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#190525 From: Ruthann Biel <bielra@...>
Date: Tue Jul 7, 2009 12:37 am
Subject: poor news on Bobek
ruthannbiel
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Nicole Bobek, busted in a meth ring.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-bobekcharged&prov=ap&type=lgns

--
Ruthann Biel, mother, stitcher, music lover
bielr@... & bielra@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




#190529 From: "denbydilbert2001" <denbydilbert2001@...>
Date: Tue Jul 7, 2009 4:27 am
Subject: Re: poor news on Bobek
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--- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, Ruthann Biel <bielra@...> wrote:
>
> Nicole Bobek, busted in a meth ring.
>
> http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-bobekcharged&prov=ap&type=lgns
>
> --
> Ruthann Biel, mother, stitcher, music lover
> bielr@... & bielra@...

and this from Phil Hersh

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2009/07/bobek-once-a-skating-star-\
allegedly-key-player-in-drug-ring.html


Meagan Leigh




#190530 From: Suzanne Lainson <slainson@...>
Date: Tue Jul 7, 2009 5:23 am
Subject: Re: Re: poor news on Bobek
slainson
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I don't think anyone figured Bobek would end up being more notorious
than Harding, but if she ends up in prison for leading a meth ring,
then I think she has trumped Harding.

And a few folks, way back when, wondered why some of us thought so
highly of Kwan even though she didn't win Olympic gold.

Suzanne




#190531 From: Sandra Loosemore <pondscum@...>
Date: Tue Jul 7, 2009 12:18 pm
Subject: Re: Re: poor news on Bobek
frogsonice_com
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Suzanne Lainson <slainson@...> writes:

> I don't think anyone figured Bobek would end up being more notorious
> than Harding, but if she ends up in prison for leading a meth ring,
> then I think she has trumped Harding.
>
> And a few folks, way back when, wondered why some of us thought so
> highly of Kwan even though she didn't win Olympic gold.

Heh. It seems to me that even just staying out of trouble with the
police is a pretty low bar to set on the decency scale. :-P

From the stories I used to hear about Bobek during her competitive
days, I used to think that she was burning through life at such a
reckless pace that she wasn't even going to live long enough to see
30; if the drugs and drinking didn't get her, it was going to be AIDS
or something else. Well, since she's made it to 31, she proved me
wrong about that.... but geez, her life must be a wreck for her to
have gotten into this mess. :-(

Anyway.... Christopher Bowman told Christine Brennan in 1995 that
he'd been arrested 27 times already by that point and goodness knows
how many more times he got himself into trouble before he died. Yet,
we never really heard anything about his career as a criminal in the
press except when he talked about it himself. Why has Bobek's arrest
gotten so much more publicity? When Rudy Galindo, Oksana Baiul, and
Alexei Yagudin were each picked up on DUI charges, we heard about
that, but they were all at or near the peak of their fame when that
happened, and Bobek is at least a dozen years removed. We did hear
about Wolfgang Schwarz but that's really the only case of
long-ago-famous skater making the news because of criminal charges
that I can recall. I'm willing to bet there are others out there we
just haven't heard about.

-Sandra the cynic





#190532 From: "bagelpuss" <bagelpuss@...>
Date: Tue Jul 7, 2009 12:57 pm
Subject: Re: poor news on Bobek
bagelpuss
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I remember when she was National Champ they had her speaking at high schools
about "just saying no." My how time flies.


--- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, Sandra Loosemore <pondscum@...> wrote:
>
> Suzanne Lainson <slainson@...> writes:
>
> > I don't think anyone figured Bobek would end up being more notorious
> > than Harding, but if she ends up in prison for leading a meth ring,
> > then I think she has trumped Harding.
> >
> > And a few folks, way back when, wondered why some of us thought so
> > highly of Kwan even though she didn't win Olympic gold.
>
> Heh. It seems to me that even just staying out of trouble with the
> police is a pretty low bar to set on the decency scale. :-P
>
> From the stories I used to hear about Bobek during her competitive
> days, I used to think that she was burning through life at such a
> reckless pace that she wasn't even going to live long enough to see
> 30; if the drugs and drinking didn't get her, it was going to be AIDS
> or something else. Well, since she's made it to 31, she proved me
> wrong about that.... but geez, her life must be a wreck for her to
> have gotten into this mess. :-(
>
> Anyway.... Christopher Bowman told Christine Brennan in 1995 that
> he'd been arrested 27 times already by that point and goodness knows
> how many more times he got himself into trouble before he died. Yet,
> we never really heard anything about his career as a criminal in the
> press except when he talked about it himself. Why has Bobek's arrest
> gotten so much more publicity? When Rudy Galindo, Oksana Baiul, and
> Alexei Yagudin were each picked up on DUI charges, we heard about
> that, but they were all at or near the peak of their fame when that
> happened, and Bobek is at least a dozen years removed. We did hear
> about Wolfgang Schwarz but that's really the only case of
> long-ago-famous skater making the news because of criminal charges
> that I can recall. I'm willing to bet there are others out there we
> just haven't heard about.
>
> -Sandra the cynic
>





#190533 From: Mary E Tyler <dejahvu@...>
Date: Tue Jul 7, 2009 1:09 pm
Subject: Re: Re: poor news on Bobek
private_ice_...
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>> From the stories I used to hear about Bobek during her competitive
>> days, I used to think that she was burning through life at such a
>> reckless pace that she wasn't even going to live long enough to see
>> 30; if the drugs and drinking didn't get her, it was going to be AIDS
>> or something else. Well, since she's made it to 31, she proved me
>> wrong about that.... but geez, her life must be a wreck for her to
>> have gotten into this mess. :-(

Yeah, but young people often do crazy things. If I kept going like I
did in college--boy oh boy! Instead, I am a rural mother of three
military spouse who just celebrated her 15th wedding anniversary. None
of you knew me until I was 5 years out of college. So saying "Bobek
was wild when she was 20" really doesn't say anything.

I find this kind of perplexing, really. I recall a couple of years ago
there were news stories about Bobek having achieved normality after
skating, saving her money, not living the wild life. I wonder what
happened to that? I suppose it could have been spin at the time.

>> We did hear
>> about Wolfgang Schwarz but that's really the only case of
>> long-ago-famous skater making the news because of criminal charges
>> that I can recall. I'm willing to bet there are others out there we
>> just haven't heard about.

Perhaps. But Bobek is American and she skated with COI for years. It
all comes down to Bobek being American.

dej

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#190534 From: Suzanne Lainson <slainson@...>
Date: Tue Jul 7, 2009 3:54 pm
Subject: Re: Re: poor news on Bobek
slainson
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I think the nature of the crime may have something to do with it.
Getting picked up for a DUI is not a big, big story. But being a
major player in a meth ring is kind of unique.

Suzanne



#190535 From: pteropus.seychellensis@...
Date: Tue Jul 7, 2009 11:06 am
Subject: Re: Re: poor news on Bobek
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Suzanne, I was thinking the same thing. Distributing meth is light years above 
all the post whack nonsense that Tonya did.

I had a relative that was selling meth and other assorted drugs before he got
caught. All he smoked was weed, he never did meth. So one can be messed up in
the meth scene and not actually use. The money to be made is mind boggling.

This whole situation is just one big ball of sadness. I wonder what the hell
happened in Nicole's life that she decide, "why the hell not?".

Ford-->I'd rather remember Nicole how she tore my heart out tanking her programs
than this. :(


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry



#190536 From: Suzanne Lainson <slainson@...>
Date: Tue Jul 7, 2009 7:21 pm
Subject: Re: Re: poor news on Bobek
slainson
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On Jul 7, 2009, at 5:06 AM, pteropus.seychellensis@... wrote:

> Suzanne, I was thinking the same thing. Distributing meth is light
> years above all the post whack nonsense that Tonya did.
>
> I had a relative that was selling meth and other assorted drugs
> before he got caught. All he smoked was weed, he never did meth. So
> one can be messed up in the meth scene and not actually use. The
> money to be made is mind boggling.

Based on the photo that the showed of her in the article, she didn't
look like she had been personally using meth. All the photos I have
seen of meth users look like they had been living on the streets and
she looked healthy.

So maybe she wasn't a user herself.

At any rate, running a drug operation is definitely a bigger story
than a DIU or even suffering from addiction, which appeared to be the
heart of Bowman's story.

Also, celebrity stories circulate so much faster now that that may be
another reason why she's getting more coverage than Bowman did.

Suzanne



#190539 From: "Jennifer Lyon" <jenniferlyon@...>
Date: Wed Jul 8, 2009 3:16 am
Subject: Re: poor news on Bobek
jjenniferlyon
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--- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, Suzanne Lainson <slainson@...> wrote:

> Based on the photo that the showed of her in the article, she didn't
> look like she had been personally using meth. All the photos I have
> seen of meth users look like they had been living on the streets and
> she looked healthy.
>
> So maybe she wasn't a user herself.

It takes awhile before a meth user develops that "living on the streets" look,
although it happens faster with meth than with other drugs. Jodie Sweeten, the
actress who played the middle daughter on "Full House" was once addicted to meth
and she was using for quite some time before her husband knew about it. I hope
Nicole wasn't using meth, but you can't really tell from the photo.

> At any rate, running a drug operation is definitely a bigger story
> than a DIU or even suffering from addiction, which appeared to be the
> heart of Bowman's story.

I've been doing some research on meth rings for a story I'm writing. The fact
that Nicole is facing 10 years in prison and is in jail with $200,000 bond
indicates serious involvement, as opposed to a situation like you'd see on
"Cops" where she gets pulled over and they find a small amount of drugs in her
car or something along those lines.

> Also, celebrity stories circulate so much faster now that that may be
> another reason why she's getting more coverage than Bowman did.

Yeah, Bowman competed before the skating boom and before the Internet as we know
it existed. Also, the powers-that-be in the skating world covered up a lot of
the trouble he got himself into in order to preserve the image of our fine
sport. I do remember the posters on the old Prodigy skating board discussing one
of Christopher's arrests, somewhere around 1993 or 1994-ish. But even at that
point, he was no longer competing or performing and the only people who would
have read that particular Internet discussion were fans like ourselves.




#190540 From: "bravesfan451" <bravesfan451@...>
Date: Wed Jul 8, 2009 3:36 am
Subject: Re: poor news on Bobek
bravesfan451
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At any rate, running a drug operation is definitely a bigger story. Also,
celebrity stories circulate so much faster now that that may be another reason
why she's getting more coverage than Bowman did.

-------------------------

I can't believe the way she looks - short dark hair - I wonder if it was a
disguise once she found out the feds were looking for her. What a waste of
talent. Unless she makes a deal with the feds to turn state's evidence, she
could be looking at real prison time.

Doria




#190541 From: Virginia <virginia@...>
Date: Wed Jul 8, 2009 4:46 am
Subject: Re: Re: poor news on Bobek
virigniab
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At 10:16 PM 7/7/2009, Jennifer Lyon wrote:


>I've been doing some research on meth rings for a story I'm writing.
>The fact that Nicole is facing 10 years in prison and is in jail
>with $200,000 bond indicates serious involvement, as opposed to a
>situation like you'd see on "Cops" where she gets pulled over and
>they find a small amount of drugs in her car or something along those lines.
>

It's sad that Nicole got herself into this mess. Things like this
also speak to what could happen to former athletes/child actors, etc
who are out of the business or can't get work and they have no other
skills. We've had discussions about whether what kind of real
education skaters get while competing and what the ramifications
might be (do they get to slide a lot because education takes a
backseat to skating?). It is almost surprising that more people of
this type don't fall into things like this.

>Yeah, Bowman competed before the skating boom and before the
>Internet as we know it existed. Also, the powers-that-be in the
>skating world covered up a lot of the trouble he got himself into in
>order to preserve the image of our fine sport. I do remember the
>posters on the old Prodigy skating board discussing one of
>Christopher's arrests, somewhere around 1993 or 1994-ish. But even
>at that point, he was no longer competing or performing and the only
>people who would have read that particular Internet discussion were
>fans like ourselves.

These days, all famous people(heck to a lesser degree us "regular"
folks, too) should be more careful about the things they do in
public. These days anyone with a cell phone can take a picture/call
TMZ, whatever and the info travels fast for celeb news.





#190542 From: Suzanne Lainson <slainson@...>
Date: Wed Jul 8, 2009 5:16 am
Subject: Re: Re: poor news on Bobek
slainson
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On Jul 7, 2009, at 10:46 PM, Virginia wrote:
>
> It's sad that Nicole got herself into this mess.

There were so many red flags with that kid early on. When she was at
the Broadmoor, I think everyone was aware she wasn't getting an
education. And the family unit (Nicole, her mother, and her mother's
friend) went from rink to rink trying to find the right coach. They
were one of the most extreme examples of a family putting everything
they had into skating.

Nicole was always half-hearted about the skating, so that should have
been an indication that it was time to pull her out and have all of
them do something else with their lives. But instead they continued
to drift.

Suzanne

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




#190543 From: Virginia <virginia@...>
Date: Wed Jul 8, 2009 5:54 am
Subject: Re: Re: poor news on Bobek
virigniab
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At 12:16 AM 7/8/2009, Suzanne Lainson wrote:


>Nicole was always half-hearted about the skating, so that should have
>been an indication that it was time to pull her out and have all of
>them do something else with their lives. But instead they continued
>to drift.

It always seemed that Nicole's mom really wanted to live off Nicole
and her skating star millions they thought she might get. That has to
get to a kid.





#190544 From: Suzanne Lainson <slainson@...>
Date: Wed Jul 8, 2009 6:00 am
Subject: Re: Re: poor news on Bobek
slainson
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On Jul 7, 2009, at 11:54 PM, Virginia wrote:
>
> It always seemed that Nicole's mom really wanted to live off Nicole
> and her skating star millions they thought she might get. That has to
> get to a kid.

That's what I suspected too. And I wondered the reason Bobek never
gave it her all was a form of rebellion. And yet she was too tied
into the life to totally quit. So I interpreted her half-heartedness
as ambivalence about her life/family.

Suzanne

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




#190559 From: vsethi@...
Date: Wed Jul 8, 2009 11:32 pm
Subject: Re: Re: poor news on Bobek
vsethi@...
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Virginia wrote:

> It always seemed that Nicole's mom really wanted to live off Nicole
> and her skating star millions they thought she might get. That has to
> get to a kid.

Here's another AP article, this one with quotes from Jana Bobek.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070802042.\
html

Ex-skate champ Bobek posts bail, faces meth charge - washingtonpost.com

"Jana Bobek said her daughter liked to party and may be in trouble
because of the company she keeps.

"'If she is in some kind of trouble, she is probably in some trouble
because she got in with the wrong company. I do strongly believe she
would never do anything criminal,' Jana Bobek told The Associated
Press."

"'It's very upsetting to me,' said Jana Bobek, who secured her
daughter's bond. 'She's my only child.'"




#190561 From: "Jennifer Lyon" <jenniferlyon@...>
Date: Thu Jul 9, 2009 3:34 am
Subject: Re: poor news on Bobek
jjenniferlyon
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--- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, vsethi@... wrote:

> Here's another AP article, this one with quotes from Jana Bobek.
>
>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070802042.\
html

> Ex-skate champ Bobek posts bail, faces meth charge - washingtonpost.com
>
> "Jana Bobek said her daughter liked to party and may be in trouble
> because of the company she keeps.
>
> "'If she is in some kind of trouble, she is probably in some trouble
> because she got in with the wrong company. I do strongly believe she
> would never do anything criminal,' Jana Bobek told The Associated
> Press."

Nicole is 31 years old, well beyond her teen years and not even what I would
consider a young adult. That whole "she got in with the wrong crowd" excuse
doesn't wash with me. This isn't high school. This also isn't Champions On Ice
circa 1996 where they'd have 17-year-olds partying after the show with skaters
twice their age. When you're 31, you're old enough to know better.




#190563 From: <tmarrapodi@...>
Date: Fri Jul 10, 2009 1:49 am
Subject: Re: Re: poor news on Bobek
tmarrapodi@...
Send Email Send Email
 

---- Jennifer Lyon <jenniferlyon@...> wrote:
> --- In SkateFans@yahoogroups.com, vsethi@... wrote:
>
> > Here's another AP article, this one with quotes from Jana Bobek.
> >
> >
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070802042.\
html

> > Ex-skate champ Bobek posts bail, faces meth charge - washingtonpost.com
> >
> > "Jana Bobek said her daughter liked to party and may be in trouble
> > because of the company she keeps.
> >
> > "'If she is in some kind of trouble, she is probably in some trouble
> > because she got in with the wrong company. I do strongly believe she
> > would never do anything criminal,' Jana Bobek told The Associated
> > Press."
>
> Nicole is 31 years old, well beyond her teen years and not even what I would
consider a young adult. That whole "she got in with the wrong crowd" excuse
doesn't wash with me. This isn't high school. This also isn't Champions On Ice
circa 1996 where they'd have 17-year-olds partying after the show with skaters
twice their age. When you're 31, you're old enough to know better.

Yeah, Nicole's had a long time to grow up and outgrow the whole "peer pressure"
thing. She also doesn't seem to have been very good at finding worthy role
models to hang with...she chose the company of poor ones over better ones. When
you're 31, that no longer washes as an excuse that gets you anywhere but prison.
There's a reason they call it JUVENILE delinquency, after all.

Truly sad that Nicole is shaping up to be yet another huge waste of national
talent in the figure skating world...yet another person with an incredible
natural gift who's never been quite able to figure out what to do with it.

Something rang wrong with me years ago when she was still on the COI tour and
she was living in a gigantic mansion with her then-boyfriend, showing off their
swimming pool and whatnot on TV like she was on Lifestyles of the Rich and
Famous. I mentioned at the time that she seemed to have an awful lot of
ostantatious wealth for someone so very young, and someone responded to that
with something like "Well, Tom Collins does pay awfully well."

Now I'm wondering whether he really did, or whether Nicole and her boyfriend had
other "businesses" going on on the side even then. Or whether maybe at the time
they were living high off the hog from her earnings as a skater, but when her
touring opportunities faded away, so did her ability to live in the manner to
which she had become accustomed. And she saww a quick way to make easy money
and...there you have it.

I hope somewhere Nicole has a friend willing to say to her that she's headed
down Christopher Bowman Boulevard right now, and if she doesn't shape up, she's
going to reach a similar destination.

Trudi




 
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