- Joined
- Jan 30, 2002
- Messages
- 7,269
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/338/metro/The_underground_man_finds_world_=
clos
ing_in_on_Nantucket+.shtml
=46WD Boston Globe 12/04/98 page A01
THE UNDERGROUND MAN FINDS WORLD CLOSING IN ON NANTUCKET
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff
NANTUCKET, MA - For 10 years, Thomas Johnson lived cocooned in an
underground bunker he called ''my self-help tank.''
Yesterday, the world began to intrude.
As news of Johnson's life as a subterranean hermit spread around this
island yesterday, federal and state law enforcement agents made their way
to his hideaway.
Armed with a pistol, the agents approached Johnson as he was about to
reenter his 8-foot-deep, three-room home yesterday afternoon and asked for
the barn owl's wings and the talons of a red-tailed hawk they saw
photographed in yesterday's Globe. Both are illegal keepsakes.
Johnson surrendered what he called ''priceless totems'' to the agents, but
only after a distraught, angry exchange with an agent from the US Fish and
Wildlife Service and an armed sergeant from the state Environmental Police.
The authorities said they would recommend that he not be prosecuted.
To Johnson, such news is small comfort for a man who fears reemerging from
a world where he purposely shunned a materialistic society he abhors. After
spending 2 1/2 years in an Italian prison for carrying heroin in a drug
deal, Johnson said, he fled back to the United States to fashion an
uncomplicated, self-dependent life.
Underground in the woods, Johnson explained, he could commune with nature
and create a radical lifestyle that would free him from the routine burdens
of modern life and allow him to grow stronger morally.
''I'm not a religious nut - I'm not another Randy Weaver,'' said Johnson,
referring to the antigovernment zealot whose wife and son were killed in a
standoff with federal agents in Idaho. An FBI agent was also killed. ''I'm
a dignified person. I'm not a dog. I'm not an animal - and that's what some
people would like to make me.''
''This is my self-help tank,'' he added, looking admiringly around his
comfortable home. ''I've gone into the earth, almost like a seed to
regerminate.''
Even as authorities intensified their scrutiny of Johnson, the travails of
the sometime-woodworker and house painter generated considerable support on
an island where building development has made housing less and less
affordable.
''Everybody I've talked to so far has said, `All right!''' said Wayne
Viera, a former selectman who drives a cab, sells real estate, and carves
scrimshaw to make a living. ''The year-round people know the hoops you have
to go through to get housing.''
Chet Curtis, the WCVB-TV anchorman who owns about 5 acres of undeveloped
land close to the bunker, said he is inclined to support Johnson's wish to
remain in his home.
''He's not bothering anybody,'' said Curtis, who arrived on Nantucket
yesterday. ''I thought it was incredible that he had accomplished this.''
Authorities informed Curtis and his wife and co-anchor, Natalie Jacobson, a
couple of weeks ago that Johnson's dwelling might be on their land. At the
time, Curtis said, his feeling was that ''if he's on our property, and he's
not hurting anybody, why not leave him alone.''
A surveyor later placed Johnson's structure within the Boy Scouts' Camp
Richard.
Nantucket officials said the bunker has health code violations and poses a
danger to people who might walk on top of it. They have drawn up a list of
violations, such as inappropriate toilet facilities and no water under
pressure, but appeared to have taken no other steps to force him to leave.
The home, which is furnished with a queen-size bed, TV, stone stove,
refrigerator, kitchen, and makeshift shower and toilet, was discovered by a
deer hunter who stumbled over a stovepipe that protrudes a foot above
ground.
Boy Scout officials from the Cape Cod Council, which also covers Nantucket,
could not be reached for comment.
Nantucket health inspector Richard Ray has said he believes the Scouts plan
to begin eviction proceedings that could take up to 90 days to complete.
However, Police Chief Randolph Norris said it is his understanding that the
Boy Scouts intend to let Johnson stay.
Johnson said he has chosen another underground site on Nantucket if he is
forced to move. Such a prospect wouldn't distress Steve Tornovish, co-owner
of the Thrifty car rental agency here.
''I'd let him do it in my yard, but my family and dog might be upset,''
Tornovish said. ''I'm something of the opinion: No harm, no foul.''
However, he added, Nantucket has many well-to-do landowners with big tax
bills who ''will be riled up'' about Johnson's tax-free alternative. Dennis
Kelley, a construction worker from Hyannis who works on Nantucket during
the week, empathized with that thinking.
''He's been here for 10 years? How about paying back some rent or giving
some money to the Boy Scouts?'' Kelley said. ''Some townspeople are very
upset. They've got a $2 million to $3 million house, and here's this guy
living tax-free.''
Whatever the outcome of Johnson's saga, the emergence of what some
townspeople are calling ''the subterranean guy'' is viewed as one more
colorful chapter in island lore.
''This takes the expression of `going underground' to a whole new level,''
Tornivish said. ''But you know, Nantucket is an island of characters. And
the story of this guy is just another example.''
Johnson shudders at the thought that he might become an island attraction.
As the environmental authorities approached him, Johnson tossed aside
camouflage brush from the hatch to his home, pointed to the earth-covered
dwelling, and said, ''This is the trouble I went to for peace, and the last
thing it'll get me is peace.''
END FORWARD
-
Anybody ever hear of how this turned out?
Kis
clos
ing_in_on_Nantucket+.shtml
=46WD Boston Globe 12/04/98 page A01
THE UNDERGROUND MAN FINDS WORLD CLOSING IN ON NANTUCKET
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff
NANTUCKET, MA - For 10 years, Thomas Johnson lived cocooned in an
underground bunker he called ''my self-help tank.''
Yesterday, the world began to intrude.
As news of Johnson's life as a subterranean hermit spread around this
island yesterday, federal and state law enforcement agents made their way
to his hideaway.
Armed with a pistol, the agents approached Johnson as he was about to
reenter his 8-foot-deep, three-room home yesterday afternoon and asked for
the barn owl's wings and the talons of a red-tailed hawk they saw
photographed in yesterday's Globe. Both are illegal keepsakes.
Johnson surrendered what he called ''priceless totems'' to the agents, but
only after a distraught, angry exchange with an agent from the US Fish and
Wildlife Service and an armed sergeant from the state Environmental Police.
The authorities said they would recommend that he not be prosecuted.
To Johnson, such news is small comfort for a man who fears reemerging from
a world where he purposely shunned a materialistic society he abhors. After
spending 2 1/2 years in an Italian prison for carrying heroin in a drug
deal, Johnson said, he fled back to the United States to fashion an
uncomplicated, self-dependent life.
Underground in the woods, Johnson explained, he could commune with nature
and create a radical lifestyle that would free him from the routine burdens
of modern life and allow him to grow stronger morally.
''I'm not a religious nut - I'm not another Randy Weaver,'' said Johnson,
referring to the antigovernment zealot whose wife and son were killed in a
standoff with federal agents in Idaho. An FBI agent was also killed. ''I'm
a dignified person. I'm not a dog. I'm not an animal - and that's what some
people would like to make me.''
''This is my self-help tank,'' he added, looking admiringly around his
comfortable home. ''I've gone into the earth, almost like a seed to
regerminate.''
Even as authorities intensified their scrutiny of Johnson, the travails of
the sometime-woodworker and house painter generated considerable support on
an island where building development has made housing less and less
affordable.
''Everybody I've talked to so far has said, `All right!''' said Wayne
Viera, a former selectman who drives a cab, sells real estate, and carves
scrimshaw to make a living. ''The year-round people know the hoops you have
to go through to get housing.''
Chet Curtis, the WCVB-TV anchorman who owns about 5 acres of undeveloped
land close to the bunker, said he is inclined to support Johnson's wish to
remain in his home.
''He's not bothering anybody,'' said Curtis, who arrived on Nantucket
yesterday. ''I thought it was incredible that he had accomplished this.''
Authorities informed Curtis and his wife and co-anchor, Natalie Jacobson, a
couple of weeks ago that Johnson's dwelling might be on their land. At the
time, Curtis said, his feeling was that ''if he's on our property, and he's
not hurting anybody, why not leave him alone.''
A surveyor later placed Johnson's structure within the Boy Scouts' Camp
Richard.
Nantucket officials said the bunker has health code violations and poses a
danger to people who might walk on top of it. They have drawn up a list of
violations, such as inappropriate toilet facilities and no water under
pressure, but appeared to have taken no other steps to force him to leave.
The home, which is furnished with a queen-size bed, TV, stone stove,
refrigerator, kitchen, and makeshift shower and toilet, was discovered by a
deer hunter who stumbled over a stovepipe that protrudes a foot above
ground.
Boy Scout officials from the Cape Cod Council, which also covers Nantucket,
could not be reached for comment.
Nantucket health inspector Richard Ray has said he believes the Scouts plan
to begin eviction proceedings that could take up to 90 days to complete.
However, Police Chief Randolph Norris said it is his understanding that the
Boy Scouts intend to let Johnson stay.
Johnson said he has chosen another underground site on Nantucket if he is
forced to move. Such a prospect wouldn't distress Steve Tornovish, co-owner
of the Thrifty car rental agency here.
''I'd let him do it in my yard, but my family and dog might be upset,''
Tornovish said. ''I'm something of the opinion: No harm, no foul.''
However, he added, Nantucket has many well-to-do landowners with big tax
bills who ''will be riled up'' about Johnson's tax-free alternative. Dennis
Kelley, a construction worker from Hyannis who works on Nantucket during
the week, empathized with that thinking.
''He's been here for 10 years? How about paying back some rent or giving
some money to the Boy Scouts?'' Kelley said. ''Some townspeople are very
upset. They've got a $2 million to $3 million house, and here's this guy
living tax-free.''
Whatever the outcome of Johnson's saga, the emergence of what some
townspeople are calling ''the subterranean guy'' is viewed as one more
colorful chapter in island lore.
''This takes the expression of `going underground' to a whole new level,''
Tornivish said. ''But you know, Nantucket is an island of characters. And
the story of this guy is just another example.''
Johnson shudders at the thought that he might become an island attraction.
As the environmental authorities approached him, Johnson tossed aside
camouflage brush from the hatch to his home, pointed to the earth-covered
dwelling, and said, ''This is the trouble I went to for peace, and the last
thing it'll get me is peace.''
END FORWARD
-
Anybody ever hear of how this turned out?
Kis
