GARGOZO MANUSCRIPT

Students in Munson's English class received extra credit for destroying his Porsche's convertible top.  This came about when Munson deviated from the scheduled lesson plan and focused on vocabulary.  Students were required to correctly spell each word and use it in a complete sentence.  The list of vocabulary words included the following: Automobile Insurance Policy Comprehensive Coverage Vandalism Claim Police Report Quid pro quo Anonymity Munson encouraged everyone to string the sentences together to tell a story.  To clarify what he meant by this he told the class a story about an imaginary medieval kingdom far away and long ago.  In the kingdom lived an imaginary teacher who taught at an imaginary school, and whose convertible's canvass top was badly soiled and frayed.  The Heights brothers were students in the imaginary school and wanted to help out the imaginary teacher.  The brothers knew the comprehensive c...

When Michael was 12 and Marc was 8, I took them to see the pyramids outside of Mexico City in September 1986.  It seemed like a good idea since they had a good time at the 600-room pueblo at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico and the cliff dwellings in Arizona.  Michael even spent time on an archeological dig one summer.  We flew on Mexicana Airlines which was just fine until we got to Mexico City and the pilot had to make a 90 degree banked turn to line up with the runway.     It had been only a year since an 8.1 earthquake had hit Mexico City on 9/19/1985 and was felt as far north as Houston and Los Angeles.  We could see many of the 2,000 plus damaged buildings on the way from the airport into the city.  The epicenter had been off the Mexican Pacific Coast and the quake had lasted over 3 minutes.  The Mexico City population was 18 million in 1986 and death toll estimates ranged from 10,000 per the Mexican Government to a c...

My first exposure to a fraternity party came in 1968 when Jerry Wilson asked me to help him with bartender duties.  The party was held at Doug O'Keefe's parent's house in San Marino.  Late Saturday afternoon, I helped Jerry load his car and we headed east a little over 7 miles from the fraternity to the house.  We found the place, followed the driveway to the back of the house and began to set up the bar. O'Keefe was the O'Keefe of O'Keefe & Merritt, a well known appliance brand offering mainly kitchen stoves at the time.  The house was adjacent to Huntington Drive on a small side street lined with huge oak trees that formed a canopy over the road.  Although it was not as immense as some of the San Marino properties it was still quite impressive.  This was not the first party held at the house so Jerry knew where to put everything.  Once we had things laid out I wandered off in search of the kitchen.  I was curious ...

I was sitting on the toilet waiting to be sworn in by the judge.  I was about to participate in what would surely be a historic moment for the American legal system.  I couldn't take all the credit for being in this position since it would never have been possible without the help of the Affordable Care Act.   Eight months earlier I had gone to the Covered California website soon after it had been launched in support of the roll out of ObamaCare.  The website took me through a 6-step application process.  One of the preliminary questions seemed innocuous but proved to be the catalyst for an insane series of events.  The question was: "When do you expect coverage to begin?"  I keyed in January 1, 2014.  The 6th step presented plan options from which to choose.  I wanted to check with our family physicians before I selected a plan so I pended the application and logged off.   I spent the next few months checking with various office managers to...