Clueless in Bellingham

two pieces of satire by Bo Richardson
illustration by Jim Gibbs
Free Press contributors

Last week I was sitting outside the Avenue Bread bakery on Railroad Avenue in Bellingham, talking to Lloyd, the black guy who works for US West, and Lee, the other black guy who works at US West. There was a police cruiser at the far north corner of the street, and the officers kept staring at Lloyd and Lee. Finally they cruised slowly by, still staring, then turned back north on Railroad Avenue, still staring in the most overt and unmannerly way. From the running commentary of Bill and Lloyd, this was a routine occurrence for them.

My question is, what is it with Bellingham cops and US West? Sure the service has been slow lately, but with all the new development and phone lines to hook up, I'm sure they're swamped. Besides, just think of how arrogant the phone company was before they broke it up into smaller companies. There are many corporations whose employees are much more deserving of surveillance than US West.
Lee and Lloyd mentioned that they had heard a rumor that Bellingham had hired a couple of cops from the LAPD, and they seemed apprehensive. I can't understand why. The LAPD has an 80 year history of acting out their prejudices violently. But the LAPD is serviced by Pacific Bell, an entirely different phone company. If true, these two officers are likely to arrive without any operative prejudice at all against US West. But still, it makes me glad I don't work for the phone company.





In America, they first came for the crackheads, and I didn't speak up because I didn't smoke crack. Then they came for the smack junkies, and I didn't speak up cause I didn't use needles. Then they came for the pot smokers, but who can afford $100-an-ounce weed? Then they came for people who probably smoked pot in the '60s, or voted for McGovern, or were witches or communists or black, but I didn't speak up because I am not political. When they decided they wanted my house and car, they came for me, but by then there was no one left to speak up.

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Contents on this page were published in the January/February, 1997 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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