When government attacks

USS Minnow at berth on Ole’s Creek

Brother Gideon and I received this email inquiry from a neighbor being harassed by the Connecticut DEP. For those of you unfamiliar with Ole’s Creek, the dock in question is down a nook in the creek, far away from navigable waters, and was certainly there when I was a young boy using the creek to access Long Island Sound. So why, after all these long decades, is the Department of Environmental Protection [sic] trying to tear it down?

Because it can, and that’s what bureaucrats do.

I live on  [XXX ] in Riverside. Our lane jointly owns a shared ‘beach’ and stone/concrete dock. We Have been put in the position by DEEP to prove that it was built before June 24, 1939, otherwise we must remove it (at a significant cost – and loss of a lot of wonderful memories). Of course, getting proof from 80 years ago has been a challenge.

The ‘dock’ was built and believe was part of the Palmers oyster business. We have a definitive photograph from Craig Walters from 1947 (where the dock looks quite old). Examination of 1929 and 1934 aerial maps show faint possibilities, but the resolution is terrible and the dock is so small it is too hard to see definatively. I was wondering if you know of anyone who is still living who might be able to provide anecdotal evidence (or of course a photo!) of the dock at that time. (The Hurricane of 1938 would be a memory trigger perhaps for them?)

Or is it that Muslim exorcists spend more time searching for them there?

That wily ol’ debil is everywhere you look

Islamic exorcist claims that the devil and his spawn are drawn to beautiful women.

Mallam Luthfi Jamal-Baba, an Imam and exorcist from Ghana, west Africa, said that although men can be inhabited by ‘jinns’ (spirits), beautiful women are more prone to possession.

He said: “Some of the jinns are stubborn and when the victim is in a trance, they become violent and try to attack the exorcist during the exercise.”

“When it happens that way, the victims are tied with a rope and sometimes chained to chairs to keep them calm.”

It’s the bondage games he mentions that make me suspicious.