My middle brother (I'm the oldest) had his day in court today. So-so.

I have two brothers. One is a liberal, wealthy, gay radiologist in Atlanta (remember the recent Druid Hills Country Club brouhaha?). The other, P______ is a dirt-poor contractor (with an economics degree) who moved in with our elderly parents a year ago after he had a brush with the law.

P_____'s (age 50) legal problems came to a resolution today. Two weeks ago, the DA dropped the drug charges from the 12 marijuana plants found on his farm a year ago. Illegal search, the DA agreed. Also, my brother sold the farm (shortly after his arrest a year ago, mainly to raise funds for a defense) and within several weeks the sheriff found more pot plants in the same place. My brother was avoiding that county (Lamar, in central Georgia) at all costs. The other problem was that they found a shotgun in his farm house. He claims it was not his (he ran a home for wayward drunks, rednecks, and bikers ... I would not even go down there fearing just this sort of thing, given my status as an airline pilot). Ends up he had a "prior" from 30 years ago (none of us knew about it) for growing pot in a National Forest. That conviction (with suspended sentence) forbade him from owning or keeping firearms. For that transgression, today, he was given the choice of a trial or three years on probation. He copped a plea for the latter. My 83-year old dad, a distinguished PhD college professor, sat through the day-long proceedings in Lamar County, Georgia. But he did get his $33,000 bail money back. Dad was too exhausted to talk to me tonight when I called (as I do every night).

Like the cover of Granta proclaimed, a few years back: The Family: They Fuck You Up.

what a mess.... but all things considered, it sounds like the outcome's a lot better than it could've been.

I hope things work out for your brother.

Now... about that rich, gay radiologist... is he single? :)

Oh wait... I'm not.... nevermind.

His partner is the guy suing Druid Hills Country Club.

That is the other thing. My brother in Atlanta has been "out" with all of the siblings for a number of years. He put off and put off the inevitable, with the parents. Then, a couple of months ago, this whole Druid Hills thing hit the fan, in all the Atlanta media, 24/7 for a week. My brothers name and occupation and his partners'!

We really did not know how it played with our parents. They kept a poker face throughout these reports. Did they not get it? That was the question for the last few weeks.

Again, resolved. My brother, Dr. ____, went to my parents' for lunch on Saturday. As they sat there, my dad asked: "So, what's the latest with the Druid Hills Country Club thing?" The cat jumped out of the bag and ran, screaming, around the room!

Dad did most of the talking. He said that they figured the relationship out from the AJC news reports. They had wondered for a long time, he said. Here is the biggy! Dad said that they were really glad they had not learned of the gay relationship a few years earlier, because (because!) they now so dearly loved R___, the partner. And they do. My dad's eyes have lighted up for several years when he knew R____ was coming down, or when we were at their beach house in Grayton Beach. Of course, we love R____ too. Especially when he is frying okra!

I live one county north of Lamar County, and there's quite a lot of pot farming going on in Lamar, Pike and Monroe counties (all south of here...marijuana is Georgia's #1 cash crop, btw). People will grow on someone else's property to minimise risk to themselves. Sorry to hear it happened to your brother.

I hope they're quickly resolved, and that your dad isn't too drained by all this.
~sending positive vibes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and so weird. Only children have no idea what they are missing!

you folks would be enjoying your kinship without hardship. How dare they, really? It's just a freakin' herb.

Woof