Wake Up Dead

You can read the story here. A drug deal in McKinleyville (often referred to by locals as McKlanleyville) goes bad. Weapons are drawn. Two men end up pursued by police. One is dead of a gunshot wound to the head (possibly self-inflicted), the other survives, but also has a gunshot wound to his head, which he states was self-inflicted. They were both wearing bullet-proof vests. From what I hear, the dead one had a three-year-old.

Classic.

People at my job seemed stunned and actually kind of sad about the whole thing. Who cares that weapons were drawn and body armor worn. Consequences be damned! Nobody should be dead over the entire thing.

I beg to differ.

These two young guys came ready for action. It seemed inevitable that violence was going to occur. It seems dumb that it was over pot and not some political thing, but to each their own. Nobody should be stunned like this, but I must say that suicide (if that's what it was) seems like an over reaction.

The drug violence in this county is getting worse. People growing because they have their 215 card has also contributed to some nasty home invasions (you go where the drugs are). It's bad, but it's also to be expected. High speed chases and death are concomitant.

I don't know any of the people named in the story. I saw a picture on the news of the dead man, his woman and their child (I assume it's their child). They looked happy. That, of course, sucks. But this is the culture. This is life in Humboldt County. This is life in a world where pot culture meets thug culture. Life is cheap, pot is plentiful, money rules.

Surprised? Not at all.