Season 6, Episode 4 August 20, 2023

Hello! Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube! I’m your host, Bob Woodley. My goal is to live to be 150, but I realize it will be hard to make new friends at 125. But I promise if you give me a chance, you’ll want to party with me! On this episode, we’ll hear about the horrific fires in Hawaii, another story about Hawaii and also fire, how an East German spy had me fooled, and the earthquake that almost hurt my wife’s feelings …..but first, (Not the Headlines!)!

Last week, the United States Supreme Court temporarily blocked a huge settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would shield members of the Sackler family, who own the company, from civil lawsuits over the death toll caused by the abuse of their drugs. It’s only a temporary block, and the court says it will hear arguments on the case before the end of the year. I don’t know when they’ll render a decision. The Sackler family lawyers and some plaintiffs wanted the Supreme Court to stay out of it, but the Biden administration asked for the delay. It turns out the deal would be using laws meant to protect people with large debts who are in financial distress, not pharmaceutical companies.

The deal would not only protect the Sackler family, but it would also allow the drug company to reemerge as a reformed business, still making drugs and whatever else they did, but now the profits would be put to work to fight the opioid epidemic. Plus, the Sackler family would pony up six-billion dollars as seed money.

So, while the delay keeps the Sackler clan exposed, it also delays all that money going to prevention and treatment services. That’s a lot of money. I’m sure there are organizations, both legitimate and otherwise, who are chomping at the bit to get a piece of it.

Perdue pharma said in a statement quoted by the Associated Press, “We are confident in the legality of our nearly universally supported Plan of Reorganization, and optimistic that the Supreme Court will agree. Even so, we are disappointed that the U.S. Trustee, despite having no concrete interest in the outcome of this process, has been able to single-handedly delay billions of dollars in value that should be put to use for victim compensation, opioid crisis abatement for communities across the country, and overdose rescue medicines.”

So now Purdue Pharma is blaming a single guy for extending the pain they caused. It’s the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee’s job to flag suspicious or unlawful bankruptcy settlements. Here’s why it was flagged: Even though the company is declaring bankruptcy, the individual family members, or owners, are not. But this bankruptcy agreement protects individual members as well as the company. In return for immunity from further lawsuits as individuals, the family agreed to pay six-billion dollars. Case closed, no more sleepless nights. Let’s just get on with pretending we now care about people, and thank goodness we’re still billionaires despite all the people we helped kill. Some estimates say a half a million people died because of the Sackler family through the pharmeceutical company that, on the surface, they seem to keep at arms length. Why? Because the family has a history of developing drugs and marketing drugs despite the cost to anyone else. Ever heard of Valium? That’s one of the early drugs the family created and marketed. When they modified Oxycontin and marketed it as safe and non-addictive with an aggressive sales staff who were willing to say anything to make more money than they could imagine, it created an epidemic and an astronomical death toll. Despite the growing evidence of the danger, the family continued to push the drug until the very end, knowing they may have to pay a fine later, but nothing compared to how much they could make before the shit hit the fan. It was a calculated risk, and it almost worked until the Supreme Court put the kabosh on it. But it was one line in the statement that bothered me the most. When the company said the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee had no concrete interest in the outcome of this process, I had to think about what it is they mean by that. Well, if they’re talking about the process and the laws that govern it and the outcome and the results of that outcome, then the Trustee does have a concrete interest, as it’s the job of the Trustee to examine the transactions to make sure it’s fair, or at least one party knows it’s going to lose and there’s no other possibility. What is sounds like the Sacklers are suggesting is that the Trustee doesn’t have anything personal to gain, so why does he care? It seems the Sackler family, the family that solely runs Purdue Pharmaceutical, just can’t fathom somebody doing something that doesn’t benefit them personally. Their greed is well ingrained. Now you might be thinking, “But Bob, the Sackler family gave away tons of money to all kinds of worthy causes all over the world. It’s true, thy did. But what all those benefactors didn’t know was the evil employed to create the money they were getting. They didn’t know the money came from creating an addiction epidemic because the Sacklers never seemed to thank Oxycontin for it’s contribution to their wealth. Meanwhile, nobody who was getting rich wanted to stop the cycle. From the Sackler family to their take-no-prisoners sales staff to the doctors who over-prescribed the drug and even the drug stores who distributed it were raking in money. But it was the decision-makers of the Sackler family that pulled the strings that operated all the puppets. Despite all that, none of the owners of Purdue Pharmaceutical have ever been charged with a crime. They’ve already been fined millions of dollars by the federal government, but without admitting any guilt. Many would say crimes were committed, but defining the crimes is the hard part. Just who did kill all those people, and what about the people who are still dying today because of opioid addiction. The long-lasting remnants of long-gone company name. Speaking of company names, it doesn’t appear to me that the Sacklers knew about Limited Liability Companies, or this might already be settled. I’m sure I’m missing something, as I’m no business expert, but I believe an LLC was created specifically to protect personal assets from company liabilities.

Anyway, as it stands now, the family that was once thought of as kind and generous on the surface has now been labeled as evil drug-dealers. The settlement the Supreme Court put on hold would indicate the family knew it all along, and they’re willing to pay billions of dollars up front and more along the way to avoid trouble down the road.

Essentially, what the Supreme Court needs to decide is what price to put on the lives of 500-thousand people who suffered and died because of decisions made by the family that ran the company that created an opioid epidemic. Is 6-billion enough? Will the problem they created cost even more later? We may not even know all of the questions we need to ask yet, let alone the answers.

When you have billions and billions of dollars, is a penalty of 6-billion dollars enough? Should the family be ruined? Stripped of their accumulated wealth? Paraded down the street while feces are thrown at them? What is an appropriate price to pay for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people when the motive was greed? Should they be reduced to peasants, or just millionaires?

How long should they suffer? Since they don’t seem to have any empathy at all, making them feel guilty is an exercise in futility. The bankruptcy plan would have ended any suffering they may have endured since the fall of Purdue Pharma. By suffering I mean hosting a party on one of the smaller yachts instead of the big one. You know, just to keep a low profile.

It’s clear that it will be hard to make the Sackler family pay a penalty that will matter to them. But short of bringing criminal charges, the damaged parties may have to take what the Sacklers are willing to give up. The astonishing thing is, they can easily give up 6-billion dollars to make this go away and still go about their business as if nothing ever happened. As if nothing ever happened to their lifestyle. As if nothing ever happened to the degradation of people’s lives. As if nothing ever happened to our society. Estimates are the family is worth 11 billion dollars. If your wealth was cut in half, and you still had 5 billion dollars, would you even notice the difference?

How hypocritical of the Sackler family to now be anxious to distribute the billions of dollars they would have to pay for victim compensation and abatement and overdose medicines. Now they’re in a hurry to get help to those who need it. Now that they can’t make a profit off the addiction anymore.

It’s almost a shame there can be found no criminal offenses with which to charge the family. Isn’t there a crime called conspiracy to kill half a million people? Not to mention, people are still dying because of the addiction caused by the Sackler family of products. No. Six-billion isn’t enough. I think the high court was right to delay this agreement. It should be rescinded completely. Let the Sackler family members responsible for the opioid epidemic live the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders. Let them wake up every day and wonder if they’ll be served with another lawsuit from a victim of their thoughtless and greedy ways. After ruining so many lives, including the people who didn’t die, but suffered through addiction and still may, the Sackler family shouldn’t even be allowed to own a pharmaceutical company. If a person with a DUI can’t own a liquor license, then how can these clowns own a drug company?

Speaking of which, there’s a story circulating quit heavily among journalists and news organizations, and forgive me for putting it in Not the Headlines if you’re already familiar with it, but what you might not have heard is what started the whole brew-ha-ha (pun intended) leading up to police raiding a weekly newspaper in Kansas called the Marion County Record. They also raided the home of the owner, a 98-year-old woman who died the very next day. And just for good measure, they also raided the home of a member of the Marion City Council. At all three locations, police confiscated computers, bank records, cell phones and other equipment. Even journalists personal cell phones were taken.

So, what prompted the raids? Well, it seemed irrelevant at first. Just about every news organization in the country automatically jumped on the band wagon, claiming First Amendment Rights protect the press from such invasions. It didn’t matter why it happened. But there still had to be a reason. Well, the warrant, signed by a judge, was to collect information used in the identity theft of a local restaurant owner. As it turns out, this restaurant owner doesn’t like newspaper in question. She recently had journalists from the paper removed from a public forum with the local congressman that was being held at her restaurant. Certainly, a personal issue isn’t enough to get a newspaper raided. There had to be something more, and as it turns out, the newspaper had a scoop on the restaurant owner. 

I lived in Leavenworth, Kansas back in the mid 1990’s. At that time, Kansas had some of the most strict liquor laws I’d ever seen. You couldn’t just walk into a bar in Leavenworth and get a beer. You had to be a member of the bar, and it cost 11 dollars, and your membership wouldn’t become valid for two weeks. So if you’re just passing through Leavenworth and are thirst for a beer, forget it. You also couldn’t buy alcohol on Sunday, except in private clubs like the VFW. Regular bars were closed. So, if I woke up on Sunday to discover I had no beer in the fridge for watching football, I had to wait until noon and drive over the border into Missouri to get some beer. Liquor stores in Kansas were not allowed to sell anything that didn’t have alcohol in it except state lottery tickets. Not even a bottle opener. 

I guess Kansas still keeps a pretty close eye on alcohol, as from what I understand from reading about this story, you’re not allowed to have a liquor license if you have a DUI. Well, guess what? This restaurant owner had a DUI, and wanted a liquor license for her restaurant. The 2008 infraction was supposedly under seal, and offender accused the newspaper of using an illegal computer search to uncover the arrest records. The newspaper hadn’t published anything about it. She knew they had the dirt, though, and accused them of getting it illegally. The newspaper says they got it from a source who also shared the information with the Councilperson who’s home also was raided. 

Now the question becomes, “how did a restaurant owner get the police to get a judge to sign a warrant to raid three properties because she didn’t want her criminal record to become public? What was that conversation like? “Oh, excuse me, Chief, but I was wondering if you could help me find out who uncovered my criminal record?” I’m pretty sure the Chief could say a whole lot of things other than, “Sure.” He could have said, “Well, I’m sorry your past is catchin’ up with you, ma’am, but that sounds like an administrative issue to me.” She would respond, “Well, I’m pretty sure a crime was committed.” and he would say, “Yes, ma’am. You already told me you had a criminal record.” To which, she would first roll her eyes and reply, “I believe somebody at the Marion County Record used an electronic device to illegally access my police records.” To which he would say, “Marion County Record? Well, why didn’t you say so. We’ll get to the bottom of it.”

Now, you might be thinking, “But Bob, why would the Chief change is mindset so abruptly? Well, that’s an excellent question. As it turn out, the Chief got wind that the Record was trying to dig up some dirt on him, too. Looking at the situation from a distance, it seems the police chief was looking for a way to see what the newspaper was up to when it came to his past as well. There is a possibility the restaurant owner and the police chief were working together, but I don’t think so. 

The Chief could use raiding the place looking to find out who got into the restaurant owners files and also find out what they knew about him. So what did he have to hide? 

When you live in a small town, everybody knows everything about everybody else, or so it seems. But this Chief wasn’t from this small town. He spent 24 years as a police officer in the big city: Kansas City, to be exact. I know, not the biggest city, but it does have a championship professional football team. They play in a stadium that’s named after the tip of a weapon that’s projected with a bow. The Chief came from Kansas City to Marion. He wasn’t a chief in Kansas City, but he did make over 115-thousand dollars a year when he left. As Chief of Marion, he made a paltry 60-thousand. So why did he leave? Because, according to Kansas City dot com, he was about to be demoted to sergeant because of sexual harassment allegations. I say allegations, but the Kansas City Police Department seem to think he did it. Rather than get demoted, he left. He found a new job in Marion, where is 24 years of experience made him a prime candidate for chief.

The newspaper knew. They never published a story about it. But even before the new Chief was hired back in April, phone calls came to the newspaper about the man who was about to become the leader of the police force. People who knew him and had worked with him in Kansas City called in warnings about the guy, but nobody would go on the record. Police departments don’t narc on each other, so the Marion City Council would never know what happened in Kansas City. So when the restaurant owner complained about her plight, the chief saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Or in this case, use two stones to kill one bird. The stones being the issues of the restaurant owner and the chief, and the bird being the newspaper. They did manage to kill the owner. Her son, who survived the ordeal so far, is the editor of the Marion County Record. He says they never published any stories about the restaurant owner’s DUI or the Police Chief’s past employment issues because they couldn’t corroborate either story. That’s good journalism. They weren’t out to ruin anybody. They obtained information about two local people that seemed legitimate, but that’s not enough to a good journalist, and the restraint of the editor to not publish what they knew is commendable. Perhaps it was the fact that the restaurant owner and the police chief knew the paper had the proof. Maybe they felt as if it was being held over their heads in some way because it hadn’t been published. They kept waking up everyday wondering if the other shoe was going to drop. They didn’t know if the paper was still digging up dirt. Maybe one of them had more to hide, and was desperate to stop the search. 

So, the chief got a judge to grant him the authority to conduct a search of his own, on behalf of the restaurant owner. That’ll fix it. And so began the crescendo to the drama that had been bubbling up. And like all great crescendos, the cymbal player was ready as this one ended with a big crash!

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation got involved. Lawyers hastily sent letters demanding a halt to any investigation or examination of seized materials by the law enforcement professionals. Whether or not those orders were followed is unknown. The police chief may now know who spilled the beans on him, and the restaurant owner may now know how the newspaper got the information about her criminal record. That was their ultimate goal, after all. 

The raid, however, turned out to be a big mistake. The Committee to Protect Journalists sent their program coordinator to monitor the situation personally. She said she wasn’t aware of another occasion of police raiding a newsroom in United States history.

Look that up liner, interrupted

No. No. I’m not going to look that up. I’m going to take this woman’s word for it. I’ve been working in the media my whole life, and I’ve never heard of it happening in the United States, either. The judge who signed the warrant must have been convinced a crime had been committed. Unless she also had a gripe with the Marion County Record. I’m not accusing her of anything. I’m just recognizing the possibility. Just as she did when she signed the warrant that authorized what might be the only known police raid of a newspaper. 

Since the raid, the local district attorney declared there was not enough evidence to issue the warrant, and ordered all the confiscated material returned. But it won’t be turned over directly to the injured parties. It will first go to digital forensics experts to see if any of the devices were illegally searched while in the custody of the police. If any searches of the devices did take place, it may mean charges against the police department. But even worse, the police may already know what it is they wanted to know, and personal vendettas will have to be anticipated. Perhaps the forensics experts will be able to tell how much the police might know about who contacted the newspaper about the restaurant owner and the police chief, or if they hadn’t accessed that information at all. Best case scenario is they didn’t. That would mean the whistle blowers are safe and the police didn’t break the law themselves by illegally searching the devices they confiscated. 

Let’s go back liner

1780

James Cook’s ship HMS Resolution returns to England (Cook having been killed on Hawaii during the voyage).

1848

The United States annexes New Mexico. Now, old Mexico is annexing the United States.

1910

The Great Fire of 1910 (also commonly referred to as the Big Blowup or the Big Burn) occurred in northeast Washington, northern Idaho (the panhandle), and western Montana, burning approximately 3 -million acres of forest. That’s about the size of the state of Connecticut. Wikipedia says the fire was brief, only lasting for two days. Strong winds spread the fire quickly into a firestorm that destroyed several entire towns. It’s believed to be the largest forest fire in U.S. history. Most of the 87 people killed were firefighters.

1910

Korea is annexed by Japan with the signing of the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty, beginning a period of Japanese rule of Korea that lasted until the end of World War II. President Biden just hosted the leaders of Japan and South Korea at Camp David for talks. The meeting was extraordinary because of the 1910 annexation, and, according to slate dot com, especially because during World War II, Japan made Korean men slave laborers and Korean women forced prostitutes. There’s been a lot of bad blood between Japan and Korea, and Japans refusal to apologize or compensate those who were abused hasn’t helped clear the air. So, to get these two leaders in the same room to work together on issues that effect both countries is certainly a feather in President Biden’s cap. As for what came out of the meeting, the three leaders issued a statement about the aggressions of China, agreed on annual meetings and a new communication setup so they can keep in touch more frequently. They also solidified the three countries support for Ukraine in defending themselves against the Russian invasion, as well as couple other things. 

1985

Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany. I lived in West Berlin at the time. I worked in the news department. I have no recollection of this ever happening. Here’s why I believe that is. Somebody in the chain of command at AFN Headquarters in Frankfurt put a lid on the story. I’m sure it made the German papers, and the news around the world. But in West Berlin, we were isolated. Even the American news feeds went through the Los Angeles headquarters of Armed Forced Radio and Television before they got to us. I’m sure the story never made it to Armed Forces Radio in Europe so as to not embarrass our host government.

2011

A 5.8 earthquake occurred in Mineral, Virginia, the earthquake was felt as far north as Ontario and as far south as Atlanta, Georgia. Damaged occurred to monuments in Washington D.C. and the resulted damage was estimated at $100 Million. I felt that earthquake. I was familiar with how they feel, having lived in Southern California. I went through many earthquakes, some of which I didn’t feel. This time was different, though. I was living in Pennsylvania. Sitting on my side porch on a pleasant afternoon, I felt the movement. I remember thinking, “Hmmm. I think that was an earthquake.”

I got up and walked into the house just as my wife had come from upstairs. I said, “Hey, Darling, I think we just had an earthquake.” 

“Really?” she asked.

“Well, it was either that or it was you coming down the steps!”

We laughed at that…..

So I made as sandwich and repaired to the living room and turned on the television and sure enough, it was on the news! We had an earthquake! “See, Darling? It wasn’t you coming down the stairs after all!”

Phone and Email liner

The tragedy that happened on the Hawaiian island of Maui is historic. In the large scheme of things, it was focused on a relatively small area of real estate, yet the devastating effects of the fires are very widespread. While the small island suffered an inferno unlike never before, the area that was struck was not only well populated, but had a rich history and was a true attraction for people from all over the world. The town of Lahaina was surrounded by lush jungles owned by millionaires. But the town itself was the attraction to the island for the many visitors it would host every year. The fires that reduced the village to ashes was a quick-moving event for which nobody was prepared. A lot of questions are being raised as to how the local government, the military in the area and emergency alert systems worked, or didn’t work, to alert and aid the people in the path of the fire. A path that was fast-moving and unpredictable.

I’m not an expert on fighting fires, but I am a lifetime member of West End Fire Company #5 in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and, while living in Guam, another island in the Pacific Ocean, I would always volunteer my services to the Guam Fire Department if I happened to come across a fire in progress. I remember one night, stopping at a fire scene that was spreading through pineapple fields, the Chief assigned me to a scouting role, sending me in a certain direction to see if the fire was spreading in that particular direction. Guam is very hilly, so unless you’re looking at the ocean, you can’t see very far. In hindsight, he might have been just trying to get this houle out of the way. In any case, I meandered my way through the pineapple field, and back, wearing shorts. I don’t know if you know this, but the shoots that accompany pineapple plants are kinda sharp. But when you’re looking for fire in the dark, the last thing you need is enough light to see where you’re going! Because odds are, that light is coming from a fire! Luckily, there was no fire in my direction. But my legs got a bit sliced up. 

Fighting fires on an island is a little different than fighting a fire in Ohio. The first inclination, other than to put the fire out, is to push it toward the ocean. Unfortunately in this case, the town was in the way. I’m not saying firefighters pushed the fire into the town. What I’m saying is pushing the fire toward the ocean was not an option.

More than a hundred lives are confirmed lost as I write this. The toll is expected to increase. The fire moved so quickly that people who hesitated decreased their chances of survival. One man who survived told reporters that as he was fleeing, he could almost tell who wouldn’t make it out.

This event is in modern history the equivalent of the tragedy at Pompeii, ironically another place name ending with two letter i’s. Hawaii, and Pompeii. The difference here is that the ashes will not preserve any moment in history. The result of the fire won’t record any touching last moments between a husband and wife or mother and child. It’s all ash now. Lying there, not in the shape of what once was, but flat and non-descript. Still three-dimensional, but somehow lacking depth. Human remains can be identified only through DNA samples. If you had no family there, we might never know who you were. May God bless you. 

Aid is already there and more is on the way. I’m sure the insurance companies are in all-hands-on-deck mode, if your agent survived. Communications are one of the first priorities, so your cell-phone will work before you have anywhere to charge it.

So, now that the threat is over, and the fire has consumed all it could, critics are looking for victims to burn even further. Social media asked where was the military? There is a military presence on the Hawaiian Islands. The military does have a force of firefighters. But none of it is in Maui. I even saw one person say, “They can go in with helicopters and get the tourists out!” Sure. Let’s say the military did have helicopters nearby, which they don’t. And by the way, does anyone want to take a guess at how many civilian helicopters there are in Hawaii? How many tourist companies have helicopters? Did we see any of them dropping in to evacuate tourists? No. Why? Because there was nowhere to land! For starters. Are you a helicopter pilot? I’m not, but I don’t think flying one over an open flame is a good idea. Not to mention the dynamics of high temperature fast-rising air and how that might effect the handling of the aircraft. Since flying helicopters over jungle fires is a bad idea, and there’s no military within a hundred miles to begin with, let’s let the military out of the equation of a fast-moving fire on the island of Maui.

Another way critics were quick to place blame was on the emergency alert sirens. Why weren’t they used to alert the citizens of a potential danger? Well, just as firefighters might be inclined to force a fire to the ocean, the emergency siren system on a tropical island is meant to have the opposite effect. On the Hawaiian Islands, an emergency siren is usually an indicator of an earthquake that may create tsunami. In that case, citizens would be conditioned to try to reach higher ground. In this case, that would have led most of the population into the direction of the fire, not away from it. Yes, it was a judgment call, but I believe it was the right one.

So, if there is blame to be placed, where would that be? Well, the U.S. Forest Service say 85% of fires are caused by humans, so there’s that. But the cause of the fires have not yet been determined. That makes the people who want to lay blame upset, and the conspiracy theorists wringing their hands while they think up new possibilities. 

The truth is, this is one of the most devastating fires in American history. There will certainly be lessons learned. Many questions will be asked. How did topography effect the path of the fire? Could buildings have been built differently? Should old buildings be replaced in other places where fire hasn’t yet struck? Are there ways to improve the firefighting capabilities of the firefighters and their equipment? How should the rebuilding begin? What precautions can be taken to try to prevent another disaster?

These are all questions that should be asked. More importantly, they should be asked and answered in a way that leads to improvement for society, not any business or political agenda.

Although the U.S. Forest Service say 85 percent of fires are caused by us, with the other 15 percent being caused by lightning and volcanoes, on the island of Maui, only one percent of fires are cause by lightning or volcanoes. And Maui has a volcano! In other words, there’s a more than 99 percent chance that this fire was caused by human behavior or activity.

Instead of blaming the military or the emergency siren system, it looks like we just might have to blame ourselves. Even though Hawaii is one of the few states that has the ability to catch itself on fire, we’re still responsible for 99 percent of the fires on Maui. 

Could the systems in place have worked better? Could the firefighters have done a better job? Could the emergency sirens been used to warn people? All of these questions will be examined. When that examination is complete, lessons will be learned. Failures will be uncovered. Solutions will be formulated. Do you know what else will be discovered? The local radio stations continued to operate, providing listeners with as much information as could be gathered in the hectic hours of this tragedy. Nobody was carrying a television with them, no podcaster was on the scene. Local radio was the lifeline for people who may have needed only to have hope. When everything else failed, radio did not. 

The Listening Tube is written and produced by yours truly. Copyright 2023. Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube. Subscribe today. I’m your host Bob Woodley for thou ad infinitum.