Ct – 218                          CORNERSTONE TRAVELER                                       Sept.  17  ‘13

 

Hi to all my readers and welcome to another exciting and thought provoking issue of this bi-weekly newsletter, The CORNERSTONE TRAVELER.  Also available on the web at www.cornerstonetraveler.com

 

mid-Hudson Valleynews:  The summer fair season is still in affect with the New Paltz Food Fair this past Sunday and the Art and Craft Fair coming soon.  And naturally the Elting Library has Library fairs almost all summer to raise money for the public library.

Woodstock has a flea market across the Main Street almost every weekend (Saturday and Sunday).  Weather permitting of course.  You can get locally grown fruits and vegetables at this outdoor flea market.  I have a cup of coffee or it the mood hits me a cappuccino at Marias Bazaar before AI go to the flea market.  At some booths there are magazines from years past. I wanted to buy a LIFE magazine, dated 1960, but someone beat me to it.  I did buy the book “I Will Fight No More Forever.  Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War”.It was an intriguing and interesting book about the Nez Perce and their society.

The foliage hasn’t changed in the mid-Hudson Valley yet.  It will not change for maybe a month or more.  But for any future leaf peepers the best place that I have found to the colors of autumn in the mid-Hudson Valley is at a parking area about ½ mile on the left from the hair pin turn on 44/55.

That’s about it for mid-Hudson Valley news.

observations:

The President has pulled away from a military strike on Syria with the aid of Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.  I heard people criticize the President for asking Congressional approval of a military strike.  Now I hear these same conservative pundits criticize the President for working with Putin to avoid a military strike.  Obama can’t win because the conservative nation has no clue what is the best action against Syria and the Assad government.

And in the same breath these conservative blow hards will not give evcen an opinion what should be done against the Assad government.  The same government that indiscriminately gassed their own people.

sports:

The Yankees have a record of 79-71 and are 12 ½ games back in the AL East.  They are 3 games back in the wild card race.  The Mets have a record of 67-42 and are 22 games back in the NL East.

The Jets lost to the Pats by a score of 13-10 and have a record of 1-1 in the Atlantic Conference of the NFL.

The Giants lost to the Bronco by a score of 33-41 and are 0-2 in the Atlantic Conference of the National NFL.

other:

As with all previous issues of this newsletter, everything printed here is either copyright protected or copyright pending.

The history of P&G’s follows this newsletter from about the 1930’s to almost the present.              The short story included in this newsletter is the second part of “Kit Carson and the Angels.”  I hope you like it.

Thank-you – Rik McGuire

                      

 

                                  History of P&G’s continued to the present

From 1925 – 1945 a number of diverse businesses occupied the building.  These included Carols Clothing Store, Atkins Drug Store,  Schaffert Real Estate Office, Marie Shop and Dicks Bar and Grill among others.

In 1947 Dicks Bar and Grill was purchased by two Lake Mohonk employees, Pat Cafferty and George Jayne.  Legend has it that neither told their wives of their intention to purchase the business.  They immediately changed the Grills name to Pat and Georges.  Among it’s loyal customers it was simply P&G’s.

One of the best things to happen to P&G’s occurred in 1961.  An ex Dodger player named Stormer Nickerson became a bartender.  Stormy as he was affectionately known became something of a legend.  His heart, quiet good humor and generous spirit made P&G’s the one place that welcomed all from the harsher outside world into a refuge for college students, business people, local characters and even for a while, in the 1960’s, bikers.  According to one source.  “They weren’t as rowdy a crew as you might expect because although he was quiet, Stormy commanded and got respect.”  His professional baseball background made him a natural to pitch batting practice for the New Paltz College teams and he did so for a number of seasons.  One college fraternity considered P&G’s their private domain.  The scene of everything important, news, views, camaraderie and especially humor was always evident at P&G’s.

After the St. Helens volcano erupted and news reports discussed the possibility of ash fall out across the U.S., Stormy came to work to find the staff dressed in garbage bags and metal kitchen colanders on their heads.  Since no ash was reported on anyone, Stormy reasoned the

attire had been affective by making everyone laugh their ash off.

In June 1991, after 30 years, Stormy retired from P&G’s.  He died in June of 1994.  From his casual humor that lingers, to his Chile recipe that is still served and the kind memories often repeated by his many friends, Stormy is still here.

In 1969 Edwin Beck bought P&G’s.  His first weekend as owner was completely successful.  The following weekend, however, the place was deserted.  A disheartened Beck couldn’t understand what he had done to alienate everyone so quickly.  He was relieved to learn it was simply a matter of poor timing.  Everyone was away and wallowing in a farm in Bethel NY.  A music festival or something.

Ed Beck never spent time worrying.  He looked across Main Street and up Platekill Avenue, seeing thousands of thirsty college students who, for the most part remained on campus.  Taking a good supply of liquid refreshment, Beck went to the campus and gave the students (all legal in those days) a new place to call home.  He transformed P&G’s from a neighborhood bar into a local institution.

The face of Beck’s personality had much to do with the continued success of P&G’s, the place was fun.  One oft quoted story about Beck concerns a young P&G’s enthusiast who wanted to be just like Beck when he grew up.  It is reported that Beck in all humility replied.  “Well you can’t do both.”

The name Pat and Georges was officially changed to P&G’s in the 1980’s by Ed Beck and his son Mike.  In 1985, Mike bought out his fathers interest.  In 1994, he undertook extensive renovations, making the building exterior appear as it did in 1900, when it was the Casino.

 

KIT CARSON and the The Righteous Arm of GOD

 

Kit Carson is back again in the United States of America and I have learned of something even more insidious than the greed of certain people.

There are a group of people who believe that those of us who are hampered physically or mentally by accident and/or disease should not be allowed to exist.  I have learned the  people of this group are insistent on eliminating those people who are so disabled because this group of ideologues feel the disadvantaged are a bane on human society.  I learned this from a close friend of mine who was disabled from his job as a senior applications programmer in an insurance group of companies.  He became disabled because a bozo cut him off when he was riding his Harley Davidson Sporster.  The resulting accident left him in a coma for six weeks and a fucked up spine that confines him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.  Is he really confined by this wheelchair?  Not that you could see.  He is able to get around like a circus acrobat in that chair.  His arms have become so powerful that he could pop a wheelie in his chair and maintain the position on two wheels for hours, if he was so disposed.

His name is Todd.  No last name is necessary so I will just call him Todd.  We meet at a local coffee shop and talk endlessly over our coffees.  He claimed that there were a group of people who were intent on eliminating those of us who are a drag on society.  People like Todd who are on total and permanent disability

Todd learned of this group of people when he learned of the tragic and sudden death of a fellow disabled person.  Actually a disabled vet and they met through a support group of wheelchair bound people.  The vet, like Todd, was very maneuverable and astute in his wheelchair, yet he somehow lost control of his chair one night on a side street in town and was hit by a truck.  Witnesses to the accident claim the truck took careful aim at the vet in his chair,

hit him and drove off, but not before picking up a man who was on the sidewalk where the vet lost control of his chair.  It was believed by Todd and other wheelchair members of the support group that the accident was intentional because there were rumors of a group of people who did their best to eliminate the disabled in our society.

In the past few years several disabled people died mysteriously.  Todd became concerned enough with this that he went back to school to become a licensed P.I.  But he feared that his disability limited his ability to conduct a thorough private investigation into this group of people.

He was able to learn that this group of people met monthly at one house in town and almost invariably a disabled person or homeless person would die mysteriously shortly after the meeting.

He tried going to the police, but somehow after he contacted the police this group of people changed their routine and the police couldn’t bring charges against them.  These people called themselves the Righteous Arm of God or RAG’s.  a fitting name for these evil people, I thought.

I asked Todd where the house was and when they met.  He asked why I needed to know. I explained that I may be able to learn the true intentions of RAG.  He asked how and of course I could not tell him of my pet crow, Petey, so I just punted and told him that I, through my journalistic sources had contact with many people who would help me and point me in the proper direction.  I went with Todd in his van that was handicapped equipped and we drove to the house where the meetings were held.  I naturally stepped out of the car to snap photos of the grand house from three sides.  I couldn’t take a photo of the rear because a man came out of the

front door yelling (screaming) for me to leave.  I quickly left him with his fist swinging in the air.  I walked two blocks to where Todd parked his van because we thought, correctly as it turns out, that the people in the house would be suspicious if a disabled P.I. like Todd was snooping around.

“What did you learn?”  Todd asked as I climbed into his van.

“They are camera shy.”  I said and explained how one man screamed curses at me for snapping photos of their sanctuary.

Todd drove me to my apartment and I promised I would have more information for him through my journalistic contacts.  I told him it might take a month or longer.

That night I showed Petey the snapshots of the house and Petey stared at each intently as if etching the images in it’s brain.

That night, as I lay in bed, I saw what Petey saw as he sat perched on the window still of one of the first floor windows.  I saw the reverend Teaswell, a fire and brimstone preacher at the Second Southern Baptist Church.  His fire and brimstone sermons were will known through out the church and even outside of the church because he breathed fire that if people did not follow his teachings exactly, they were all condemned to hell for all eternity.

I knew of Teaswell and his reputation because more than a few times he wrote scathing letters or columns to the local newspaper condemning me in God’s eyes.

I saw everything Petey saw as he peered though that window.  The reverend was dressed in pajamas, sitting in a recliner with a snifter of what I could only assume was brandy or cognac.  He would pickup a remote occasionally in one hand as he watched what I could only assume was

a DVD because it showed images of child porn.  As he watched his other hand was in his pajama bottoms caressing himself.  I had to chuckle because the reverend was unmarried in fact he had never married and now I saw how he satisfied his sexual urges.

About an hour or so later and at least three snifters, the reverend retired to his bedroom upstairs.  Petey naturally flew to the window sill near his bed and I saw, though Petey’s eyes, the reverend log onto the internet.  It didn’t take him log before he found a child porn site and scrolled through image after image.  When he found one he liked, he downloaded it to his computer for further viewing.

The reverend climbed into bed turned off his light and fell asleep.  Seeing only darkness, Petey flew home.

I knew that if we had a problem with RAG all I had do was tell the police to search the reverends home for child porn on DVD’s and his home computer.  Now all I had to do was get images of a RAG meeting and who they planned to kill.  I knew I couldn’t tell Todd any of what I had learned thus far, but I would assure him that it wouldn’t be too long before we had RAG in our clutches.

“Why does the reverend Teaswell live in that house?”  I asked Todd.  “Doesn’t the church provide housing for the reverend near the church?”

“It was Teaswell’s decision.  He thought that his house, owned by the church, was visited too often by church parishioners.  He thought, correctly as it turns out, that if he lived in another house away from the church grounds, he would be free to study the bible and prepare his sermons.”  Todd explained.

 

“And free for other activities.”  I chuckled.

“How’s that?”

I only waved my hand.  “Never mind.  Tell me.”  I continued.  “Can you give me the names of the other people at these meetings?’

Todd only smiled as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper.  “I was wondering when you would ask, so I copied the names of the people I have observed going in and out of the house.”  He slid the sheet of paper across the table to me.

I scanned the list of about twenty or thirty names.  I recognized some of the names, as they were known in town and considered pillars of the community by many in town.  But to me they were just average assholes who thought themselves to be better than others.  Though in my view they never did anything to promote this inflated opinion of themselves.

“So this is the group of people who are intent on eliminating the disabled in our society?”  I asked.

“It would appear so.”  Todd answered.

I started to chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”  Todd asked.

I pointed to some of the names.  “I know some of these men and it is ironic that they want to kill off the disabled in our society when I am certain that many of them are cerebrally challenged.”

“You know?  How?”  Todd asked.

“Remember I am a journalist and I have seen some of these people in their true colors.  And it is not pretty.”

With that said, we left with me assuring Todd I would be in touch with everything we would need to bring down Teaswell and RAG.

I went to my apartment, only to find Jessie already there, preparing dinner.

“What’s with the housewife routine?”  I asked the scantily clad Jessie.

She turned from the stove where she was cooking vegetables with steaks broiling in the broiler.  “I thought you could use a break.  And I thought to maybe act like a housewife if only to give you the idea that I can be.” She smiled mischievously.

“I am famished and could use some good ol home cooking.  I have been eating at diners and fast food restaurants for the past two weeks.”

Jessie smiled.  “I know.  And I also know that because of my schedule at the hospital, we haven’t been able to spend any quality time together.”

It was my turn to smile mischievously.  “If by quality time, you mean in the bedroom then I am all for it.  I’m game.”

“Good.”  She said.  “We’ll have a good meal then spend quality time together.”

After a delicious meal of steaks with mashed potatoes and sugar snap peas, we went to the bedroom where we slowly undressed each other.  The foreplay lasted at least forty minutes, not a record by our standards, but long enough that we ached for each other hungrily.

Afterwards, we lay back with our arms around each other, breathing heavily.

We were both content with our love making and were just enjoying the closeness of our

bodies.

I was almost ready to fall asleep when I saw the images of what Petey was seeing in my

mind.  I had forgotten about Petey as I was preoccupied with other matters at the time.  Petey had flown to Teaswells home and was perched near a casement window of Teaswells basement.  In the basement was Teaswell leading his group RAG in a meeting I heard the words of Teaswell through Petey’s ears.

“We have to eliminate that P.I. Todd, what’s his name and the sooner the better.”  Teaswell said before everyone sitting before him.  “Our God does not want people like him to live, especially because he is slowly learning of our existence.  Any suggestions?”

“Another accident.”  Came one voice.

“Gunshot.”  Came another

“Poisoning.”

“Drug overdose.”

Teaswell shook his head.  “No, No.  These are all good suggestions, but I think we need something we have never done before.”

“What’s that?”  Everyone clamored.

“Suicide.”  Was all Teaswell said before I sat up in bed thinking of how I could warn Todd.

“What’s wrong?”  Jessie asked.

I could only shake my head and as usual punt with an explanation.  “The angels have contacted me and I am now required to do something for them.”

“What?”

I leaned over, placed my finger on her lips.  “It’s between me and the angels.”  I said as I

gave her my tongue between her lips.

“When?”  She asked.

“Soon.”  Was all I could say.

I got out of bed and walked bare assed to the kitchen, Jessie giggled as I walked away from her to the living room of my apartment.  I wanted and needed a good stiff shot of Irish Whiskey so I could gather my thoughts on how to bring down Teaswell and RAG.  As I sat in my recliner thinking, sipping the whiskey, I pondered how I could get the police involved.  After two or three drinks I was at a loss and needed to sleep.  I went back to bed and snuggled to the sleeping body of Jessie.

The next morning I woke early to find Jessie already dressed and ready to head to work at the hospital.  I stood before her to give her a hug before she left and she laughed.  “It is difficult to leave, if not impossible when you stand before me and hug me naked.

I could only smile.  “At least you know what awaits you when you come home.”

“Home? This is my home?”  She asked.

“You know it is.  And you know that you are welcome here if not needed.”  I said to her retreating back.

After Jessie left, I went to the kitchen to perk a pot of coffee.  I knew that I had to figure out a way to bring down Teaswell and his asshole associates.  But how?

Just then Petey flew to the kitchen window and pecked to be let in.  And naturally I

couldn’t refuse.

I let Petey in through the window and he flew throughout my apartment, flapping his

wings violently trying to get my attention.  And he did.

He suggested in my mind that he was going to bring down Teaswell and his cohorts.  I naturally had to ask how.  And in my mind Petey said with patience.

 

That night, as I lay in bed I saw images from Petey.  I saw Teaswell and his cohorts planing the murder of Todd.

It was decided that one night on a little traveled country road just outside of town, they would stage an auto breakdown.  They all knew that Todd couldn’t resist helping those in need.  They figured that as Todd maneuvered his body into his wheelchair when he left the van someone would hit Todd to make him unconsciousness they would then inject enough alcohol into his veins that he would be considered intoxicated.  Then push the van with Todd inside over a nearby cliff.  The crash should kill him, they thought and the medical examiner would do the standard test to reveal that Todd had died from the accident while intoxicated.

I didn’t know how to warn Todd of RAG’s intentions to cause his death by accident without revealing my pet crow, Petey.  I thought and thought, but I couldn’t figure a way to warn Todd not to stop to help anyone for the next few weeks.  I knew Todd and his need to help people.  I really didn’t think I could convince Todd not to stop his van to help anyone.

As I sat in my recliner, sipping some coffee, Jessie arrived from the hospital.  She saw I was caught up in thought and very pensive.  She naturally had to ask what was wrong.

I knew I couldn’t hold back from her and I told her Todd was slated to be killed by RAG.

I had already told Jessie about RAG and their intentions in our society.  I tried to explain that I was at a loss to warn Todd.  She only smiled.  “Ask the angels for help.”  She said

I slapped my forehead.  “Of course!  I should have thought of that immediately.”

She came to me, bent down, kissed me on the forehead.  “You have this unfortunate stubborn streak where you think you can solve everything without help.  Now you need help.  Call the Angels in the Mist.  And do it now before it’s too late.

“I have to be alone when I contact them.”  I told her as I went to the bedroom.

“I understand.”

I went to the bedroom, closed the door when before me appeared an Angel in the Mist.

“I need your help.”  I said.

We know and we are already on top of it.  The angle whispered.  Todd will be well protected.  Trust us.

 

“What else can I do?”  I asked sheepishly.

Later that week I saw Todd zipping up and down Main Street in his wheelchair.  As he zipped past me, he came to a sudden stop, turned around and smiled.

“How’s it going Todd?”  I asked.

“Great!  You can’t believe what happened the other night.”  He laughed.

“What happened?”

Todd smiled.  “I was driving along Old Country Road the other night and I saw a car that somehow swerved off the road into a drainage ditch.  And I naturally had to stop and see if I

could be of some aid.  As I was lowering myself in my chair on the hydraulic lift of my van I saw one of the men from RAG rush toward me with a heavy wrench in his hand.  He had it up to swing it at me and swing he did, but before I could even rise my hands to protect my head, the wrench dropped from his hand as if by magic.  I don’t know who was more stunned, him or me.  I naturally raised the lift to get back into my van and I left .  But I told all of them I would contact the police to help them.  You can’t believe how fast they all moved.  The car was out of the ditch in seconds and tear assing down the road.  They were trying to kill me.”

The next time Petey spied on Teaswell and the RAG group, they were all flummoxed by their failure to kill Todd.  Teaswell, for the first time in his miserable life was at a loss for words.  He just didn’t understand how The Righteous Arm of God was foiled by God’s angels.  Angels in the Mist.