Underground man

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"  Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable    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  -  ** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is  distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in  receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. **    HOMELESS PEOPLE'S NETWORK  <http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/>  Home Page  ARCHIVES  <http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/archives.html>  read posts to HPN  TO JOIN  <http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/join.html> or email Tom <wgcp@earthlink.n=  et>  --============_-1299250119==_ma============  Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii"  Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable    http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/338/metro/The_underground_man_finds_world_=

Jeremy