Meth, Not Jesus, Saves

Remember Ashley Smith, the Georgia woman who last March disarmed the crazed killer who had taken her hostage with pancakes and quotations from the New Agey tome The Purpose-Driven Life? Smith's action made her a meda darling.

Now, as Rogier van Bakel points out at his great blog Nobody's Business, it turns out that Smith used more than biblical wisdom to mollify her attacker. From a new AP story:

Ashley Smith, the woman who says she persuaded suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols to release her by talking about her faith, discloses in a new book that she gave him methamphetamine during the hostage ordeal. … [S]mith says Nichols had her bound on her bed with masking tape and an extension cord. She says he asked for marijuana, but she did not have any, and she dug into her illegal stash of crystal meth instead.

More here.

Comments

[Jennifer]

Reading this story on another site this morning has put me in a marvelous mood. Hee hee hee.

If I were her, though, I would have come right out and told the truth during my initial television interviews.

[matthew hogan]

Nothing about the story contradicts her initial version or her spin.

[Julian Sanchez]

Gotta say, it would probably not occur to me that feeding a "crazed killer" who'd taken me hostage a bunch of crystal meth significantly increased my chances of survival. Though the pot he'd initially asked for might well do the trick.

[smacky]

I bet you could talk any crazed killer out of murder with homemade pancakes, though. C'mon, really.

[Yeah]

That ain't all she gave him!

[Twba]

Whatever gets you through the night. It's all good.

[Timothy]

I'm with Julian, I wouldn't have thought that meth was the best solution to the problem. Seems like giving PCP to my opponent right before a cage match.

[Akira MacKenzie]

"Pancakes" must be street for crack! 🙂

[Warren]

it would probably not occur to me that feeding a "crazed killer" who'd taken me hostage a bunch of crystal meth significantly increased my chances of survival.

Fucking eh. So you bought the whole "everything we said about crack is really true about meth" story? I would have thought folks around here would know better.

[Born Again Iconoclast]

I guess she can name her biography Crystal Blue Persuader

[Rotten in Denmark]

God, how I'm looking forward to the Christian response to this. Our society's not great at computing things that can't be separated into Beauty and Beast, and this case is the perfect example. Will this woman be re-cast as 'part of the problem'? Is there room in neo-Christian doctrine for good-hearted addicts? When I think of the things that characterize the fundamentalist Christian movement, its capacity for nuance isn't exactly in the top 5.

P.S. Situations like this are exactly the reason I always have a full jar of Nutella around.

[smacky]

"Pancakes" must be street for crack! 🙂

If "pancakes" meant "crack", then I'd really be afraid of my detainer. He'd probably kill her just to lick her skin residue, if that were the case.

In my experience with meth, its use isn't particularly enraging or angering to its user.

[dead_elvis]

Haven't you heard? The DEA has decaled that Pancakes are the new Meth.

[dead_elvis]

Think about it. Have you ever been able to eat just one? Addictive. Don't they make you feel real nice? Mood altering. Don't you find yourself looking forward to the next one? I'm surprised they are still legal.

And that's "declared" of course.

[David]

I bet you could talk any crazed killer out of murder with homemade pancakes, though. C'mon, really.

If they were good homemade pancakes, preferably blueberry, I let the person go. Anything short of that, I'd eat first, then kill the person anyway. I mean, if a person can't make decent pancakes to save their life, then they deserve it.

[anonymous talkshow guest]

Haven't you heard? The DEA has decaled that Pancakes are the new Meth.

I'm going to have to break up with my boyfriend, then. He's a chronic Chocolate Chip Pancake abuser.

Keeps a flask of syrup in his coat pocket, he does. It's always about the pancakes, never us. The pancakes always come first. *sob*

[David]

Haven't you heard? The DEA has decaled that Pancakes are the new Meth.

We'll have reached a sad day indeed when the smell melted butter mingled with maple syrup is probable cause to kick the door in. 🙂

[thoreau]

One need not buy into propaganda to be surprised that a stimulant calmed down a lunatic. Well, whatever works.

Perhaps the right to keep and bear meth for self defense should be added to the Constitution.

[thoreau]

Then again, Ritalin calms some people. And lack of caffeine makes some people more cranky than tired.

Whatever works.

[scape]

Haven't you heard about "Christians for Crank". They're tweaking in tounges.

[John]

Elvis,

Do pancake mix manufacturers donate huge sums of money to congressional campaigns?

If they do, pancakes will continue to be as legal as Seagrams.

[Bob Basil]

Her open admission really impressed me, actually. I know a lot of women like that, real smart and going through a tough time who are able to pull themselves out of it. I'm no Christian, but I gotta give it to her "purpose-driven life."

[smacky]

One need not buy into propaganda to be surprised that a stimulant calmed down a lunatic.
Then again, Ritalin calms some people. And lack of caffeine makes some people more cranky than tired.

Not to be captain obvious or anything, but there is something to the old adage that drugs just make you feel "good". That is the simplest explanation for why people do them.

She may have gotten lucky. Sometimes a certain drug by itself will have a good effect, while that drug in combination with a second or third drug may create a rapid downward spiral in the other direction.

[mediageek]

God, how I'm looking forward to the Christian response to this.

That sound you hear are the crickets chirping. When people are faced with something that will likely alter how they look at the world, they tend to simply ignore it.

[independent worm]

Fucking eh. So you bought the whole "everything we said about crack is really true about meth" story? I would have thought folks around here would know better.

Well, just because the numbers are waaaayyy overblown, does not mean that meth isn't the kind of drug to hand a man on a killing spree. I lived in San Diego County long enough to know what's real and what isn't. It's bad. It's just that the Drug Warriors tried to spin it as a pandemic that threatens to exerminate the entire ace within 10 years. Their PR team was probably up all night on a meth binge writing the copy for the govt's anti-meth campaign, which is probably why it all sounded so wild, over-the-top, and nonsensical.

[Herman]

God, how I'm looking forward to the Christian response to this... Is there room in neo-Christian doctrine for good-hearted addicts

Well, us Xian fundies don't have a central doctrinal authority, but if the church she is involved with has a younger membership and leadership, this admission probably gets a shrug.

A good number of younger fundie churchgoers are or were drug users. Somebody from Ashley Smith's church would comes over to ask if she wants to get off meth and they might not trust her to count the money, like they wouldn't trust an alcoholic or somebody with an embezzlement history.

OTOH if she were going to an "older" church, particularly some AOG or Southern Baptist outfit, it could get unhappy.

[joe]

You know, I thought it was a little odd when Nichols was quoted say, "Yeah! She read these Bible stories and they were FUCKING GREAT, MAN! Just FUCKING AWSOME!"

[Anonymous Pervert]

[S]mith says Nichols had her bound on her bed with masking tape and an extension cord.

That is so unsafe and uncomfortable. He should have used 3/8-inch cotton clothesline (not the kind with a plastic stiffener in it), using the multiple-wrap-and-cinch-through-the-"lark's head" method.

PS: She fed the guy pancakes and meth? That's kind of kinky.

[Crushinator]

This is proof that pancakes are the true gateway drug.

[smacky]

[S]mith says Nichols had her bound on her bed with masking tape and an extension cord.

Anonymous Pervert replied,

That is so unsafe and uncomfortable. He should have used .... (elipses mine)

That's the sort of comment that makes me not want to meet other Reasonoids. *shudder*

[mk]

Pancakes have way more carbs than meth.

Obesity is the new crack.

[Another Phil]

thoreau,

Ritalin doesn't calm people with ADD, it just helps them focus (which may make them appear less distracted and agitated).

[Crushinator]

Smith probably showed him a lot more than a scar when she lifted up her tube top. Given her situation, it made sense to alter his agenda as much as possible.

[Anonymous Pervert]

Hey, it was about safety. And also, a joke.

[Herman]

"Yeah! She read these Bible stories and they were FUCKING GREAT, MAN! Just FUCKING AWSOME!"
Did he really say that joe, or are you just being funny? Because it is funny.

[john]

This is great. First of all, this woman should not have been hailed a "hero" for saving her own life--that's just animal survival instinct. Second, she should not have received the reward money made available by the state for information leading to the arrest of the fugitive who held her up. Rewards are meant to incentivize those who would not otherwise come forward with information. She was held captive. No shit when she was let go she was going to call the police--no inducement needed. Finally, this religious piece of shit bimbo was a meth-head who laced up her captor with drugs, but claimed that the book she gave him made him release her. Maybe the religious experience the guy had came from the bag of snow he snorted? I may keep a bag just in case I get held up.

[thoreau]

john-

Calm down, guy. First, maybe the word "hero" does get tossed around a little lightly in the news, but so what? Yeah, she saved herself, but she kept her cool when a lot of people would lose it. The semantics types can debate whether that merits the word "hero", but it definitely sets her apart.

Second, I don't know what specific terms were laid down when reward money was offered, but usually the wording is something like "for information leading to the capture of so-and-so". The bottom line is that she got him to turn himself in, and she did it under difficult (to put it mildly) circumstances. That seems reward-worthy.

Finally, can anybody blame her from leaving the drugs out of the original story? Considering the potential legal repercussions, it only makes sense to make herself as sympathetic as possible to as many people as possible before admitting to her victimless crime (meth possession).

[Stevo Darkly]

Hey, I'd also give her the tag of "hero," overused as it may be -- not for keeping cool and saving her own life, but for taking action that led to the guy being captured, and thus no longer a potential threat to others.

[The Anti-Puritan]

anonymous talkshow guest:
I'm going to have to break up with my boyfriend, then. He's a chronic Chocolate Chip Pancake abuser.

Who here watches Family Guy? Remember when they showed Cookie Monster in rehab? The men in white coats found a plate of cookies under his hospital bed. First, he lied to them, claiming he didn't know how it got there. Then, he gobbled down the cookies. Then, the men restrained him and injected him with a tranquilizer as he shouted, "You're frickin' Nazis, man! You're frickin' Nazis!"

[The Anti-Puritan]

When he gets out of rehab, will he change his name to Recovering Cookie Monster?

[john]

thoreau:

"Yeah, she saved herself, but she kept her cool when a lot of people would lose it."

Very true. I get shaky and combative on amphetamines--she's cool as ice. But when salmon swim upstream, we don't issue medals. We usually say, "yep, swim, screw, and swim--that's how their programming goes." She would have received my Juinior GI badge if she convinced him to do her laundry before he called it in--really, the least he could do.

I don't know what specific terms were laid down when reward money was offered, but usually the wording is something like "for information leading to the capture of so-and-so".

Legally, you are probably right. We should change that. We don't want each person who has been car jacked to get a lottery ticket out of it. However, if you know your buddy just jacked a car, and you know that's wrong and are conflicted about it turning him in, I hope there's plenty of government money lying around to grease your conscience.

Finally, can anybody blame her from leaving the drugs out of the original story?

No, not at all. But I do think the second printing of her book should read, "Unlikely Angel(dust). Point of fact, rather, point of innuendo: what does someone with a drug addiction do with $72,000? Pottery Barn?

[john]

Hey, I'd also give her the tag of "hero," overused as it may be -- not for keeping cool and saving her own life, but for taking action that led to the guy being captured, and thus no longer a potential threat to others.

Stevo. If the guy said, "I'm going to Waffle House to murder the kitchen staff, I'll be back in an hour, don't call the police or I'll kill you," and then she DID call the police, I would call her a hero.

However, if I'm running away across the street (because my boss just caught me making it with his daughter) and I happen to knock a little kid out of the way of a large sanitation truck as I'm running, please don't call me a hero. My self preservation instinct just happened to have a positive externality.

[Anonymous]

Man, there's so many different "johns" visiting hit & run, I think maybe they think it's a whorehouse.

[Herman]

Man, there's so many different "johns" visiting hit & run, I think maybe they think it's a whorehouse.
Yeah _. Neat trick with the name BTW.

First (GOP) John, then John (from California) and now john (lowercase). Maybe he's the angry cousin of "joe"?

[Stevo Darkly]

However, if I'm running away across the street (because my boss just caught me making it with his daughter) and I happen to knock a little kid out of the way of a large sanitation truck as I'm running, please don't call me a hero. My self preservation instinct just happened to have a positive externality.

john -- you made it with the boss's daughter?

Man, you're my HERO!

[Col DuBois]

Wasn't Samson on meth when he took down the temple of the Philistines?

[thoreau]

john-

I see your point. But I'm inclined to say that it's better to reward the deed if it leads to an arrest, regardless of the incentives or personal conflicts that the person might have had. Erring on the side of rewarding somebody whose help is a no-brainer is better than trying to analyze the informer's state of mind. In tough cases it will require a decision that may lead to lots of bad press and lead people in future cases to wonder just how real the reward money is.

Besides, the bottom line is that her info led to the capture of a very dangerous guy. Period. No getting around that. She did what she did and the rest of us are safer as a result. Whatever her situation, she did it and we didn't.

It's not like reward money for wanted felons is what's breaking the bank on public spending anyway.

[Jon H]

I anxiously await the gory photographic exposes of "pancake mouth", sweeping the nation's prisons.

[scape]

Not the epidemic that "pancake mouth" will undoubtedly become but just as ghastly is corn mouth, a design submitted by a 7th grader for the Nebraska state quarter.

[independent worm]

I don't know i'd use the word "hero" myself, but anymore we're just shoveling more dirt on "meaning's" grave anyway; it died a while back. No sense trying to pin people into certain definitional perameters, and trying to force them to concede they're wrong. It ain't happenin'.

But to the topic at hand. I'd definitely give her credit for a seriously gutsy performance under pressure. You can't teach people how to do what she did. Call me impressed. Really impressed.

[xxx]

why is this stupid bitch a hero, she was saving her own ass.