EXXON Valdez - Alyeska Responds

March 24^th 1989 - The Alyeska 5^th Floor Bragaw Response Video -----

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcsF_QkMCpQ

The Alyeska HR CUNTS

The Alyeska Pipeline Service Company Legacy = The 5th Floor Bragaw with its executive enema men and the HR CUNTS in tow! I guess one could say the "Filth Floor Bragaw" fits. And NOT to forget that “legacy” allowed for the EXXON Valdez “Wreck”. 

Vocal Union Supporter = My MO

Yes, I was a “Vocal Union Supporter” while assigned to the Valdez Marine Terminal in the 70s through mid-80s, and that “screaming out loud” my dissatisfaction can’t get no satisfaction, well best said through Bob Dylan;

~~~~~

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
Rip down all hate, I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull I dreamed

And the Alyeska “mental mindset” of the 5^th Floor Bragaw Street Enema Boys that hated that disposition in leaky diapers, the fact that a “Union” was crawling up George Nelson’s ass. So what to do, throw all available resources at ripping down that “Made in America” Union drive that was trying to fight that on-the-job “half-wracked prejudice” fostered by a “white supremist” movement and trying to STOP drunk tanker crews from…what happens when you take your eye off the problems! And Alyeska will be forever remembered as the company that ruined Prince William’s Sound - still today with stubborn signs of lingering crude oil! Not something to be proud of, forever tarnished. As I travel the nation sea to shining sea, mention Alyeska and the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline with other true-grit Americans enjoying retirement what did you do for a living, people associate that company with the EXXON Valdez “wreck” on Bligh Reef. And yes, had we been successful in that “Union”, that sad morning of March 24 in 1989 would have been “business as usual” as by then we would have already STOPPED the recklessness of the Filth Floor Bragaw Enema Boys! The Cowitts know who I am talking about! Just a reminder as you enjoy that Uncle Al “golden poop chute” haggis!

It Ain’t Over ‘Till the FAT ALEXa Sings…or the Pipeline Raven Farts!

“I have a Dream” & “Free at Last, Free at Last” the famous words of Martin Luther King Jr…it resonates today more then ever before. And not only for the Black-Lives-Matter “monument” taking over the Confederate “statues of shame” sea to shining sea as this courageous “movement” should, but for my own “I have a Dream”. That I would finally be exonerated by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company “my dedication as a valued employer” once-upon-a-time, before getting “blacklisted” for caring - about safety and trying my best at doing things right in conflict with a reckless management mindset that went pissed off at “whistleblowers” and pleased off with “Shoot the Messenger”. Even if that “Messenger” was trying to WARN the Valdez management that drunk tanker captains at the helm of a 214861 DWT steel hull filled with 1480000-barrels of hazardous cargo - like North Slope Crude Oil - well it don’t mix! I mean Bligh Reef ain’t no longer safe for shorebirds with that kind of dereliction the conviction to environmental responsibility! Like with Little Mara-Lago’s under-aged girls forced to have sex with Prince Andrew, well Prince William was also under duress this brazen statutory rape by drunken pirates of the Alaskan oil trade. And no doubt about it, even though Alyeska did not have control of the gas pedal on Joe Hazelwood’s EXXON Valdez on a “joy ride” of doom in 1989, the company controlled the “clutch” in that 1000-foot “causeway” that was Captain Joe’s escape route to destruction. Yes, Joe could have and should have been arrested before he set foot on that tanker back in March of 1989, by Alyeska’s very own security detail denying access then EXXON would say “Joe You’re Fired”. But back then complacency ruled Alyeska’s wherewithal, not only with environmental risks as “bigotry” was also a well-established trait the company could not “fix”, like that was also condoned so survived.  I spoke up upon all things considered in “ugliness” and paid for it dearly my career cut short. And the only reason I bring up the famous wreck, well in retirement and traveling and telling other retirees what I did for a living, mention the pipeline and Valdez, guilty by association like an automatic Peyronies.

But today I feel “Exonerated”, so who cares about that Reef that still feels the dire-straits effect of crude oil haphazardly dumped overboard and who cares about the effect of “racism” on-the-job, as many of those individuals that had to put up with it - RIP! Some lost, some…today I am the winner! And so I proclaim, “Free at Last, Free at Last” as in a recent correspondence from Betsy Haines as Uncle’ Al’s Vice President of “Operations and Maintenance” in mouthpiece, in a follow up correspondence wherein I questioned as to why Alyeska was facing stiff penalties from the Department of Labor due numerous “Serious” OSHA violations, Betsy thanked me!  A sincere thanks, my exoneration for still being concerned about worker safety with her words not mine in effect; “and I’m glad you are still concerned with the safe operation of TAPS”. Wow, it only took how many years, as once “blacklisted” on the Alaska oil scene, work becomes tough. After being targeted as a “Vocal Rebel Rabble-Rouser” in voicing out loud the derelictions listed above in Valdez, the only reason I was able to sustain continued employment in Alaska’s “Big Oil” was the fact I had superiority commendations from the “Owner Company”, for my due diligence in dedication to doing things right, for my own well-being and that of my fellow workers. OK, at last count this “glad” in “Exoneration” some 30-years by now in overdue. OK, let me regurgitate all about this “current” recklessness that Betsy denies with Alyeska already contesting the DOL, on what the investigator inspectors of the OSHA under DOL under Antonin Scalia’s son - maybe Trump cares about the workers. But the defense to this DOL mandated “Penalty” due OSHA violations, that being initiated by Alyeska in contest what was found during an “un-scheduled” visit, well the fact this company is now highlighted for such abuse on the DOL web-site designed for “Transparency” and titled “Enforcement Cases with Initial Penalties of $40000 or Above”( https://www.osha.gov/enforcement/toppenalties/bystate), aka “GUILITY” it speaks for itself. And with Alyeska it reeks of déjà vu all over again and I fear the career of the “Whistleblower” - LOOK OUT is my sentiment!

~~~~~

On 12/4/2019, the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration, through its integrated State of Alaska field office(AKOSH), initiated an “un-announced inspection” at the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s “Valdez(Alaska) Marine Terminal”. Alyeska is responsible for the “Operation & Maintenance” of the 800-mile Trans-Alaska-Pipeline. It appears from the DOL record that this “inspection” was based on a “whistle-blower” complaint, most likely due what was perceived as on-the-job OSHA violations. And the way things are supposed to work within the rank and file with Alyeska including contractors, a concern over safety is supposed to stay a local issue and only when stubbornness rules, then one is allowed to move concerns up the “poop chutes and sleazy ladders”…as it is a game! Look, if the local can’t fix it the reason they don’t want to fix it, so YES it becomes a game.

Now following this “un-announced inspection” and what was witnessed by the DOL/OSHA/AKOSH inspectors, on 5/26/2020 the DOL/OSHA “Enforcement” sector levied a penalty of $404602 against Alyeska for 31 “Serious” violations along with extended penalties in the amount of $311313 culminating from an additional 22 “Serious” safety violations through contractor(s) obligation in remission at the Valdez facility/site. In total, you can perform the simple addition, but what is more alarming then $money$ for fines is the penalty citations for Alyeska and its contractors, accounting for 306 “Safety Violation Instances” and 993 “Worker Exposures” consistent with the violations acknowledged during the inspection. As witnessed and recorded at the time of the initial inspection, the violations ranged from the risk of “excessive noise” to exposure to “highly explosive & highly hazardous chemicals” to “cancer causing ceramic refractory fibers” present and many instances of BETX/M(Benzene-Ethylene-Toluene-Xylene and M-phthalodinitrile) exposure, risks levels in excess allowed by the “lawman” in protection of workers engaged in the pipeline activities. It makes one sick just to fathom what these workers were subject to, like slave labor! It is noted that BETX is an age old worker exposure problem for Alyeska that dates back since inception of the pipeline in operation to transport “crude oil”. An analysis of the complaint and inspection result is very disturbing, as during the 80s through the 90s, I was a worker at the “Terminal” that witnessed the same type and kind of on-the-job safety concerns. Like in that past, again it appears a dereliction the conviction to make sure the work environment is safe and work allowed to be performed safely and NEVER placing the workers in harm’s way at any expense, just do it right. But when a complaint has to be filed for outside interference in help, that means someone is not listening and the obligation for local oversight is missing-in-action, and thus it requires that “unwanted” outside interference to terminate the abuse. Sad, that this was already a war fought by dedicated employees, many that found that career with the “Pipeline People” sabotaged by an ugly management style that excelled in a message from the top of a “Shoot the Messenger” mandate, instead of exhausting resources to “fix” the safety problems. Look, when the local management did not take our concern about the drunk tanker crews seriously, we decided our only hope to STOP a wreck recking the Sound, was to “Unionize”. And instead of taking our concerns to heart, resources were then directed to fight that “Union” and Joe had his heyday joy riding. So it appears déjà vu all over again, as to see this sizable “penalty” for so many “Serious” violations so many workers possibly exposed, it begs at what the hell is going on at the helm?

Once upon a time the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company was known as the “Best of the Best”. I was part of that effort, but it was a short-lived victory as deep down inside…well the reason drunk tanker captains get away with heinous crimes on the high seas and “white supremist” allowed to hock their racism goods on-the-job for way too long, like it was condoned. Only in “laughter is the best medicine” does Alyeska find a justifiable existence as a reputable company, in my book my experiences. But no doubt that Alyeska in the category of the “Best of the Best”, it went out the window in abandonment many years ago and once gone, it never returned. No matter how many “fluff & feather” awards the company was able to squander over the years…let me be more specific why that company deserves no accolades for anything in a “Best of the Best” category as this most recent “Penalty” by the DOL is testament, that it required an “outside interference”. But Alyeska will use its political stroke to demand retribution, same old story! So as a gage, watch what happens to those “penalties”! And yes Betsy, I always cared about worker safety and still do, does anybody else? But I don’t get paid for caring!

And to all the retired “Cowitts” that dishonored worker loyalty and honored instead a commitment to “kiss everything that smells of an asshole 800-miles long a trail of tears who cares” and placed that “golden parachute” obligation “I can take it with me” over the righteousness of the workers back in the 80s and 90s, remember that the “blood” of the EXXON Valdez is on your hands. And the stench of the wreck still lingers the shore-lines of Prince William Sound - no different then the lingering  filth of a Jeffrey Epstein finger fucking! Free at Last? Not this guy, take your accolades and shove it as when I said I ain’t working here no more, I meant it! And words od wisdom and a warning to that “whistleblower”…you did what was necessary, but watch your back!

The Pipeline Raven has farted!

Dear Honorable Lisa Murkowski(R-Alaska)

Dear Honorable Lisa Murkowski(R-Alaska);

On 5/26/20 the Department of Labor/OSHA Enforcement cited the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company as “Operator” of the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline for “31 Serious OSHA Violations”, in calling out on-the-job worker exposure to BETX and asbestos and “Other” derelictions in regulated activities. And following its enforcement investigation, Eugene Scalia’s DOL levied a penalty of $404602, wherein a majority of the violations found the “maximum penalty” applied, which is based on the gravity/seriousness of the individual violations. It appears this DOL/OSHA inquiry came about by a “complaint” from a concerned worker at the Valdez Marine Terminal. And because of the DOL/OSHA “transparency” to WARN the public of entities that engage in egregious violations, the APSC was listed on the DOL site for “Enforcement Cases with Initial Penalties of $40,000 or Above”. At the same time, 4 other contractors at the Alyeska Valdez facility faced similar “penalties”(26 Serious/$269633 fine) and in total the combined penalty/fine approaches ¾ of a million dollars - in this day and age it is bad business such blatant disregard “worker safety” in violation! This DOL report finds the same type of violations that “whistleblowers” complained about in the past and then found themselves targeted in a “Shoot the Messenger” verdict and here we are déjà vu once again, especially with the cancer causing “BETX” concerns in “worker exposure”. What is also of grave concern, the investigative reporting of violations in “instances and worker exposures”! It appears from the reports made public, that “crews” were exposed, not just a few individuals in lab coats. This should not be happening with Alyeska after so many years in operation and heavily regulated by outside oversight, supposedly! It appears that it is more of the same with Alyeska not learning from past mistakes and maybe the management thought that when Scalia was named as Donald Trump’s appointee to the DOL that all “oversight” would end or loosen up, as the Governor of Alaska is “pro-business pro-oil” and that is when “safety” goes by the wayside - when “oversight” is remiss in its duties due political pressures. What else has allowed this to happen, I reiterate “again”. Something has gone drastically wrong with Alyeska’s management with respect to “worker safety” and the influence that “management mindset” held upon its contractors to perform within the intent of the law in regulation of “worker safety”. Like in an “our way or the highway” for the contractors as they should know better to not deviate from responsibilities, mostly Native Alaskan entities under such pressure. I believe it may be time once again for Congress to get involved, with “oversight hearings” as when we see this kind of malfeasance happening all over again, is another EXXON Valdez on the horizon?  So, I request that as the senior U.S. Senator for Alaska, it is your due diligence duty to get to the bottom of this latest  DOL Enforcement “mess” at Alyeska, as it seems to be once again worker safety in dereliction in question. Please remember that when this happened back in the 80s and 90s, the workers in concern had to resort to outside help because of no sincere interest from Alaska’s very own delegation - specifically Don Young and his “beanie cap” in disgrace the merits of Congress. Outside interference is not needed, but someone in authority in representation needs to “prioritize” this latest dereliction by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company its conviction upon worker safety, as I am sure an expanded investigation would find the same safety concerns all along that 800-miles of pipe, not just a localized concern in Valdez. Sincerely submitted, S. Pam McGee - AMERICAN PATRIOT

Lipstick on a Pipeline PIG Lip Service Leadership in Penalty Box

The Alyeska Pipeline "Leadership" Team in the DOL/OSHA "Penalty Box"...so what else is NEW! WOW, maybe BETX is a fix for the Covid!

More Cowitt Cowbell Please!

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company's Valdez Operations faces $715,915.00 DOL Penalty, for worker exposure to BETX/BEMX and asbestos and...When I first received a subscriber’s “WARNING of DOL Violation Detail” courtesy the United States Department of Labor, well with what comes from the Trump Turmoil Administration I thought it was a late day April Fool’s joke - but it is July 4^th! So the fake left can no longer say Trump has done nothing as Commander-in-Relief, as to slap the Alyeska Pipeline Servitude Company with a “humongous” $fine$ when Don Young remains on the pedestal as the oldest living House of Nancy artifact since B.C., it is something theft defying in this day and age of “what worker rights” and well…an Hysterical Paroxysm! Maybe déjà vu with the 5^th Floor Bragaw Street mentality this “humongous” VIOLATION laughing matter orgasm. OK that scene of the crime spree was vacated a long time ago but hysteria repeats itself as in the “widow’s disease”, so maybe Alaska should prepare itself for another EXXON Valdez and while at it in preparedness another round of the Barrett “White Supremist” bowel influence days completes the repeat. Hysteria hysterectomy as it looks like Alyeska and its spit-slime image is already celebrating its 50-Anniversity! Wow with “Lions and Tigers and Bears”. Correction: With “Benzene and Toluene and Xylene” along with the noise makers for the party goers and asbestos hazards as party favors. As like in the days of old, Alyeska once again found itself the target for “hazardous duty preoccupation” as Scalia’s Department of Labor has “cited” the “I Don’t Care Do U”…for real, under a Trump appointee that is known for frequenting the WWV stage to break faces, well looks like good ‘ol Uncle Al is back at its old ways and means “asleep at the wheel”. See Eugene Scalia cited the “Best of the Best Pipeline People” with…drum roll please, 43 violations wherein 38 characterized as “SERIOUS” and garnishing the “maximum” fine allowed under the Federal Government’s “Hazardous Worksites” monitoring program. We never saw this kind of policing oversight, not under Bush or Obama the tides they are a changin’. Looks like “Great Lip-service Leadership” once again at Alyeska, maybe the executives should move back to Bragaw - might be easier hiding the “Truth” as an excuse. But what I find revealing at the same time over concerning this $400000 penalty and as advertised on the DOL site for “penalties greater the $40k” as a way to signal out the industry abusers in transparency, wherein Alyeska was not cited any dereliction to protect the workers for at least the last 5-years? What asbestos, because all the years I worked at Alyeska down yonder end-of-the-line Valdez, we were told there was no “asbestos” on the jobsite? Maybe it is time for some “class-act action” to hell with the Covid my coughing is from asbestosis or for real “refractory ceramics”! That Centerpoint religious leadership should be ashamed that after all these years it is still…some more of the same the George Mucous Nelson way or the highway just more Cowitt Cowbell. RIP Ray Marcy!

The Barrett White Supremist Influence

As the “Lead Technician” for the I&E Department at the Valdez Marine Terminal, it was my duty to make sure the work-crew was never placed in harm’s way. Those that worked the “pipeline” more than likely had no idea the “complexity” of the “Terminal” in comparison to a typical “pumping station” and since I worked both the “Beginning & End” of the line, I know the difference. While in Valdez, for most of my honorable career that found “Letters of Commendation” from the “Owner Company”, it was under the wings of Lynn McArthur - need I say more this man the epitome and the Alyeska “legacy” of that “Best of the Best”. Until he was taken down for standing up for worker “rights”. There existed a whole lot of management dereliction in duty in Valdez for way too long not a one-off situation. At least so on the subject of “conviction” and it appeared there was a “Don’t give a shat” management style attitude that was promoted from the top, when George Mucous Nelson was at the helm - the 5^th Floor of Bragaw and his HR whores. But in Valdez, regardless of that executive Filth Floor Bragaw hand-me-down attitude “my shat don’t stink”, we had a very important job to do and we did it to the best of our ability. Our commitment, even when our efforts compromised, we helped the pipeline throughput meet the goals in excellence. And not to forget the weather attribute the workers in Valdez had to contend with, as unlike the pipeline and pump stations, a majority of the control system’s equipment was situated “outside” in the elements and it was not unusual in efforts to get to a pressure transmitter, it required a snow shovel. But the weather was something we could adjust to and manage our activities safely, just dress for the occasion as there came days wherein for that 12-hour shift it meant at least 10-hours out in the cold and wet. And work at the loading berths, always cold as there came the influence of the open water. That duffle-bag of winter gear given out at Basic Training when hired, always used in Valdez and on the pipeline, it remained in the locker. But what was a challenge we could not get used to and really not part of the job, day-in and day-out putting up with inebriated crewmen returning from the Pipeline Club after an all-night bender. Funny, that the “Yellow Cab” with a crew of un-able bodied seamen could get through the Dayville Road “Security Gate” easier then when Nelson showed up - it’s all about attitude! And we also had to contend with the Barrett “White Supremacy” nationalist movement - that was being shoved down our throats on-the-job and off-the-job, unabated it seemed. Look, under-the-influence was one thing and any confrontations at the berths with unruly crewmen quickly halted by the showing of a Rigid-18” pipe wrench, well that “White Supremist” movement in our face was not so easy to put aside and no matter how much friction this Barrett “White Supremist” movement disrupted our peace and quiet in tranquility we are not interested in “bigotry”, it appeared the local Valdez-Alyeska management was frightened away from stepping up to the plate and stopping it. So we got sick and tired of the Barrett literature that was handed out on-the-job like candy, sometimes at “plant wide safety meetings” with wording to the effect; “those who were once citizens to Puerto Rico, Mexico, Israel, the Orient, and Africa, non-whites especially blacks, were inferior. The Negro race... possess[es] no creativity of its own [and] pulls the vitality away from civilization. We advocate sterilization and abortions of the "unfit”(Barrett 1982). Stuff re-copied, stuff that reeked in Neo-Nazism copied on Alyeska “copy machines” on company time. For real, one time I was called to the Thermal Oxidizers because of “black smoke” coming out of the stacks, looked great against the serene snow-covered mountains surrounding the “Terminal”. Only to find the control room abandoned by the “white supremist” lead operator busy at the copy machine in the OMS office and try to convince this “bigot” his stuff was out-of-control? Best get used to the “N” word and “F” word - where’s the soap! And IMAGINE receiving a “Hot Work Permit” to work on the “Oxidizer” that was approved with a swastika stamp? The reason we finally went fed up and when McArthur said he gave it all he had to get management to fix these problems, it was then that we decided our only protection was to “Unionize”. And we understood the repercussion with that our own “movement” to fight the “bigotry” and drunks, but we were desperate for help, even if it meant interference from “outsiders”. And when we decided it time for a concerted effort to be represented on-the-job, it wasn’t about the pay and benefits but sick and tired of the “bigotry” and instead of Alyeska hearing out our cries and heeding a warning, they put up resources to fight our plight which meant the Barrett movement continued on as did the drunk tanker crews get more brazen. Then came the EXXON Valdez “wreck”, could have should have been avoided as the tanker crew drinking was well known about - as Valdez was a small town as was the Barrett “White Supremacy” never timely addressed, as it started in 1979 and was not “killed” until 1989. Yes, 10-years after! Alyeska was very generous to the Valdez community, especially with things like a kid “Halloween Party” open to Alyeska workers and anybody needing something to do with kids, but when the kid of the Alyeska manager thought a KKK hood was a costume for the occasion? And it was just more of the same sentiment “boys will be boys” and for me? “You can take this job and shove it”…I tried moving North, to get away from the “bigotry” only to find more problems, like “nepotism”and a cut-throat management style…so “I ain’t working here no more”! IMAGINE, Corporate Responsibility that sounded great when the Filth Floor Bragaw executives showed up at the Anchorage Rotary Club “luncheon” when for 10-years drunks roamed the “Terminal” harassing the dedicated workers as did the Barrett “Bigotry” survive a reign of terror in “harassment”. So much for a “Code of Conduct”, especially the Chapter on “Shoot the Messenger”!

Alyeska - Abusive To Women?

Like its own “Trail of Tears”! So why would the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s 5^th Floor Bragaw - in cahoots the cohorts in shame Human Resources of mostly white women - allow for a work environment to exist for well over 10-years wherein it was documented in a court testimony as “disdainful and contemptuous, vulgar and deliberately abusive to women”? Yes without a plea bargain, a “Management Mindset” guilty by association by inaction so acceptance, thus allowing a well-known “white supremist” to remain on the payroll with a documented history acknowledged by “a man delighted in harassing co-workers and in fomenting dissent”. Of record a “disciplinary history while at Alyeska unparalleled”(252 pages of deficiencies and HR “Code of Conduct” violations), characterized as blatant out-loud in-your-face confrontations “abusive to women” on-the-job, especially if that women was an American/Alaskan Native and wherein that “abuse language” contained the “N” word. So I ask, why did this “white supremist” that “abused women” on-the-job and well known to Alyeska Executives and HR, let it go on for so long? Well it is the same question that a Federal Law Judge well versed in the “law of the land” also asked. We are still waiting for an answer!

Hermiller’s “PROFS” File Dump

I was the recipient a copy of James B. Hermiller’s “PROFS” correspondences when he served as the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s CEO, in the early 1990’s timeframe. It covers the same timeframe the Wackenhut “SPY” operation was sanctioned by Hermiller, the hiring of a 3^rd party entity to “SPY” on the workers. Of course some of us were already well aware of the Wellington “snitches” in the organization running to Alyeska’s HR and ratting out in efforts to stay in good grace with the Filth Floor of Bragaw, so as to advance their standing in the organization - through promotions up the chain in Alyeska’s poop chutes and greasy ladders game. I did not ask for such this Hermiller “PROFS” file dump, held no effort in the “breakin” of the supposedly “Secure E-mail Server”. And no doubt, I could embarrass the hell out of a majority of the Alyeska management ranks serving under James B. Hermiller in the 1989 through 1991 timeframe, when that Wackenhut “Spy” operation was taking root within the rank and file workforce. The 5^th Floor of Bragaw spied on the workers, get the point! Yes, I have the goods that could publicly embarrass those that roamed the halls of the 5^th Floor of Bragaw, including Human Resources and those in control of the Pipeline and Valdez Marine Terminal. I have the Hermiller “file” of “Profs” correspondences including the “Deleted” files, so Alyeska’s very own legal team has no idea what I have at my disposal. But I also realize that Alyeska employs some of the craftiest lawyers and law-firms, and I am not in the mood for “slander or defamation” lawsuits filed against me as I learned in the past that even the judges that hear cases brought by 3^rd party law-firms protecting “Big Alaskan Oil” have a backdoor connection to that legal system - for “dismissals”. See, the publication of that Hermiller “dump” would reveal interesting things and since Alyeska was a small organization, even if the names went redacted many within the organization past and present could make heads and tails the connection those individuals thought to honor a “trust me” relationship. But one day, and maybe soon I will be at ease to start publishing what I have and know, so stay tuned to this site - as it will mean laughter still the “best of the best” medicine! For real, a Pipeline “Big Wig” complained about the station technicians thefting the TP from the breakroom “crapper” when he showed up? Gives stink finger a southern bible stench! For sure, it is amazing stuff!

Dear Jimmy Dearmore

Dear Jimmy Dearmore;

Note: The following message was published on or about June 24^th on the Alyeska Pipeline People Website, NOT directly affiliated with the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and acts merely as a site for past employees in retirement status, or dead to stay informed and in touch. The site contains a “Message Forum” so “Restricted to Pipeliners Only” to engage subjects of interest, in a “chat like” environment wherein the site administrator challenges a “Don’t be Bashful” calling. The message was in response to a previous message published wherein the “BLM” seemed to be in question - as an “Anarchist” movement. The response to that “questioning” is republished below after it was taken down from the site - a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s 1^st Amendment Right to “Free Speech”, an indication that those in Alyeska’s management ranks now in retirement still enjoy the practice of denial in “discrimination”. The response’s author was also denied future access to the Alyeska Pipeline People’s site administered by Larry Motschenbacher(gotoLarrys@gmail.com) in an attempt to “Kill the Messenger”, something that the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company was well known for in the early days of the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline’s operations.

Dear Jimmy D, hope all is well also with you and family. What I was getting at, the present day events in “equal rights” discourse reminds me all too well how the Alyeska workers in Valdez had to witness “racial attacks” upon other “minority” Alyeska workers by an individual that was allowed to get away with it, a member of a “White Supremist” group called the “Nationalist Movement”. For 10-years, this individual’s racial attacks became part of the daily work routine, and no matter how many complaints were filed with Alyeska’s HR - nothing ever came about it until this individual was targeted as a person-of-interest that was handing out information to Charles Hamel and became part of the Wakenhut “Sting” Operation. You would have had to work in Valdez(80 to 90) to get an understanding of the “hate” this one individual could administer, the face-to-face profanity towards workers a different skin color and blatantly get away with it. He continued his romance with “hate” on-the-job because he was getting away with it. Every Terminal Superintendent from Westerheid to Henman to Boling to Howitt to ODonnell knew this individual’s MO in racism, yet it would take 10-years for Alyeska to finally terminate his hatred. It was one of the reasons we strove to Unionize back in the early 80s, our concerns went unanswered. If you are ever board in retirement, the DOL rendered a report that highlights what this individual got away with, and the Administrative Law Judge dumfounded how and why this individual remained on the job for so long with a long history of racism towards other workers. Just GOOGLE Robert Scott v. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company(DOL Case No. 92-TSC-2). Look, things were not perfect in Alyeska, sounded good, looked good but deep down inside a mindset that allowed some things to go under the radar at the expense of another’s righteousness - and that is why I am using my retirement time to protest in the BLM movement, I saw it back then, I felt it back then and the same feeling again today. Take care.

~~~~~

The following are excerpts from the Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey Tureck’s “final decision” with respect to the DOL case highlighted in the above message:

“Scott's history of employment at Alyeska was such that it is remarkable he still was employed at the time the Wackenhut investigation began. Either Alyeska was an extremely beneficent employer or plant operators are extremely difficult to replace in Valdez, Alaska.”

“Alyeska produced a considerable amount of testimony regarding a new personnel policy allegedly introduced at the behest of Hermiller through which the company would impose tougher discipline on its employees, as a way of explaining why Scott was terminated in 1990 but not previously. However, this testimony was extremely self-serving, and I give it little weight. Besides, I cannot conceive of any personnel policy, no matter how lenient, that could explain why Scott was not terminated prior to 1990; nor would it have been necessary to come up with a harsher policy to justify terminating him following the incidents which occurred in the summer of 1990.”

On September 26, 1983, Larry Planje, requested that Scott be terminated. Even at that early date he noted Scott's “long history of problems” and that “all attempts to work these out have failed. In what apparently was an endorsement of this recommendation, “Earl” (probably E.E. Boling, to whom Planje's memo was addressed) stated:

“Obviously, this is a hopeless case, I think we are remiss if we don't dump this Clown.” There is no indication in the record of why Scott was not terminated at that time.

Scott was known by his co-workers to be a member of a white supremacist group. He frequently used the word “nigger” in conversation, and was unapologetic about it.

…investigation included interviews with 11 technicians as well as Scott. Anderson then contacted Human Resources in Anchorage to get Scott's file. He was sent a three-page summary of Scott's employment record, which he described as the most extensive record of employee misconduct he had ever seen. He could not understand why Scott was still on Alyeska's payroll. Anderson described the results of his investigation as follows:

“I concluded after the interviews and putting all the material together that in fact Mr. Scott had made racial remarks, that he knew what he was doing, and that in looking at the overall, record it was clear to me that Mr. Scott's conduct was not appropriate and had not been appropriate for years, that he had been warned that his conduct was not appropriate and had been given every opportunity to bring that conduct into acceptable limits. For Some reason, he chose not to do that.”

Polasek and Howitt, both of whom either knew Scott personally or knew of him from earlier experiences. There is no allegation that Scott was ever disciplined by Alyeska in regard to complaints. There is much evidence in the record that Scott has no concern whatsoever for safety and the environment.

“I found Hermiller's testimony at the hearing to be less than candid. He was a contentious witness, and his testimony often gave the impression that he was holding back or not giving complete answers to questions. Frequently, his testimony appeared self-serving. As the person who authorized the Wackenhut investigation, which was roundly criticized by the members of the Owners Committee, he has a personal as well as a corporate interest in this hearing. I have weighed his testimony accordingly.”

Howitt was the Valdez Terminal Manager when Scott was suspended first in 1985 and then in 1988, and personally signed Scott's 1985 suspension letter.

~~~~~ 

Not my words above from the court, but what a Federal Administrative Law Judge found, and when I tried to bring this to the “Message Forum” because some members thought the “Black Lives Matter” movement was an “Anarchist” movement, no wonder we are in dire straits again today as the “filth” and “disrespect” lives on, even in retirement like it was from the “Filth Floor of Bragaw”!

Alyeska's Pride in Prejudice(Continued)

To begin with, Happy Juneteenth Day. Well, well, prejudice does go with the “Territory”. OK, by the 70s it was some tough going 11-years in the making since Alaska last enjoyed that “Territory” position, as by then a bonafide “State of the Union” status, a state with its own flag. Not to forget the Jack Marler days of “No Taxation without Representation” no longer a valid 1030 write-off option! Yes rough going for the first few years when trying to wean away from Uncle Sam’s welfare addiction, until ARCO hit “paydirt” then that “We’re In” of 1959 held new meaning heard all the way to the “Capitol”. With 4200-miles away momentum, and then on through those Halls of Congress and eventually the legislation that allowed for the building of an “Alaska Pipeline” wrought with controversy from environmental issues to Native Alaskan “land claim” rights. But in some respect by then after the dust of statehood had settled, the 49er was still functioning as a “territory”, so it takes time for things to sink in. And with that way far and away from everything so far removed, so was “Equal Opportunity” oversight just a suggestion. With this “new territory” calling for citizen Kane to step up to the plate, prejudice and discrimination is probably one of the last things on the agenda to get a “fixed” position, a reckoning in the right direction as we are creatures of “habit” good to bad to good again. And with that “paydirt”, Alaska became a land of opportunity like “overnight” - for all things considered. It was like the Beverly Hillbillies on steroids “North to Alaska” this “Call to the Wild”, when people from all walks of life decided to jump ship, or bail skip, away from the restrictions of the lower-48 lifestyle and follow instincts to “Go North Young Man”. And with that, the Beaver Creek border crossing saw people from every state of the “Union” seeking out Alaska as a “new life” adventure and with that “dream” so too were past “prejudices” in baggage carried along - one of those things tough to leave it all behind. Alaska was still “lawless”, so it was anything goes and discrimination was part of the scene, still today. Look, why would a Native Alaskan company still have the “Eskimo” by its name when we can no longer use that derogatory name for an ice-cream bar? What’s good is bad and what’s bad is good - thank you Bob Dylan for Idiot Wind! But with the “Green Light” in Alaska a good place for bigots to felons to find a job, there came families from places like Macon County Georgia, when oil was first being discovered in Alaska - where southern hospitality “segregation” was so damn proud and part of the “white man culture” it was allowed through inbreeding for future generations to enjoy, wherein even the kids’ playground in downtown Macon found signs to discourage the “black folk kids” from using the see-saw or slide. And during this same time period, when a court ruled against that “segregation” wherein the Augustus Octavius Bacon park “could no longer exclude Negroes” due “racial discrimination” and man was on a roll to “equal opportunity modernization”, well the “white culture citizens” went to court and the land was given back to Senator Augustus Octavius Bacon’s heirs, who originally “left it in trust for the use of the town's white residents only”. For real, the court ruled that this “Open to Blacks” would violate the conditions of the late Senator Bacon's will and that the property, which had been operated as a “white‐only” community park, revert back to the heirs for “white only” safekeeping - it was the 70s! No doubt about it, that “carry over” in prejudices found new life in this new found friend frontier called “Alaska”, and new formed companies to help get that oil from the Prudhoe Bay oil fields did not really care yet about “prejudices” nor discrimination at the workplace - nobody of authority was watching! And mind you we do this on our own accord, it takes “oversight” still MIA in Alaska.

Alyeska surely maintained a “culture” that held roots in a “prejudice mindset”, the reason it was some 10-years before an out-of-the-closet known “White Supremist” employer was “Terminated”. Yes, 10-long years for those of us that had to endure the hardships of seeing our brothers and sisters of skin color different put up with such face-to-face abuse. In the U.S. Department of Labor’s “final verdict” of 1993 upon a lawsuit “denied” for “Wrongful Termination” by a Robert Scott, the report sounded in the “N” word a sickening tune how this individual went about his daily business, to abuse “minorities” on the job - and get away with it far too long. He was finally “fired”, and that lawsuit was deemed without merit worthless to frivolous - due his bigotry so Alyeska was off the hook for his “Termination”. But the fact his “bigotry” and use of the “N” word blatant for so many years, well Alyeska’s management promoted its survival, maybe even benefitted from it as why else would a company allow it to continue on day after day for - well like I said far too long. For real, some managers who witnessed this abuse on a daily basis, many with southern roots thought it was harmless “clowning” around…just ask the black kid summer hire! Had it not been for other workers finally enough of Mr. Bigot’s “filth” and desecration and defecation upon fellow workers a different skin color, and that “enough” meant going “Union” for a ways and means to fire “Bigotry” did the Alyeska management decide to take action. Yes, by letting this Bigot survive far too long all the while other workers filed complaints with the Alyeska HR, it was abuse condoned by the Alyeska management - as the rank and file of that management style in the late 70s and early 80s came from the south - said again to get the point across.  It wasn’t abuse in silence by this one individual, but right in front of the local management’s eyes and ears, and all we got in return was a fake laugh and no action. In that Department of Labor hearing for this Mr. Bigot Scott upon a claim of “Wrongful Termination” so denied, the Administrative Law Judge was dumfounded as to how such a “bigot” with a documented track record of “N” word abuse had remained on the job! It was the Alyeska way!

And at the time this pathetic individual was raising hell at Alyeska’s Valdez Marine Terminal and getting away with it, at the End-of-the-Line of the 800-mile Trans-Alaska-Pipeline, management “misfit-rejects” were being transferred from the pipeline. For various reasons, like being unsafe to the point other workers’ lives went compromised, sexual abuse, on-the-job alcohol abuse…the list keeps on giving. But instead of “Termination” like would happen with a normal company not so new, within the Alyeska organization there was this sensation the upper crust management was infallible because of the “bible” carried around in the back pocket, that they could do no wrong their action and only harm in inaction, so the “rejects” awarded out-to-pasture positions because the pipeline’s management was “sick”. Many of those misfits, sent to Valdez to remain quiet make no waves until “Golden Parachute Retirement” time comes around the mountain! See, just go south and keep thy mouth shut.

Some more examples shit flows downhill - or south in an Alaskan pipeline? In an “obituary” of a manager that ran the pipeline during the years of discrimination and prejudice “rampant”, a family member wrote: “Alex’s leadership at Alyeska Pipeline is regarded as 'the good years' due to his management style, guidance and support of his co-workers." Whomever wrote this epitaph, it is far from the truth NO disrespect the lard-ass six-feet under. The Pipeline People knew Alex, Fat Alex as the co-worker force preferred in disrespect and sometimes referred to as “Two Chairs”, yes a bible-thumping two-chairs in width man-about-town doing the best things so conservatively, that also excelled in “Nepotism. Look, that bull-crap about his leadership, “the good years”, only if sonny boy Chris and in the “Club”! What “good years” and only in truth if one believed “Nepotism” was good for morale, there was ZERO leadership from Fat Alex, especially in the years around the mid-80s.  Please let me elaborate as to why no such “leadership in management” existed, when Fat Alex was the “Pipeline Superintendent”. First and foremost, his son was being promoted faster then blowflies gathering on caribou dung in the heat of the Alaskan midnight sun solstice. And at that same time, this guy who had the highest technical approval rating 8-years in a row, well because of my “vocal” Union activities in Valdez I was being shown the door. That son of “Two-Chairs” and myself, we started working for the company at the same time. See, I was a known and labeled as a vocal “Union” supporter, engaging such interest in efforts to get rid of the bigots and drunk tanker crews that were getting away with “murder” because Alyeska’s management held out with a “boys will be boys” attitude in inaction, so I was being targeted for giving a “hoot”. Yes, bigots and drunks roaming about the Valdez Terminal having a heyday. And it was no different up and down the pipeline, according to reliable sources. But I was a valued added employee that Alyeska couldn’t just “Terminate” - as I held the blessing from the Owner Company. See, Alyeska was a “Fake” like company, it was a consortium of the “Big Oil” players in Alaska - like British Petroleum and SOHIO and ARCO, very powerful companies to say the least and designed as an entity that could thwart off any “anti-trust” litigation interest from outside interference. So Alyeska was a cover, a convenient front. That “added value” I boast, with letters of accommodation from the Owner Company representatives, it offered some semblance of protection, for a time being. And I was also considered an expert in “Custody Transfer” by the ARCO Measurement Auditors while I was assigned to Valdez. Custody what? It is the technical term for accurate measurement of the oil for “ownership right” consistent with the measurement motto by the Owner Company; “If you can’t measure it don’t pump it.” So the Number One priority for Alyeska as “Operator” of the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline was in the “measurement accuracy” for accounting purposes, which besides the $money$ aspect of the “Black Gold”, that “accuracy” was part of the pipeline wide “Leak Detection” criteria - a condition to operate. Without a “Leak Detection” system in good health, the State of Alaska “Permit to Operate” said shut it down! And when the “Custody Transfer” systems at Pump Station 1 were found to be “fudged” and out-of-control while under the responsibility of Fat Alex, well the “Owner Company” auditors said get it fixed. Now since the executive seat warmers within the Alyeska organization were usually reserved for “Owner Company Loanees”, someone on the 5^th Floor of Bragaw said get another department to take over the pipeline’s measurement mess, and that was a black eye for the Fat Man and the “Custody Transfer” was soon under the auspices of a non-Pipeline department - which was bad for Fat Alex, as for once a piece of the pipeline was out of his domain “bible thumping” control which he despised. And I found a new home up at Pump Station 1, taking care of what Alex failed at. I was hated by the local Peacock management, like another kind of discrimination by Alex and his cohort in shame managers. But I took the challenge and in a few months things were straightened out, the “Owner Company” once again content they were getting their money’s worth in oil. But Alyeska was using me and it would only be a matter of time as “once a Union supporter always a Union supporter” and I was being spied on, by a “snitch” that had a front row seat with Alyeska’s Human resources - to monitor my “Union” affiliation and attempts to continue to “unionize” the pipeline workers.

And soon after all was well with the “Custody Transfer”, Alex wanted it back and the only way that would happen or could happen with the Owner Company blessings, if I was to transfer from the SCADA to the Pipeline, to become one of Fat Alex’s whores. I refused, then it was forced upon me so “Take this job and shove it” was my only reward. There was no way I would work for a man that thought his son was worthy of “Daddy Dearest Nepotism” and promoted to un-deserving positions, when others more worthy and dedicated capable of accepting challenging positions in a career move bypassed.  And since the drive to “unionize” the workers due Alyeska’s front line attack against a “Union”, well the bigots and drunks continued to run rampant and on March 24^th in 1989, Joe Hazelwood binge parked his tanker on Bligh Reef!

And one night after midnight while I was in my bunk at the pumping station camp and somewhat sound asleep, a knock at the door! Now due my responsibilities to maintain that “Custody Transfer”, it was not unusual that I would get called out in the middle of the night to fix a problem as my position was “on call”. But when I opened the door, in a somewhat quiet camp wherein things can go without a challenge and un-noticed, it was “Double Wide Oval” in a flimsy negligee…WTF? That is what she was nicknamed by the station workers. WTF again! And when the crew change plane landed in Anchorage a few days after that event and I was met by my wife and baby, this “blimp” came by and said “thanks for the good time” and I had to explain to my wife that nothing went on. But it did not look good nor did it sound good. And I would come to find out that filing a complaint with the local management this non-affair was no different then what I had come accustomed to in Valdez - that boys will be…I mean whores will be whores!

But before signing off, Alyeska engaged in “preferential treatment” border line “discrimination” with the workers, especially the “contract workers” hired for projects. Maybe not an act identifiable as a bonafide discrimination in segregation, just the “mindset” places Alyeska in a vulnerable position that it practiced “prejudice” because it could get away with it. I was also witness to that “preference” when I was working for Siemens and because of my past affiliation with Alyeska, I was assigned to be part of the Siemens “Team” for the Alyeska Strategic Reconfiguration Project in early 2000s. After I had quit my affiliation with Alyeska as a “direct”. Now when this re-assignment came about, as I was more interested in work back east because I could spend the after work hours at Bukowski’s “Dead Writers” pub and not worry about “Double Wide Oval” whores bothering my peace and quiet, well I made damn sure I was part of the contract negotiations with Alyeska. And I made sure of two all important things. Hazardous duty pay upgrades and when at a Pump Station camp, single room status as the guys I would be working with from UK, heavy snoring was par for the course. Now when we were deployed to Pump Station 4 as the first station to get the major upgrade, I was a day behind my crew and when I showed up, they informed me that my room was in Man Camp “D”. That means the “camp” wherein screens have big holes and allows hordes of mosquitoes to follow that sounds of snoring - then a blood fest commences. See, most of my crew was from UK, the reason there came such prejudice.  The camp manager was a total douche bag, so I went along with his Fat Alex game and scarfed up the keys for my room, “D” camp and its dilapidated construction camp history, hot and dingy smelled of “fromunder” mold. This I would not put up with, so I told the crew to assemble in the shop area that was reserved for our work, we set up bunks and stayed there all night long. Why? Because we would remain on the clock until such time Alyeska abided by the contract - single room status. So it took about a week before all hell broke loose, when we gave the Alyeska project manager our time logs, as it was about to cost Alyeska an arm and a leg for this abuse upon contractors - it was  like having “Union” representation! Cha-ching! The bottom line, when a management mindset finds it is better off to use resources to go after “Union Supporters” and at the same time the bigots and drunks are allowed on the loose…

Alyeska’s Pride in Prejudice - Maggie’s Farm Revisited; My back pages, bringing it all back home.

End-of My Line!

Alyeska’s Pride in Prejudice

Alyeska’s Pride in Prejudice - Maggie’s Farm Revisited; My back pages, bringing it all back home.

Sidebar: As an ex-Alyeskan, today I find myself enjoying “retiree” status and being actively proud in recent participation the “Black Lives Matter” marches in solidarity sea to shining sea our brothers and sisters in “Union” for the “Union”. That calling came about by placing “Pandemic Patriotism” above “Pandemic Protectionism” thus allowing freedom away from the “Home Alone” social curtailment that the Covid-19 “pandemic” was promoting. Yes, braving the elements to be heard and seen, at the same time maintaining social distancing in efforts to show my respect and support to right a wrong. Get used to it, get on with your life especially if in “retirement” as “social distancing” with proper PPE is working. Amazing, that the family First Aid Kit I put together when employed by Alyeska, after a class in Valdez about “preparedness”, low and behold it contained some of those hard to get N95-masks. Alyeska was very good at sharing things like this! So “Be Prepared”, the good ol’ Boy Scout motto worked again and I was ready and willing to “march” in protest. Wrong or right my abandonment of “Home Alone”, I find it rather disingenuous that many have taken the “Do Nothing” approach with “time” on their side. Remember, you can’t take it with you! Ok that’s OK your concern due age restrictions to get involved, just don’t brag about it while sitting at home in couch potato mode eating retirement funded Haggis. See, I’d rather have my kid’s children remember this “grumpy old man” as an advocate in Braveheart instead of a “Cowitt”. And if retirement means going to the town dump the only excitement dumpster diving  - I beg your pardon maybe it’s distemper or constipation ailing that freedom away from the 8 to 5! Get freak’n HELP! Hey, what do I know as maybe the “dump” still finds fascination to help get rid of the “skeletons” once confined to a Bragaw Street closet. But with this “racial profiling pandemic”, something that should have been abolished many years ago, it reminds me just how that “profiling” is a systemic problem - we gain some we loose some on that “front” and the following read is a show and tell of what I experienced as an employee of the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company this subject matter when “Black Lives DIDN’T Matter” or upon that “bias” confronting a person of Eskimo heritage or an Athabaskan lifestyle not to forget the “whistleblowers” that faced punishment for standing their ground in correctness…the list goes on a corruption in decency.

Uncle Al’s Pride in PREJUDICE - The True Story!

Maybe it was a “One-Off” situation, but my first introduction into “racial profiling” within the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company organization came about on my first day on the job - in 79. Shocking, what an introduction! OK, I wasn’t really on-the-job yet, the incident I remember still haunting and reawakened by the recent sidewalk torture of George Floyd, it occurred up at Pump Station 5 wherein I was a “New Hire” attending the “Pipeline Basic Training” academy. Yes, many years ago we know that history repeats itself. Back then “My Back Pages”, it all started when the crew change plane touched down at Prospect and delivered a new class of pipeline tenderfoots to the “Boot Camp”. Soon enough, with over-filled duffle bags filled with “company issued” coveralls and other survival stuff, instructor Will had us lined up in efforts to assign a room-mate and training partner - in a hip-hip-hoorah “team work counts” kind of camaraderie that was designed to last the duration of this training opportunity in the remote wilderness of Alaska.  And I guess as a carry-over when assigned a job on the “line”. Being away from family, partnership was paramount success, it was still the wilderness don’t need no Revenant moments. For sure, it was somewhat intimidating at first, the entire pipeline and logistics behind the operation of the 800-mile Trans-Alaska-Pipeline-System, so it was a very quiet scene as it was understood that the next few weeks would be very demanding in undivided attention commitment towards success. The “Basic Training” was a treasure trove of everything “pipeline”, mechanical to electrical to hydraulic to control theory and a little “Custody Transfer” in between here and there. It was like cramming an entire semester of study into a week’s time - study then test, study then test some more. This was indeed a chance of a lifetime, wherein success meant the beginning of gainful employment hopefully towards retirement, so best give it extra loving care. It was almost a “military” like atmosphere - at attention speak only when spoken to. Like it seemed, the demeanor many waiting for that assignment the sentiment in silence was enraged within by a calling out, please Mr. Will give us the room key so we can hit the books in excitement we had become a “Pipeliner” - at least that was the mission before us for the next 7-days. What I remember so well, I was 3^rd in line and a guy named Frank in 2^nd place and at the head of the line a Mr. C, that seemed to know Will and all the other Alyeska training staff on a first name basis. And somewhat annoying, the only one challenging the respect most of the other “new hires” maintained these unfamiliar surroundings, like minding one’s own business. While waiting patiently, in conversation I had found out that Frank was an Athabaskan Native Alaskan and was also hired to work down at the Valdez Marine Terminal, in the same department I was assigned. As instructor Will started to assign room-mate training partners, when that Mr. C was assigned to room and partner with Frank as the first partner pair on the roster, this Mr. C character verbally contested that assignment with words to the effect many others out and about could hear; “I ain’t room’n with no native”. The camp office area went dumbfoundedly quiet in a silence that was bothersome, but Will was quick to pour cold water on this “racial profiling” event and I was assigned to be Mr. C’s partner. So things were starting off in the “rough”. Now when the room assignments were complete but the “wind out of the sail” somewhat what many of us had just witnessed through this verbal abuse from a “white raced person” upon a Native Alaskan, we were in the “canteen” getting lunch and the rumors floating about seemed to be more then just scuttlebutt hearsay. More in the realm of a justified action by the Alyeska management would soon commence, that guy Mr. C was history - as this kind of thing was not tolerated in modern-day society and Alyeska seemed to “pride” itself that this kind of abuse was not to be tolerated. And the Alaskan Natives fort very hard for the “Native Claims Settlement Act” which allowed the pipeline to be built and that “Act” by Congress supposedly addressed such “discrimination”. But I was now Mr. C’s roommate, and as far as I understood, there came no adverse action, as of yet - he was still my roommate but what was rather odd also, nowhere to be seen. So when class started the next morning, when I had to inform those in concern that Mr. C was still here and still listed on the training roster, it challenged our thoughts on what we had witnessed and dumfounded even more what would be the outcome. So far, nothing changed! I mean, no investigation was required there were more then enough witnesses present to have heard and seen what went on - said again poor Frank such an introduction first day on the job! It was a blatant disregard for an Alaskan Native, and Frank still seemed to be having difficulties with it - in his demeanor to be accepted as he was the only Alaskan Native or minority in this group of new hires. If nothing else, a very embarrassing situation. The only thing we could think of was the fact the crew change plane was a week away, so maybe the management was letting Mr. C  hang out and he would be justifiably “terminated” come the end of the training when back on the ground in Anchorage. What else would be taking precedence over addressing what went on! And for the most part, that Mr. C character never showed up for the classes or when he did was late, like an attitude of who gives a rat’s ass. Maybe he did not want to become a bonafide “Pipeliner” and was just wasting everybody’s time. Also troubling and somewhat suspicious, it appeared Will was coddling this Mr. C guy. The other thing, when at the camp’s mess hall, Mr. C was always seen sitting with Alyeska “Townies” instead of associating with the “new hires”, so he was something special to someone. But it was too early to gain any sense of “nepotism” within Alyeska. OK, it is called “brown-nosing”. I stayed away from my room, nauseated being a roommate with a “bigot” and spent most of my time in the training facility in efforts to get all the tasks completed. So I had an excuse for no sleep, likewise many of the other “new hires” burning that midnight oil to get ahead. And with all the mid-night sunshine, sleep? For real, I didn’t have two-cents to waste for this guy Mr. C, please don’t try to be my friend.

Low and behold, on the going home day when Will called order the time for those in training to be awarded that “Pipeline Technician Training Certificate”, sure enough Mr. C was there to receive his meritless certificate - which was concerning as he was somewhat of a no-show for the entire week during the “Training Classes”, yet still showing up at night to sleep and getting his diploma? How in hell did this guy deserve what the rest of us had labored over in dedication the past week?  Instead of investing time in the “Training”, he was hanging out with the roads and pads crew, driving up and down the line and for the most part, a no-show. He contributed “zero” as a class member. And he was the only guy that had permission to leave the site, through the “Security Check-point” so something stunk! See, he was my assigned partner, and that supposedly meant investing time with effort and talent from both sides of the equation to get through all of the “Basic Training” modules - that team effort. So rather perplexing, that this guy Mr. C was still part of the organization and soon to be out on the pipeline. I went it alone through that rigorous training program, not bragging just stating a fact there appeared to be some preferential treatment going on within the Alyeska management rank and file for this one individual - who you know ring a bell? For real, after learning all about “Pipeline Basics 101”, I left that “Training” in realization that “nepotism” may be alive and well within the Alyeska organization. It happens, but when that “it’s a family affair” reflects negatively and enhances racial cruelty, that is unacceptable in my sojourn of life.

And I would one day in 91 - some 12-years after the fact when a file box of Alyeska’s President Hermiller’s “Spy” operation documents were found at the dump - find out that my “Basic Training” records were mysteriously confiscated back in 79, my tests and all required paper-work proving that “Basic Training” had been completed, well it all disappeared and management was requiring me to once again attend that “training” - some 12-years after the fact it was pure bull-crap. So I quit! Come to find out after Hermiller’s files were “breached”, my training files testifying that I had attended that “Basic Training” were found, as all my records went associated to another technician! Hey, we shared the same room in 79, why not share jock straps! Yes indeed, my files were being used by another pipeline technician. Said again, there was preferential treatment as there was another rumor that there was “a van down by the river” outside the Pump Station 5 “Security Gate” that was a hardy party site, frequented by my AWOL roommate.  But by the time those new hires were ordained as “Pipeline Technicians”, we had come to learn that Mr. C was the son of a pipeline “bigwig”. It gave the “Nepotism” definition life in a somewhat new company and that was surely to have an affect on other “equal opportunity” transactions.

Regardless, soon Frank and I were off to Valdez and we would bind as work associates and family friends while engaged helping out the I&E Department under Lynn McArthur to maintain the control systems at the End-of-the-Line. My sentiment following that episode at Pump Station 5, hope that racial attack on Frank was a “One-Off” experience. And the more I got to know Frank over the years, he was a gentleman and one hell of a nice human being and as a technician dependable, same with his wife and family just good righteous people!

And for years following while I remained gainfully employed by Alyeska, every time I came in contact with that Mr. C - who was moving up the ladder due daddy dearest - it nauseated the hell out of me and I am sure the same sense of regret with others that deserved a promotion for dedicated service. Many “good people” were side-stepped for those not deserving, a “nowhere man” mistreatment wherein the actual loosers became Bragaw Street schmoozers, the now “winners” joining the ranks of a surround yourself with incompetency mandate. When ass-kissing ladder-climbers felt threatened, so made damn sure there was no one allowed within their surrounding domain to ruffle feathers by calling out their inferiority complex. Or if a troublemaker, just arrange a helicopter ride with Whirlybird Bill! Let me take this opportunity NOW to clarify something of utmost importance. Alyeska had a valued workforce, a dedication to the mission. But at the same time, there existed a “mental mindset” that swallowed away the righteousness of a culture, wherein “kiss anything that looks like an ass” was the survival instinct. That “ass kissing” thing, I had an Alyeska supervisor tell me that was how he survived the Bragaw Street shuffle, wherein “Owner Company” agents would temporarily fill the 5^th Floor Executive rank and file positions, in like an away from the “real” office vacation. I also had a 5^th Floor Bragaw Executive “Loanee” tell me the Alyeska organization was a joke! So all in all, a reputable workforce and a dozen bad apples that wined and dined away decency - culminated by Joe Hazelwood crashing his tanker into Bligh Reef because of “preferential treatment”! Look, had Alyeska’s management “heeded the warning” a dysfunctional organization on the rise, that wreck never would have occurred. And a trickle down in “dysfunction” can only have negative repercussion like side-effects on all things considered, especially in “diversity”.

Alyeska’s “Equal Opportunity” romance, at least so in the early days circa 79 through 91! It sounded so good from the outside, respectful on paper and thus so swell accepted when the Filth Floor Bragaw’s Town Crier entertained the Peanut Gallery at the Anchorage Rotary Club luncheons in Anchorage. Wherein without challenge the Alyeska executive cast could easily advertise the company’s “inner city” program for the less fortunate. Ok, the company was proud of its minority hire statistics, so found success with that part of the equation. But that “romance” numbers aren’t everything, well within the organization there existed systemic “segregation of despair, prejudice in bias and recognized white man discrimination”. Yes, the same “mindset” that was  boasting that “Best of the Best” found a convenient ways and means to silence away the existence of a “Jim Crow” like racial attitude, out-of-sight and out-of-mind through dereliction and no action taken to stymie this abomination against the righteous standing “people of different color” or ethnicity. Even when a majority of the “Pipeline People” in workforce was not victimized by such attacks, but witness to this horror in dishonor upon our similarly situated fellow workers, which warranted complaints to the management ranks. Speakeasy? One was quick to learn best remain quiet! Like Bob Dylan once sang out so loud and clear; “If you're black you might as well not show up on the street 'less you want to draw the heat”. Now some ex-Alyeskans busy in retirement with “dumpster diving duty” still burying the “skeletons” may disagree, I was there and witness to this resurrection against my fellow black man and already uneasy how the Alaskan Natives would be treated. At the Alyeska VMT in the early 80s, it was a blatant disregard for anything that the Martin Luther King Jr. movement marched upon or worthwhile the advances made during the late 60s to eliminate such disgrace upon our Afro-American brothers and sisters or any walks of life. In Valdez, no matter how pristine the surrounding environment looked before the EXXON Valdez wreck, I witnessed this “discrimination” abuse firsthand and was affiliated with the handful of workers that tried to terminate this abuse. Yes, to come front and center the stage of attention and stand up for what was right in efforts to make a difference. With that, some of us found our careers “Terminated” as Alyeska did engage in that “Shoot the Messenger” obligation to show who was the “Boss”. The Filth Floor of Bragaw ruled! Sure there was an “Open Door” policy, but if you complained and there was no action, best mind your own business as that meant silence was golden don’t bother pursuing it any further else you will “draw that heat”. “Trust Us” we will take care of it NOT! The breakdown with Alyeska was not entirely the fault of the executive branch, it was the “middle management mindset” those trying to get that feather in that cap with the “Owner Company” boys.

In Valdez, there was Mr. S, a CRO that would come on shift and accomplish two things of priority. First off and by 6:05am like clockwork, day-in day-out for 7-consecutive days on shift, this cantankerous individual would make sure that the “can’t be missed” 4-ft x 3-ft Control Room “Lock-Out/Tag-Out/Out-of-Service” chalk board held promise of only one all important warning: “No NIGGERS Allowed”, in big bold white chalk letters he would issue this daily bread “Warning” so anybody entering the control building could not miss it. And it was the same chalk board wherein the “LOTO” warnings were supposed to be listed, so you had to see the “N” warning if involved in any work around the Vapor Recovery facility! It was a very busy control room area, so on any given day dozens of workers would be silenced by that “Warning”. I felt so sad and nauseated for a new hire technician, a black kid that was quickly re-positioned to the powerhouse gang instead - as this bigotry was understood by Alyeska’s local management. So it was that quick out-of-sight out-of-mind mentality, wherein “fixing” the root problem just a suggestion like an Anchorage traffic signal. Gee officer, I tried to stop but the ice…Then on to killing two-birds with one stoning, as then Mr. S Bigot would tend to his other priority in duty, purposely readjusting the controls for the “Thermal Oxidizers” so that bluish-black smoke would be seen existing the stacks, sometimes accompanied by leaping flames escaping the confines of the oxidation chambers, indicating improper combustion and polluting the air with unburned hydrocarbons. Yes, purposely taking the controls out of the “Automatic Mode” to incite a violation of the “Air Quality Permit to Operate”. The complication of the controls along with the process did not allow such human intervention, so it was a blatant disregard of how things were supposed to work through the Zink design. And the local management was well aware of this also, as one could not help see there was something wrong with that cancer causing choke “smoke” out and about the air we were breathing. You could smell the “inferno’s” afterbirth when in upset mode. The sentiment that followed around a do-nothing management style with a smile? It was only for 12-hours each day for 7-days and only every-other 5-weeks based on the week-on week-off shift schedules and alternating night-shift day-shift rotations. See, at night nobody gave a damn if the “Incinerators” designed to annihilate out-gassing from the crude-oil storage tanks polluted the air and who cared what Mr. Bigot S posted on the chalk board when most of us were home with our families. So Mr. Bigot S would soon have his duties for the day complete, by 6:10am and then go around the other control rooms and get in everybody else’s business in a loud mouth disgraceful fashion. For real, every other word out of his mouth like in trying to prove a point was the “N” word followed by the “F” word, even when he held the stage in front of the local management. His use of the “N” word was for a reason, out of the closet was his bigotry out loud and polluting our wherewithal against such racial abuse. It was allowed, out loud so inaction to curtail just added fuel to his “racial inferno”. Now many that worked at the Marine Terminal were from the south, transplants, so maybe this was an accepted habit. Hear it, see it, but maybe just a big talk no action bigot don’t get excited we are used to the “N” word. I used that “N” word once when in my New England youth, I can still remember the taste of soap and how that ruler across the knuckles by Sister Eileen felt - it hurt! Pain is pain! And what was witnessed in Valdez, it was a painful experience for most of us. But even though most of the workers had no time or patience with Mr. Bigot S, he got away with it. And when some outside workers were on site to perform contract maintenance work, Mr. Bigot would refuse to issue a permit to a “black” for the area under his control. If a black guy came in for a permit, Mr. S would direct the worker to that LOTO chalk board - with the “No Niggers Allowed” warning.  The guy was a sicko, yet he continued to raise havoc and invite and incite a dereliction upon the conviction of a racial abuse “free” environment - because he knew he could get away with it. It went on for months!

As the “Lead Instrument & Electrical Technician”, it was my duty to make sure that the VMT operations did not harm the environment - with respect to the controls working properly to abate. So when “black smoke” was seen emanating from the “Oxidizer” stacks, we understood it was Mr. S back on day-shift and at the helm, yet we would respond only to be confronted by the Bigot and he would yell to the top of his lungs that we were all a bunch of “nigger lovers”. I say it again, this man was sick! Big Jim, a technician with the I&E that grew-up in Alaska, he wanted so much to take the Bigot out, we all wanted to take the bastard out. But he held an audience of a few that seemed to condone this behavior in entertainment at the expense of others, that was the sad side of this abuse. Like another CRO who went along with Mr. Bigot and would not give out a work permit until he was finished telling you how he “anal raped” and abused his wife the night before - who was a “black” woman. This goddamn goof-head once had the audacity to ask me out loud in earshot of many co-workers if I “anal raped” my wife, while I was waiting for him to sign over a work permit. Here I was minding my own business tasked to work and had to put up with this abuse, first thing in the morning the sun still rising? I asked him to step outside and the only thing he could do is “yella belly coward” and reach out to Mad Mac “we have a virgin”, as Mad Mac the “rover operator” went about busily hanging up pictures of his hemorrhoids - on the same damn utility board we placed pictures of our kids! Alyeska culture in crisis? We finally got rid of that goof-head sick cookie, he became an OCC controller - pipeline pigging right up his ally! And when these monsters got together, the powerhouse lights could be going out but the priority remained their “racist” mentality intent to get a few words in, which fueled more hatred - and the local management was right there listening to it, seeing it and hearing it all! And once and only once when I tried to educate Mr. Bigot that the reason the “Incinerator” brick work was prematurely failing due to “flame impingement” based on the way he operated the controls, a very costly mistake, he would go off on a tangent that the “flames” in the combustion chambers were akin to burning out the “Niggers”, so the bigger balls of fire the better - the reason the pollution was violating the permit, it was a racial thing! How do you explain that to the environmental cops? But what was worse off then that pollution, the bigotry! Yes indeed, our very own KKK rally flames and all! But the local management time and time again refused to budge, as they understood Mr. Bigot was a fire-cracker and was trying to cause hate and discontent so that he would be terminated, and was already talking about an “age-discrimination” lawsuit should Alyeska make a move to terminate his employment - so they approached this problem with kid-glove “kindness”. He was well versed in using the age discrimination card and demoralizing the race card. It sucked, there was no excuse for the inaction and just a lame excuse at that, from of trumped up scare of litigation if they fired the bastard. And besides that, we had the sabotage of the pollution controls to deal with. We could not control the “bigotry” but were damn sure that we would not stand for the pollution - as it was the air we breathed and most of us were raising families in and around Valdez and this was an abuse we had to stop dead in its tracks. And once again to reiterate, the local management didn’t seem to care, or cared but went helpless on how to handle it. This was not a single event, it was NOT another One-Off, it was an on-going dilemma lasting months on end. And we tried time and time again to convince the local management about our concerns, with the bigotry and the pollution. Matter of fact, we boycotted the Bigot and started refusing to perform maintenance work when he was assigned as the CRO of the “Vapor Recovery Oxidizers”. Our sentiment, let it pollute, let it burn out the refractory, maybe it will get someone’s attention. A “refractory job” cost $thousands$, all because of the way he operated the system, almost routine this re-work. When we investigated the reason for the premature failure and brought that to the attention of the Operations management, they balked on trying to accomplish a fix. Like they had become sympathetic to this Bigot! And when that failed us, we caught the attention of Bragaw and many hours behind closed doors from Westerheid to Boling to Nelson to Henman to Witten - yes the Filth Floor Bragaw executives. But for some reason, even though they listened to our concerns it was the same old song and dance, nothing ever came down the “pipe” to fix this systemic atrocity. Look, maybe it was one bad apple, maybe two bad apples, but real “bad apples”!  And try to get HR involved, what a joke as they were afraid to confront this problem head-on! And the local HR person could not do a damn thing without permission from Bragaw. And one thing I would come to learn with Alyeska’s HR, it was a department that consisted of the “token” minorities, it looked good but had no teeth when it came to issues that needed intervention and relief. Yes, that “ass kissing” mentality leave well enough alone pass the blame around.

But we didn’t give up, as this was not anything close to the “Best of the Best” and after we exhausted the wherewithal of that “Open Door”, we were ready to go to war over it. See, with the pollution thing we had devised a ways and means to not allow the control systems to be placed in “manual”, not without a “LOTO” which would require a supervisor’s key. And if things broke while the Bigot was the on-shift CRO, we refused to work on the control systems until he was gone for the day. We would have rather worked past-the-clock on overtime then put up with his racial slurs. But when my boss McArthur suggested this option for a “LOTO” key to place the controls in “Manual”, we were turned down! Just when we thought we were making headway on all fronts, in realization the Alyeska management was neutered over such concerns, a new supervisor had been transferred from the pipeline. The guy was a reject from the pipeline and was quick to realize that the way the “Bigot” operated the “Ox”, it saved fuel - as when you pollute it takes less energy to annihilate the “vapors” and this new kid on the block saw it as a feather in his cap for the Bragaw Street mentality - the same mentality that was allowing Mr. Bigot S to disgrace others of race by the blatant disregard his racist’s attitude part of the job and use of the “N” word more bountiful then a Valdez snowfall. So here we were trying to be the “Best of the Best” and beat-up. And at the same time enough on our plate, we were dealing with the fact that somebody in the Valdez organization - maybe it was from town - in their “inferior wisdom” thought the I&E technicians were also cab drivers, as with pickup trucks at our disposal we were being called all too often to haul drunk tanker crewmen back and forth up and down the berth “gang-ways”. See, the Town Crier “taxi” was not allowed on the “gangway”, so we would get the call from the Alyeska Marine head and the bed of the PU would soon be filled with “drunks” returning back to the Marine Terminal from the Pipeline Club in town, un-able bodied seamen hauled to the dockside tanker and carried back onboard for a sober-up trip home. After a while, as it was interfering with my job duties, I refused to abide by the calls to assist I wasn’t your damn chauffeur, which pissed Larry off.  They were freak’n drunks, pissing here to there and everywhere and sometimes leaving puke trails along the causeways. And one day down at Berth 5, due my refusal, I was in a verbal confrontation with a bunch of returning inebriated sailors that were having a hard time navigate that bridge to their tanker, but I had my Rigid and drove the bastards away! At this point in time, maybe it was time to break some knuckles as it was getting dangerous and a plot to get rid of the Bigot was still fresh in our minds - I am talking a growing call for a physical assault. Some thought it best we find a way to trip the Bigot on the ice, and he never wore a hardhat as was required, maybe let him freeze to death underneath a burner deck of the “Incinerators” - no great loss! Yes, we were getting angry and more and more talk of taking it onto our own hands - you don’t mess with a rigid! We were getting desperate and the “Management” was not listening to the sounds of a disaster on the horizon! From “bigotry” to premeditated pollution to drunks getting behind the helm of those fully laden tankers - it all adds up to one thing “destruction”.

So one day we devised a plan of attack, as we were not about to give up - and looking for a way to get outside help involved - as that appeared to be the only thing that would give Uncle Al a “blackeye” and then the shat would hit the fan and then maybe action taken upon our concerns. We thought, with respect to the Mr. Bigot purposely polluting the air and the new PV supervisor going along with it because it saved “Topping Unit” fuel deliveries, why not call the local DEC environment cop and have him get involved. What puzzled us, from the town of Valdez and against the snow-covered backdrop, it was very easy to see the pollution with a trained eye but never once did Alyeska fall under any investigative suspicion with a proposed “fine” - like nobody from the local oversight dispatch was watching. So we waited for Mr. Bigot to come on shift and when the “Thermal Oxidizers” had been configured into “manual” and disgusting unburned hydrocarbons were once again making my kids sick, we called the cops and filed a complaint. And received a quick response. Now the “John Zink Thermal Oxidizers” were referred to as the “Incinerators”. So I get a call from McArthur that the local DEC cop is schedule to show up and I was to meet him down at the Dayville Road Security Gate and provide him an escort. Now Dan the cop shows up and it appeared he was being bothered having to go out of his way away from his cushion job in town, not by what we had complained about but the fact he had to show up with his badge and maybe do some work for a change. Like already mentioned, he was a no-show around the “Terminal” and this place was operated by “permits” in his preview. Look, it was another episode in “don’t draw he heat”. So we started up the hill to the “Ox” and one could easily see that Mr. Bigot was having a great day raising havoc with the controls and really polluting the environment. But before we could get to the control room, before we had arrived at the parking lot, the DEC cop says he thought we were talking about the “Incinerator” used to burn oily rags, not the “Oxidizers”. And before you know it, we are retreating back to the Security Gate as this “permitted device” was out of this DEC cop’s jurisdiction and that he would turn it over to someone in Anchorage. That said, we never once heard any follow-up of the complaint. So the bigotry continued, the pollution continued because it was saving Alyeska in fuel costs and with increased throughout and tanker traffic, we were spending a whole lot of time as taxi drivers for crews heading to town and coming back cock-eyed drunk. See, when we started to refuse to be “taxi” drivers, we were told that it was an issue of safety, that the tanker crews could not walk the “gangways” and thus the reason the I&E was called to assist. OK, they were stumbling drunks and could fall overboard while walking that gangway, especially if needing to take a piss - not my problem! That is when we realized that the Alyeska local management along with the Filth Floor Bragaw executive management did not give a rat’s ass upon our concerns.

What to do next? That is when our only hope to rid the VMT of a “mindset” behavior destructive in both bigotry, pollution and drunk tanker crews, it meant we had to “Unionize”. All else had failed and we realized what it meant to “Go Union”. Look, the job paid well with great benefits and the time off allowed for family time and outside activities away from the maddening crowds - so why ruin a good thing? That was the problem, it was a good gig - so it was challenging to say the least in respect our own wellbeing was it best to remain on the quiet side, let bygones be bygones? Not this guy and I was soon labeled by Alyeska’s HR “SPY” network as a “Vocal Union Supporter”. And when we decided to get help with organized labor, we also realized that Alyeska with backup from the “Big Oil” players would attack our desires head-on. And that is when we became victims of our own dedication upon demonstrable concerns, as the “Shoot the Messenger” was and remained the George Nelson way of life. A carry-over that would kill our efforts to right a wrong. Regardless, it was the right thing to do, the “Union”! Yes, it was the Danny Greene coming out in me, as I was an “Irishman”, the “Fighting Irish” my heritage.

With that, instead of addressing the problems at hand that promoted an interest in “organized labor representation”, the Alyeska management spent time and effort breaking up the so-called troublemakers and many “snitches” made a comfortable living with this “mindset” and guess what? Joe Hazelwood became famous because when you have a “Shoot the Messenger” approval from the Filth Floor of Bragaw, the bigotry and prejudice and pollution is what their “Best of the Best” is all about, in an “Image” fake the reality of underlying problems - big problems. Like the Bigotry, the binge drinking by the tanker crews was so well known! For myself, I could no longer stand working for a “Bigot” company, a polluting company a company that thought it cute that a tanker captain could get away with drinking on the job and a DEC patrol that was grounded. And if you ever visited the Control Room of the “Oxidizers” when Mr. Bigot was the CRO and turned the corner to see that “NO NIGGERS ALLOWED” a Warning of a “mental mindset” sick, in the 80s, because it was allowed we were all guilty of this even though we tried to eliminate it - this is what the Filth Floor of Bragaw was all about. And here is one for the comic books. How about the kid of a Valdez manager wearing a KKK costume at the Alyeska sanctioned Halloween Party in Valdez? Oh, it was cute and harmless kids will be kids?

In the end, our only hope was to have a “Union” represent us wherein our complaints, our concerns would have teeth in some semblance of a resolution. See, had we been successful in that “Union”, it would have easily consumed the operations also - and that Mr. Bigot S would have been immediately “terminated”. Gone would be his Bigotry and his pollution - how Simple Simon a solution.  With a “Union”, within 24-hours of signing over our right to be “represented”, that Mr. Bigot and his cohorts in crime “terminated” and “drunk tanker” crews thrown in jail. It meant WAR and Alyeska responded with everything in its legal arsenal - including spying on the rebel rousers - to STOP the Union drive. The plan of attack was to STOP the drive dead in its tracks in Valdez, as if this “Union” went successful for a small faction - the Instrument & Electrical technicians - it would be but a matter of time that “concerted activity to be represented” would spread like “wildfire”, up the pipeline and even taking over the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. The battle was on! And for the “Bigotry” that won…because fighting the “Union” was above all other matters including Alyeska’s “Homegrown” version of “segregation of despair, prejudice in bias and recognized white man discrimination”…Alyeska;

Here comes the story of the Hurricane
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game

That's the story of the Hurricane(B. Dylan the Hurricane)

~ To Be Continued ~