What are you reading in 2025?

[HappyHiker]

I like to read about food and nutrition sometimes. Right now I'm mid-way through "Ultra-Processed People." My! Quite an eye-opener. Will help us be more cautious in what we put into our mouths. Us versus the Food Corporations rages on...those sneaky ultra-processed foods are addictive.

Also reading a novel-- "The Book Club for Troublesome Women"-- a great read--fascinating premise.

[KayLR]

Right now reading "A Letter to the Luminous Deep," by Sylvie Cathrall. Unusual!

[littlebittybobby]

okay--got started on the first part of "Worse Than Death". Well, the nightclub/Bar in Dallas, Texcess, where the 1984 mass-shooting by a criminal illegal alien took place was closed fri-sat-sunday after, so the police could investigate and the owners clean up the bloody mess, but opened up on Monday, so that regular patrons could commiserate about the tragedy. The building still stands, but apparently is used to house an "Urgent Care" clinic.(see photo) An appropriate use for an already stigmatized property(see photo). But yeah---I'm not sKimming through this one; I'm studying it like a textbook, so I don't miss anya the details. See? Like--two of the victims were sent to Parkland Hospital, irony of ironies, the same one where JFK and Oswald AND Jack Ruby died. Yup.Attachment 6383

Here's a photo of the building in 1984. (see photo). But yeah--since then, aWalmart Sooper-Center went in to the south of it, and a chik-fill-a to the north.(yuk). Looks also like it got a slight remnodel, with new coach lights and some other stuff. But the windows are zackly the same.

[rosarugosa]

Before I do my usual monthly recap, I want to discuss a book that I just finished, which had a major impact on me. It is A Rip in Heaven by Jeanine Cummins, about the old Chain of Rocks Bridge murders in Missouri in 1991. I had never heard of these murders, but I'm sure you folks in MO were very much aware of them. I selected the book because I liked her book American Dirt so much. The murder victims were the author's first cousins. I used to read a lot of true crime, but I'm not sure I have the stomach for it anymore. That being said, I thought it was a great read, even if it robbed me of some sleep and peace of mind (kind of crazy, I know).

I guess what really struck me was the casual cruelty of the perpetrators. How does one get from, "Hey, it would be fun to go smoke a couple of joints on the old bridge," to "Hey, it would be fun to gang rape and kill those nice kids we talked to on the bridge?" It doesn't make it OK, far from it, but a lot of murderers have some type of grievance against their victims, or some type of inner demons or compulsions to commit terrible acts, but this was just so casual and spontaneous and horrific. I have so much trouble wrapping my brain around it. I also have trouble fathoming how Tom (the sole survivor who was the primary suspect at one point) was ever able to process and come to terms with the horror he both witnessed and endured.

I will mention that I really like old bridges, so that was another element of fascination for me. However, I would have been totally creeped out by the bridge in the dark at night, with the open manhole covers, and the tangled weedy mess at the entryways and the graffiti. The whole beginning of their escapade that night had such a "don't go down the basement!" feeling about it, and it seemed like Tom was seriously creeped out before anything bad even happened.

So I would be really interested in knowing the thoughts of others who read the news coverage at the time, or were following the case from afar, or read the book.

I think it's kind of cool that the bridge is now part of a park and bike/walking trail. If I'm ever in MO (unlikely I guess), a visit to that stigmatized bridge would be an absolute must.

[iris lilies]

Yes, the Chain of Rocks murders were pretty horrific.

It wasn’t an open and shut case.The cops arrested the girls’ cousin Tom at first ( later exonerated him.) They finally arrested four other guys and apparently beat confessions out of several of them. And then, one of them, Reggie Clemens, had very poor representation in court.

So the case dragged on and on for decades because of Reggie Clemons and his legal challenges. He finally got a second trial, and then, after maintaining his innocence for decades, confessed to rape and second-degree murder,. So he’s serving several life sentences now.

The official story on the ACLU website about Reggie Clemons is that the girls “ fell from the bridge.”Geez. Gotta love the ACLU. Yeah, they just “ fell” the silly girls.

one thing I distinctly remember about this case is how the girls’s mother behaved. She wanted to see, just served, but she didn’t seem vindictive or crazy towards Reggie Clement and his years of appeals.

[iris lilies]

Rosa, you can read up about prosecurtorial malfeasance in the Reggie Clemons prosecution case which caused Reggie to get a new trial. The prosecutor was Nels Moss, who I dealt with when our friend killed his wife, shot her to death. So there's your “ one degree of separation” for you to this murder case.

This account of Tom Cummins is amusing for its typical take on race issues in St. Louis. The St. Louis American is apparently,throwing shade at Tom Cumminsand implying he is guilty, of what exactly I don’t know.But that’s The American, our city’s black newspaper for ya.

https://www.stlamerican.com/news/pol...mmins-remains/

[rosarugosa]

Thanks, IL. Interesting that you have had dealings with Moss.

[iris lilies]

Thanks, IL. Interesting that you have had dealings with Moss.

Hmmm, this caused me to look this guy up. He died in 2915. A source said he worked for the city prosecutor’s office only until 1999. My friend shot and killed his wife, our other friend, in the year 2001. But I know it was Moss who communicated with our neighborhood about this crime so I don’t understand this timeline unless he was doing some contract work for the city prosecutor’s office after he officially left.

It is common in my city neighbothood to have an “Order of protection” against badnicks that prohibits them coming into the neighborhood. I didnt think this was necessary for Jeff, our friend, but some did. I heard that he had an Order protection out limiting his presence in our neighborhhod but I still saw him around, and then someone threw a “going to prison “ party for him smack dab in the middle of our neighborhood at a favorite restaurant so…hmmm.

[Tybee]

Hmmm, this caused me to look this guy up. He died in 2915. A source said he worked for the city prosecutor’s office only until 1999. My friend shot and killed his wife, our other friend, in the year 2001. But I know it was Moss who communicated with our neighborhood about this crime so I don’t understand this timeline unless he was doing some contract work for the city prosecutor’s office after he officially left.

It is common in my city neighbothood to have an “Order of protection” against badnicks that prohibits them coming into the neighborhood. I didnt think this was necessary for Jeff, our friend, but some did. I heard that he had an Order protection out limiting his presence in our neighborhhod but I still saw him around, and then someone threw a “going to prison “ party for him smack dab in the middle of our neighborhood at a favorite restaurant so…hmmm.

Were you surprised when your friend killed his wife? How did you feel about seeing him after?

[iris lilies]

I was furious with Jeff for ruining his life and her life.

Jeff is black, Ellie his wife was white and this stirred up the usual race bullshit endemic to St. Louis. It split our neighborhood with friends no longer speaking to friends. Things were not the same for ten years afterwards. So I was furous with him for doing that, too and this was a big deal because we had a very large and close circle of friends, I would say probably 30 people in the core party group.

He shot her on the day their divorce was final. The judge had awarded the house to her and she told him he had to leave. Ridiculously, they both still occupied the house out of a stupid idea that if one of them left that person had less claim on the house.