Rough , Mean, and Dangerous Charachters !!

[n2ize]

When you were growing up you must have had some rough and tough charachters in school and around the neighborhood. i sure did. here are a few examples.

One guy in my Junior high school was arrested, charged with assault, tried and convicted. His crime ? he beat a local restaurant employee over the head with a baseball bat and turned him into a living vegetable., Several of his cronies were convicted as well.

We had a guy we called the "Charlie Guy". He was so violent he was actually kicked off of the football team. Imagine being too violent for football. Most of his fights ended up in knockouts. He used to carry a hammer with him around the school and he would use it to smash holes in walls, and to smash people over the head. He actually picked fights not just with other students but with teachers, janitors, administrators, and parents. One day he threatened to "beat the crap" out of the principal. Sometimes he would just walk up to a person he never met and spit in their face or punch them and dare them to strike back. He confronted me one day. I was watching him as he overturned tables and threw chairs across our cafeteria;. Suddenly he noticed me watching and raced towards me, his fists clenched and his eyes glaring hatefully at me. He said "WHAT THE F*&K ARE YOU LOOKIN AT ME FOR ??". I responded saying, "Sorry Charlie, I wasn't lookin at you". At that point he looked at me and said... "Oh... Okay" and he shook my hand. I got along with "The Charlie Guy" ever since.

We had a host of other guys who would extort money from kids. One of the guys we called the "Downer Flunkie" because he was always on tranquilizers and sedatives. He was the head of the extortionists. if you didn't pay up they'd pull you into a bathroom and beat the living crap out of you. Soon after graduation i heard the "Downer Flunkie" died from a larger overdose of Valium, Phenobarbital, Heroin and Alcohol. I got along with the "Downer Flunkie" when he was still living and in school.

The weight room was a dangerous place in my school. Unless you were an accepted member of the weight lifting sports jocks you did not venture near the weight room. If you were escorted to the weight room you had better say your prayers, because it meant you messed with someone and you were going to pay for it. Fortunately I got along with most of the people who hung out in the weight room.

There was one guy who tried to kill me in high school. He wanted me to do him a favour and give him $20.00 which he knew I had but I refused. After lunch he grabbed me in the hallway and started choking me to death. Several people shouted, "STOP, YOU'RE GONNA KILL THE KID !!" to which he responded, "You're damned right I am gonna kill this f&*k". Suddenly the fight broke up and I noticed a few hippies who were friends of mine escorting my assailant outside of the school. They took him to the parking lot behind the school where they had a firm "talk" with him. My assailant never said another word to me again, nor ever laid a finger on me.

So... Am I alone ? Or can anyone else reflect on similar incidents of rough and dangerous characters you had to deal with in school or in your neighborhood ?

[N8YX]

Has the statute of limitations expired?

[n2ize]

Has the statute of limitations expired?

Not for the ones who actually commit crimes. Fortunately the law dealt with them and put them in jail or they met their own demise at their own hands. I only hope kids nowadays don't have to deal with the brutal lowlifes who terrorized school life in the 1970's.. I would hope the school experience is better today than what I endured.

[NQ6U]

I was the rough, mean, dangerous character at my school. I used to carry a full-auto Viola de Gamba around with me and dare anyone to make fun of the music nerds.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

I was off to Alamo Heights high in the mid 70s when one of the jocks decided to pull a knife on me.
I kicked in in the head as hard as I was able to.
He fell backwards onto the sidewalk and was in a wheelchair the rest of his life.
I was promptly removed and sent to a work/school program while the case was being evaluated.
Later I was sent to the community college for the same thing, school/work.
I did not complete US high school, but I earned both a GED and associates by 18. ;)
And I got a technical degree from a Mexican school while on summer vacation.
When I finally hit my 18th I was ready for the world, joined the Mexican military, a lot like a bankrupt national guard. ;)
I did this while holding a full time job in the US, not uncommon.
But, I also discovered where to make the real money, the drug trade.
In the drug trade everyone is very civil, very careful of how the words are chosen.
Get stopped by the police and you say NOTHING, it is all prearranged, just do what you were told.
So, one incident in hight school and it was all over for me.
Got the court to seal the records and change my name at age 18 and I have never looked back.

[WØTKX]

Fifth smallest in my class (of approx 1200), started High School at 4'8 and 87 pounds. Late puberty too.

Hell yes I got picked on, but I was a nerd-delinquent.
Keys to everything... and other "skills". :snicker:

There were some real head cracking numb skulls, I avoided them.
Occasionally locker interiors got ruined, letter jackets destroyed.

Most of the really pathological types were jocks.

[W3MIV]

When I read the title of the thread, I thought I was being libeled.

[suddenseer]

Fifth smallest in my class (of approx 1200), started High School at 4'8 and 87 pounds. Late puberty too.

Hell yes I got picked on, but I was a nerd-delinquent.
Keys to everything... and other "skills". :snicker:

There were some real head cracking numb skulls, I avoided them.
Occasionally locker interiors got ruined, letter jackets destroyed.

Most of the really pathological types were jocks.Yeah, but you have 6.3 vac connections in your head.

[KG4CGC]

http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-10-05/news/the-vice-man-cometh/

[n2ize]

When I read the title of the thread, I thought I was being libeled.

I guess a better titlle for this thread woould have been "neighborhood and school bullies". But some of these guys were worst than typical "bullies". They were downright deadly.

[W4RLR]

There were quite a few rough types at my school, I grew up in a rough neighborhood. The roughest of the jocks got sent to Raiford prison on a rape charge, twice. Most of the other miscreants haven't done much with their lives since, if Facebook is any indication. Most of the geeks and nerds, myself among them, did something with their lives.

[PA5COR]

Being a foot taller as most kids, i never had problems myself, it took 6 hormone injections to let me stop growing actually as one of the first in the Netherlands.
I was not only tall, but exercised a lot, and from my 15th birthday worked 20+ hours a week besides school in a large grocery shop to make some money for my hobby's.

I always came up for the ones that were beaten up, never liked violence, not from myself nor from others.
When i was 10 i had some years Savate, that helped too.
Mostly my length was enough deterrence and if not a swift kick in the b*lls did the trick mostly.

[N2NH]

I grew up living in one tough neighborhood and hanging out in an even tougher one. The first was Harlem. The Harlem of the 60s and 70s. In the 60s riots were all around my area. I remember going to school looking to the east and seeing pillars of smoke from the fires set in the riots the night before. It was hard to sleep at nights when you didn't hear gunshots and those nights were very rare. I remember one guy, an Irish kid of 16 who, when cops shut the firehydrant on a sweltering day, grabbed the hydrant in a bear-hug and ripped it out of the ground. In front of the cops, who then took him in. But the hydrant was open for the next 6 months.

Hell's Kitchen was worse and really prepared me for the worst in life. I don't bother going to horror films. I spoil it for everyone when I start laughing.

[n2ize]

I grew up living in one tough neighborhood and hanging out in an even tougher one. The first was Harlem. The Harlem of the 60s and 70s. In the 60s riots were all around my area. I remember going to school looking to the east and seeing pillars of smoke from the fires set in the riots the night before. It was hard to sleep at nights when you didn't hear gunshots and those nights were very rare. I remember one guy, an Irish kid of 16 who, when cops shut the firehydrant on a sweltering day, grabbed the hydrant in a bear-hug and ripped it out of the ground. In front of the cops, who then took him in. But the hydrant was open for the next 6 months.

There is NO WAY anyone is going to rip an iron fire hydrant out of the street. It is impossible. I don;t care how big or strong the guy may have been. It is IMPOSSIBLE. No human being is going to be able to apply enough upward force to pull an iron hydrant free from solid concrete and asphalt let alone shear a ring of >half inch steel bolts and rip it free of it's fitting and encasement. Sorry, this one I cannot buy.

[W1GUH]

Not for the ones who actually commit crimes. Fortunately the law dealt with them and put them in jail or they met their own demise at their own hands. I only hope kids nowadays don't have to deal with the brutal lowlifes who terrorized school life in the 1970's.. I would hope the school experience is better today than what I endured.

Nah...today it's just gang-bangers.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

Actually, a direct upward motion can do it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fire_hydrant_knocked_over.jpg
A fire hydrant is not actually bolted in NYC, there is this iron ring.
It is designed to be hit and break away, very much like highway signs.
Get one on a summers day, when everything is loose, loosen the nuts or even take them off, and you can pull it right out of the ground.
It looks like you a ripping it out when actually it is just a trick.

[NQ6U]

Hello.

Get one on a summers day, when everything is loose, loosen the nuts or even take them off, and you can pull it right out of the ground.
It looks like you a ripping it out when actually it is just a trick.

Except the water pressure, which is typically in excess of 80psi, would blow it off before you ever got it unbolted all the way.

[X-Rated]

There were quite a few rough types at my school, I grew up in a rough neighborhood. The roughest of the jocks got sent to Raiford prison on a rape charge, twice. Most of the other miscreants haven't done much with their lives since, if Facebook is any indication. Most of the geeks and nerds, myself among them, did something with their lives.

There were so many factions in the early '70s in my school. We had the jocks. We had the rough types. We had the extortionist druggies. We had the radical racial groups when I was in Jr Hi, but they were not so radical in the mid 70's.

I don't know if it was simply because I was so damned short in Jr Hi, but I was picked on a lot back then by many of the factions. By the time I was in HS, I never got picked on again as I was towering over most by then. My parents never wanted to hear about me being involved in any violence lest they exercise their parental rights. They told me there was never any excuse for me to be involved in violence. If I was involved, I was at fault. Mom didn't hit me, but she would nag and nag until I wished she would hit me and quit.

Every day at Jr Hi was like death by a thousand paper cuts. Kicks and punches in the hall were the norm. I learned to go to the restroom before I left for school and go again when I got home. On gym days, I could use the toilet there without trouble. I was a regular punching bag.

Many people viewed everybody else as an enemy. Lawrence, KS was a city literally in turmoil. We had curfews where everybody had to be off the streets because the fighting was so widespread. Many buildings in town were firebombed. Police would wear helmets outside the police car as a routine practice. Kids were shot by police (http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2002/jul/16/violence_racism_marked/) in town. Violence was the norm in school because it was so much a part of the entire society.

The Jr. Hi I went to was built in 1968 and was tore down about 5 years ago. Many kids really played havoc on the building tearing it up. I was surprised it made it through my class. The building my parents went to high school in is now a Jr Hi in Lawrence and is still being used.

Well, now you know why this ham is so messed up.

[n2ize]

There were so many factions in the early '70s in my school. We had the jocks. We had the rough types. We had the extortionist druggies. We had the radical racial groups when I was in Jr Hi, but they were not so radical in the mid 70's.

.

We had several groups. They were called "the greasers", "the hippies", "the jocks" , "the nerds" and "the normal people".

The greasers liked to hang out in the parking lot with their cars. They also liked to continually talk about cars and hot rods. They wore their hair slicked back and wore gblack leather jackets. They also liked to kick ass.

The hippies liked to hang out in the bleachers on the other side of the school. They liked to smoke weed, drop acid, and use other drugs now and then. They generally didn;t like to fight but most of them could kick some serious butt if they had to.

The jocks used to wear the red team jackets. They also liked to kick ass. They were probably the most brutal of the lot. It was always good to have a few of them as friends. If things got tough they'd stick up for you. These were the guys who went out for hockey, football, etc.

The "normal kids" were all the rest. they generally went to class and blended in. Some were top students, others were not.

The "nerds" were the ones who generally got top grades and joined clubs like the debating club, the math team, the chess team, the ham radio club, and other "nerdy" type stuff. No, I wasn't a nerd in high school and no I wasn't on the "math team" or the "ham radio club". My interest in math, computers, science, economics, etc. didn't bud till my very last year of high school and later in college. My original major in college was Chemistry / Chemical Engineering. But I found I was more interested in my math & Computer courses than my Chemistry courses. So I switched my major.

I got along with most of the groups.I was always good at playing "chameleon" and blending in with whatever group was predominant at any given place and time. When i was with nerds I could be all smart and nerdy and when I was with greasers I could be tough and interested in nothing but kicking ass, cars and girls, and when i was with the hippies I could be all trippy like a total stoner freak.

When I was finallly in college I remember my HS teachers and administrators always telling me that they were preparing me for college.But college was nothing like HS and it made a lot more sense to me. I think it should have been the other way around. College preparing me for high school... LOL

[KA5PIU]

Except the water pressure, which is typically in excess of 80psi, would blow it off before you ever got it unbolted all the way.

Hello.

Look at the picture, that actual valve is below the frost line, there is NO pressure in the hydrant if the valve itself is closed.
That shaft that runs down the center, and goes to the top of the hydrant, operates the valve.
Sorry folks, but when it comes to public utilities, be it fire hydrants or traffic signals, I am in my element.

[NQ6U]

Okay, then, explain something to me: if the valve is down below the frost line, why is it that when a car hits a fire hydrant, there is typically a geyser associated with it? You said they're designed to break off, after all, so why doesn't it break off above the valve? Just asking, what with you being in your element and all.

[KA5PIU]

Okay, then, explain something to me: if the valve is down below the frost line, why is it that when a car hits a fire hydrant, there is typically a geyser associated with it? You said they're designed to break off, after all, so why doesn't it break off above the valve? Just asking, what with you being in your element and all.

Hello.

First, where it this hydrant located?
One of the primary reasons a house has a basement is due to the need to place the foundation below the frost line.
Places where a slab is common use a wet barrel fire hydrant.
http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files//PDF/Premiums/NFPA10-B.pdf
San Antonio, for example, does not use or need dry barrel hydrants.
But NYC, and any place up North does.
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Fire-Hydrant.html
But, the military has its own standards for everything.
So it is possible to go to the military reservation and remove the nuts from the bottom and simply pulling the thing straight up have it appear that the thing was simply ripped from the ground.
WD-40 beforehand makes the job much easier, both removal and reinsertion.
Quickly have someone reinstall the nuts just a nudge past hand tight and all is well.

[NA4BH]

Hello.

First, where it this hydrant located?
One of the primary reasons a house has a basement is due to the need to place the foundation below the frost line.
Places where a slab is common use a wet barrel fire hydrant.
http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files//PDF/Premiums/NFPA10-B.pdf
San Antonio, for example, does not use or need dry barrel hydrants.
But NYC, and any place up North does.
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Fire-Hydrant.html
But, the military has its own standards for everything.
So it is possible to go to the military reservation and remove the nuts from the bottom and simply pulling the thing straight up have it appear that the thing was simply ripped from the ground.
WD-40 beforehand makes the job much easier, both removal and reinsertion.
Quickly have someone reinstall the nuts just a nudge past hand tight and all is well.

HUH ????????????

[n2ize]

Every day at Jr Hi was like death by a thousand paper cuts. Kicks and punches in the hall were the norm. I learned to go to the restroom before I left for school and go again when I got home. On gym days, I could use the toilet there without trouble. I was a regular punching bag.



The bathrooms in my junior high school and high school were dangerous places. Many a beating took place in there. The bathroom by the lunchroom was the place where the "Downer Flunkie" did most of his drug dealing from. It was also the place where he would have people dragged to and beat up if they owed him money or resisted his attempts to extort money from them so that he could support his own drug habit. One time I witnessed them drag a guy into the bathroom. The guy was continually punched hard as he was dragged to a stall. His head was thrust into a toilet bowl and flushed. Then he was punched and hit hard about a dozen more times and thrown out the door. he looked like he was run over by a truck.

One thing I will say is that the "Downer Flunkie" always had good shit and he would never beat anyone. I always got a good high off his stuff. Sadly the guy croaked soon after he was dismissed from high school.

[X-Rated]

The bathrooms in my junior high school and high school were dangerous places. Many a beating took place in there. The bathroom by the lunchroom was the place where the "Downer Flunkie" did most of his drug dealing from. It was also the place where he would have people dragged to and beat up if they owed him money or resisted his attempts to extort money from them so that he could support his own drug habit. One time I witnessed them drag a guy into the bathroom. The guy was continually punched hard as he was dragged to a stall. His head was thrust into a toilet bowl and flushed. Then he was punched and hit hard about a dozen more times and thrown out the door. he looked like he was run over by a truck.

One thing I will say is that the "Downer Flunkie" always had good shit and he would never beat anyone. I always got a good high off his stuff. Sadly the guy croaked soon after he was dismissed from high school.

The kid who lived up the road from me was a dealer/user. I was never into illegal drugs or other glue sniffing exercises. But he ended up in the pen. I remember seeing an article in the paper about him when he got out. He was singing songs like he has seen the error in the ways of his past. Happiness was not found in all the money he had or the fast cars he could buy. Happiness was punching a timeclock and worrying about how to pay the next bill, I guess.

My senior year in HS, I had a kid in one class named Jeff Gibler. I asked him if he was any relation to my neighbor Greg Gibler. He instantly hated me because I was Greg's neighbor and I instantly hated him because he was Greg's cousin. We found out real quick that associations do not an enemy make. We ended up best of friends.

But it was largely no one trusted anyone in town. I have moved away 3 times from Lawrence and have obviously moved back 2 times. To visit the place, it is really visually an attractive city. The city is not flat. Several streets are closed if there is any ice or snow because they are too steep to maintain any traction. The University setting is as attractive of any University setting as I have ever seen. But I hate living there. I hate the attitude of the place. (Sorry KU0DM)

Jocks in my school only asserted their physical superiority by pushing and shoving. That proved their superiority. We had to do arm wrestling in PE and the football players would have that hungry look on their face when they came to this scrawny kid. But I actually could beat some of them at it. I had to load barns with hay and they watched cartoons.

Lawrence has a large black population. Lawrence was where many slaves ended up at the end of their underground railroad. The late 60's and early 70's, this was a big issue as you could see in my earlier link. But Lawrence has the only Native American University in the country. Native Americans from any state can come to Lawrence for a free US paid higher education. So there are many native Americans in the city as well. Like my friend Jeff and I had early misgivings about each other without knowing what the other was all about, (being prejudiced) there is a lot of racial tension in this city where the population has a high turnover because of the 2 universities. I went to school with the Kansas University's Chancellor's son as well as son's of men who lived on an Oklahoma reservation. Lawrence is a melting pot for all of the peoples of the country. Few people feel like they fit in everywhere and tensions run high.

We had kick ass ranchers in school as well. They knew their cockroach killers were good for kickin' butt. They would kick those sharp toed boots where ever they wanted to make a point. My parents would know all of their parents, and they were obviously saints to my folks.

I told my kids that I would back them up when they went to school. I did that. I went to the principal to discuss the problems when my kid was attacked and subsequently suspended. My wife or I was there for every little incident that occurred to show them the support I felt I would like to have in the face of these adverse conditions. I can only hope they feel like I supported them like I feel I tried to support them.

[N2NH]

There is NO WAY anyone is going to rip an iron fire hydrant out of the street. It is impossible. I don;t care how big or strong the guy may have been. It is IMPOSSIBLE. No human being is going to be able to apply enough upward force to pull an iron hydrant free from solid concrete and asphalt let alone shear a ring of >half inch steel bolts and rip it free of it's fitting and encasement. Sorry, this one I cannot buy.

John. I really don't care. I saw it with my own eyes.

[n2ize]

There is NO WAY anyone is going to rip an iron fire hydrant out of the street. It is impossible. I don;t care how big or strong the guy may have been. It is IMPOSSIBLE. No human being is going to be able to apply enough upward force to pull an iron hydrant free from solid concrete and asphalt let alone shear a ring of >half inch steel bolts and rip it free of it's fitting and encasement. Sorry, this one I cannot buy.


John. I really don't care. I saw it with my own eyes.

Sure John.... I believe you... I really do... You should have told me you used to hang out with Clark Kent.. :lol::lol::lol:

I used to know a guy who could evade and block bullets. When a gun was fired at him he was so fast that he could either jump out of the way or deflect the shot with the palm of his hand. I saw him do it with my own eyes. :lol::lol:

[KA5PIU]

John. I really don't care. I saw it with my own eyes.

Hello.

I explained how it is done, there is a trick to it.
Fact of the matter is that Fire Hydrants can easily be moved by one person if they know how.
The top half is around 60 pounds, and it is a straight lift.

[w6tmi]

Sure John.... I believe you... I really do... You should have told me you used to hang out with Clark Kent.. :lol::lol::lol:

I used to know a guy who could evade and block bullets. When a gun was fired at him he was so fast that he could either jump out of the way or deflect the shot with the palm of his hand. I saw him do it with my own eyes. :lol::lol:


Oh I know that guy too! And I know it's true, 'cause I saw it on you tubes!

YEah I was gonna call shenanagans on that one too..