"This is my biggest endeavor, but before that, I had a towing business. I also did cleaning. If a business went under, you know, we'd go in and strip everything, get it all out. You just keep at it, man."
There are half a dozen cars and vans in Champ's garage. As we talk, his employee Bill, around 50-years-old, is busy working on one.
"You mentioned old school."
"Yeah, I met the guy at the Universal Tonsorial Parlor""
"You're talking about Russ Farmer."
"He's also old school."
"Yeah."
"This is a funny question, but I feel that old school values are slipping. Would you agree?"
"Yeah, but it's the way this thing is set up, man. Poverty is set up by the gun. That lack of control is part of it. If you can't do what my parents did for me when I was a kid to keep me in line, then you're going to lose control of that kid, and that kid is going to start disrespecting people and" it just boils over."
(When I talked to Russ Farmer seven months earlier, he stated, "The world that I knew has been taken from me, simply because they've erased all the existing boundaries that were created for me. You see, I had boundaries in my life. I had limitations. I knew where to go, what not to do, what to do. My parents created boundaries. The neighborhood created boundaries. All those boundaries--have been erased. I didn't know kids killing their parents, or parents murdering their children. Education was always quality education. Everything was in place. Where are the boundaries today?")
"But, but, what do they gain by breaking down this discipline?" I ask Champ.
"It's a business, man, it's a business. It trickles down. It's the court system". For instance, if you get locked up for something stupid, if you're a kid and you have some marijuana on you or something, what's your chance of getting a job when you get out? You ain't getting no job."
"Your life is ruined."
"Yeah."
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