I didn't want to talk about it......

But Nick mentioned it in the comments. An old friend and classmate of mine killed himself Tuesday. He ran a cherry factory in Red Hook. The cops came in on a fake warrant and scoped out that he was running a pot growing operation in his factory. So he went into the bathroom and killed himself.

We went to grammar school together at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary grammar school on Hicks Street. He was one of the kids who would play fistball and Skelly that you saw described in "Joey Gallo's Lament." Just a neighborhood knock around guy I used to run around with and run into at the discos in Bay Ridge or at Cousins on Court St to listen to a little jazz. I heard he got divorced a few years ago and hooked up with a Russian chick.

I was talking about it with Georgie from the Pork Store today when I was getting lunch. We both agreed that pot bust was not what sent him over the edge. Don't get me wrong. The civil forfeiture might have taken away his business. But I bet he was pretty depressed. As a fifty year old guy running his own business it is no surprise that he killed himself. It is a wonder that any of us don't kill ourselves.

He is laid out at Raccuglia's tonight so I will go over to pay my respects. If you have a chance remember him in your prayers.

God bless big guy.

Reason 10691 why I am not allowed to have a gun.

So there is a new move in Carroll Gardens to ban gates in front of your store. They feel that since it is so much "safer" that we don't need to have gates in front of our stores. It is bad enough that the city council mandated lattice work instead of solid gates but now the move is a foot to ban them altogether. So anybody who touches my window can set off the alarm. Or just smash and grab whatever they want while the dirty hippies are asleep in a legalized pot induced haze.

They want to tell me how to run my business. How to protect my business.

It is a good thing I am not allowed to have a gun.

Reason 10690 why I should not have a gun

We had to stop by the store yesterday even though we were off. We went in the morning to pick up the furniture we were taking to the factory to be spray pained. When we left everything was fine. We got back about six o'clock and this had happened:

Somebody had gratified the side wall between the two stores. He had bombed up and down Court St and tagged my store, the UPS box and the condo across the street.

The last time this happened was about six years ago. Then I was able to have a film of the perp that I handed over to city wide graffiti but nothing ever came of it. I wasn't able to tape it this time because my camera is out and I am repositioning it for the new store so I didn't get it fixed yet. So this asshole had free reign.

I took all of the appropriate steps. I called 311 to report it. I called the precient. But nothing is going to happen. This is just another quality of life crime that is going to go unpunished.

The mayor won't give a shit. The bad times are back and it is only going to get worse. Of course the perp probably looked like his son. It actually probably was his son.

I need to get out of Brooklyn. I am tired of cleaning this shit up.

Reason 10689 why I shouldn't have a gun

Hipster douchebag helicopter parents in Park Slope want to ban the ice cream man from the park because they don't want to have to tell their children no when they cry for ice cream.

Hipster cunt Dorothy Scanlan was quoted as saying: “I should not have to fight with my children every warm day on the playground just so someone can make a living!"

Let alone that maybe other people want to have a fucking ice cream on a hot summer day.

You know who hates the ice cream man?

COMMIES I TELL YOU FUCKING COMMIE CUNTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!