dooh!"

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Lookin' out my Back Door

Johnny was so angry at feeling like he had been messed with... that he took the largest... stinkiest... warmest... pile of fresh-steaming dog dooh he could find early the next Sunday morning on a neighbors lawn and squished it between the sports section and the comics of the 50 pound Sunday Morning edition of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.  "Gilly" left that "special" payback edition of the newspaper right on the welcome mat in front of the large entry door. He rang the bell, ran across the street, hid in a bush and watched in delight as those drunkards with hangover vomited their guts out.  Gillemonster told me, that was his alibi and as he spoke I carefully watch every indicator on his face and really believe that the Dog-Poop completely satisfied his desire for payback.  TRUE!

I would never accuse a Catholic Priest - that's why Father Hoban never made it on my list to begin with, but he was known to have quite a temper - and being raised in Belfast had plenty of training in making Molotov Cocktails.

Let's just leave it at that - for now!  I was too frightened about going into the Rectory so I wasn't about to interrogate the Father... I'd leave that investigation to the Fire Marshal.

I already had enough problems at Saint Marks and next year - my last and final year - was destined to be a living Purgatory, for I had to look forward to spending the year under Sister Shultz.

Meanwhile, the mellow and cuddly Chewbacca grieved over the death of the neighborhood cat as though the thing had been a close relative of his.  Before the fire, I'd have to admit, that the feral Calico cat did look like a miniature version of my hairy older brother.  My brother looked like a giant version of Cousin It  from the Addams Family TV Show.

In the midst of smoke and firemen and ambulances and Secret Service and the Crazy Vietnam War vet with a broom and the Zombie Holocaust, Chewbacca scooped the dead cat into a cardboard box and took it past the dreaded Veloci-Rooster into the the hippie sanctuary of "Wall Drug" in our Venice backyard.  If you think the Rita-thing was a miracle - wait until next time.

It wasn't the Somnambulant and it wasn't Bill Lennon

(Continued from 1-18-14) I stood across the street and felt the dry heat of the flames as the old mansion continued to burn. The smell of the smoke did not betray the age of the old place. It didn't smell of new pine, but like old wood mixed with ancient dust that was being incinerated. The chaos of a ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST continued to loom as I watched the all the aimless and dazed half-naked zombies who had been rescued by Mr. Blaser in his underwear - and by my tribe - to which I was very proud, but also a tad bit miffed for making me stay across the street "out of harm's way."



It was dangerous as cars continued to catch on fire and blow up... I don't want to sound morbid - this was indeed another sad chapter in the story of Harding avenue...but I can't lie, it was entertaining to see O' Mr. Nargie behaving like a teenage cheerleader at football game, as he frantically rooted on Bobby Tripp who was on the roof with a garden hose (with very low water pressure) trying his best to keep the Nargie -Tripp duplex from catching on fire.

I made up cheers and began - chanting them to Tommy who was standing next to... as though they were Mr. Nargie's words... who was across the street moving back and forth like a crab and waving his arms up and down for the home team.

"Douse it out...Douse it out...WAY OUT! Keep it back... Keep it back...Way back!  Douse it out...Keep it back...Put it out...WAY OUT!"  I had Tommy in stitches... until I was interrupted.

Pat Lennon looked down at me, shook his head and said, "You're weird!"

The first thing that came to my mind was, 'of course I was - I've been electrocuted...left behind...tied to trees...buried in pits...choked...knocked out...attacked by a rooster...shot with needle-tipped arrows...wrestled an alligator...had to contend with the revenge of Sister Godzilla in the fifth grade and suffered oxygen loss to the brain...OF COURSE I'M WEIRD! Hello!?'

Then it suddenly dawned on me who it was. It was Pat Lennon!  I looked up at him sadly and asked what he was doing here.

"Climbed out of a window and escaped!" he said. "Couldn't miss this."

"Where is everyone else" I asked.

"Danny snuck out with me and is around here somewhere, but everyone else is under lock-down by the Secret Service. When the cars started blowing up, man, they thought it was gun shots and went ape on us."

"Hey, Pat...I'm sorry!" That's all I could say... and probably all I needed to say!  Like I said before this was the third biggest crime to ever happen in the history of Venice California. The first biggest crime happened just a couple weeks prior to this with a bunch of craziness when a lunatic who had been stalking the Lennon Sisters also made assassination threats against the President of the United States. In trying to be sensitive to that event, I'm not going to go into that story at this time... but suffice to say that with a Secret Service detail at the Lennon House and with the entire the family under protective custody we can cross Billy and Joey and Kippy and all the other Lennon's off the suspect list.

1) My Brothers - the Wolf Pack
2) Mr. Blaser and his whitey-tighties 
3) My Dad - AKA Mr. D
4). Mr. Lennon
5) Frank Nargie
6) Rita Nargie
7) Sea-Shell
8) Leeland the hot-rodder
9) Weenie Tripp and Family
10) Johnny Gillemonster
11) Tommy Blaser the Somnambulist
12) Four boys dressed up as girls
13 The Saint Mark's Nuns
14 Walter Daniels
15 The Anti-War Crazies
16 the Owner of the property.

For my brothers...they were out in Wall Drug doing some hippie stuff back there and had not sent up any... UFO's i.e. flaming dry-cleaning bags...recently so it wasn't them. They go off the list (Blog Post 8/24/13). As for the four boys who had dressed up like girls - even though everyone's feelings were hurt, Tommy and I had seen them through the fence in the backyard smoking leaves from their precious "Mexican Tomato Plants" in those funny shaped cigarettes.



1) My Brothers - the Wolf Pack
3) My Dad - AKA Mr. D
6) Rita Nargie
7) Sea-Shell
8) Leeland the hot-rodder
12) Four boys dressed up as girls
13 The Saint Mark's Nuns
15 The Anti-War - peace-loving Crazies
16 the Owner of the property.

My oldest brother, Gustav was out in the Rat Killer racing Leeland and had brought home a pocket crammed full of cash to prove it...so that accounts for all of my brothers and unfortunately, also gives Leeland an alibi.

1) My Brothers - the Wolf Pack
3) My Dad - AKA Mr. D
6) Rita Nargie
7) Sea-Shell
8) Leeland the hot-rodder
12) Four boys dressed up as girls
13 The Saint Mark's Nuns
15 The Anti-War - peace-loving Crazies
16 the Owner of the property.

I pretty sure dad wasn't involve - he had just driven in late from West Covina selling new, all-electric gold-medallion track homes out there so that eliminates all the Dahlins.

3) My Dad - AKA Mr. D

I was now down to four possible suspects, although Ricky Tripp came over to where Tommy and I had been standing and said something about his mother smiling a lot with all the firemen running through their house. I didn't know what to make of that - but I still don't think she set it on fire.

1) Rita Nargie
2) Sea-Shell
3) The Anti-War, draft-card-burning, peace-loving Crazies
4) The Owner of the property.

As for Johnny Gillemonster... I really liked him as a suspect and when I went over to his house with my detective note pad... and  interrogated him... this is when he told me the of story of the dog-poop payback - did jive with me - so I'll tell you that story next time.

In the meantime...Chewbacca had discovered a dead body at the foot of the 60 year old palm tree which turned out to be the only fatality of the Great Fire of '69.  Chewbacca fell to his knees, leaned over the corpse and cried.

Until next time..my friends...Gud välsigne och Hej då

The Unknown Harding Hero of the Civil Rights Movement.

Today in American we honor a Great Man - Martin Luther King Jr. 

In honor of that, I'll take a break from the fire story at the Fraternity house and pay tribute to a relatively unknown Hero of the Civil Rights Movement and celebrate the rich heritage of which I am so proud.  

           ...And the connection this hero has to Venice and Santa Monica 

(I'll come back to the fire story from the last post) and tell you about the dead body that Chewbacca found in my next post).

I have talked to you about my Aunt Mary who was a Catholic nun. In my blog I have mentioned her dedication and work in the inner city. I reported about the time my brother, Puke-Breath, had red fire ants pored down his pants and about how she and the other over-zealous nuns in the Detroit Convent were almost too enthusiastic in picking the ants off his skinny, naked - hinny (Blog post Naked Teenager 10/26/2013).  

Today on a more serious note, I would like to talk about my Aunt Mary and how her courage changed the course of History.  

This following part was Edited by Kurt Dahlin.

"The year was 1965; the place, Selma, Alabama.   For decades, local laws had all but prevented Blacks from voting.  And those who did venture to protest often faced harassment--even death.  Black Selmians, supported by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., decided to march to the state capital of Montgomery to draw attention to their plight. On a Sunday in early spring, dozens of peaceful protesters on their way out of the city were brutally beaten back by state troopers.

 

 

The violence of "Bloody Sunday" stunned Americans, focusing nationwide attention on civil rights. A group of American nuns from St. Louis were among the first to protest the violence.  When Dr. King receives permission to march to the state capital in order to petition Governor George C. Wallace for the voting rights of the state's Negro citizens, Sister Mary Leoline (Mary Ann Sommer), a teacher at Christ the King school in Kansas City, joins two priests in a 3-member Kansas City Catholic Interracial Council delegation to Selma. 

 

 MY AUNT WAS THE ONLY SISTER WHO WAS PRESENT throughout the entire 50-mile march to Montgomery.  I circled her in red below.

Six Catholic nuns from across the country answered Martin Luther King's call to join the voting rights marches in Selma, Alabama.

Six Catholic nuns from across the country answered Martin Luther King's call to join the voting rights marches in Selma, Alabama.

 

These courageous women risked their personal safety to become powerful agents of change. On the Wednesday following “Bloody Sunday,” the sisters led a procession defying a ban by church, city, and county authorities. Though the police cut the demonstration short, the images of these women in the national and international media had tremendous impact. People were shocked. A Gallup poll showed that the majority of Americans felt sisters should remain cloistered in their convents. For Dr. Martin Luther King the presence of the visiting nuns in the Selma demonstrations “had a special significance because the public knows a nun to be a woman of great sacrifice and dedication.”

 

My Aunt Mary -  Sister Mary Leoline.

She continued to be involved with the movement and was among those arrested in Washington, during the Poor People's March of 1968.

Sister Mary Leoline (in orange jacket) helps with crowd control.

On March 28, Congressman Dickenson of Alabama brings charges of “drunkenness and immorality” against the protesters before the House of Representatives in Washington. Sister Mary Leoline and nine clergy and seminarians who completed the 50-mile march; travel to Washington to refute the charges before Congress of disorderly conduct made against the marchers by Congressman Dickenson.   They present a signed “Statement of Morality during the Selma Crisis” to Congressmen Ryan and Resnick of New York. At the request of John McCormick Speaker of the House, Ryan and Resnick introduce the Statement of Morality for debate by the members of the House and for inclusion in the Congressional Records of the House and Senate. Sister Mary Leoline's key testimony at the press conference in Washington DC led to advancements in the civil rights movement.  

At the end of the four-day march, Dr. King’s famous words rang out to the crowd of 25,000: “I know you are asking today, ‘How long will it take?’...Not long, because the arm of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” As it turned out, it took only a few months from that famous speech for the National Voting Rights Act of 1965 to become law.

Mary Ann Sommer (Sister  Mary Leoline) chose to redirect her commitment to the cause of freedom and equality as a diocesan nun in Detroit. As an involved teacher in Michigan and California, she participated in Dr. King’s Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, DC, attended the Mexican American Culture Center in San Antonio, helped Caesar Chavez set up the farm workers clinic in Salinas, California. 

This unassuming hero was raised in Santa Monica and was one of us living in the Harding 

house in Venice.  

Sister Mary continued her advocacy roll as a contemplative “free-lance nun” during her retirement in Salt Lake City.

Several of the nuns interviewed credit the Second Vatican Council with inspiring them to become involved in the civil rights movement. Sister Mary Leoline of the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary remembers how she was responding to Pope John XXIII’s encouragement to “go where the need is.”

This is a picture of my late Aunt Mary at the time she was interviewed for a documentary titled "The Sisters of Selma" (which is available on NetFlix) 

My Aunt is quoted as saying "Canon law is set up so that if people do something which proves to be the right thing to do and it proves to be the religious thing to do--then the law changes." Sister Mary Ann Sommer. 

http://home.earthlink.net/~sistersofselma/sos9.htm

www.aptv.org/as/sisters/index.asp

Martin Luther King Jr. and Mary Ann Sommer, extremist who followed the revolutionary teachings of an radical who taught his followers to "Love their enemies"  - Jesus! 

 Jesus was radical extremist for Love, Truth and Justice.

I don't know why we, as humans, choose to be unkind to each other, but like Martin Luther King Jr advocated why we can't choose to love... Markie d   

After her retirement, Aunt Mary came to live in the Harding House for 6 years... 

 

A bunch of Family gather to celebrate her