Four dealings with the police in Chicago when I was not as nice as I am now.

During my hippie days and one later story. I will list them according to the most innocent to the most guilty. The most innocent occurred one night in 1970. I was in a Volkswagen beetle with 3 other hippies when we were pulled over. We piled out and the car was searched and it was amazingly enough clean. My 3 friends were heavily searched and they were clean. Then they came to me. First let me tell you that I had a joint but I had taped it to the seem of jeans , down the leg. I had long curly hair. I was wearing a superhero pull over short with a cloud and a lightning blot. I had a black Gendarme  police style cape. It had a short stiff collar , 2 silver buttons with silken cords connecting them across the front. I was thin then and had a funny rep on the street. They had me open the cape and looked from a couple feet away, not approaching near to me. They asked if I had dope. I said no and they left me  alone. We went about our business. The next one was when a buddy of mine , lets call him BEAR was driving us around to various bars. Get it Bear to bars? We were pretty drunk and I had an open beer in the car when a cop car flagged us down. I was walking with a cane and when Bear got out and went to the cops I got out and stumbled. Upon stumbling managed to set my beer under the car. We went to the cop and introduced ourselves as veterans at a time when vets were not treated well. He was a vet and not finding beer in the car let us go.  The third one took place on July 27,1970. There was a concert in Grant Park that day. My street friends told me that there was going to be a protest at the concert and would I like to go. I said okay and they told me that bringing a football helmet and baseball bat would be a good idea. I was up for a peace march but weapons did not seem like equipment for a PEACE march so I then declined to go. I worked the store that day.  There was a riot referred historically as the Grant Park Riot. When I finished totally the 5 stores for the day I decided to walk home after a short walk in the park with a skinny speed freak friend. I had my rent money tucked into an alarm clock box that I took with me. I came upon three men with their shirts off. They had those six-pack bodies that are all the rage in gyms. I was hippied up with long hair. They smelled of alcohol. One raised a fist and said ‘Kill the pigs.”  He repeated it. I had avoided the riot for not liking violence. I told them that I was not into that. He repeated it. Then another one said it and added “You’re one of those Grant Park mother f—–s, aren’t you?”  I told him that I had just said that I was not into that. They had their shirts hanging off of their belts and now were pulling their billy clubs from under them. I pointed to them and said,”You against me and you get a club?” The first guy handed his club to his friend. I said,” so it is you three against me?” I handed my alarm clock to my friend and told him to stay out of it. I said to them, “Look I am a responsible business man. I am running 5 stores and worked all day. You can check it out. I told you before you identified yourself that I was not into that.” The first guy took his club back and said, “He is cool.” they left. There were a few other sentences but that was a long time ago.  I got my rent back and went home, very relieved. I always try to avoid violence but am to slow to effectively run away so I must face it face to face.  In the last one I was with the most guilty party in the scenario. The last one was with Bear again. We were very intoxicated and decided to see if we could make it to Mothers on Division. Bear , when drunk, ignores small traffic signals like stop signs and lights. We were counting how many we were ignoring as we sped , sped indeed, along. I was not driving but I was drunk. A cop in a cruiser spotted us and took up a high speed chase.  Bear is a semi-pro driver. He took off and our car had some long legs. A couple small streets later Bear took a hard left onto a dead end street with no alley. We were well ahead of the cop car. At the end where there used to be an alley he took another left and went through the fence the owner had built. He went all the way through obstacles to the next street. The cop did not get there in time to see where we went. We drove off much more legally to Mothers for a drink.  I am not proud of choices I made wile intoxicated and am proud of my ability to stop drinking any more than 2 a week and usually none. Please if you are risking your life with alcohol, apply the brakes. I lived but the number that die or kill or are damaged is huge. Don’t end up on the painful side of the numbers. Happy New Years my friend. I had zero, none, alcohol on New Year this time.