August 2019 Obituaries
Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2019 10:14 am
L. Brooks Patterson, longtime Oakland County executive, dies at 80.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/obitu ... 909112001/
I have to say that I was never a fan of his. Way back in the mid-1970s, I played in a men's amateur hockey league in Waterford, Michigan. Around Christmas (maybe 1974 or 1975), that league decided to rent a hall and have a Christmas party. There was catered food, alcoholic beverages, music, etc. Then some of the guys started spontaneously gambling, playing poker and throwing dice, etc. I left about that time. Soon after, the Oakland Country sheriffs raided the hall party, arrested a bunch of folks, and confiscated those folks' money (ill-gotten gains from gambling, don't you know?).
The next day, the headline in the Oakland Press newspaper announced "Big Gambling Ring Busted." The paper also posted the mug shots of the eight "ringleaders." Yeah, sure, what a bunch of el toro poo-poo! It was NOT a "gambling ring," but good ol' L. Brooks took advantage of those arrests to remind everyone about what a good job he was doing in stamping out crime! Needless to say, the charges were eventually dropped against all of those "hard core gamblers," but the cops kept all of the money they STOLE from the hockey guys. (It's ironic is this modern age that now the government is the largest pusher of gambling on folks with the lottery!)
Of course, the rest of us guys in the league who hadn't been arrested had a good time razzing the poor guys who had been arrested. When those arrestees walked into the dressing room for their particular team for the next hockey game, they found their teammates already in the dressing room, reading that copy of the Oakland Press.
Garry K
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/obitu ... 909112001/
I have to say that I was never a fan of his. Way back in the mid-1970s, I played in a men's amateur hockey league in Waterford, Michigan. Around Christmas (maybe 1974 or 1975), that league decided to rent a hall and have a Christmas party. There was catered food, alcoholic beverages, music, etc. Then some of the guys started spontaneously gambling, playing poker and throwing dice, etc. I left about that time. Soon after, the Oakland Country sheriffs raided the hall party, arrested a bunch of folks, and confiscated those folks' money (ill-gotten gains from gambling, don't you know?).
The next day, the headline in the Oakland Press newspaper announced "Big Gambling Ring Busted." The paper also posted the mug shots of the eight "ringleaders." Yeah, sure, what a bunch of el toro poo-poo! It was NOT a "gambling ring," but good ol' L. Brooks took advantage of those arrests to remind everyone about what a good job he was doing in stamping out crime! Needless to say, the charges were eventually dropped against all of those "hard core gamblers," but the cops kept all of the money they STOLE from the hockey guys. (It's ironic is this modern age that now the government is the largest pusher of gambling on folks with the lottery!)
Of course, the rest of us guys in the league who hadn't been arrested had a good time razzing the poor guys who had been arrested. When those arrestees walked into the dressing room for their particular team for the next hockey game, they found their teammates already in the dressing room, reading that copy of the Oakland Press.
Garry K