"Put That In Your Pipe And Smoke It"

When I first visited Palm Coast, about ten years ago (I stayed at The Topaz in Flagler Beach... for a wedding in St. Augustine???), things sure were different. I know, I know... those of you that were here twenty-five years ago remember watching herds of wild black bears and huge rattlesnakes scamper and slither among the alligators... right on Palm Coast Parkway... which, of course, was a dirt road with no lights or stop signs. Ferry boats took you to Flagler Beach and a trip to Orlando for Disney World's opening in 1973 was two days by covered wagon. That reminds me of what I always told my kids: "Yep, back when I was a kid, we didn't have electricity... We had to watch TV by candle light." They'd laugh and ask me to tell them again about "dialing" a telephone and playing a "record" on the "hi-fi."

Big news here ten years ago, read something like this: "Faye Rosenblatt and her husband, Harold, recently returned from a two week stay with her daughter, Anne Marie, in Monmouth, NJ. They enjoyed playing with their grand children and eating real, honest-to-goodness, hot pizza pie at Fuccarelli's Bistro in Red Bank. Harold told us he loves to visit them, but he's glad to be back in Palm Coast, in his ITT house, where he can relax and fish at the Flagler Beach Pier."

But today? Here's a goodie from Tuesday's News-Journal: "Pot 'grow house' ignites in Palm Coast"... "Rule No. 1 when you're running a super-secret marijuana grow house in a residential neighborhood: Don't let the place go up in flames; you might draw attention to yourself. That's apparently what happened Sunday night when firefighters were called to a rented house at 8 Wheeling Lane in Palm Coast (Whoa... I thought Pine Lakes was high-falutin'...). While fighting the fire, they "discovered a large amount of marijuana plants growing in the garage," the Flagler Sheriff's Office said. (So that's why the car was always in the driveway)... "The occupants fled the scene when the fire started" and have not yet been arrested, spokeswoman Debra Johnson said Monday."

My, my, my, my, my... Back in the day, when I was in high school (1959-1963), we were considered "bad boys" if we smoked a Camel in the bathroom and/or had some beer in the trunk of our car. And sex? At a Catholic school? Are you kidding? Sister Mary Elizabeth would not allow it. In the locker room some guy would say that he and Betty Lou "did it" Friday night. We'd say, "Wow... how'd you do it?" He'd say, "You know... the regular way." Then we'd all look at each other and nod, knowingly.

On a serious note, Palm Coast and Flagler Beach have a challenging drug problem these days. A spin-off of our hyper-rapid growth over the past five years. It's a big deal. Lot's of pot 'grow houses' have been busted. Meth labs, too. Pills are easy to 'score' at the high schools. Palm Coast is right off I-95... "The Cocaine Highway" between NY City and Miami. The police are being kept very busy with all of this. And you can bet that the majority of their calls are in some way related to alcohol or drugs. If you have a kid in school, stay on top of this. No kid... and I mean no kid... is immune from this tantalizing invitation to at least "experiment." Sobering thought?... Of the 170,000 deaths in Florida in 2006, over 7,700 had alcohol and/or drugs in their systems, as shown by autopsy... (Draw your own statistical conclusion, regarding the other 162,300 not examined). Want to help... or get help? Check out the local Stewart Marchman Center For Chemical Independence. Ask how you can contribute... or what you need to do to help your kid - or yourself. Florida has the "Stewart Marchman Act" in place to help drug offenders and those addicted to drugs. It's one of the best laws of its kind in the US. If you or someone you care about is affected by drugs, see: http://www.stewartmarchman.org/ or call: 386-586-2313. It might be the smartest call you ever made. (A future Blog post will be dedicated to this organization)...