Dean Cummings went full-bore crazy

[ill-advised strategy]

Hmmm, story of my life.

Yeah, I’m interested in your thoughts.

[muted]

I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter.

[Meadow Skipper]

Yeah, I’m interested in your thoughts.

Well, just after spending over 40 years living in those two states, that I’m pretty acquainted with the sort of tenuous grasp on ‘normal’ mindsets that characterize some people drawn to oddball places like AK and NM.

I don’t know Dean, but from what I’ve read about him and know about the places we’re talking about I guess I’m not surprised. In my day in AK, people known as ‘end of the roaders’ were often featured in headlines for violent things. Manley Hot Springs, McCarthy, and other places had multiple fatality incidents with people losing their shit. April seemed to be a dangerous month in AK - peak cabin fever season. The remoteness and weather can do a number on people, especially when they’ve been drawn there because there’s a chance be outside the bounds and strictures of regular places.

And, as you know, NM has some really dark threads in the social fabric. It might all have something to do with the remoteness, physical (and fiscal) difficulties, lack of care infrastructure, ‘frontier’ ethos (if that’s not a stretch in thinking), and sparse populations, I don’t really know. But the similarities between the states would seem to provide some kind of nexus for situations like how it’s turned out for Dean...and the poor guy he killed. Not that people don’t go nuts in more civilized areas...

I’m often struck by the similarities between the two states (other than the weather ) - they’re both off the beaten path, not well-understood by ‘normals’, lots of rugged wide-open space, there are very old, small, impoverished villages where everyone is related and English may not be the first language...and the roads are crappy in both states.

[ill-advised strategy]

Thx...

It’s cool to have that freedom and sense of adventure, but there’s a downside for sure

[Dignity and Respect]

Fact, or projection?

To my knowledge, I don't think any of this was related to meth use. I never saw him use that and he had denied use of it. And he slept plenty which meth users do not do...

[MTT]

So where is he now? I met him once. In valdiz AK. He was set up right in the one nice hotel in town. He was running a very challenging business. But appeared to be on top of the world. Larger than life

[NBABUCKS1]

in jail/prison

[MTT]

in jail/prison

Well, it could have gone that way for me at times. I no many who if honest would say the same. Being a fly without a net adrenaline junkie requires a good amount of luck to make it through without getting to scuffed up

[Dignity and Respect]

Well, it could have gone that way for me at times. I no many who if honest would say the same. Being a fly without a net adrenaline junkie requires a good amount of luck to make it through without getting to scuffed up

I agree. I have been right there also including in some dicey situations with Dean that could have landed me on the wrong side of the law.

I believe he is actually still in a New Mexico Behavioral Institute for treatment and was deemed competent to stand trial.

[Dignity and Respect]

When Dean did seek help and services in Valdez, he was also denied services and I don’t believe he was ever given a true good reason why he was denied. Audio is posted in the comments under his Volume 1 of the former mayor Jeremy O’Neil and administrator at Providence Valdez denying him services. Jeremy stated it was a conflict of interest but multiple clinicians (3-4) were working there and available to aid him. I see all the comments saying I wish he would have gotten help. He did try. But to get told you may have to travel 6 hrs away to Anchorage (in good weather) really wasn’t a solution when you are trying to run a business. I will try to post the link later here.

[Dignity and Respect]

https://youtu.be/ZsZ5AbdEK1o

[xyz]

I listened to an podcast with Cody Townsend recently. He touched on his experiences with Dean in AK. In short, it sounds like Dean really was a narcissistic d-bag at times. Murder is next level of course but he really had some personality traits that were off.

[TahoeJ]

I listened to an podcast with Cody Townsend recently. He touched on his experiences with Dean in AK. In short, it sounds like Dean really was a narcissistic d-bag at times. Murder is next level of course but he really had some personality traits that were off.

I’m in AK right now skiing some of the terrain that used to be under Dean’s permit (the Schwan glacier, etc). From what I’ve heard around here, most tend to agree with Cody’s assessment.

[leroy jenkins]

Well, just after spending over 40 years living in those two states, that I’m pretty acquainted with the sort of tenuous grasp on ‘normal’ mindsets that characterize some people drawn to oddball places like AK and NM.

I don’t know Dean, but from what I’ve read about him and know about the places we’re talking about I guess I’m not surprised. In my day in AK, people known as ‘end of the roaders’ were often featured in headlines for violent things. Manley Hot Springs, McCarthy, and other places had multiple fatality incidents with people losing their shit. April seemed to be a dangerous month in AK - peak cabin fever season. The remoteness and weather can do a number on people, especially when they’ve been drawn there because there’s a chance be outside the bounds and strictures of regular places.

And, as you know, NM has some really dark threads in the social fabric. It might all have something to do with the remoteness, physical (and fiscal) difficulties, lack of care infrastructure, ‘frontier’ ethos (if that’s not a stretch in thinking), and sparse populations, I don’t really know. But the similarities between the states would seem to provide some kind of nexus for situations like how it’s turned out for Dean...and the poor guy he killed. Not that people don’t go nuts in more civilized areas...

I’m often struck by the similarities between the two states (other than the weather ) - they’re both off the beaten path, not well-understood by ‘normals’, lots of rugged wide-open space, there are very old, small, impoverished villages where everyone is related and English may not be the first language...and the roads are crappy in both states.

I don't dispute this, seems insightful to me, but I will just add that I was told by a professor in school that although the amount of violent crime in different areas varies due to the obviously innumerable factors, that overall, when averaged, the murder rate goes down the more rural an area is, and most interestingly, the suicide rate goes up correspondingly. Just something to chew on. Sad fucking story though.

[skiballs]

Had to find this thread for the girlfriend, she went to high school and skied with Dean, way back then.
Figured you maggots would have all the dirt.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mfcf13]

Had to find this thread for the girlfriend, she went to high school and skied with Dean, way back then.
Figured you maggots would have all the dirt.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As his Eskimo friend, do you have any additional perspectives on Dean?

[romeo tango]

.... the murder rate goes down the more rural an area is, and most interestingly, the suicide rate goes up correspondingly....

some of the reasons our suicide rate is high:
poverty
limited mental health resources
drugs and alcohol
everybody has a gun

the reason our murder rate is low:
everybody has a gun

.

[jackattack]

the reason our murder rate is low:
Low population density
Homogeneous population

.

FIFY

[k2skier112]

the reason our murder rate is low:
everybody has a gun

Joke? Sarcasm? Ignorance?

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/f...uns-and-death/
Our review of the academic literature found that a broad array of evidence indicates that gun availability is a risk factor for homicide, both in the United States and across high-income countries. Case-control studies, ecological time-series and cross-sectional studies indicate that in homes, cities, states and regions in the U.S., where there are more guns, both men and women are at a higher risk for homicide, particularly firearm homicide

[frorider]

Shhhhh don’t piss on his NRA-fueled dreams.

[romeo tango]

if i get a mind to kill someone: random, aggravated or premeditated
im a lot less likely to fulfill that act
if i know a very high percentage of people CC or open carry

our violent crime rate, which murder is a sub-set of,
is one of the lowest in the state

we dont get many case-control studies up here
and no, im not pro NRA,
not even close ....

.

.

[yeahman]

if i get a mind to kill someone: random, aggravated or premeditated
im a lot less likely to fulfill that act
if i know a very high percentage of people CC or open carry.

Meh, I don't think most people determined to kill would be deterred by that. By the time any "good guy with a gun" is able to stop them, they will have fulfilled their mission to kill to a satisfying degree.

[romeo tango]

i didnt mean that a third-party would intervene,
but that the victim was armed

.

[toast2266]

i didnt mean that a third-party would intervene,
but that the victim was armed

.

Wasn't the guy that Dean killed armed?

[leroy jenkins]

Meh, I don't think most people determined to kill would be deterred by that. By the time any "good guy with a gun" is able to stop them, they will have fulfilled their mission to kill to a satisfying degree.

This is just like saying someone determined to kill someone won't be deterred by not having easy access to a firearm. Its an emotional argument either way.