A Particular Kind of “Crazy”
Occasionally since early June, we have, in our “east end” travels, come upon a “suspicious-character” type guy. The first time we met him, he had driven onto our turtle patrol beach. We asked him not to do that, since there had been turtle activities right where he had driven.
He told us that he was “exempt from that”, and asked, “Oh is it the 10th already?” Later on, after he was told in no uncertain terms that he was not to drive on the beach again, he shouted to us that he had very little patience with “tree huggers” and added that we should go hug trees somewhere else.
We have come across him again and again since then, as have other friends and island family members. The guy is a con artist who makes his way from establishment to respectable establishment trying to con nice people out of whatever he can.
Last night as we were heading to a favorite restaurant, we saw him lying on the side of the road surrounded by cars, trucks and a police car. Apparently someone had beaten him up and thrown him out of a vehicle.
Vigilantes to the rescue!
Anyway, we were speaking to a friend after dinner who said that this guy was “not the kind of crazy we like here”.
I found that very profound and ever so true.
“We’re all here because we’re not all there” is one of our favorite sayings about those of us who have chosen to live on this amazingly diverse and wonderful island.
So we’re all a little off-kilter, but we support those around us who are a bit strange, but not out to rip any of us off.
We welcome odd characters – they make life interesting and entertaining.
But we take care of each other-so don’t come here if you can’t play nice.
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:09 am
What you had there simply put is a free spirit red neck. A rare sighting in your parts but very common from the southeast united states up through the Ohio valley. They come with a large mouths and are often seen on motorized vehicles on land and water.
Be careful because they can be dangerous. We usually just call the sheriff. Beating them up is effective and kind of old fashioned.
I bet it was like a Lion fish sighting. Someone saw him, reported him and sent a posse to take care of him.
August 24th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
This particular specimen appears to be more of the carpet-bagger/con-man variety. Rumor has it he’s out on bail for credit card fraud charges, and more recently may have slipped a date-rape drug to a young female new to the island, stolen her ids, credit cards, etc, and emptied her accounts. We’ve also heard he made claims about having bought a large house on the water (that he was actually leasing and owes $$$s on) and then illegally subleased out rooms and guest houses to others
Apparently, the morning he got beat up, he’d been involved with threatening someone with a gun and firing a shot, then throwing the gun in the water, where it was later recovered. I understand he’s in custody again.
October 10th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Sorry Jill, I had to delete your comment with his name. Just a thing I have about that. Thanks for commenting, though