ZYGONE
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SUNDAY, MAY 13, 2012
Here it is: an insider's look at the foibles, fiascos and
celebrity events of
the Merry Pranksters, still going strong after almost fifty years.
Written in a smometimes humorous, sometimes serious mode by "Sometimes
Missing," a Prankster who was not always there (and is now deceased),
this
book describes happenings never before revealed, with philosophical
insights
into the workings (and lack of work) of the extended family.
John Babbs was a writer, photographer, painter and fly angler. He was
also
the author of Yellow Leaves, a novel of angling and romance.
You can order PRANKSTER MEMOIRS from Tsunami Books,
in Eugene, Oregon
$12 includes shipping. Call or email:
phone: 541-345-8986
email:
tsunami1@opusnet.com
Trip
Sommer,
news director of
KLCC radio
in Eugene, gave a
sweet remembrance of John Babbs
Here's Trip looking
ahead, this is what he sees:
John was the younger,
smaller, quieter Babbs brother. In the
dedication of his book,
"Prankster Memoirs," John wrote "For my
brother, Ken Babbs, whom I've known
all my life, but he hasn't known me all of
his." John, like Kesey's brother Chuck,
was On The Bus. Pranksters of the
Earliest Order. John's Prankster name was
Sometimes Missing.
"Prankster Memoirs" has
some great photos of John
the Fisherman. Before I
interviewed him about his novel, YELOW LEAVES,
John dropped off a copy of
the book with a note, which read in part, "I am
available most days - when I'm
not playing basketball or fishing!"
John described YELLOW
LEAVES as "a novel where
romance and trout fishing
intertwine with passionate intensity." Here's
wishing John Babbs Great Fishing
in the Great Beyond. Fish on, John!!!
Tripp Sommer
HERE'S
WHERE YOU CAN GET YELLOW LEAVES
$12. Free
shipping.
Call or
email Tsunami Books.
phone:
541-345-8986
Let's
put faces on these guys who are mining Parvin Butte to the detriment of
the
quality of life of the people who
live on and around the Butte:
The McDougal Brothers and Greg Demers.
Parvin Butte photo by John Bauguess
The
McDougal Brothers, bought Parvin Butte, right outside of the community
of Dexter and plan to level
the whole
mountain, taking out the rock and selling
it for a railroad bed in Coos Bay, way
over by the coast. They started by clear cutting
the trees, then excavating,
without a site review, paying the fine as part of doing business.
The
noise is horrendous, the impact on the neighbors' lives is huge, but
they
care not
a whit, for, to them, like the
military, this is merely collateral
damage.
The citizens are fighting
back.
There is a facebook page: HelpSave
Dexter and a website www.SaveDexter.com
WEDNESDAY,
FEBRUARY
15,
2011
Today, the county hearings
officer said the McDougal brothers don't
need a site review and can begin mining Parvin Butte in the middle of
the community of Dexter, Oregon. He also dismissed the fines levied
on the brothers for mining without a site review. Greg Demers, who
is on the mining team, said, "Like good neighbors we would be willing
to sit and listen to any of their concerns." He doesn't live anywhere
near the mining operation. No noise, dust, pollution, gravel trucks up
and down the road in his neighborhood. The Dexter Lost Valley
Community Association will appeal the county hearings officer's
decision.
photo by John Baugues
photo of Parvin Butte by John Bauguess
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
EUGENE REGISTER GUARD
Demers
makes
things
happen
The
recent Register Guard “Demers file” articles — especially the one
appearing on the cover on Feb. 20
— paint a blatantly skewed picture of the personal character of Greg
Demers. I have known Demers for
years and have always found him to be a good man. His generosity to the
community has been enormous:
in addition to single-handedly building a church and school in Veneta,
he has supported many organizations
such as Relief Nursery, Sacred Heart Foundation, and Children’s
Miracle Network.
Additionally,
I
remember
how
Demers
stepped
up
to
rescue
the
Campfire
Girls’
Wilani
Camp
from
bankruptcy in 1999. He bought most of the camp for over $300,000,
leased it back for a pittance, and
also donated $300,000 to refurbish the camp — all of which were
instrumental in allowing the decades
-long tradition of kids’ camping to continue.
Despite
that history, the reporting painted Demers as if he were nothing more
than a financial “speculator”
with secretive business entities. By contrast, the person I know is
investing in visionary ventures
including an intermodal facility that has the potential to bring much
needed economic activity to Lane County.
Yes,
successful entrepreneurs sometimes have sharp elbows; however, they are
also human beings
who have their own challenges and adversities. The difference is that a
person like Demers makes
things happen — which is exactly what Lane County desperately needs
now. At a minimum, fairness
demands that Register-Guard readers hear the “rest of the story.”
Janice
Standeford
Eugene
Afflictions,
tornadoes,
hurricanes,
and
other
natural
disasters
are
hardships
caused
by
forces
beyond
our
control, but hardships caused by humans trashing other people and their
lives while in pursuit of riches is
another thing altogether.
The letter to the editor praising Demers as a philanthropist and
humanitarian doesn't hold water
when you consider the damage he
and the McDougal brothers are willing to inflict on the families
living on and around Parvin Butte.
Demers may be generous to the people of Veneta but he doesn't have an
iota of concern for the well-being of
the people in Dexter. All for the sake of easy money. As if there
weren't
plenty of other places in Oregon, away
from homes and families, where rock can be mined to be used for a
railroad bed over on the coast.
"For what shall it profit a man, if he
shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
Ken Babbs
Dexter
WHAT
THEY
THINK ABOUT US AND OUR
EFFORTS TO SAVE OUR AREA
From the business section of the eugene register guard's sunday paper,
a column by Al Lewis, a great writer
who nails the wrongdoings and
wrongdoers in the financial world:
In CFA Magazine, trade mag for
chartered financial analysts, an article by Sherree DeCovny, former
investment
broker who claims one out of ten
people working on Wall Street are psychopaths, saying the estimate
comes from
researchers, including a psychologist
who treats wall street professionals.
DeDovny defines them this way: "Back
when were were little children...and we were learning right from wrong,
they didn't get it."
In her 2005 book, The Sociopath Next
Door, harvard psychologist Martha Stout defines sociopath as a person
with no conscience. Plus other
anti-social traits, including a lack of empathy, no regard for
consequences and
unbridled risk taking.
When
Krassner was asked, "What do you
consider the world’s biggest problem of the world?"
Krassner said, "Greed combined with
the lack of compassion."
MCGONIGLES, A MORALITY
TALE
Here's
Walker
T.
Ryan,
ace
singer
guitarist.
Pic
isn't
from
the
gig,
but
by
going
to his website you can see a vidie of Walker doing Big Road Blues, live
at Tsunami
Books in Eugene on December 16, 2011.
http://walkertryan.wordpress.com/current-videos/
Here's a youtube of Walker T. Ryan
doing "Stealing" along with Ken Babbs in
the green room of KLCC studios, Eugene
Oregon, December 16, 2011, before
they joined up with Eric Richardson to
go live on the air as Los Tres Caballeros.
"STEALING"
QUESTIONS
FROM
GREECE
FOR
A
MAGAZINE
AND
ANSWERS
FROM
A
MUSE
photo by Richard Hayner
Yiassou
(hello)
Mr.
Babbs
Greetings from Athens,
I send you the questionnaire.
If you believe that are
many questions - but REALLY
GREAT STORY - to answer
as many as YOU like !!
Questions are many
because we do not
have direct communication to be options,
and are a
little bit general, but is a
1st contact with the Greeks!
Please feel free for the
time YOU want to send
the answers back.
Just i bend my head
with respect to you ...and thank you once
again
love, peace, and happiness
mike
the Joint chief of staff
wants to know
how's the elbow
where's the backbone
who's got the glue
why's the war
makes me so sore
it's all blood and gore
say no to any more
make it a peacetime lore
let our vets snore
without cannon's roar
ah, my stories don't have the gore
for I was there early in the war
I made everything up
just like a maid and the bed
now don't puncture my balloon she said
you don't wanna put yer mouth on
it
is what hemingway tole his boys
double barrelled earnest advice
sometimes the load gets heavy
other times it is a feather
blowing in the happy wind
beat up but
not beat down
we continue to beat
the peace drum
AMERICA
AS AN EMERGING FOURTH WORLD NATION
CLICK ON
Pic by Kathy Harrington.
I saw my picture of the water buffalo on your site. Glad you didn't think it was
too staged. However, minor correction that's actually a big deal to me. My dad
didn't obtain the water buffalo on a "visit" to Vietnam. He bought it when he was
stationed in Qui Nhon, Vietnam in '65 as an officer for the Army. He was a veteran
of three wars and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. That's Colonel William
J. Arnold. : ) I know how you feel about officers, but hey, I'm proud of him even
if he was a damn Republican.
Kathy
Book on down to your local
bookstore and procure this book, post haste !
It has Ken Babbs
written
all over it -- not just on the jacket and title page.
Ken's elevated
repartee and warmth shine through in a story of camaraderie
set in the
early days of Vietnam, when most Americans were blissfully unaware
of
the brewing conflict in Southeast Asia. It's not as much about Vietnam
as it
is about young men coping in the trying circumstances of wartime.
A great summer read. Kudos, Ken. It was worth the wait.
-- Don Groble
If you are going to order the book over the internet, or
by phone, get it from Tsunami Books, a locally owned
bookstore. Or go to the store in Eugene, Oregon.
You will get a signed copy.
Costs you $22. Free
shipping in
the
U.S.
Order by phone:
541-345-8986
MOVING BOOK STUFF
TO A NEW PAGE
includes info about book and some
interviews and reviews and youtubes
WSTWB PAGE
Putting
all
the
other
book
reviews
and
interviews
on
another
webpage.
Click on:
Putting all the other reading youtubes on
another webpage.
Click on:
SHIRTS AND OTHER WSTWB STUFF
FROM SKYPILOT ALI BOB
click on:
SHIRTS AND MUG
"A
lovely
if
chilling
read,
chilling
because
it
brings
home
the
reality of a tragic war."
--
Larry
McMurtry
I've saved the
old frontpage and you can go to it
by clicking on:
FRONT PAGE
You can look at all the old pages (59 in all) by
clicking on:
you are
flyer number
