For the budget road tripper, occasional stays in a fleabag motel are a given. They’re convenient, cheap and charming in their own special ways. I’ve stayed in my fair share of them. Some had mold beneath the peeling wall paper. One came with hair in the sink. In another, a used condom and wrapper laid rudely in the bathroom wastebasket. More than a few had cigarette burns in the carpet. Paying between $25 and $45 a room, it never was any surprise that these rooms didn’t sparkle or smell particularly well. The trick is to ignore what you see, sleep… Continue Reading Tag Archives: Drugs
The Perils of Low-Budget Motels
For the budget road tripper, occasional stays in a fleabag motel are a given. They’re convenient, cheap and charming in their own special ways. I’ve stayed in my fair share of them. Some had mold beneath the peeling wall paper. One came with hair in the sink. In another, a used condom and wrapper laid rudely in the bathroom wastebasket. More than a few had cigarette burns in the carpet. Paying between $25 and $45 a room, it never was any surprise that these rooms didn’t sparkle or smell particularly well. The trick is to ignore what you see, sleep… Continue Reading Standing with a Dopeman in the Footsteps of a Strangler
Kensington, Philadelphia – With not much on the agenda today I thought I might make cookies, but I instead put on my Sunday best and headed north to the badlands where a man dubbed the Kensington Strangler has murdered two, but maybe upwards of four woman in recent months and has choked and raped just as many.
Several people, including myself, disembarked the el at the Somerset Station. Slow walkers they all were and it seemed like an eternity passed before the line traversed the narrow berth to the stairwell leading down to the street. Through the chainlink fence,… Continue Reading Comp Time with Federal Inmate Brent Delzer
Tomorrow, Brent Delzer, 36, will begin what he hopes is only a four-and-a-half year odyssey at the very bottom. At 2:00 p.m., he’s scheduled to turn himself in to federal marshals in Madison, WI, to begin serving a federal prison sentence. Last month, he pleaded guilty to an indictment alleging he was part of a marijuana trafficking conspiracy that lasted from 2000 to Nov. 8, 2004, the day his best friend and supplier, Amos Mortier, went missing.
Mortier’s disappearance sparked a massive federal drug investigation reaching across five states and into Canada. According to federal court documents – including… Continue Reading 24 Hours of ‘Rage’ in Indiana
Indianapolis, IN – Not long after stopping off in Indianapolis, I meet “Bonnie”, a 30-something jam band scenester, at a cafe on the city’s east side. Thirty-three hours into a 50-hour bender, Bonnie is mushy brained from the ecstasy she ate at a show the night before. At the show, she met some kids with a bunch of nitrous tanks and ended up at their hotel instead of her bed. One of the guys, she tells me between sips of her latte with a double espresso shot, is at her house. “We raged hard,” she explains. “Sorry if I’m not… Continue Reading A Meth Miracle
Rockfield, KY – I’ve been in southeastern Kentucky longer than I expected. I came here to do a story on the methamphetamine problem, a topic that, like addiction in general, has long fascinated me. But large stories take time. Tracking down good sources, setting up interviews, transcribing them, research, re-interviewing, is labor intensive. Add to this my limited access to wi-fi, electric power, etc, and I’ve been off the grid for a few days.
More stories are coming. Promise.
There isn’t much going on in this area. Last night I checked out the local roller derby league’s first home bout… Continue Reading 
Federal Inmates Ain’t All That