Erskin and Louise Fulgham

went together to be with the Lord on July 23, 2013. Erskin was born on February 5, 1926 in Mathiston, MS. Louise was born on August 27, 1929 in Maben, MS. They moved to Tucson, AZ in 1957. They were married for 67 years and long standing members of Emmanuel Baptist Church. Erskin received a bronze medal for his Army service during World War II. Erskin retired from ASARCO and Louise from The University of Arizona Athletic Department. They are survived by son, Mike Fulgham; daughters, Glenda Kim, Jeanette Barger (Harvey) and Beth Fulgham; brothers, Monroe Dewberry, Hubert Fulgham (Catherine) and Henry Fulgham (Beverly); sister, Annie Lee Young; many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Services will be held Thursday, August 1, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. at EAST LAWN PALMS MORTUARY, 5801 E. Grant Rd. In lieu of flowers, donations to Honor Flight or Emmanuel Baptist Church.

(as published in the Arizona Daily Star, July 31, 2013)

Just another obituary, right? Not quite. Among the “many grandchildren” who survived Erskin, age 87 and in very frail health, and Mary Louise, age 83, was a grandson named Kyle Austin Drattlo, age 20. On July 24, the day after Erskin and Mary Louise died, Kyle and two companions, 23-year-old Christopher Edward Terry and 21-year-old Brianna Harding, were stopped for speeding in Tonapah, Nevada.

The Nevada State Police officer ran a check on the 2004 Buick they were driving. It had been reported by the Tucson Police as stolen in Tucson in connection with a murder investigation, and its owners were listed as Erskin and Louise Fulgham. Drattlo insisted to the officer that his grandparents gave him permission to use the car. So the officer then asked the trio where they were headed, and they told him they were going to a family reunion in Wyoming. One big problem. They were headed AWAY from Wyoming when they were stopped. All three were arrested and sent back to Arizona, where they were shortly charged with first-degree murder.

Here’s the part that will give you a warm, fuzzy feeling. Mary Louise Fulgham had been brutally and repeatedly stabbed to death in the chair in which she sat in her living room. Erskin Fulgham evidently saw the attack on his wife and tried to go to her aid. He didn’t make it out of the kitchen, where he too was stabbed and STOMPED AND KICKED to death by his attacker(s). The stomping was so severe that Erskin’s ribs were broken and his teeth knocked out of his mouth.

But wait, there’s more. Evidently, another grandson of Erskin and Mary Louise stopped in on the afternoon of their murder to check up on his “Nana and Papa,” which happens to be what our grandchildren refer to my wife and me. The front door of their home in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood was unlocked. He walked in and saw Nana slumped in her chair and thought she was napping. As he got closer, he saw the blood. Then he looked into the kitchen and saw the blood-splattered and severely beaten body of his Papa lying on the floor. Now, didn’t that brighten his, and your, day?

Details of this grisly double murder continue to trickle out. Evidently, grandson Drattlo and his male companion Christopher Terry are cooperating by pointing the finger at each other as to who actually committed the murders. That will help neither of them in the long run.

But here’s the really interesting part. Just today it was reported, again in the Arizona Daily Star, that Brianna Harding told police that all three of them were heavy users of Spice. She told police that they smoked Spice to the tune of 6 bags a day, at $20/bag. WTF is Spice, I asked myself? Here’s the answer, and you pot supporters won’t like it.

Synthetic cannabis is a psychoactive designer drug created by spraying natural herbs with synthetic chemicals that, when consumed, allegedly mimic the effects of cannabis. It is often known by the brand names K2 and Spice.

Research on the safety of synthetic cannabis is now becoming available. Initial studies are focused on the role of synthetic cannabis in psychosis. Synthetic cannabis may precipitate psychosis and in some cases it may be prolonged. Some studies suggest that synthetic cannabinoid intoxication is associated with acute psychosis, worsening of previously stable psychotic disorders, and it may trigger a chronic (long-term) psychotic disorder among vulnerable individuals such as those with a family history of mental illness.
When synthetic cannabis blends first went on sale in the early 2000s, it was thought that they achieved an effect through a mixture of legal herbs. Laboratory analysis in 2008 showed that this is not the case, and that they in fact contain synthetic cannabinoids that act on the body in a similar way to cannabinoids naturally found in cannabis, such as THC. It has been sold under various brand names, online, in head shops, and at some gas stations.

On November 24, 2010, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced it would use emergency powers to ban many synthetic cannabinoids within a month. In the US, as of March 1, 2011, five cannabinoids have been placed on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (and are therefore illegal to possess or use in the US); the Drug Enforcement Administration claims that said action is “to avoid an imminent hazard to the public safety.” In July 2012, the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 was signed into law. It banned synthetic compounds commonly found in synthetic marijuana, placing them under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

P.S. I refuse to post any pictures of the animals who killed Erskin and Mary Louise Fulgham. Instead I want you to look at the helpless VICTIMS, married for 67 years, who suffered a horrifying and painful death.