Brilliant Minds in Captivity. Roger W Upchurch

      Here is another story of how the Justice system goes after you.

      Pete my fellow inmate and we both work in the library. Pete works during the day with Mrs. Whitley. Pete is a doctor and had an MD practice in Tucson Arizona. Pete says that billing for Medicare was confusing and the medical procedures had codes for each procedure. For several years he kept asking the insurance if he was presenting his bills right and he thought he was getting underpaid and shorted. He said that he could not find a code for some procedures. At one time he thought the insurance company owed him over a million dollars. He found out that the insurance was not well financially and was searching for anything wrong so they would not have to pay him. After trying to work with the insurance company he got a notice that he was under investigation for Medicare fraud. The insurance said that Pete was over billing and owed them money. The Feds got involved and when they get to you, they will charge you with something. He said the Feds were threatening him and saying he did not plea he was facing twelve years and millions in restitution. He gave in and did a plea for six years. Again, his attorney was just a shadow charging him fees. Pete is appealing his case but maybe out before he gets that done.

      Monday, January 22nd, 2018, I got up fixed my coffee as usual and there was an announcement on the PA to get things cleaned up as the company is walking through. After this announcement’s somebody walks though and sometimes, they do not, but the announcement works.

      As I am writing and drinking my coffee, I am listening to FOX news and we are on our third day of a partial government shutdown. I am not sure what that accomplishes. It seems like President Trump’s hands are tied to getting things done. Trump tweeted this morning that the Democrats are turning down services to build a powerful military for services of non-citizen illegal immigrants.

      Wouldn’t it be great if politicians would all be businessmen and women and concentrate on the business at hand and not the party? Make the decisions in the boardroom and do not leave until they make a decision and then act on it by delegating now! How many millions of dollars would this save the Government? How about now getting paid until a task is completed and funded? So, much for dreaming, too much common sense.

      I have been playing some pool lately and one friend that plays is JR. His name is Weldon Rogers and he is about seventy years old, not in the greatest shape mentally but he can sure play pool. One day as we were talking, he said that he was a professional pool player. Jr was and still is a great- one-handed player. Here is an article about him.

       Weldon Rodgers and “Bakersfield Bob” were both from a small town in Arizona, Eloy, I think. I do not remember, for a goodly number of years, anybody beating any of us playing even up bar pool. Weldon and Bobby played great with the big rock while I did most of the small cue ball playing.

       We ended up being around each other quite a bit in Woodward, Oklahoma, (pronounced with the second w silent). We all thought it was home to the best steak house in the world. We certainly tested it every night. There was a ton of action at the Hilltop Bar and Motel. Sixty miles away in Longdale resided Bill Duggan, a weak player who might arrest you and throw you in jail for not gambling. When Bill said “the store is open” that meant you could bet anything you wanted.

       Players like “One Eyed Tony”, Andy O’Gean, and a host of other excellent players whose names do not come immediately to mind, frequented this great action spot. Ten miles south of Woodward, in Moreland, lived Verl Horn. Verl owned the local body shop and tow truck company and rolled out the red carpet for all visiting pool players. It was not uncommon for him to give a gentleman such as myself a couple of thousand dollars and the use of a new Cadillac while I was in town. Later in life, Verl dabbled in cue making and did a fairly good job at that.

       I knew Weldon and Bobby before the Woodward era. We had had an exceptionally good friend and a sure to be top player named Johnny Draine, from Tucson. Johnny sadly died in Vietnam in the service of his country.

       After reflecting about all the years in my pool playing life, I have to say Weldon (Those of us who were close to him, prefer to call him Junior.) was the greatest pool hustler who ever lived. To wit: 1... He started his trips with $10,000 or more; that is $80,000 in today’s money. 2...He carried a thousand-dollar bill in his hatband. 3...He tried to get a good game and he was an exceptionally fine game maker and then bet as much money as possible. 4...He was honest to a fault with those with whom he did business. 5...He raised his family properly and if you were Junior’s friend, you just could not have a better guy in your corner.

       I was asked what I meant by using the Weldon Rodgers school of gambling. When I had lost a game of Snooker for $300 and raised the bet to $1,000 a game, even though my opponent had run the entire table. In a famous match of Junior’s. He was with our mutual friend Will Willingham and playing Johnny Edwards in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The first set was an eight ahead and Johnny ran the whole set out. Instead of quitting, as many modern-day greats would, Weldon and Will doubled the bet. Junior ended up getting the money.

      One time in Woodward, I had “stalled” with Indian John, a shortstop player, and gotten him to spot me the seven ball. It was a work of art on my part and Junior was in with it. I won $3,000 and was delighted with the effort. We had played in Longdale and we drove back to Woodward to our motel. As we were pulling into our parking space in front of our room, Weldon hollered at me, “There’s John. He is still got $300 left. I’m going to go get it.” “Junior,” I cautioned, “we’ve already got almost all the money. Why don’t you leave the poor guy alone?” But Weldon liked to get all the money, so he lost the entire $3,000 plus $1,500 of ours. Please do not get the wrong idea. This was a rare exception. Weldon practically always got the money.

       He was fast, winning two- or three-foot races when we were together. The most famous of which was against Eddie Bellmore, a smart guy who got crippled for life in Los Angeles when he got robbed and would not give up his watch. Weldon and I got shot at a couple of times and threatened with being tarred and feathered but we survived and enjoyed our times together greatly.

       I have been conversing with Freddie the Beard and I am going to put a little teaser out there for you interested readers. We have been threatening for years to put together a Top Ten Rogues’ List. I do not know exactly when this will come about but we will get it done and I promise we really have some qualified candidates.

       I would like to thank the posters who remembered and appreciated the play of Johnny Drane.

       Somebody made note of Weldon’s one-handed talents, which reminds me of an interesting match. Weldon and I were in Denver where we had both bested a young Danny Medina on the bar table in a tough Mexican joint. Eddie “The Hat” Burton had insinuated himself into our company, not something we really wanted, so Danny got all his money back playing Eddie even up bar pool.

      After some good-natured matching up, Danny spotted Weldon the five and the break with Weldon having to shoot one-handed. It was no contest. It looked almost as if Junior played as good as Danny. This is not meant to denigrate Danny’s game. He was noticeably young and within a couple of years, he played about as good a game of 9 Ball as anybody.

      Dennis Porterfield, from a well to do family in Albuquerque, was good and tight with Weldon and me and oftentimes would accompany us on our expeditions. He is a sharp guy who moves well although his pool game was suspect. Dennis was the straightest guy I ever knew then, the most unlikely individual to ever drink, smoke, or take drugs. Then I found out that he found his way to Seattle where he had married a wonderful woman who took real good care of him and he had quit the bad habits entirely. He still loved the pool and it happened that he was getting some decent action in a local bar, but Dennis’s game had not improved. After about a three-month period he found himself $10,000 loser. He discovered