RUDIMENTS pt. 151
Making Cars
I'm far from being someone
who notices everything; but not
much - in the same vein - gets
past me. A part of me wants to
say 'environment' (meaning, where
I live), is very important to me.
But if that was strictly the case,
you'd correctly say, 'Then what
are you doing here, good God.'
That would be valid - this place
is a cultural dung-heap, a wreckage
and a ruin, and a sluice pipe, as well,
of lies and corruption. I know that.
I keep my eyes peeled, believe me,
for anything I can catch to pin on
people - and if I ever scientifically
can point to and prove corruption,
I'll be the first to trot it out. The
New York Times (I was researching
the agencies and the government
links to which to contact and share
information), says most endemic
governmental corruption is not the
big-city stuff but is most prevalent
and made manifest in the smaller
towns and municipalities. Things
change hands, deals are made and
buried, quid-pro-quo ('this for that')
goes on all the time (yay knowing
Latin!). A new car, a season pass
to the country club and swimming
pool, the re-paving contract you're
cut into for some kick-back, the
redevelopment deal you're told
about before it's common knowledge
and the land-values go way up - you
get in when it's still cheap; the way
things go now too, the Mayor who
constantly walks with the blond not
his wife, the committee people and
the shitty motel. All you need these
days is to dangle some money (just
like they do) and the next thing you
know the female is saying she was
coerced, bent over the desk, unbuttoned
against her will. It ain't over 'til it's
over. And then it's over. And don't
forget the conventions, firemen's soirees,
dancing babes, and all the other nice
things that happen outside of church.
-
I used to know the guy who ran High
Hill Garage. In the 1980's, still up on
the top of Main Street, after Woodbridge
Center and right before the overpass for
the Turnpike and stuff. It was a small,
cinder block building, and remained
as the last vestige, once Centric Clutch,
the Township garage, and the Brass
Bucket were gone, of the old area
which had been there - grassy lands,
claypits, etc. before the municipal
thieves back then put their hands to
it. He always told me, with some glee
and some sadness, how those fields
always were hunted on - each season,
1930's, 1940's, etc. The woods and
streams thereabouts, deer, small game,
birds and pheasants. Then the big
roads came, NJ Turnpike and GS
Parkway, Rt. One, Rt. Nine, Rt. 35,
They all converge right there (if you
get the gist then of what I'm saying,
you'll see why Woodbridge and Edison
and such areas prospered and made
many crooks millions - at the
expense of the common jerks who
ended up living here, ringed by
roadways, congestion, pollution,
cancers and death. All those Mayors,
then and now, nothing more than dirty-
dealing crooks destined for their own
Hell - you name 'em, Zirpolo, Jacks,
(not a Mayor, just a guilty prisoner),
DeMarino, right to the present NOW
day). He pointed out to me, on the
walls of the High Garage itself, the
various bullet holes from being
peppered, over the years, with stray
shooting from the fields. Believe me,
this guy may have been a smple
mechanic, with a heavy back, but
he still gloried in all that he'd lost.
To be factual, I never much trust
anybody, and the local business
longevity of this guy and all he
'knew,' always ended up making
me suspect even of him - for not
standing up the those jerks who'd
ruined the place while bragging
about it. I remember Mayor Barone,
in about 1970 - a perfect example
of the sort of municipal sleaze that
permeated the area. I know of
more than one case where girls
working for the 'Sheriff' in New
Brunswick, (no names), who then
became Mayor in Woodbridge,
leaving the job rather then continuing
to be chased around the desks by
him. If it had been the present day,
he'd be hung, and not well-hung either.
became Mayor in Woodbridge,
leaving the job rather then continuing
to be chased around the desks by
him. If it had been the present day,
he'd be hung, and not well-hung either.
-
The High Hill Garage guy said it was
all lost by the time they got to the clay
pits. We used to race motorcycles in
there, just kid-fun, trail bikes, etc.
I used to change car oil in there too -
just open the drain plug under my
Valiant, and let it drain out. The clay
soil was like a sponge. Absorbed it all;
and it wasn't just me. There were rutted
spots where cars one after the other came
in off what then was a shitty near-dirt
road. You had to be there; I can't even
rightly get across to you what it was
like way back then. The High Hill
Garage is long gone, Woodbridge
Center, condominiums, office parks,
and shopping plazas replaced it all.
And each time that happened, another
of those sleazaball bastards made a
million. They got away with it all;
the 'American' system is made for
that - let no one tell you differently -
and these people knew how to game
the system perfectly. ('All the criminals,
in their suits and ties, are free to drink
martinis and watch the sun rise...').
-
There used to be a little boxing club
there too, right next to the High Hill.
You could go in there and get your
brains battered a while, for a few
bucks. Then the civic-freaks took
over. It's now a huge 'community'
sports center, mostly crap for kids
to do, a 'Y' kind of place. A perfect
foil for the needed money laundering
needed. Even to this day, with tax
dollars, they're still building
unnecessary things there - a
large signpost and entryway. It's
all completely un-needed but it
keeps the spigot open for the project
dollars to keep coming in. Costs of
the sign, concrete, electric, macadam,
etc. They all have their hands out for
a slice of that panty raid. Back when
I worked at NJ Appellate, there was
a guy who bought in, loudmouth,
local municipal brawler, hands in
everything. He lived right there, by
the ramp for the turnpike overpass.
A bunch of new split-levels had
been built there, about '67. He'd
grabbed one of those. First his
printing business was in Fords,
in an old firehouse, re-purposed
commercially. When he bought
into Appellate he and I moved
all his stuff, in two station wagons,
back and forth all day. Type-cases,
fonts, typesetting machines, etc.
Jim (last name not used here),
used to come to work nearly
every Thursday, well every third
Thursday anyway, with a black
eye, a shiner a'building, from some
brawl he'd gotten into at the Wed.
night bowling league thing he
was part of. It was pretty funny.
He knew a lot of stuff, had a lot
to say. Jim and his family, that
next Summer, went on vacation
to Peru. Jim never came back. As
the 'story' went, he and his wife
were strolling on some Peruvian
beach, and out of the forest came
a poison dart that killed Jim. Yep,
he died right there - a 'poison dart'
no less. I'd have bet my car, house,
wife and kid too, that some local
goons had been hired and paid to
get him - Peru or not, just get
him. Some things are just better
left unsaid. That's how these
kingdoms and municipal fiefdoms
get build. 'Dumbest guy, to the
front of the class, now.'
-
None of any of this was ever worth
crap to me. I stayed as far clear from
any of that stuff as a reindeer from
heat. But at the same time, I never
fell for the prevalent storyline either.
I've ended up pretty much right back
in the local hell-hole I started out of.
I'm completely different, and couldn't
care a whit about what I do to them.
But they're all exactly the same, in fact
I think the whole bunch of them run
out of the same bloodline. If they come
from the devil, they come from evil.
D'evil is the family name. These are all
my own evil memories of an evil place,
and before I die they're all coming
out, right here. I can toast this place
over a fire of my own making. And
where there's smoke, there's fire.
where there's smoke, there's fire.
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