Valentine's Day

This day started off sunny and bright, but a pleasant dockside lunch at the Marina led to some gloom. This email to Peter explains it:

Howdy Pal!

I had lunch today with Ernie Loewy and Bob Galvan. Bob's son Robert is a SMPD cop. We were talking about the youth soccer days and Bob told me about Martin Schmidt. He had been doing well in Real Estate, but then got into drugs. He robbed his neighborhood convenience and liquor store a few times and even took a baseball bat to a woman he mugged.

The SMPD, but not Robert, went to his home to arrest him. His mother said he was in his bedroom. The cops entered and Martin got up from his bed, arms held out, and said he had nothing--no drugs or weapons. Then he turned and leaped head-first out the window, crushing his skull when he hit the ground.

Joe and Harry came to dinner tonight. When I started to mention about Martin, he cut me off to tell us that he had been approached by Martin about that time. This guy came up to him and asked if he wasn't Peter Merholz's brother. Joe so acknowledged and they had a nice chat. Martin asked Joe to say Hi to you. Joe went out of town for a few days and when he came back, he heard about Martin's death, drugs and criminal behavior.

I always like to hear about how well some of my youth soccer kids are doing. This is the flip side and a tragic expression of an unimaginable torment that can infect a mind. Yet when he thought of you on that day, it had to be with a memory, however brief, of the happy days he spent on the Santa Monica playing flelds.

And then another bungled robbery, and the window.

I found this item on Google:
http://3stonesback.com/movienews/2006/12/28/southside-loses-another-soldier/

Happy Valentine's Day.
Dad
www.Pacific-Eclectic.com