Home Free Home

Introducton
Durng the ate 'sxtes, two open-door communa ranches exsted n Sonoma
County, Caforna. Nothng qute ke them had ever exsted before, and peope
came from a over the country to ve there. Together they redscovered a trba,
neo-prmtve way of fe that consumed ess energy and offered more freedom
than our reguated, consumpton-orented Great Socety coud gve. It was a
magca fve years unt the Sonoma County authortes dscovered they coud use
the heath and budngs codes n a puntve manner to budoze the houses, expe
the nhabtants and cose down both communtes. Ther names were Mornng Star
and Wheeer's Ranches. Dfferent n many respects, they both ceebrated the
freedom of each ndvdua to 'do ther thng,' as ong as no harm came to anyone.
But the change was too sudden for many neghbors, who feared that drug-crazed
hppes woud ead ther chdren astray. In the case of each ranch, one potcay
powerfu neghbor acted as the catayst, and saw to t that the Dstrct Attorney
acted on ther compants. By 1973, t was a over.
Among the survvors, four fet compeed to put together the story of what
happened. Among those whose orgna manuscrpts have been combned n ths
book are Ramon Sender Barayon, B Wheeer, Gwen Leeds and Near Mornngstar.
Ramon and B coaborated to ntervew many others whose words have been
transcrbed from tapes and ncuded. We hope that somewhere n the foowng
chapters you w experence the gft of tears and the ecstasy of aughter. It s a
gente story when compared to the voent confrontatons then occurrng n the
ctes. And perhaps t w tempt you to transmute your own terrtora mperatve
nto ts opposte, brothery ove, by heedng our own very dear and recenty
deceased Lou Gotteb's advce:
"I urge anyone who owns and and wshes never agan
to experence one nstant of boredom, who wshes to
ve n a contnung state of eaton, to deny no one
access to that and and watch what happens."
Ramon Sender Barayon
Chapter 1
Begnnngs
Once upon a tme, a bg mouth ncarnated as Lou Gotteb, aas Lucky Loue Love
Dvne, a born entertaner wth a heart as soft as mashed potatoes. Ta, frzzy-
bearded, wth a nose ke a Babyonan patrarch, Lou was aways center stage for
the seven years he ved at Mornng Star Ranch as ts ast human owner. Frends
and admrers gathered around hm whe he devoted hmsef to the pano and to
hs dream of makng hs debut as a concert panst when he reached ffty. Hs
studo, converted from an egg storage shed, was |ust bg enough for hs concert
grand pano, a desk, a mattress and a woman. Mozart sonatas and Chopn
nocturnes foated across the fower-strewn meadows and ftered nto the redwood
groves durng hs practce sessons. Bad heath and what he referred to as a 'crss
of pessmsm' had forced hm to retre from a successfu career as the bass payer
and |okester of the Lmeters, a fok-sngng group that en|oyed enormous
popuarty n the eary 'sxtes.
LOU: "About 1960 the Lmeters started to get ucky and dd pretty we. We
worked ncredby hard. It was nothng to pay one nght n Mam Beach and the
next nght n Seatte. Our gross came out to about a mon doars a year. We
were sngng for Coca-Coa, and we made a TV show caed 'Hootenanny' that pad
handsomey. The record royates were good. Trave expenses were nothng n
those days and there were |ust the three of us n the group, Genn Yarborough,
Aex Hassev and mysef pus a road manager. So t was a very proftabe thng."
One day n 1962, Bud Reynods, husband of fok-snger Mavna Reynods, phoned
Lou sayng he knew of thrty acres of and for sae sxty mes north of San
Francsco. It was n redwood and appe country and woud make a fne nvestment
and tax sheter. Oddy enough, Lou had |ust been readng an ad for the dentca
property when Bud caed. It was a concdence he coudn't gnore.
LOU: "Bud and I went up there, ooked the pace over, met the owner |ohn
Beecher and I sad, 'Ths s t!' I had the cash and put a down payment on t rght
then and there. Beecher, a we-known poet, wanted out because he was n tough
fnanca troube. I thought of subdvdng the pace, and had a pot map drawn up
that dvded the property nto seven parces wth a road gong through -- the one
that's there, more or ess. The surveyng company named t 'Gotteb Lane.' That
was the source of consderabe amusement. I once asked a frend f he wanted to
buy nto the pace. 'Man, are you crazy?' he reped. 'I woudn't ve on Gotteb
Lane! Number Seven Gotteb Lane?'
"But t was a good dea from the pont of vew of a guy who had never been n the
redwood forest at a. I was gong to bud nce houses and se them for about a
hundred grand apece and et t be known that Chare Schutz ved |ust around
the corner and stuff ke that -- to make t a knd of prestge dea. But I hardy ever
had the tme to go up n the four years that foowed. The Upper House was rented
and Bud oversaw the thng for me. He and Mavna used to spend weekends n the
Lower House and Bud got rd of the thrty head of sheep that were there. Aso
there were thousands of hens ayng eggs n tny coops -- a sort of egg ranch."
By 1963 the on-the-road pace began to te and Lou's heath deterorated. After a
near-fata pane crash n Coorado, he eft the Lmeters and took some tme off to
be wth hs wfe Doy and ther two chdren. Aso he was ntroduced to LSD by a
ady yoga teacher n Los Angees.
LOU: "I took fve of those 25-Gamma Sandoz ps and nothng happened. It was
ke a speed trp. I remember we waked aong the beach for a coupe of mes
wth me non- stop rappng. I even bored mysef! Then about two months ater I
came back down to Los Angees and took about 425 mcrograms wth a very dear
and revered frend. The ony thng I remember about t were the famous words of
Archange Gabre: 'Fear not, Mary.' They kept comng to mnd. The next day I had
a meetng wth some peope about a record and -- bam! -- I was st fyng! It was
a marveous trp. My frend aso gave me a book caed Who Am I? by the Indan
sage Ramana Maharsh whch started me systematcay medtatng. I began to
medtate every day at 10 A.M. no matter what I was dong and I used the 'Who
Am I' mantra. There was no doubt that I made some knd of sma advance. So by
the tme 1966 roed around I had had a few other LSD trps, havng acqured
some of that 'bue |uce' they used to se.
"As far as mar|uana went, I started smokng t n 1941 or ate '39. There was a
ten-year perod when I ad off -- when I was a member of the Communst Party.
They ddn't dg t, but when the reveatons started comng out about what t had
been reay ke n Russa under Stan, I was enormousy dsusoned. That was n
1955, after Stan's death, and the Communst Party group to whch I beonged
met and we a voted to dssove that same nght. But one thng was for sure.
Durng that perod I made a rea, systematc effort to master Daectca
Materasm -- n other words, to have a postve beef n the non-exstence of
God. But I defy anyone to foow that ne of thnkng straght through and reman
optmstc. Daectca Materasm ends n pessmsm. It's a mtaton of the
human sprt.
"In 1964 and '65 I was n bad shape. Nothng seemed to work and I was physcay
uncomfortabe. One day an ex- cassmate caed up who was workng as a musc
crtc for The San Francsco Chronce and sad that he needed someone to take
over revewng concerts. So I went to work for the newspaper and that was the
ast thng I dd that was straght- orented. One day the Chronce sent me to
revew Rosyn Tureck, the panst, and she payed so beautfuy that I wrote a
revew that was absoutey ncomprehensbe to anybody. The edtor sad, 'Why,
ths s ncomprehensbe!' and I sad, 'We, t's ether that or you |ust need a new
guy. In fact, you need a new guy anyway.' So that was the end of that. I worked
for ony three weeks but durng that tme I met Ramon, Stewart Brand and Ben
|acopett around the Trps Festva. I remember ntervewng them on afternoon n
Stewart's apartment. Stewart was takng about havng a 'back-forty' n the
country and I tod hm, 'We, I have one. Let's go take a ook at t.' But I never
thought about communes unt I taked wth Ramon."
BILL WHEELER: "Dark atn eyes, chseed features, thck back har and a sturdy,
compact body, Ramon Sender was a respected avant-garde composer n San
Francsco. Wth Morton Subotnck he co-founded of The San Francsco Tape Musc
Center. They produced monthy concerts of new musc, and ran a studo for the
synthess of eectroncay generated compostons."
RAMON: "One memorabe pece was "The Tropca Fsh Opera." I brought a bow of
tropca fsh as a score to a concert and four of us, Morton Subotnck, Paune
Overos, Loren Rush and mysef, proceeded to bock out certan areas on the
gass sdes of the tank -- a staccato area, a ow-ptch area and so on. We sat down
and payed the fsh as notes from the four sdes of the tank, thus producng four
smutaneous versons from dfferent dmensons. Ths tcked the audence
enormousy. Later we deveoped a type of Musc Theater that combned qud,
sde and fm pro|ectons wth taped sounds and ve nstruments. Perhaps my
most successfu pece from that era s "Desert Ambuance" for soo accordon,
tape and pro|ectons. It's st performed somewhere every year or so.
"Then, n 1965, the Rockefeer Foundaton gave us ffteen thousand doars wth
the promse of one hundred and ffty thousand more f we woud assocate
ourseves wth a coege. Up unt that tme we had run the center on peanuts, odd
commerca recordng |obs and a yeary refnancng of my house. However, by the
tme the grant money arrved, I had begun to experment serousy wth
psychedecs. I had taken a peyote trp n 1963 wth Steve Rech durng whch I
had reved my fe backwards to the pont of concepton. Aso I had an ntense
encounter wth my mother's sprt. She had been executed by the Spansh fascsts
when I was two years od and had become a forgotten person throughout my
growng- up years.
"By 1965, I had become restess wth the Tape Musc Center format and wanted to
expand out nto performances of the ancent mysteres. I wanted to sacrfce a
cow onstage to Mthras -- somethng to aert peope to where ther hamburgers
came from. But that woud have fnshed our chances for the arger grant. Aso,
nstead of affatng wth a coege, I fet we shoud gve up our ndvdua
househods and start vng together, thus cuttng our expenses. I thnk the men n
the group mght have gone for t, but we were a vng wth women who coud
never have ved under the same roof. Pursung ths dea of ceremona
representatons, I phoned Stewart Brand, a young photographer |ust back from
New Mexco who was puttng on a show caed Amerca Needs Indans. It conssted
of smutaneous pro|ectons of Natve Amercans and modern Amercans, fast
correatons of an Indan hogan wth a MacDonad's restaurant, or a cheftan wth
a Fuer Brush saesman. Then one day Stewart caed up and sad, 'Ken Kesey's n
town and wants to do a Trps Festva. Do you want n?' It sounded ceremona
enough, so I dropped out of the Tape Musc Center to hep put t together, durng
whch tme I met Lou at a press conference. We dscovered we shared some
mutua nterests n musc, eastern regons and vng n the country."
Gna Stman, Ramon's vng partner, was a ve-wre sster wth cury har framng
a beamng face. From a we-to- do Caforna famy, she had been ostraczed by
them when she began vng wth hm n Berkeey.
GINA: "One day n |anuary, 1966, Ramon came home wth a surprsed sme on hs
face. He had been ntervewed by Lou Gotteb, and afterwards Lou had turned
hm on to a ppefu of grass at Stewart's apartment. They had ked each other
very much, and Ramon had taked about hs communty experences at the
Socety of Brothers, a Chrstan group where he ved n the md-fftes. The ovng,
cohesve feeng of communty vng st attracted hm, athough he coudn't
hande the Brothers' rgd, morastc atttudes. A week or so ater, Ramon asked
me, 'What woud you thnk of vng n a commune?' I remember that I threw a
temper tantrum and tod hm I coud never ve that way. I was not at a attracted
to the dea. He defntey was thnkng about t, athough he ddn't have anythng
specfcay panned n regard to Lou's and."
Through Ramon, Ben and Ran |acopett aso became nvoved n the Trps
Festva. A coupe n ther ate twentes wth a fve-year-od son, they had founded
Open Theater n Berkeey, an avant-garde endeavor smar to Ramon's effort wth
the Tape Musc Center.
BEN: "We had a non-proft-status organzaton, the Berkeey Expermenta Arts
Foundaton, and decded we needed a permanent budng. That was a bg
mstake because t cost us thousands of doars and ended up n a ot of busht.
We ended up havng to worry about a szabe nsttuton. Before we dd the Trps
Festva, I had totay dropped out of the theater because I was so wasted that I
coudn't make t anymore. I became a Yeow Cab drver -- a Macrobotc Yeow
Cab drver rdng around the East Bay wth sxteen or seventeen drunks n a row
as fares, each one dfferent, each one wth hs trp to ay on you. For the whoe
shft from ten-thrty at nght unt seven-thrty n the mornng, a I had to eat was
a |ar of roasted rce. That was t! I coudn't drnk anythng because I had drunk my
quds quota for the day. And aso I was smokng dope. I was so burnt out by the
tme the Trps Festva came aong that I hardy knew what t was ke. The Open
Theater part of t was an absoute, tota bomb because t had been conceved as
cabaret theater. A of a sudden there were 5000 freaks that wanted The Gratefu
Dead! What coud I do wth 5000 freaks that wanted t up the ass?"
RAIN: "No! You had the perfect act! If you had done Reveatons, they woud have
torn us apart and everyone woud have gotten off!"
BEN: "B Graham sad no, ddn't he? He decded to brng on The Loadng Zone
nstead, a Berkeey rock group." RAIN: "We chose to et hm say no. At that pont, I
was every bt as strong as B Graham f I had wanted to be. I took a ook at that
second nght and sad f someone opened a dance ha wth a ot of rock musc, he
coud make a ot of money. I can remember sttng wth Graham n some
restaurant, and he sad he had |ust arranged to have the Fmore and was gong
to cose the dea that day. I ooked up and sad, 'We, f that's what you want to
do...' I had a ot of respect for hm because he was gvng peope exacty what
they wanted. The Trps Festva was exacty what they wanted, and a he wanted
out of t was money and power. But f you don't get money and power out of dong
that knd of |ob, there's nothng ese to get."
BEN: "Then there was the nght after the Trps Festva when we a gathered
together to spt up the money. Everyone sad how much they wanted. Graham
sad he thought he shoud get eght hundred, and Ramon and Stewart and I
conferred and sad no, we though he shoud get $900 because he dd such a great
|ob. He was reay peased. There was a very good feeng throughout. He had a
the money and a the recepts, and when he counted t a up, he was $900 short!
He counted t a over agan -- st $900 short. Ths frantc ook came over hs face,
and Stewart sad, 'St down, B, |ust take t easy. St down and t' a work tsef
out.' Graham stared wd-eyed at us and ran out of the house. We a sat there
ookng at each other gong 'Um, um, um,' and n about fve mnutes he ran back
wth a paper bag and a bg sme. It was a paper bag fu of money! He had been
takng n money so fast that he had |ust stuck t n a paper bag and thrown t n
the back of hs car and forgotten t!"
RAMON: "The Trps Festva energes totay bew me away, and I went to the
desert wth Katy the Dog for a sx-week coo-out. It was there, n a cave, that I
heard the sun speak to me, sayng "Ramon, you're a foo but I ove you.' The sun!
God wasn't nvsbe after a, but beamng down hs vvfyng ght nto my fe!
What a wonderfu awakenng! So I entered a reaty where everythng was rea --
there was no onger ths duaty between sprt and matter. The word
'enghtenment' for me meant the pourng of sunght nto my eyes to merge wth
the nner subceuar ght that runs the body. My goa became to merge these two
ghts through proonged medtaton on the sun. If I succeeded, my body woud
then be capabe of vng on ght. It woud no onger be necessary to breathe,
athough t mght st be fun to do so, or eat and so on."
GINA: "In March, after the Trps Festva and Ramon's trp to the desert, we drove
up to Sonoma County wth Lou, Stewart and Los Brand and Katy the Dog. There
were sx of us, and Lou had brought aong some of hs frend Buck Wheat's
ncredbe hashsh cookes. So we arrved at the ranch consderaby oaded, and
were entranced by the beauty of the pace. We waked around, and t was ke the
Garden of Eden. It was eary sprngtme, everythng very green, wth a the
fowers comng out, and no one there except us. It seemed so untouched. And of
course we oved t. But even after that experence we ddn't have any pans or
deas for beng there or vng there for any extended perod of tme."
RAMON: "I sad to Stewart, 'The sun s God!' He ooked at me very mysterousy
but ddn't seem to want to tak about t. I, on the other hand, taked to everyone. I
fet I had been gven compete freedom to be |ust a foosh as necessary."
GINA: "I was a hgh schoo teacher, and when my Easter vacaton came n Apr,
Ramon and I decded we wanted to go somewhere n nature where we coud be
aone and pay Adam and Eve. So we went up to Mt. Tamapas across the bay,
and found what we thought was a very secuded spot n the woods, took off our
cothes and began runnng around. In fve mnutes a forest ranger was there,
teng us to put our cothes back on. And I sad to Ramon, 'Let's go up to Lou's
and. I bet we coud be aone here, and no one woud bother us.' So Ramon
phoned Lou, and we drove up to the ranch and had a wonderfu week there
together, |ust wonderfu. The appe bossoms were |ust begnnng and they ere
exquste. Ramon had a LSD experence n a beautfu redwood grove durng whch
he fet that two anges had communcated wth hm. He decded he had to stay,
that he coudn't go back to the cty wth me. I was dstressed, but I understood. I
wanted to stay too, but I had the responsbty of my teachng |ob. So I went back
and vsted hm every weekend."
RAMON: "Lou's ranch seemed an dea pace to contnue my sun yoga, and the
sprts n the redwood groves wecomed me. I setted down to four-hour day
sessons of gazng at the sun through the redwood foage n the sem- shade,
aways carefu not to do anythng physcay harmfu. "When those two anges
appeared -- perhaps I shoud ca them 'sprt gudes' -- they tod me I was freed of
a karmc resdues that mght hnder me on my path, somethng that encouraged
me greaty. A psychc reader ater affrmed ths was true, and that I was n my
frst ncarnaton as a human beng. So I was at that pont 'free' -- 'Mukt' n the
Hndu sense -- berated, but I had not yet acheved a state of permanence nor a
knowedge I coud share wth others. I had not yet competed the course."
Whe fnshng up her teachng dutes that sprng and watng to re|on Ramon,
Gna stayed wth Ben and Ran |acopett n Berkeey. Occasonay Ramon |oned
her there.
RAMON: "At the |acopett's, I had a vson of the Dvne Mother whch made me
reaze I ony had to ca upon Her to receve her hep. So t was She who ed me to
Lou's ranch -- t was reay Her and, after a, havng been dedcated to Her by
|ohn Beecher, the prevous owner, as we woud earn ony much ater."
#
Chapter 2:
Frst Arrvas
RAIN: "The Trps Festva was such a new experence for a of us! We had aways
been reay poor, and our mnds were bown by havng been connected to
somethng that was makng money. But the rock musc trp reay wasn't for us.
Ben sad, 'I gotta go off somewhere and do some Zen.' So ater that sprng, I
packed my od treade sewng machne and a ot of brown rce nto a truck and we
t out for Lou's and to be wth Ramon and Gna."
Sufferng from a smar overoad, Lou had the od egg storage shed at the ranch
renovated to accommodate hm and hs grand pano. He arrved that |une to |on
the growng communty.
LOU: "I was exhausted. My heath had faed. My body was n bad shape and I had
a crss of pessmsm. It was rea exhauston pus God-thrst."
GINA: "Nobody was pannng anythng. I fet a aong that 'someone' knew, but t
wasn't us. The peope who came ft n. There was penty of room and there was no
reason to te anyone to eave. As t was, a group of very taented peope showed
up -- artsts -- peope who ked to spend a ot of tme n thought and
contempaton. Somehow the and tsef encouraged medtaton, peace and
happness."
One of those artsts was poet-panter-cagrapher and composer Wder Bentey.
WILDER: "I went on the road n September of '63. I had the vson that rent was
what was keepng me from sef- reazaton and, snce I had been searchng for
economc securty and never fndng t, I sad obvousy there s no such thng as
'enough.' Therefore I decded to pursue my art reentessy and |ust accept
wherever I sank n terms of the word's status orentaton. So of course I sank
straght to the sde of the road, to where the wd anmas have been pushed by
cars and prvate property. It's a that's eft of the Commons. I crossed fences n
the evenng and got out eary n the mornng and panted pctures that I sod n
the ctes for money. Other than to se somethng, I never went nto ctes, but dd
everythng on pubc and. I ved on beaches and n the woods for two years.
"I saw mysef as havng taken sdes n a strugge that was gong on a over the
word between those peope who coud pay to have ther rght to occupy and
defended by cops and those who coudn't. In other words, when you pay taxes,
you're hrng an armed force that permts you to run anybody off your and. Ths
threat s mpct n Amercan and ownershp, and ths s the means by whch you
are drawn nto commerca empoyment. The necessty to pay to use and makes
you se your work. Ths n turn draws you nto a serve conformty, and no art s
ever produced out of that state of mnd.
"The whoe word ooks dfferent from the sde of the road. Ony then can you see
what's wrong wth the soca structure, because otherwse you get nto your
'nche' and ony perceve the totaty by what you do to hang on to your 'nche.'
But fnay n 1966 I became tred of dong the fugtve Amercan-Indan-n-the-
woods number.' I began to thnk about gettng once more nto the manstream of
Amercan fe. At ths |uncture, I was vstng someone who sad 'One of the
Lmeters owns some and and we know somebody who knows hm and we're a
gong up there on Tuesday. Want to come aong?' So I sad 'Sure', and got nto the
back of hs truck and went to the ranch n md-|une. There were seven or so
peope vng there. I moved onto the back porch of the Lower House where I
spent my tme etterng books. Whe I was workng one day, a dormouse came
up, put ts hand on my toe and ooked up at me."
Bruce Bae, one of Amerca's most respected avant- garde fmmakers, set up a
sma edtng studo n a detached room behnd the Lower House ktchen. A shy,
quet man, he worked dgenty a that summer makng a seres of short fms.
RAIN: "Bruce had ths dog named Mama Dog. He was the ony other person
besdes mysef to use the ktchen. He'd come n to fx meas for her. He was so
sweet to her! She was so od that he had to hep her up and down."
GINA: "Ran was a marveousy domestc woman, a wonderfu cook. She made the
pace pretty and began to cook amazng macrobotc meas. We began to fee
good physcay. Aso we pooed our money and had more than enough to meet
our needs."
BEN: "Lou seemed such a arger-than-fe fgure, such a raconteur, but somehow
separate from everyone ese. He mantaned a sort of emnence, ke those
members of royaty who went out and dd archaeoogca dgs at the turn of the
century. He'd come down and check us out as a socoogca experment, unabe
to make up hs mnd whether to be a ord or a serf. After supper he'd show up n a
whte shrt and pants to smoke some dope and gve regous nstructon. We'd
each read our favorte passage of ths or that. 'I'd ke to share somethng tonght,'
someone woud say. There was far too much takng. But we aso had sent days
where we went around gruntng 'mm mmm mmmm,' or used sgn anguage or
wrote our message."
Lured by the magc of Ran's cusne, Lou abandoned the steak dnners that hs
carpenter frend Pete's wfe served at the Upper House, and started eatng wth
the Lower House group. RAIN: "Oh, t was great fun when everyone was at the
tabe and Lou was there because he was the mage of the patrarch, whch knd of
soved that probem. If we were a a famy, then he coud be the daddy and we
were a happy to have hm n that poston. It was great fun and we partcpated
wngy n ths fantasy. We had been takng a good dea of acd, and were havng
very grand deas about the nature of thngs. These were magca tmes, wth us
payng archetypes on a bg Gra Ouest. We had ths sense of wonders to be seen
and fantastc games to be won."
GINA: "We were ookng for somethng. At frst I thought I was aone, that I was
the ony woman desperatey seekng an aternatve, for somethng dfferent. But
t's aways been the case that when I fee somethng strongy I'm never wrong.
There were thousands of peope feeng the same thng. It was the era tsef, a
tme when possbtes opened up to us that never had been reveaed before. I,
for one, had thought fe rather drab up unt that pont. I mean t wasn't a drab --
I had terature and musc -- but these were a thngs that aready had been
accompshed. In the actua mnute-to-mnute vng I was experencng, I was
somewhat dsapponted n the eary 'sxtes. Then psychedecs came aong n
1964 and there was a change n conscousness. New possbtes opened up --
words we had never dreamed of, amost ke a new spectrum of coors. It was as
f I had been vng nsde a prson and never reazed t. Our apprecaton for the
beauty of fe ncreased -- for thngs we had aways taken for granted. A eaf, a
bade of grass, everythng was tremendousy heghtened. I fet a rea |oy n
gettng out of my prevous exstence.
"Aso there was an upsurge of nterest n rtua, magc and thngs from the deeper
eves of conscousness. At Mornng Star we had opportuntes to go nto a knd of
Back Magcky pace, a tte bt wtchy. But I aways fet we shoud steer cear of
that knd of thng. And I ddn't fee t was my persona trp I was ayng on others.
It was ke a message I was hearng that our trp was one of ovng God and of
sacrfce. In other words, of openng ourseves to peope and ovng them, tryng to
be a part of that ove that was descendng upon us and never tryng to power-trp
n any way. I know that Lou and Ramon fet that way.
"I remember nstances when Ran and Ben payed wth eectrca fashes on a
psychedec trp. They stood on ether sde of the barn door throwng fashes of
ghtnng back and forth from ther fngertps. Very mpressve magc! I watched
them and thought how my devoton was to God. I mysef had nduged n
wtchcraft more than once, and coud have used certan powers f I had wanted to.
I coud have |umped up and exchanged some ghtnng, but I had an urge not to
do that. We a had strong feengs regardng sprtua purty and were not drawn
nto psychc power trps. One the one hand, the feeng was very chdke, and on
the other t took a certan knd of dedcaton.
"One acd trp defntey sodfed us as a group. We had eaten nothng but brown
rce for ten days, and on the evenng of the tenth day we a took acd. It was a
wd trp, wth Ben screamng and I don't know what ese, but I do know there
were some very ntense experences that brought us together. Lou and Ramon
became much coser on that acd trp. They had a strong brothery feeng for
each other, and at that moment reazed that somethng was gong to happen at
the ranch. It was ony somethng you coud sense, not somethng panned. I
wanted to dedcate mysef, to be part of a huge, ovng, gvng, mothery force. I
gave up my concern for my persona wefare and concentrated on a concern for
the communty, for the group conscousness rather than on my ndvdua sef. We
nsttuted the Indan-type steambath rtua.
"Eary Sunday mornng we gathered n a speca hut and crouched over the pe of
hot rocks n the center. Then we woud emerge, shower, put on our fnest cothes
and st at the dnng tabe. We woudn't speak or eat, but remaned at the tabe
for maybe one or two hours, dong nothng! Yet t fet as f we were havng a great
feast together. We fasted and remaned sent a day, a tremendous purfcaton.
We were pretty far out n some ways.
"We had other very ntense experences wth Ben and Ran that summer. It was
|ust so beautfu on that and. The frut fowed as f from a cornucopa, appes form
the orchard, sx dfferent varetes, wanuts, pums, pears and qunces. It was a
mnd-bowng experence for everyone. That summer was paradse."
One day, whe rummagng n a coset, Gna found some od bs made out to
'Mornng Star Ranch.' Aso, over the door to the Lower House was panted
'Mornng Star Press.' It was obvous the ranch had a name, somethng even Lou
had not known, and everyone began usng t. Ramon especay was fascnated by
the dscovery. He began researchng the symbosm of the mornng star among
Amercan Indan trbes. The actua story of how and for whom the ranch was
named no one dscovered for another fve years, but Her presence durng these
earest months began to manfest tsef over and over agan.
LOU: "Ramon was the frst sprtua asprant I ever ved wth. He was ntensey
nterested n these matters and, by the way, ntroduced me to the works of Sr
Aurobndo whch had a tremendous nfuence on my fe. We began to be co-
asprants, sharng experences n the nvestgaton of conscousness." Sr
Aurobndo, the great Indan sprtua phosopher, taught there was an evouton n
human conscousness occurrng that woud cumnate n an mmorta human body.
He hnted t woud come about through a fuson of scence and regon. To that
end, he estabshed an ashram at Pondcherry n southern Inda where, after hs
own death n 1950, hs work was carred on by Mother Mra, hs co-worker and an
avatar n her own rght.
RAMON: "My goa at that tme was to redscover the most ancent of a regons,
Sun Yoga. Aso I was convnced many peope woud come to Mornng Star Ranch
for enghtenment. However I was a mere student, a begnner who had been gven
a gmpse nto the hgher reams. And I was stuck at a strange pace: I coud not
yet ook at the sun ong enough to trgger the change that Sr Aurobndo had
predcted, and that woud aow the 'ranbow' body to emerge. I consdered mysef
an Aurobndo dscpe, a combnaton of a mad scentst and the Soar
Conscousness of the Buddha.
"Lookng back over my fe, t seemed as f my mother's dyng prayers had paced
me n the care of Our Bessed Lady n whose ap I sat, fat and sassy. It had been
She who brought me and my sster Benedcta our of Europe as the Forces of Ev
gathered n an attempt to do us n. They knew I had come to the panet to hep
start the new age, and wanted to keep me from performng my apponted task.
"I had grown up wth an Amercan famy, graduay forgettng the nghtmare of
the Spansh Cv War. At nneteen I marred Sby whom I had met on a bnd date
three years earer. It was she who ntroduced me to the dea of communa vng,
havng grown up n the remnants of the Oneda Communty as a great-great
grandchd of |ohn Humphrey Noyes, the charsmatc founder. To ths day she
remans at the Socety of Brothers, the Chrstan communty of whch I am a
runaway Novce member. Ther sef-fageatng, morastc atttudes freaked me
out totay.
"Those frst months at Mornng Star I was so preoccuped wth my new dscoveres
that I ddn't have any specfc teachng to share wth peope. I dug around n
brares and bookstores ookng for references to the sun and hnts on Sun Yoga. I
found a few thngs that encouraged me, such as that the Pans Indans durng the
Sun Dance gazed at the sun for two or three days wthout any permanent damage
to ther retnas. I was st fghtng the bndness paranoa myth we a grew up
wth. But then I thought, 'We, I must have fath that God won't damage my eyes
and then he won't.' But as I have sad, I was aways carefu not to do anythng
panfu, aways gazng n parta shade, but aways mted by the fact that the
shade I was usng woud shft as the earth moved.
"I was more or ess payng Ramamkrshna to Lou's Mr. Bzwas, the busnessman-
patron of the sant. That group acd trp brought us very cose, and Lou became
my greatest enthusast, encouragng me on to ever greater heghts. He woud
brng vstors down to the redwood grove where I ay on my back n deep
medtaton. 'Here's the graduate semnar!' he woud say, pontng at me. He
hmsef became very nterested n Sun Yoga and began practcng some
sungazng. However when anybody foowed my exampe I became worred
because I was not wng to take responsbty for anyone ese's retnas. My
eyesght, by the way, mproved consderaby. I had a near- sghted eft eye that
returned to norma on the drver's test chart. I thought a ot about the phrase,
'Thngs ook brghter when you're n ove,' and knd of turned t around: f you
gaze at sunght, then that ght stmuates your heart unt ove bursts out of you
n a drectons."
In Aurobndo's epc poem Savtr Ramon found a secton that seemed to prophesy
what was happenng at Mornng Star Ranch:
I saw the Omnpotent's famng poneers
Over the heaveny verge whch turns towards fe
Come crowdng down the amber stars of brth;
Forerunners of a dvne muttude
Out of the paths of the mornng star they came
Into the tte room of morta fe.
I saw them cross the twght of an age,
The sun-eyed chdren of a marveous dawn,
The great creators wth wde brows of cam
The massve barrer-breakers of the word
And wrester wth destny n her sts of w,
The aborers n the quarres of the gods,
The messengers of the Incommuncabe,
The archtects of mmortaty.
Into the faen human sphere they came,
Faces that wore the Immorta's gory st
Voces that communed st wth the thoughts of God,
Carryng the magc word, the mystc fre,
Carryng the Donysan cup of |oy,
Approachng eyes of a dvner man,
Lps chantng an anthem to the sou,
Feet echong n the corrdors of Tme,...
Hgh prests of wsdom, sweetness, mght and bss,
Dscoverers of beauty's sunt ways
And swmmers wthn rapture's aughng, fery foods
And dancers wthn rapture's goden doors,
Ther tread one day sha change the sufferng earth
And |ustfy the ght on Nature's face.
LOU: "At the urgng of an Aurobndo dscpe who vsted us, I sent my photo and
that of Ramon, Gna and a few others to Mother Mra, and asked that she keep us
n her conscousness. I thnk that ths was the frst tme we estabshed a
conscous connecton to the Dvne Mother force. As a resut of that, we were abe,
to use Aurobndo's termnoogy, to 'brng down the Mother Force' here durng
1966. And t seems to me that 1966 was the year of transton, the begnnng of
the Aquaran Age, f you w."
GINA: "At the end of that summer, Ben and Ran went back to San Francsco,
Bruce and Wder went n dfferent drectons, and Ramon went to New York for a
month to vst hs reatves. Fnay |ust Lou and Pam Mward remaned wth me,
Pam a novest and a poet, a very nce person who had her tte daughter Natasha
wth her. We began dong yoga together. At frst t was |ust an hour a day, and
then t was two and then we went up to three. We deveoped ths technque of
watchng each other do the 'asanas,' the postures. But nstead of |ust watchng,
we woud rde the other's energy. If the person was dong The Cobra posture, the
others woud hep them psychcay, gvng them strength, and at the same tme
experencng ther exerton. We dd ths every day, pus breathng exercses and
medtaton.
"After we had done ths for about sx weeks, we spt one tab of LSD three ways,
went up to the meadow and began our norma yoga routne. The acd carfed and
emphaszed what we had been dong for weeks, aong wth an ncredbe
teepathc contact. After three hours of yoga, we eephant-waked down to the
ower meadow -- you know, how eephants wak wth ther trunks and tas
connected? We magned we were eephants. And there, n the ower meadow, we
had a remarkabe experence. We were seated under an oak tree, and suddeny
a three of us fet that some outsde force was communcatng wth us. Perhaps
not 'communcatng,' but rather descendng upon us. Ths was somethng
undenabe, somethng we had to acknowedge.
"We ay on our backs hodng hands, formng a trange, takng turns fterng that
energy, that ncredby ovng, powerfu force. Otherwse, f we had a three done
t at once, we woud have been exhausted and not abe to experence t. We
baanced our energes and coud have gone on forever. It but to a crescendo,
and I thnk we were there for hours but the troube s that you can never descrbe
these experences because they are beyond norma conscousness. There s no
termnoogy for ths knd of thng. I |ust remember that t but and but. Fnay, at
the peak, Lou burst nto tears and got on hs knees. And I saw, shmmerng a few
feet n front of hm (Pam and I were behnd hm), the Vrgn Mary. I actuay saw
Her too. But She wasn't |ust the Vrgn Mary, She was the manfestaton of a
mother ove.
"Lou was sayng, 'Ha Mary, fu of grace, Ave Mara, graca pena.' He was
brought up part Cathoc and part |ewsh, so he knew both regons. He caed t
'The Descent of the Mother Force.' I know that the three of us dd experence t
together. Afterwards, that evenng, we a knew that somethng had changed n
our ves. There had been a radca transformaton. Somethng unusua was
happenng on that pece of and, and we were very bessed to be there. We knew
we woud do anythng to further whatever t was. Of course, at that tme we dd
not know the ranch had been dedcated and named after the Vrgn Mary."
That fa, Lou, Gna and Ramon went to a communty conference n Santa Cruz,
representng themseves as members of a sma regous ashram named Mornng
Star.
GINA: "At the conference, we sat around and taked about varous possbtes and
drectons. There were a knds of ways of runnng a communty. Some had rues
and were very structured, the other extreme beng Mornng Star whch had no
governng body or anyone wth the fna say. One man stood up and sad, 'Anyone
s wecome at my pace f they won't tak.' I aways wondered what happened to
that pace and f anyone dd come.
"Communes were poppng up a over the pace as a resut of the psychedec age.
Wth heghtened awareness and senstvty, peope began to scatter nto the
countrysde ookng for paces to vst. Once they had tasted country fe, they
began searchng for somewhere to ve. The most economca way to do ths was
to ve wth others. It made country vng feasbe. Otherwse, you had to spend a
fortune buyng and. And there were peope around who owned and and were
wng to share t.
"Our frend Za came up to vst eary that summer. She was a dancer and an
actress, a wonderfu, famboyant creature who bew everyone's mnd by wakng
nto the vng room, takng off her cothes and |ust contnung the conversaton.
We were a tte bt shocked but not terrby so. I don't know f t was because of
Za, but as the summer got hotter and hotter we a started gong wthout
cothes. It was ony ogca. We were down to rags anyway."
RAMON: "The day Za came up, she accompaned Gna and me to the ower
meadow to chant the sun down. God spoke to me for the thrd tme, gvng me a
name to ca Hm and aso sayng, 'You w not be aone on your path, but there
w be many others.' For me t was a tremendousy movng experence because
sometmes I dd fee very soated -- sort of way out there by mysef, not reay
knowng what I was dong."
Eary that wnter, a few young peope arrved from the Haght-Ashbury, havng
heard through the communty conference n Santa Cruz that Mornng Star was
open to new members. After one partcuary nosy nght, Ramon posted a st of
rues on the wa: "Communty members are expected to gather at Lou's shed
before breakfast for exercses. There w be Hatha Yoga at noon, and there w be
Sence after supper n both houses." When the newcomers gnored the rues,
seepng ate and takng a nght, Ramon asked them to eave.
LOU: "Ths ncdent brought the owner trp nto focus nsofar as I was concerned.
When one of the newcomers came to me ater and asked, 'Do I have to eave?' I
sad, 'Yes, Ramon has had enough.' So I dd the Pontous Pate trp. Then they
went to Pam Mward and sad, 'Wat a mnute, we ought to have a dscusson
about whether we have to eave or not, and the ma|orty shoud rue.' And Pam,
who had the greatest mouth of them a, sad, 'The ma|orty eected Ronad
Reagan governor.' So they dd eave, but they heped me estabsh, at east n my
own conscousness, the terrbe onus of teng anyone to eave."
GINA: "At that same tme, Nna Smone came up to vst Lou, a marveous person
wth a great aura and dgnty. She waked around the and wth hm before
returnng to hs studo to pay the pano and sng. 'Lou, there aren't any back
peope here,' she sad. 'We, what can I do?' he answered. 'I want them to come,
but we don't nvte peope. They |ust show up.'"
#
Chapter 3
The Dgger Farm
LOU: "One day I was a aone on the pace, payng the pano, and n came ths
car wth Don and Sandy Kng, ther dog Trpper, Ph Brougham and Len Brown.
Ph sad they had heard about us from frends of Pam Mward's at Tostoy Farm,
a communa famy n the Northwest. They a asked f they coud stay. I took them
on a tour of the ranch and made some sort of dea ke, 'Yeah, f you pant the
ktchen n the Lower House' or some dumb thng ke that. Don sad he woud be
deghted to do that f they coud stay, and so they a started vng n the Lower
House. Len and Ph never sept ndoors anyway. Don and I went down and got
some pant and fxed up the ktchen, scraped crud out from underneath the stove
and so on."
Len was a sxteen-year-od wth a rebeous, fuck-you atttude towards the word.
Born of a back father and a |ewsh mother, she had run away from her
progressve hgh schoo wth Ph, one of her teachers. However she carred a
etter of permsson from her mother.
LOU: "Len Brown was one of the great gurus of a tme. She was the frst rea
'Impossbe' that I ever met, and snce then I've become one, so I know what
'Impossbe' s. Her frst esson to me came around the queston of body odor. She
had, ah, worked up more than a hnt of funk, sha we say. In those days I was
terrby straght, so I took her to Sebastopo and bought her a chocoate ecar and
a pastc botte of Mennen's deodorant wth more than a hnt that she use t. She
was furous, of course. There was another gr at the ranch named Krs who sad,
'Don't you thnk that Len smes better than ths stuff?' I sad, 'No. Do you?' And
she sad, 'Yes!'"
RAMON: "Len managed to annoy amost everybody wth her temper tantrums and
screamng sessons except a crazy, beautfu young woman named Araby who,
upon her arrva, mmedatey |oned Len n beratng us from ncpent
stodgness. After a coupe of screamng contests at the Upper House durng whch
they stood on the sundeck emttng boodthrsty screeches |ust for the he of t, I
asked Ph and Len to eave. Len suggested that I eave nstead, so I packed up
and moved nto the barn. I but a stove out of an od odrum wth the hep of a
hatchet as we as a bed and yoga patform."
When Len went to the communty hospta wth a yeast nfecton, the combnaton
of her age, coor and ament shocked the doctor and he aerted the poce.
Shorty afterwards, Inspector Pau Stefan of the Narcotcs Dvson pad Mornng
Star the frst of many vsts.
"Nce pace to drop acd," he mentoned affaby to Ramon who tred to steer the
conversaton around to yoga and medtaton.
He ddn't stay ong, but hs vst gave warnng that Mornng Star was now on the
authortes' map. Later that year, Stefan was ntervewed by the oca Santa Rosa
newspaper, The Press Democrat.
"There are now one thousand hppes vng n Sonoma County," he was quoted as
sayng. "They're scattered n sma househods and four arge coones. They don't
thnk we know about them but we do and we're gong to know more."
RAMON: "Stefan's vst added to my feeng that Mornng Star was no onger
anonymous enough for me. I aways have had a fear of cops and unforms
stemmng from my chdhood experences n Cv War Span, and defntey dd
not want to have to worry about beng busted. So Gna, Katy the Dog and I moved
off the ranch. We rented a sma four-room cabn n Bodega Bay from the Santa
Rosa Fre department for forty doars a month, about a twenty-mnute drve. After
movng, I carved a sgn for the ranch's front gate wth the Amercan Indan
nsgna for the Mornng Star and Mother Mra's tweve-petaed otus n the center.
Around t I nscrbed 'Mornng Star Soar Legaton and Economc Counc.' I fet we
were an embassy from the sun to represent soar conscousness on the panet,
and thus coud cam dpomatc mmunty from oca aws. The 'Economc Counc'
was Lou's dea. The sgn asted two or three weeks before t was stoen."
LOU: "Durng March I receved a phone ca from the Dggers who had heard that
there was an appe orchard on the pace. They expected a quarter of a mon
homeess teenagers that summer and they wanted to have appes for them.
'Coud we send a detachment up to take care of the orchard n return for the
appes?' they asked. I sad, 'Don't ca me, I' ca you.' But then I dd ca them
and sad, 'Okay, t's sounds rght.'"
RAMON: "Lou and I taked over the Dggers' request durng one of my vsts. I ked
the Dggers I had met. They had some defnte concepts about workng for the
peope's beneft and about provdng as many servces as possbe for free. It
wasn't a queston of as cheapy as possbe. It was FOR FREE."
BIG MIKE: "One day there was a bg happenng n Goden Gate park at Speedway
Meadows. There were rock bands and everyone sat around, smokng grass,
drnkng wne and droppng acd. So ths kd came up wth ths great bunch of
baoons -- some guy had put hm to work seng baoons fed wth heum. He
wasn't seng too many -- t was a free concert, you know. Ths one Dgger tod
the kd he wasn't nterested n a baoon but that he'd turn hm on to some grass.
The kd sad, 'What's that?' 'Here, try some,' the Dgger sad. 'I' hod your
baoons.' So whe the kd was gettng oaded, the Dgger sad, 'Sht, the baoons
shoud be free too -- t's a free!' And he et them go to the appause and cheers
of the crowd. Somehow t ddn't matter to the kd at ths pont ether."
GINA: "It happened very fast. After the frst wave of Dggers came to Mornng
Star, we attracted many wonderfu, marveous peope. Word got around qucky
about the 'Dgger farm.' Ramon and I ked the new energes and made pans to
move back. It seemed that the more peope that came, the happer everyone was.
Of course t was a bg change from a quet, prvate sort of pace, but you |ust went
aong wth t because t was the sprt of the tmes.
"We had not too many peope and not too few, about sxty whch was |ust rght for
the and. A of them were mmersed n sprtua pursuts, strong and beautfu, not
messed up. It was about that tme that Swam Bhaktvedenta vsted. He was |ust
becomng weknown as a eader of the Krshna movement. Some of the peope at
Mornng Star were aready sngng the 'Hare Krshna' mantra. For the Swam's
vst, we set up a tempe n the orchard and made hm a fowery throne. It was an
exquste sprng day, the ar soft and cear, the bossoms on the appe trees, the
brds sngng ke somethng out of a fary-tae. A arge crowd greeted hm. He
spoke and began chantng 'Krshna' whe everyone danced and sang. We
absoutey foated n bss. He was a reay great teacher because he |ust became
one of us. It was a great experence of sprngtme and ove of God."
The burgeonng popuaton and the fow of curosty- seekers attracted the
renewed attenton of the poce.
LOU: "We were warned by the fnk who had come to set us up. The Saturday
before the frst of Apr, we were a workng n the garden, and a man by the
name of Denns Thoreau Poret waked up and sad, 'I am now dong tme n the
Sonoma County |a. They tod me to come out here and gather evdence for a
search warrant to set you guys up for a bust. So that's what I'm dong.' Of course
sx hppes mmedatey turned hm on, and then he went back to |a, havng done
hs duty. Now t was my mpresson ths was the Mother Force n acton, you see,
because to my recoecton, I have not yet heard of a case where the fnk tod the
mark. There have been peope who have sad 'Yes, they were tryng to get me to
set up Aen Gnsberg' and thngs ke that, but ths was a unque case.
"The guy they sent was a very beautfu man, very nce, and snce we had a week
to prepare for the rad, t ddn't take any great perspcacty to be cean on
Saturday nght. Aso, there was rarey any sacrament on the pace because when
t arrved, t was consumed."
Sure enough, n came Inspector Stefan and gang on Saturday nght. They spread
out a over the ranch, shakng everyone down, but not fndng anythng except an
ancent paper of speed someone had forgotten n hs waet.
LOU: "They came nto my pace, and I had the most unfortunate experence of
havng my persona effects rfed. That's very unpeasant. 'What's ths? Let's take
that!' -- and ookng through my phone book. I had an od eather tobacco pouch
where I used to keep my stash. I had smoked t a, or dd somethng wth t, and
then had taken the vacuum ceaner and vacuumed t out, but the sme was st
there. A cop hed the pouch under Stefan's nose and sad, 'Sme that!' Aso I had
one of those tte vas that had contaned some 'bue |uce' and there was |ust a
tte, teensy snppet of a corner eft. Stefan found the va -- t was the frst thng
he reached for -- and sad, 'What's that?' I sad, 'It's nk eradcator.' And Stefan
ooked at me, hs head to one sde, and sad, 'Were you guys tpped off or
somethng?'
STEFANI: "The frst tme I went out (to Mornng Star) I was charmed. I came back
to the offce and kdded the guys that I wasn't gong to be around much onger -- I
was gong to defect. Then I went out there a few more tmes and began to
wonder, to see the other sde, the great danger of a coupe of
LSD trps. There were IBM operators out there, teachers, and peope of educaton
who took LSD and other haucnogens. It became a regon. They gve up ther
|obs, careers and futures and they they are happy. But ther genteness s a
veneer and qucky shed. I stepped on a tomato pant and an enraged hppe gr
caed me a drty bastard, threatenng to bust me out of the pace... Lou Gotteb s
a keabe guy, but has not cooperated wth us. I magne I've been out there ffty
tmes and nstead of cooperaton I get obstructon and questons."
The new wave of arrvas that sprng ncuded Pam and Larry Reed wth ther
goden-hared one-year-od Adam Sddartha.
PAM: "I came to Mornng Star because I wanted to ve on a farm (I was brought up
n the country). Prevousy I was workng as a dancer and mode n San Francsco
so that we coud eat. Larry had heard about the ranch from the Dggers, and we
rode up wth one of them for the weekend. We stayed a week, and then went
back to the cty and got our stuff. I worked for a coupe of days to get money to
contrbute to the ranch before comng back to Mornng Star to stay.
"A durng my chdhood I wanted to be an actress, and I studed drama n coege.
But I had aready changed my mnd about ana actng career by the tme I came to
Mornng Star. My ony goa by then was to fnd a way to ve, to take care of my
chd and husband, eat fary reguary and not be caught n the cty. At Mornng
Star I experenced conscousness-expanson n day vng unequaed n my fe
before or snce. Teepathc occurences, dreams n common wth other peope,
teepathy n conversatons. I neary aways dream about Mornng Star at nght."
LOU: "Pam Reed s one of the most extraordnary peope ths word has ever
produced. The frst tme I can actuay remember Pam was one mornng I was
down cookng breakfast at the Lower House, and the mouth began takng about
brahmacharya -- cebacy. Pam |ust started to cry. That was her ony comment,
you know, she |ust wept uncontroaby. Both Pam and Cndy had no wardrobe.
They were never caught wth any cothes on that summer, that's for sure. Those
two were the frst mtant nudsts I had ever known n my fe, and very we
equpped for the roe, I must say."
Dgger Cndy, a tny brunette from Massachusetts whose decate features were
baanced by her tough no-nonsense atttude, organzed the ktchen and took on
the responsbty for feedng the hundreds of guests.
RAMON: "A femae karma yogn was worth her weght n mso, especay Cndy.
What wth haf the men on the pace n ove wth her, she had a wng ne of
mae vounteers for any task. Mornng Star, n the ap of the Dvne Mother,
suffered bady from mae ego trps. It's too bad the women weren't put competey
n charge."
Davd and Penny Pratt but a mut-stored treehouse n a redwood tree that was a
true masterpece. A taented artst, Davd panted the backs of many Lev |ackets
that summer wth Buddha's face and other regous themes.
DAVID: "Lvng on the street n San Francsco, young, dumb, deastc, I heard
about the 'Dgger ranch.' I went to nvestgate -- no other optons, and found out t
wasn't a Dgger ranch at a but somethng ese, 'Dgger' beng bascay a
potca, East Coast concept. In contrast, Mornng Star was bascay an
evoutonary experment, much gropng by mosty mmature young peope. What
was gong on? If you took t from the top, t was a dvne drama wth peope ke
me who ddn't have anythng better to do as the actors. God was tryng out a new
scenaro, a possbty for the master pan of the future, |ust seeng f t woud
work."
'Superman' materazed from reams of spare-change sdewak adventures,
poppng ps he camed to have found n the gutters. Camng ancent Egyptan
ancestry, he amazed everyone by wrtng herogyphcs n a perfect hand as we
as endessy companng about how horny he was. It turned out he was a thrty-
nne-year-od vrgn, and fnay some compassonate sster ntated hm nto
manhood to everyone's mmense reef.
GINA: "Many |ournasts came to the ranch, but the ony one I happened to tak to
was the Tme Magazne reporter whch 'mmortazed' me. He ked me and
stened to what I sad. Many of the reporters were ookng for 'yeow |ournasm'
stuff, but the Tme reporter was tryng hard to understand. He had a very open,
postve atttude.
"We beeved n pubcty because we fet we had to te the word that ths knd of
experence was possbe. We weren't recommendng t for everyone, but we
wanted to show that t was an opton. We had had some bad experences where
the wrong peope had met the ntervewers and had not made a good mpresson.
So ths tme Ramon and I decded to meet wth the reporter ourseves. He oved
the ranch from the moment he got there. It was a good day, sunny and
comparatvey quet. A ot of beautfu naked grs were runnng around, Cndy n
her Indan costume. Even though peope ddn't wear cothes, there was a great
purty about t -- ke the Garden of Eden. It was an nnocent thng, and there were
no great sex orges or anythng ke that. A chdke experence, reay. So we
waked around together wth the man. I was feeng very verba and partcuary
happy that day. He stened to everythng we tod hm. Of a the pubcty Mornng
Star receved, I thnk hs was the best. He reay caught the feeng of t. We took
hm down to see Pam and Larry Reed and ther son Adam Sddartha, a beautfu
bond tte boy, |ust a dream of a chd."
TIME: "An hour's drve north of San Francsco, n appe-growng country near
Sebastopo aong the Russan Rver, some 30 to 50 country hppes ve on a 31-
acre ranch caed Mornng Star. Ther cosest neghbor: cartoonst Chares Shuz,
whose 'Peanuts' peope are hppe favortes. The ranch s owned by Lou Gotteb,
43... who has hs hppe foowers hard at work -- rarest of a hppe trps --
growng vegetabes for the San Francsco Dggers.
"Most Mornng Star coonsts avod acd. 'I'd rather have beautfu chdren than
beautfu vsons,' says a tanned, cear-eyed hppe gr named Gna. That hppes
can actuay work becomes evdent on a tour of the commune's vegetabe
gardens. Cabbages and turnps, ettuce and onons march n gossy green rows,
neaty muched wth redwood sawdust. Hppe grs ounge n the buffao grass,
sewng coorfu dresses or studyng Nava|o sand pantng, cad n nothng but
beads, bes and feather headdresses. (Not everyone s a nudst -- ony when they
fee ke t.) A shaggy sheepdog named Grass pays wth the hppes' chdren,
among them a straw-thatched 17-month-od boy named Adam Sddartha.
"The new-found trp of work and responsbty refected n the Mornng Star
experment s perhaps the most hopefu deveopment n the hppe phosophy to
date."
LOU: "That Tme artce was reay when t ht the fan. Peope came pourng n
from everywhere. I know of one young man who read the artce as an nmate of a
New York menta hospta. He spt for Mornng Star that same day sayng, 'Ths s
what I'm ookng for and these are the peope I want to be wth.' Hs father had
been payng a hundred doars a day for hs treatment. At Mornng Star he got t
for free." The fower chdren of the Summer of Love focked to San Francsco wth
a the fervor of pgrms to Mecca. A teenage gr named Near, deastc and
vouptuous, |oned that throng. A bad psychedec trp n the cty rendered her
ncapabe of smng. Meetng Larry Reed n the Haght- Ashbury, she foowed hm
up to the ranch a few days ater.
NEAR: "My rde et me off at the parkng ot a few hours before sunset. I waked up
the dusty path to the center of the ranch, the we and the campfre crce. A ta,
buxom woman was sttng on a og besde the fre rockng a one-year-od boy n
her ap. It was Beatrce wth AndrZ. For the frst tme n a month I smed. I knew
nstanty I was home. I asked Beatrce where I coud fnd Larry. She ponted
vaguey down the h. A gowng bond-bearded man came aong and guded me
to Larry's house, a patform on a treestump. Larry was standng besde t whttng
on a poe. Pam sat nsde payng wth Adam Sddartha. Larry hugged and kssed
me before ntroducng me to Pam and Adam Sd. I was a bt shocked to dscover
that Larry had a wfe and a baby. I had assumed from our fun nght n the cty
together that he was snge. However Pam wecomed me and beamed a frendy
sme.
"It was tme for supper, so Larry guded me to the Lower House. Pam decded to
stay home wth Adam Sd, and Larry promsed to brng back some food. We found
about ffteen peope gathered on the back porch. Lou Gotteb had cooked the
dnner, and a sent bonde gr named Penny had baked some 'macro' bread. The
group hed hands and en|oyed a mnute of sence. Then Lou served each a
porton of rce and brocco. The foks were frendy, and took an nterest n the
new gr, but Larry made t cear I was stayng wth hm. After dnner, he ed me
back to hs tte house. I wasn't qute ready to |ump nto bed wth a marred man,
hs wfe and baby, but Pam assured me t was perfecty a rght. Larry ay n the
mdde and made passonate ove to me. Then he gave Pam a kss and fe aseep.
I ddn't, as I was a tte bewdered, and aso not used to gong to seep at nne
p.m.
"The next mornng at sunrse, we were genty awakened by someone dstrbutng
LSD to everyone. Larry, Pam and I each swaowed a tab. Then Larry made ove to
me agan. When we had fnshed, he turned to Pam and started gettng t on wth
her. Meanwhe I took Adam Sd for a wak to the Lower House where pancakes
and whoe wheat cerea were cookng. After breakfast, we gathered n the
barnyard to sunbathe nude."
B, an ex-Cathoc prest, ved n the orchard wth sxteen tte Mexcan
chhuahuas that yapped a the tme. He was ncknamed 'Deputy Dog' by
someone. And of course 'Nevada' showed up, one of Lou's 'Impossbes.' A
muscuar trpe Scorpo and supposedy one-tme Caforna rodeo champ, he
brought wth hm an endess suppy of Korean War stores whch he reved n
drunken deta whenever he coud fnd an audence. Equpped wth a voce whch
coud penetrate any barrer, Nevada woud fnd the stener's soft spot and zero n
wth unerrng precson. You don't ke drunks? Loud voces?
"How about |esus, asshoe? Have you taked to your Savor? Naw, I mean your
Savor! YOUR SAVIOR, MOTHERFUCKER!!! D'you understand? I mean, DO YOU
UNDERSTAND??"
Nevada's truck ooked as f t had ht every teephone poe n the county.
Caamtes custered around hm, but he aways emerged unscathed. One day hs
truck ost ts brakes comng up the front drveway. It roed backwards down the
hsde and across the parkng ot before comng to a hat wth ts rear whees
hangng over a tweve-foot drop onto Graton Road. Nevada's backwards rush nto
obvon had been hated by a few strands of wre fencng.
RAMON: "Wth Nevada's and hs outrageous frends' arrva, the nose eves on
the ranch trped. What to do? Socety's probems were comng to the Dvne
Mother to be heaed, and no one was wng to stand n the way of whatever t
was that was happenng."
#
Chapter 4
Eary Probems
A subte dvson arose n the buddng communty between the Hndu-orented
yogs and Don and Sandy Kng who were hodng bbe-readngs n ther newy
fnshed house. The atter fet uncomfortabe n a group chantng 'Hare Krshna'
whe others who had |esus stuffed down ther throats as chdren dd not want
any more Chrstanty. A group LSD trp on the hsde beow the Lower House
brought about thrty peope together n the mornng sunshne.
RAMON: "For me, the hghght of that experence was the moment Don and I
embraced, tears streamng down our cheeks. It fet ke the heang of the
Chrstan-Hndu rft wthn the group. The Mornng Star conscousness was hgher
than any of the tradtona antagonsms between the od faths. From then on,
musca sessons ncuded hymns from a the regons."
LOU: "I don't know what I can say about Don and Sandy except that perhaps
thers s the ony happy marrage I have ever wtnessed n Amerca. They truy
have become one n Chrst, and I thnk ther achevement s envabe. They came
from two wrecked ves and have but one together n Aternate Socety whch s
very beautfu to behod."
A tn can was paced n the Lower House. New arrvas were encouraged to put n
fve doars, athough no one was turned away f they coudn't contrbute. Lou
bought a coupe of hundred pounds of rce, wheat or beans every few weeks to
make up the baance, so everyone ate smpe, nourshng meas of grans, garden
vegetabes and occasonay fsh contrbuted by oca fshermen.
On |une 8, 1967, Ramn nserted an ad nto the oca paper:
"Mornng Star Dggers w swap work and organc vegetabes for what have you.
Dggers are determned to fnd a way of vng that's human, person-to-person.
Money makes fe mpersona. It's our hope at Mornng Star to estabsh a system
of barter wth our neghbors."
RAMON: "A tte od ady whom we ncknamed 'Mrs. Le Moo-moo traded raw mk,
eggs and butter wth us n return for ceanng her barn and fxng her fences. We
fgured out the exchange rate and dscovered we were makng about ffteen cents
an hour. But she was very sweet about t when we ponted t out, and we came to
a better understandng."
Other neghbors dd not share Mrs. Le Moo-moo's enthusasm. Wth Mornng Star's
two houses and barn fed to capacty, huts, shacks, ean-to's and tents sprouted
ke mushrooms. 'Oms' and chants foated across the start meadows whe
Tbetan-stye yogs perched on fenceposts and she-decorated goddesses waked
the boundary paths, tnkng ke wndchmes. One gr fet sorry for a neghbor's
horses because ther manes hung n ther eyes. She gave them a trm, thereby
runng ther chances for a showng at the county far. When the nose and
commoton grew too ntense for some of the mdde-cass neghbors, they
companed to the Heath and Budng nspectors. Nude bodes were vsbe from
ther and, and they were afrad the whoe Haght-Ashbury was movng next door.
When the Heath Department nspected, they found both septc systems
overfowng. A conference wth Lou and hs guests eft them mpressed: "Lou
Gotteb w make every attempt to cooperate concernng waste dsposa. There
are ntegent peope out there, and they w try to correct any probems
themseves. We tod them what was needed, and they agreed to do t rght away."
The budng nspector was equay sympathetc: "Franky, I was thnkng of
throwng the book at them, but they've been so wng to cooperate, I've softened
my atttude. Mornng Star mght resove nto a tent communty because there are
no restrctons aganst tents, but when you start workng wth two-by-fours,
someone can get hurt and the budng code aws are mportant."
Chuck Herrck, co-founder of Ecoogy acton n Berkeey, arrved wth hs
companon Betty. He gave a cass n ecoogy at the ranch and convnced Lou to
spend the money necessary to bud a bath house. Work was aready under way
to add each nes to the orgna septc systems. Crews of Dggers were merry
dggng away at three one-hundred-foot trenches, four feet deep. At the Lower
House, the crew had to work standng n the septc run-off, wth the resut that
hepatts ht ke the Back Pague a month ater.
Meanwhe, another fe stye arrved at Mornng Star. Settng up ther frst camp
next to Lou's studos, the Wnos added a bacchanaan eement to the aready
broad regous spectrum. Ther drunken braws, aggressve panhandng and
thevery dsrupted the communty as we as further aggravatng the neghbors.
LOU: "Wth the arrva of Nevada, Gypsy, Chef Roger Goodspeed, TW and Crazy
Anne, we had the cast of characters for the defntve estabshment, at east n
my thnkng, that t was mpossbe and mmora to ask peope to eave the ranch.
There had been some wne-bbbng, and there were a number of peope n the
communty concerned about the voence and the threats of voence. So we had a
meetng. Mornng Star Ranch actuay dd have four meetngs n 1967, and the
mnutes for one of them are around somepace. They are very funny. At the
concuson of ths frst meetng, t was decded that Nevada, Gypsy, TW and Crazy
Anne had to go. They were too much. Out of the queston. The coud not stay.
Gypsy, for exampe, had the habt of pung hs knfe n grocery stores. I tod hm
that t ddn't make for good pubc reatons. But he sad, 'It's mpossbe, man! I
never pued a knfe on hm because when I pu my knfe I use t, you see what I
mean? You say I pued my knfe on hm and I ddn't use t, then you're kng my
reputaton!'
"Anyway, they had a gone down to the rver that day, and we fet confdent. They
were voted out 'n absenta,' as t were. So I grded up my ons, because there
were a number of peope who were reay terrfed when the knves came out and
the shoutng and screamng started. When ther car pued nto the area next to
my studo, I went out to confront them. A fve were n the car. I sad, 'That's t!
We've decded you have to eave.' We, they took t n good grace except that
Nevada sad, 'Hey, t' take me about a week to get my stuff together - to fnd
another pace to stay,' or somethng ke that. The next day Gypsy came to me
and sad, 'I'm beggn' you, I gotta stay here.' And I sad, 'No, no, I can't, you know.'
I was very frm.
"Then I began to get nto serous physca troube. I had the worst 'yn ft' I've ever
had n my fe. I had a headache I coud have entered n the Word's Far, cod
sweats, md nausea and uncontroabe weepng, a of whch summarzed n my
mnd that God's w was for me to stop dong that. That was the ast tme I ever
asked anyone to eave Mornng Star."
Not wshng to |on Lou's socoogca experment, the neghbors' opposton to
Mornng Star came to a focus n ther sef-apponted spokesman, Edward S.
Hochu, whose property abutted the northeast corner of the ranch. An advsor to
the presdent of a oca coege, he saw hmsef as an expert on the younger
generaton and ocked n a strugge wth Lou "for the mnds of the chdren."
LOU: "Ed Hochu retred to Sonoma County, the vce-presdent of a arge tte
company. The frst tme I met hm was at hs house. I had waked over to
apoogze for somethng, I forget what. He had wrtten an artce, he tod me, on
the probems of esure and aso another one entted The Rest Of The Century In
Redwood Country. I thought that we understood each other. That proved to be a
msconcepton. He ony came over where there was troube. One day he arrved,
hs face grey wth certan green tones, hs mouth shakng. 'One of your foowers,'
he reported, 'has a fre gong near my pace. When I tod hm to put t out, he
caed me a horse's ass.' I waked over to where George was campng and sad,
'George, I'm askng you as a favor to me, to apoogze.' 'I apoogze,' George sad.
Then, wth Hochu st standng there, I asked George why he had sad such a
thng. 'Because he s a horse's ass,' George reped.
"The next thng I knew, Hochu had started crcuatng a petton around the
neghborhood, subsequenty sgned by three hundred and eghty-fve ctzens,
beseechng the authortes to ntervene n 'whatever t was that was gong on at
Mornng Star Ranch.' Ths petton was what reay changed the offensve strategy
of the county wth respect to the ranch, for they then went ahead and perfected
the technque of n|unctve procedure, a rare form of ega proceedngs, especay
n ths regard.
"We, I thought we shoud go and vst a the sgners of the petton. Fve ades
and I coped down a the names and addresses. The frst one I met was the
retred barber of Occdenta, of Yugosavan orgn. I asked hm why he had sgned,
and he sad that he ddn't know. Not more than three months ater, when the sht
had truy ht the fan, he came up to me and sad, 'I'm sorry I sgned.' Another was
the bartender at Skp's bar n Graton. He dened havng sgned t. We, after that I
|ust qut gong around."
Phone cas from rate neghbors poured nto the Dstrct Attorney's offce and
other county admnstrators demandng they 'do somethng.' Fnay, on the ast
day of |une, Lou was handed a 'cease and desst' order sgned by the Heath
Department head that gave hm twenty-four hours to compy wth santary
standards for an organzed camp or cease operatons.
"Ths s an organzed camp?" Lou asked n astonshment. "If anythng, t's a
dsorganzed camp!"
THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY: "It w be mpossbe for Mr. Gotteb to compy wth
state reguatons n twenty-four hours. The other aternatve s for Mr. Gotteb to
cose hs ranch and order hs peope to eave unt such a tme that the reguatons
are comped wth."
LOU: "Someone s afrad of somethng."
The Heath Department head had at frst refused to sgn the 'cease and desst'
order, and a dspute arose between hs department and the Dstrct Attorney.
HEALTH DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: "Mr. Gotteb says he's not operatng an
organzed camp and never sad he was, athough someone reported he sad he
was. At frst t ooked ke he was operatng an organzed camp, and we gave hm
the reguatons that had to be met. He has been cooperatng wth the Heath
Department, and heath offcas have been on the property b-weeky hepng
drect the abatement of undesrabe santary condtons. We're sort of n the
mdde. We're tryng to get a the data together and work wth everyone
concerned. We don't ke to force peope to compy wth heath reguatons, but we
try to hep them. The peope of Mornng Star are tryng to abate ther heath
probems, and have abated a consderabe amount. I ntend to take no acton
aganst Mornng Star unt at east after the 4th of |uy hoday."
More tours of the ranch were made over the weekend to gather evdence that Lou
had not cosed the ranch as ordered. Fnay a week ater, a poce car was
dspatched to arrest hm. It broke down somewhat poetcay n Graton, a sma
town famous for the nauseatng stench that permeated t durng the appe season
when the oca appe |uce cannery dumped ts waste nto the creek. A second
poce car managed to make t to Mornng Star. Lou had |ust emerged from hs
'pano box' after a typcay ntense eary mornng practce sesson, and was
socazng wth the score or more peope oungng on hs porch. He submtted to
arrest n a ghthearted manner whch trggered aughter from the crowd. At hs
arragnment, ba was set at $276 as he qupped hs way through the proceedngs.
Ba posted and a court date set for September, he returned home to hs
dsorganzed-organzed camp, more amused than threatened by the atest turn of
events.
About ths tme, B and Gwen Wheeer pad ther frst vst to the commune. A
bond, fu-bearded artst from Connectcut, B had moved to Sonoma County n
the summer of 1962 and setted nto an od, rckety house on Coeman Vaey
Road known as 'Irsh H.' He then bought a 320-acre ranch about a me nand
from the house and eght mes from Mornng Star. That summer he had but a
arge, barnke studo on hs and. Gwen, a strkngy beautfu brunette, had met
B on the street n Sausato. She had eft her famy home n New Mexco after
her nneteenth brthday to strke out on her own on the West Coast. After
spendng severa weeks wth B, she had accepted hs nvtaton to qut her |ob
and move n wth hm.
GWEN: "I was reeved to get out of the cty, and oved our fe by the ocean,
surrounded by rong hs. I grew to fee very cose to B, athough much of who
he was and what he dd remaned a mystery to me. I was very ntent on workng
hard on our reatonshp and, when my famy pressured me and B nssted, I
began wearng a weddng rng and took hs name. The patterns of my fe began
to change. I earned how to provde much of our own food by makng preserves,
bakng bread and tendng a garden. I grew to ove smokng grass so much that I
gave up drnkng acoho atogether. Hgh on grass, I ost my sef-conscousness
and my senstvty to my surroundngs was heghtened.
"Our house was very cose to Hghway One on the ocean, and peope often
stopped by as they traveed aong the coast. One day, three nterestng young
men n a truck drove up and stayed a few days. They had a hghy deveoped
conscousness of themseves, a sense of persona freedom and a postve - even
radant - outook on fe. When they eft, I wshed they coud have stayed onger,
and saw that B aso was very much affected by ther vst. They had asked hm
for permsson to ve on hs and, but B had sad he wasn't ready. It was those
three men who frst tod us about Mornng Star Ranch.
"The Mornng Star famy often coud be seen drvng aong n cars packed to the
roofs wth bodes and faces, or standng aong the roads and the streets of
Occdenta. They coud be easy recognzed by ther coorfu and often raggedy
cothng, ther unusua freestye hardos, the wde-open smes coverng ther faces
and the evdent cose feeng of famy they a shared.
"B and I decded to pay them a vst. As we waked up the h from the parkng
ot, we were greeted by Cndy, naked to the wast, wearng a grass skrt and
smokng a cgar. She drected us to Lou's studo. As we knocked on the door, the
sound of the pano stopped and Lou greeted us wth an atttude of havng had hs
f of vstors, but st hodng onto hs beef that whomever came was meant to
be there."
BILL: "Athough Lou had never met us nor knew who we were, he wecomed us
warmy nto hs studo where we taked about ffteen mnutes. Snce Sonoma
County was warmng up for some ega acton, I advsed hm to get a good awyer.
He reped that he had experenced at cose *and the tragedy of Lenny Bruce
reduced to bankruptcy by ega fees, and he was determned not to et that
happen to hm. He aso mentoned the need for more and; the thrty acres of
Mornng Star were not enough, and he seemed to sense I owned some. I fet a
deep sympathy for what he was dong, but I coud not see openng up my 320
acres. As a sop to my gut, I eft a twenty-doar b on the wndow s. I coud
support what he was dong, but I woudn't do t mysef. 'Open Land' was a step I
was not then ready to take."
LOU: "I frequenty thnk of B Wheeer as my father and mysef as the unruy kd.
He must have been Henry Davd Thoreau n a prevous ncarnaton. He s a true
Gemn, unabe to st camy for over ten seconds at a stretch. Hs energy s
unbeevabe! I don't remember our frst chat because I was ookng ony at
stunnng, beautfu Gwen whom I can remember as a young gr rdng a horse
around Aspen, Coorado, when I appeared there wth the Lmeters."
BILL: "After our tak, Lou took us to the Lower House where I got my frst exposure
to communa vng, the hgh energy and good vbes arsng out of seemng chaos.
Ramn stood n the mdde of t ke a mother hen cuckng over her unruy brood.
He had a Chquta Banana stcker pasted over hs thrd eye. I tod hm I was
budng a studo for mysef, but representng t as a barn to the Budng
Department to get around ther codes. Ramn ooked at me thoughtfuy,
probaby wonderng f a the new budngs at Mornng Star coud be cassfed as
barns to pacate the budng nspectors. By ths tme, Lou had dsappeared n a
swr of steam behnd the bong pots to hep prepare another mad hatter's dnner
for some seventy-fve or one hundred of hs 'guests.'"
The communty remaned poarzed between the 'wnos' and the fower chdren.
Fnay the wnos were prevaed upon to move to the parkng ot down by the
front gate, and the front drveway was bocked by a arge cross whch Don Kng
set nto a concrete base. Wd B oversaw the encampment, chargng vstors a
sma fee for the use of the ot and for 'guardng' ther cars. The ncome aowed
the Red Mountan wne to fow freey. The pe of empty wne |ugs grew to
ncredbe proportons as the sghtseers contnued to stream n. Rck often vsted
Wno Fats from Santa Rosa and became ts nforma hstoran.
RICK: "Ths guy came up to Mornng Star wth hs wfe to do a story on the ranch.
He had gotten hod of some mar|uana, and he set hs wfe down n the corner n
front of a typewrter and he was gong to smoke hs frst |ont. Hey. ths s the
God's-honest truth! And ths guy started smokng ths fuckng |ont, and he sad,
'I'm takng my frst coupe of drags' - puff-puff, and hs wfe started typng.
Anyway, he got about hafway nto the |ont and, beeve t or not, he was one n
seventeen skon, 'cause when a guy turns on for the frst tme he hardy ever
gets off. Rght? Okay. And a drunk, we, you gotta try hm about four tmes. So
here was ths guy smokng a |ont for the frst tme, and he was one n a mon
and he actuay got off hafway through the |ont!
"'My head's startn' to spn,' he sad, and hs wfe typed t down. Then he started
to babbe a bt, and then he started fuckn' around, you know, and then the next
thng he began thnkng about what he'd done and started to get pancky. Then he
got super paranod, you know, and he fushed the other two |onts down the toet.
And you know what? That cocksucker went over and got hs od ady to go ca the
LSD Rescue Squad! No sht! He pancked out on haf a fuckn' |ont! So they came
and haued hm away."
#
Chapter 5
Sm's Frst Acd Trp, Nevada, Hepatts
(Intervew by Near, taped n March, 1967)
NEAR: "Sm had hs frst psychedec trp here about two weeks ago, and t was
qute an experence. Can you te us about t, Sm?"
SLIM: "It was reay a beautfu trp. I ded and went to heaven, but before I went to
heaven I had to go through a tube whch was ke a seashe wth spras. In ths
tube I saw dfferent coors and heard dfferent peope takng to me. There were
these pctures, and each pcture represented a dfferent stage n fe. I had to go
through these dfferent stages, and then fnay I came to the end of the tube.
There were two openngs, a good openng and a bad openng. Then a voce sad,
'Is your heart good?' And I yeed out, 'Yes! My heart's good!'
Then I saw n one of the openngs the Dscpes comng toward me, and they sad,
'Come, brother, you're n heaven now.' They pued me out of the tube. After that I
remember dogs. There were a these dogs growng, and I became a dog. I was
groveng n the drt ke a pg. That's when my trp ended. And there was ths
thng about the chckens. I don't know what t represented, but t had some knd
of meanng. When I frst dropped the acd, I coud fee vbratons, and everythng
began movng ke a fcker pcture. I fet sort of paranod because I fet I was
aone and n a corner and everybody was ready to pounce on me. I eft the Lower
House and was gong to the Upper House when the trp ht me. It was ke I ay
down and ded. I heard beautfu musc, sort of ke a chor of anges sngng. It
was a beautfu trp, but physcay I reay hurt mysef. I roed n the drt and fe
n the dtch and went under a car and kcked n the tres. I reay scarred up my
feet and hands and my chest and back. It's gong away now. A I can say s f
anyone takes a trp, be sure that you're n the rght pace to do t and don't take
an overdose and have frends to watch you and keep you from hurtng yoursef.
Then you' have a reay good trp."
NEAR: "When I spoke to you as you were comng out of the trp, you mentoned
somethng about an evoutonary |ourney. Do you remember anythng about that?
"
SLIM: "The |ourney was gong through ths tube. There were pctures. Each person
s a ght, one coor of ght. So many peope together become a pcture. My ght
was part of |esus at The Last Supper. I became that. As I was gong up the h wth
Rck and Ed cose besde me, they remnded me of - we, there was somethng
that happened here n my past, maybe two hundred years ago, and I'm gong to
try to fnd out what draws me to ths area."
NEAR: "How much acd dd you take?"
SLIM: "About sx tabs."
NEAR: "Watchng Sm on that day, t was what anyone woud ca a cassc freak-
out. I've never seem such a dspay of energy n my fe! He was puttng out
ncredbe energy, wrthng on the ground shoutng, 'It's the chckens! It's the
chckens! It's |esus! It's |esus!' and chewng up rocks and drt. You coud hear hs
teeth breakng and see bood runnng out of hs mouth! It took four peope to hod
hm down. Perhaps the heaveny chor he saw was a group of Mornng Star peope
sttng around hm whe he was groveng n the drt. They were sngng softy and
chantng 'Hare Krshna,' sendng hm good vbratons. Probaby t was very
fortunate that Sm took hs trp here at Mornng Star. Had doctors and an
ambuance come, t woud have been a sure dsaster. As t was, we |ust took t
and gave off good, cam vbratons. Sm came out of t very beautfuy. Hs eyes
shne a ot brghter now."
STEVE: "Sm was eatng drt, and he had cumps of sod on hs head. Superman
and Crazy Aen were yng on hm screamng n hs ear 'It's arght! Have a good
day!' or somethng ke that. Whatever the he they were sayng, t was totay
erroneous and Sm kept on screamng about the chckens."
RICK: "One day I ooked up Nevada at Mornng Star. He was hungry, so I sad,
'Let's go down to Occdenta and get a hamburger.' So we went down, and he
caused a knds of sht down there. He saw these redneck guys sttng n a pck-up
truck wth a rfe n the back wndow, and he tore hs shrt open and stuck hs face
n the wndow.
"'Go ahead! Shoot! Shoot! Go ahead, you sons of btches!' he yeed.
An' I'm sayn' 'Oh my God, a I dd was...' We, the cops foowed us a the way
back to the ranch. We pued off the back drveway an' we're sttn' there drnkn'
beer and bushttn', rght? An' here comes the heat, see? An' the heat says, 'You
know you're drnkng egay. You're on the road and you're drnkng n a car.' It
was absoutey a put-down. They were n the wrong, but I ddn't want a hasse
wth 'em, so I fggered, you know, 'Fuck t, man, you're rght, okay!'
"'Now we coud run you n,' the cop sad. 'But a we want to know s can we
search your car and your person?'
"An' I sad, 'What for, offcer?' And ths other dude - the other cop - he's got a
fashght that's as ong as an eephant's prck and t's wrapped wth goddam tape,
ead wre an' a ths sht, an' he's a ready to do a number on somebody, you dg?
So I'm gong to be very practca 'cause I'm outsde my cars and a my
mpements of destructon are n the car, you see. So I sez, 'Huh-huh, go ahead,
man, I'm your buddy, tweet!' So they searched us and ddn't fnd anythng and
they spt, pssed off. We started down the rest of the drveway an' Nevada, he
says, 'You know, I swaowed ffty mkes of fuckn' acd!' An' I sad, 'Honest to God?
Where the he was t?'
"'As soon as I bent over I got t out of my pocket!' he sad.
"We, I had watched hm, man, you know, an' a he dd was bend over - he ddn't
do anythng at a, see? So we get a tte further down the drveway an' he says,
'Hoy CHrst, those two hundred mkes of acd are startn' to ht aready!' An' I
fggered that, okay, knowng Nevada, the next person he taked to t's gong to be
a thousand mkes of pure Whte Lghtenng Owsey, rght? An' bgger than sht, the
frst person he sees he says, 'I |ust got done swaown' a thousand mkes of acd!
You understand? YEEEE!! You know how Nevada gets a excted ke I do. We're
an awfu ot ake, I' te ya!"
Lou had met Tm Leary at one of the Love-ns earer n the year, and n md-|uy
Tm arrved to vst the growng communty. Lou gave hm a tour, proudy showng
off the aternatve archtecture, sttng n the orchard meadow for a whe as Tm
rapped to a crce of devoted steners. At one pont he rased one hand to the
heavens for emphass and - Boom! - a pea of thunder echoed across the skes, or
was t |ust a |et breakng the sound barrer?
LOU: "Tm Leary s a great Amercan, and one of the bravest men the word has
ever known. I have never come away from hs presence wthout feeng nspred
and nstructed. He s one of the great teachers of our tme, a Gnana Yog. I woud
say he has ony one tny defect, and that s that he oves to freak peope out. And
he does t wth so much power and vrtuosty that he has scared some peope very
bady."
The tour ended up at Don and Sandy's, a substanta structure but out of
throwaway umber and handmade shakes from a og Don had found on the ranch.
The group sat around takng and smokng dope. Tm and Don exchanged a ong
gaze, and fet an mmedate knshp for each other, both beng deepy regous.
When Lou companed of beng exhausted by current events, Tm advsed hm not
to have a 'savngs account' approach to energy (get stoned ths week, get tred
the next).
"Energy s nfnte," he sad. When the conversaton turned to communes, Tm
sad, "I coud wrte an encycopeda... an encycopeda of errors I've made!"
Mornng Star was stackng up ts own st of errors, the ma|or one at that tme
beng hepatts whch struck at east haf the resdents over the next few months.
Reatvey unknown at the tme, ts cause, spread and cure were surrounded n
mystery, athough Ramn beeved t had orgnated from the septc runoff n
whch the work crews had been dggng. The debtatng dsease was sweepng
through New Age communtes n San Francsco and esewhere, strkng a of
them wthout excepton.
LOU: "Hepatts s a sprtua dsease because t affects the ver whch s the seat
of the emotons. I had t and was down for a week, whch s a ght dose. But I
found t an enghtenng experence to be fat on my back, sck as he, dong
absoutey nothng."
RAMON: "The scourge aso got me. Gna and I had broken up, and she eft for
Tostoy Farm wth a new over. I but a seepng patform beow the Lower House
where the sun's rays frst touched the and. One mornng I woke up whe t was
st dark, got out of bed and threw up. The next mornng the same thng
happened and I decded to fast. Don and Sandy suggested I take some LSD, so I
dropped a tab and went to a sma redwood grove n the orchard. Nothng
happened except I |ust fet scker. On the thrd day, I began pssng brown and
turnng yeow. I ay on my patform one afternoon tryng to rest whe the bare of
a rado from the Lower House was etchng my bran wth Acd Rock. I decded I
was a arge gora and got up, emttng ow grows. Poundng on my chest, I
cmbed the h and entered the house. When I found the offendng artfact, I tore
t to shreds wth my bare hands, much to the amazement of everyone there. They
had never seen me as Kng Kong before. It was a very satsfyng experence, and I
returned to my ar and fe peacefuy aseep.
"But I knew I coudn't recuperate at the ranch. I was too nvoved wth what was
happenng there. So I drove wth Lou nto the cty where some od frends took me
n."
At the tme Ramn eft, sgns began appearng around the Haght and n the
Dgger Free Store readng, "Pease don't come up to Mornng Star!" That same
weekend they fed supper to over three hundred peope.
#
Chapter 6
Ye Ode Doubecross
As the summer of 1967 wore on, the Upper House turned nto a crash pad shared
by a comers. On the nght of August 14th, the day before Lou was due n court to
face charges of runnng an organzed camp, a motorcyce gang came roarng n
shorty before mdnght. They stormed the Upper House armed wth a rfe and a
shotgun, orderng the severa Backs seepng there to get out and emphaszng
ther demands wth a few shots. Someone htched to the sherff's department and
seven deputes were sent out to nvestgate.
FRIAR TUCK: "I was the ony one aseep n the Upper House when the back door
few open and the cops rushed n, submachne guns at the ready. Everyone ese
had spt."
RAMON: "Ths s one of those ncdents whch I suspect was fosted upon Mornng
Star by the poce themseves. Often groups of bkers camped out by the Russan
Rver and the cops woud roust them. It was an obvous and easy poy for a
deputy to suggest they seep over at Mornng Star. So up to the ranch woud come
the Heaves, to drnk wne, ye and scream, freak the neghbors and generay ve
up to the county's worst expectatons. But then, when you fear the worst, that's
usuay what you get."
The foowng day, neghbor Ed Hochu appeared at the county supervsors'
meetng to compan of ega campfres next door and to suggest makng
smokng ega at the ranch. A oca forestry offca at the hearng was ess
concerned, sayng that "other areas n the county were worse." One of the
supervsors wondered out oud what the fre danger at Mornng Star had to do
wth them, and suggested to Hochu that "f you can't whp 'em, why don't you
|on 'em?"
But Hochu was on a crusade, and the fre danger was the east of what offended
hm. Nudty, drugs, azness and sex outraged hs mdde cass sense of proprety.
On August ffteenth, whch aso happened to be Sr Aurobndo's brthday, Lou
appeared n court and through hs attorney Rchard Werthemer began to work
out a dea wth the Dstrct Attorney: he woud pead 'noo contendere' or, n
effect, guty, n return for a year's probaton durng whch tme he woud try to
brng the ranch up to code. The tra date was pushed ahead nto September and
Lou returned to the ranch confdent that thngs were workng out. But Hochu was
not appeased, and contnued to gather sgnatures on the petton. It was ths
petton, ater used as the bass of n|unctve acton n the superor court, that
fnay cosed down Mornng Star.
Dssenson contnued between Backs and Whtes at Mornng Star, a refecton of
smar tensons n the Haght-Ashbury. In eary September some of the queter
peope began to eave when fghtng erupted between some Backs and another
motorcyce group. The sherff's department began to receve compants
regardng numerous voent ncdents.
RAMON: "The raca tensons at Mornng Star were refectons of a genera
probem: the ma|orty of Backs who took acd woud bum out. They had been
under the thumb of the Whte Man for so ong that the LSD ony reeased a the
btterness and negatve feengs. The back man who dug acd was a rarty. They
were movng nto the Haght-Ashbury angry at ther excuson from the Summer of
Love because they |ust coudn't coo out behnd psychedecs. 'Hey man, I'm here
and I'm not gettng off, and |ust to show you how much I don't ke t I'm gong to
rp you off.' But that was |ust some of the men. Some of the ssters, on the other
hand, were very meow."
On September 9th, Lou's attorney Rchard Werthemer vsted Mornng Star wth
hs wfe n order to begn preparng Lou's defense on the organzed camp charge.
He was postve he coud get Lou off f Lou showed a wngness to brng the pace
up to code and ceaned t up.
"It's certany not very cean," Mrs. Werthemer observed. "Somebody |ust handed
me a pece of cake wthout a pate or anythng. I coudn't eat t. They're awfuy
nce, but the drt...!"
Later she had to use the bathroom. Snce the toets ong snce had overfowed,
there was no pace but behnd a bush. Fnay they eft for Occdenta and the
factes there.
On September 12th, Lou and Werthemer arrved at the Sonoma County
courthouse to enter hs pea. Lou waked nto the pato and stood beneath the fu-
szed statue of Luther Burbank. He read the nscrpton beneath the feet of the
famous Santa Rosa hortcuturast: 'The Redwood Empre - so far as I have seen,
the most perfect spot on earth.' It remnded hm of one of the many etters whch
the Santa Rosa Press Democrat had pubshed regardng the Mornng Star
controversy:
"DR. GOTTLIEB COMPARED TO LUTHER BURBANK
"EDITOR: Open Letter to Dr. Gotteb: It s ndeed a sad, sad day for ths county
when a person of your stature and great heart and taent s harassed haf to death
by the press and the bureaucrats and a handfu of rate and sef-rghteous ctzens
of ths communty. But mght I remnd you, Dr. Gotteb, that you are n good
company, The same press and same petty bureaucrats and same handfu of rate
and sef-rghteous ctzens of the day aso harassed - teray to death - the
greatest man ths county has ever produced - Luther Burbank.
"Luther Burbank dared, as you are dong, to be an ndvdua. Hs great mnd
refused to foow the sheep of hs day - the conformsts, the sef-rghteous, the
gnorant, the pre|udced, and the ntoerant. For ths sn aganst socety he was
pubcy denounced, rdcued and harassed. The whoe story s on mcrofm at the
Santa Rosa Pubc Lbrary... n copes of The Press Democrat, startng about
February, 1926. It makes very nterestng readng. A few excerpts, out of context,
of course. Mr. Burbank on the sub|ect of youth: 'Chdren shoud be permtted to
grow up ke fowers and pants, wthout scodng or nterference.'
"And durng the controversy that raged around Burbank's own regous
phosophy, a eadng Santa Rosa ctzen: 'Mr. Burbank, n a tme when the youth
of the and s |azz-crazed and breakng away n too arge number from regous
restrant, shoud not gve voce to such foosh utterances.' And the controversy
raged on and on. He was branded nfde, heretc, and a few other thngs.
"The word does not even remember that 'eadng ctzen's' name. And now, of
course, Burbank s haed as the great oca hero. But a few months before hs
death, the same eement that s attackng you now, was attackng hm then. In
the country and cty he teray put on the map, he ded a msunderstood man.
"So take heart, Dr. Gotteb. You wak n good company, and there are many of us
who wak wth you.
PATRICIA HAMILTON
Rohnert Park"
RAMON: "Burbank was persecuted for hs beef n natura seecton and other
Darwnst vews, and now Lou was on tra for hs beef n 'dvne seecton,' that
God shoud seect hs feow ranchers."
The Mornng Star trbe made a mnd-bowng contrast to the usua stere
vbratons of the courtroom. Bare feet, bes and strange cothng buged the
eyebas of the baffs. The |udge turned an even deeper shade of hs usua rate
crmson. Werthemer conferred n the |udge's chambers wth the Dstrct Attorney
and emerged smng. The dea was a set. Lou peaded 'noo contendere' and
promsed to brng the ranch up to code, for whch the county promsed to ay off
for a year.
"Of course you' have to cean up the pace a bt," Werthemer whspered to hs
cent.
Lou was deghted. Hs pea seemed a mere formaty whch woud aow Mornng
Star to survve another year.
"I peaded guty because I fet t was beneath the dgnty of the court to try a case
nvovng an outhouse," he tod a reporter afterwards. "The ma|esty of the aw has
moved on ts tradtona course. I' be on probaton for a year, and then we' be n
good shape. My pea w have no effect on my guests; they can come and go as
they pease... We're n a new stage - my probaton offcer w hep us run Mornng
Star for a year. That's good... It w take ten to tweve thousand doars to beng
Mornng Star up to code and I don't have t. I'm not workng. Does anyone need a
bass payer?... The county offcas have been wonderfu, beautfu, exceent - use
any superatve you want. I've had wonderfu cooperaton... If ths s bureaucracy,
et's have more of t."
At Mornng Star, Lou was met by a crowd gathered to hear the resuts. Reef was
evdent on ther faces as they heard that they had a year's grace perod.
"My probaton offcers are comng out ths afternoon," Lou cautoned everyone. "I
want you to be pote to them."
Later that day, the probaton offcers roed nto the front parkng ot. They were
met by Mystery, a formdabe back man wearng ony a feather n hs natura and
a pnk rbbon around hs huge pens. He was known as havng a terrbe temper.
"We're ookng for Mr. Gotteb," one of the offcas sad, tryng to appear
busnesske.
"He may be upon the h somewhere," Mystery reped. "But a cars have to stay
down here."
The crewcut offca repeated hs request, and Mystery repeated hs.
"Yes, we know you have your rues here, but we'd |ust as soon speak to Mr.
Gotteb." Fnay they drove away n a coud of dust.
"Wow, those guys sure respect aw 'n order," Mystery commented sarcastcay.
The offcas reentered the ranch va the back drveway whch aowed them to
park rght next to Lou's shed. Lou greeted them warmy. They asked questons
about the number of nhabtants n both houses. Lou expaned that the
popuaton vared from day to day, and they suggested that some sort of
reguaton mght be necessary.
"No, that's what's new about ths pace," Lou reped. "The Dvne s n charge.
Perhaps you'd ke to hep Hm run Mornng Star for the next year?"
Lou treated them to a ecture on the vaues of Mornng Star, quotng from Robert
Theobad's economc theores about the abundance created by the Machne Age,
and the necessty of enforced esure and utopan communtes.
"Gentemen," Lou contnued, gesturng over the reaxed naked bodes and pes of
garbage. "Here s Utopa. You thought you woud never see t? We, f you know of
a better way, te me and I' try t."
"Are we ready for you yet, Mr. Gotteb?" one of the probaton offcers wondered
out oud.
"Gentemen, make yourseves at home," Lou nvted. "Go anywhere, ask questons
and ook around. I must return to my practce sesson." He setted hmsef at the
pano and a Bach fugue foated across the andscape.
Suddeny a whoe new processon of county cars drove up, offcas poppng up
everywhere. The |udge was seen cmbng over Hochu's fence, a supervsor
wakng up the drveway. The sherff appeared aong wth fve deputes, reporters,
photographers, budng nspectors, heath offcas and |uvene offcers.
Atogether a sma army of thrty or more descended on the ranch. Ther msson:
to cose down Mornng Star once and for a.
"Wecome!" Lou caed, once more emergng from hs studo. "Gentemen,
wecome to Mornng Star!"
The sherff mnced no words n gettng down to busness. "Mr. Gotteb, we are
here to te you that you must vacate your property of ts guests n twenty-four
hours or you and they w be sub|ect to arrest."
Lou was fabbergasted. Ony three hours had passed snce he was assured
Mornng Star woud have an unmoested year to pu tsef together.
"I haven't even been probated yet," he companed. "I'm begnnng to wonder f I
had the best attorney n town."
|uvene offcers fanned out over the property ookng for underage kds. They
found two sxteen-year-od grs whom they took nto custody. Undercover agents
wandered about tryng to ook nconspcuous but gvng themseves away by the
bg grns on ther faces. One poceman took a photo of Mystery and hs
berbboned dong.
"Hey! That's obscene!" another shouted.
"He no, t's art," the photographer answered n hs own defense.
In spte of the prevang carnva atmosphere, the offcas contnued to do ther
|obs. As the budng nspector readed hs 'condemned' sgns, cgarettes were
handed out to the 'natves'.
DANGER
Ths house s deemed unsafe for human occupancy
He posted a the budngs except for Lou's studo (renovated by Lou's carpenter
frend Pete, t more or ess satsfed the code). Mornng Star was now offcay
condemned. Other notces announced that everyone had to vacate the premses
wthn twenty-four hours. The deputes threatened the ranchers wth arrest for a
knds of msdemeanors f they stayed.
"It w be extremey dffcut to compy wth a these reguatons," Lou tod a
reporter. "I don't know whether t sn't better to go to |a."
The probaton offcers began to pressure Lou nto makng an announcement that
everyone had to eave, threatenng to revoke hs probaton f he ddn't compy.
"I can't do that," Lou reped. "I've never dened anyone access to ths and. It's
ke the Indans - t's and hed n trust for everyone to en|oy."
"Lou, what shoud I do?" one Mornng Star rancher asked.
"It's up to you, baby," Lou reped, and began sngng 'Let My Peope Go' to
express hs frustraton.
A reporter asked the assembed offcas what they woud do f the peope refused
to eave.
"We' have to take them off by the truckoad," one of the supervsors answered.
At ast the county cars eft, and a meetng was caed to decde upon a course of
acton.
"Can they take our chdren?" Pam Read asked, wth Adam Sddartha on her ap.
It was agreed that the county coud. Parents and chdren shoud obvousy eave.
Ths depressed everyone, and there was a moment of sence.
"Let's have a party," a voce suggested to cheers and unversa agreement. What
ese was there to do?
On September 14th, Lou returned to court. Chargng he had been doubecrossed
by the prosecuton, he wanted to change hs pea.
"Mr. Gotteb msunderstood what was sad," the Dstrct Attorney argued. "We
never gave hm a year to cean hs pace up. We can't aow anyone to voate the
aw for a year."
The |udge took Lou's moton under advsement, sayng that no pubc agency at
that tme had the authorty to cose the ranch. "|ust because a pubc heath
offcer rues that the budngs on the ranch are unnhabtabe, that doesn't mean
they are. Ths must be determned through tgaton. At ths tme, the ony person
who can te anyone to eave Mornng Star Ranch s Mr. Gotteb."
"Meanwhe, back at the ranch, the party was ganng momentum. Two rock
groups, Amond |oy and The Steve Mer Bues Band, set up and began bastng n
a drectons. About three hundred and ffty peope gathered to booge. One
resdent futst hooked nto an ampfer to |am wth the muscans. Food, grass
and beer was n abundance, the atter a supposed cover-up for the consderaby
more potent chemcas beng passed around. She Sversten reportng for
Payboy appeared on the scene, takng notes for an artce on communes.
By md-afternoon, the poce showed up. They were wecomed by a naked Near
who danced up and put fowers under ther wndshed wpers. They eft qucky,
perhaps afrad ther presence woud precptate a rot. The orbtng
conscousnesses at that gatherng foated far beyond ther sphere of nfuence.
On September 16th, a superor court |udge, on the bass of affdavts from the
budng and heath departments pus Lou's own 'noo contendere' pea, ssued a
temporary restranng order. Mr. Gotteb and hs frends were tod to stop dong
a the thngs whch Mr. Hochu thought horrendous. Copes of the order were
passed out to anyone the deputes found on the ranch.
Meanwhe, Hochu caed a meetng of rate neghbors at the oca Harmony
Unon eementary schoo. Pubc offcas as we as Mornng Star resdents were
nvted. It seemed a bt antcmactc, nasmuch as the most recent court order
was n effect an evcton notce, but Hochu decde to go ahead wth the meetng
"so that other areas of the county can earn from what happened to us."
At 10 a.m., some two hundred and ffty 'straght' neghbors and ffty of the Love
Generaton fed nto the sunny schoo courtyard. Anyone wearng a knfe was
asked to eave t outsde. The Mornng Star peope formed a crce, hodng hands
to "pray that we make t." Ther adversares ooked on wth a mxture of curosty
and dsgust. "Hypocrtes," muttered one od man. Others saw the hppes as aen
creatures, spacemen from another panet. St others saw them as untouchabes,
drty and dseased. The cuture shock reverberated on both sdes. For many
neghbors, ths was ther frst cose-up vew of the ranchers. They saw a great dea
of har and coorfu assembages of rags, bes and beads, |eans, bankets,
embrodered and patched shrts, a wth a dstnct odor of country funk and often
barey modest.
It brought to mnd eary confrontatons between the Europeans and the
ndgenous nhabtants of ths contnent. The whte men saw ony drty, smey
savages who obvousy had no rght to the and where they had ved for so many
generatons.
Hochu got up and rected hs st of grevances: bad santaton, dangerous fre
condtons, theft, trespassng, threats to oca ctzens, gunfghts, harborng of
|uvenes and crmnas, nudty, obscene behavor and heavy traffc on the county
roads. Fnay, he ambasted oca offcas for ther soth n deang wth the
stuaton.
"Grow your har ong and don't take a bath," he sneered. "Then you don't have to
obey the heath aws and you can set a fre anywhere you want."
A heath offca took the podum n hs own defense. He traced hs department's
actvtes at Mornng Star, concudng that "It's our feeng that we have done
everythng we can. We have not operated on a doube standard, and as of ths
Frday mornng, a restranng order has cosed Mornng Star Ranch."
Ths brought oud appause from most of the audence. Next t was the Dstrct
Attorney's turn.
"I thnk my offce has taken an aggressve stand on ths thng, and we w
contnue to do so. If they don't compy wth the restranng order, then they are n
contempt of court." A round of st ouder appause broke out.
A woman asked why the hppes coud wak through town wearng mnskrts or
bedspreads. The Dstrct Attorney suggested ths was a queston of fashon rather
than a ega one.
The sherff stood up. "We' certany do everythng we can to protect aw and
order."
The same supervsor who earer that week had suggested that the hppes mght
have to be carted away by the truckoad took the podum: "The rght of prvate
property s a sacred consttutona rght. However, wth these rghts certan dutes
are mped... My ony regret s that the present stuaton s costy to you and me
as taxpayers. Our many county departments have spent tme and effort - effort
that coud and perhaps shoud have been spent on more creatve pro|ects."
Fnay Lou was gven a chance to speak.
"One thng I don't want to do s to make anyone afrad of what's happenng," he
began.
Taunts from the audence nterrupted hm. The moderator then asked hm to keep
hs comments short. So Lou began agan by sayng that four years earer he
deveoped a "terrbe aergy to the rat race."
"Get hm outta here!" someone yeed form the back of the crowd.
"Let hm speak," a few others reped.
For a thrd tme he aunched nto a dscusson of Mornng Star's aternate fe stye.
"It's a knd of regous revva. Let me have the year that the Probaton
Department was gong to gve me. Everythng w be brought up to code... Reax,
et go, foks. I'm teng you, thngs are gettng tenser and tenser. Three days at
Mornng Star s better than a three-month vacaton n Las Vegas."
Severa peope companed about artces stoen from ther homes.
"Whatever t s, I' pay for t rght now," Lou answered.
Another companed that he had sod hs home n the Haght-Ashbury "to get away
from the hppes, the coored peope and (makng motons wth hs hands) the
fares."
"I won't pont hm out," one ady sad. "But one of these gentemen from Mornng
Star s wearng my husband's coat."
Lou asked her to dentfy hm, but she refused. At ast Hochu made some
concudng remarks.
"The restranng order s a reasonabe concuson to a dangerous and perous
stuaton. Though Mornng Star s now offcay cosed, t s mportant that other
areas (of the county) earn from our experence, so that they w know what to do
when t happens to them.
"Perhaps the most mportant thng to remember s that we are n a strugge for
our chdren's mnds. They must not be exposed to such an obscene foor show.
Look at Mr. Gotteb. Look at these peope!"
The front row of Mornng Star resdents stood up, aughng.
"Take a ook. Are these the peope you want to gude your chdren?"
The audence chorused a bg 'No!'
"I don't want to gude your chdren, anyway," sad a bearded young man.
The meetng broke up, the neghbors havng somethng to tak about for the next
week or two.
#
Chapter 7
Court Dates And The In|uncton
Everybody vng at Mornng Star was supposed to be n court on September 18th,
but some arrved ate and others decded not to go. Before the proceedngs
started, the |udge ordered the baff to escort anyone shrtess, barefoot or
wearng shorts out of the courtroom. A few were ushered outsde. Hs Honor then
read the ffty or so names of those who had been read the restranng order the
prevous week and had been summoned to appear. Haf were absent or tardy, so
bench warrants were ssued for ther arrest. Lou's attorney then asked for a
contnuaton unt Frday so that he coud prepare a defense. The |udge granted t,
addng that no arrests for non-compance woud be made unt that tme. The
restranng order stood as ssued, but everyone was reeved that Mornng Star
coud reman ther home for fve more precous days.
On September 22nd, the Mornng Star trbe regathered n the courthouse. Some
took tme before the hearng to wash ther cothes n the courtyard fountan whe
others |oned hands n prayer. The |udge, red-faced and puffy, seemed especay
rascbe and ordered the baff to e|ect anyone not meetng the dress code. He
evcted severa for wearng bes, whch he found partcuary annoyng. Fnay,
wth a scow on hs face, he caed the court to order.
"Your Honor," the Dstrct Attorney began. "Snce none of the defendants present
have an attorney, I move that the case aganst them be dsmssed, snce f the
court grants the n|uncton aganst Mr Gotteb, the same ob|ectve w have been
acheved."
The |udge's subsequent dsmssa of the charges aganst the ffty was the ony
brght moment n an otherwse dsma day. A score of offcas testfed to the
trash, fth and human waste coverng the ranch. They agreed t was no onger an
organzed camp snce none of the orgna structures (except Lou's studo), ean-
to's, shed and A-frames met any of the state's organzed camp standards, et
aone those of the county.
Hochu took the stand. "I have seen ranch resdents engaged n sexua
ntercourse near my fence, peope urnatng, defecatng and wakng around n the
nude."
"What does t sme ke?" the |udge asked.
"A good od-fashoned eftover toet," he answered amdst aughter form the
audence.
"Ths s a thng you can't measure n decbes, ether!" the |udge commented.
In hs cross-examnaton, Lou's attorney dd not dspute condtons at the ranch,
but ponted out that hs cent had been cooperatve wth offcas and had tred to
obey ther orders. Fnay t grew ate, and the |udge contnued the case for a
week at whch tme Lou, as the ony defendant, woud have hs chance to rebut
the county's cams. Of the n|uncton as granted at that tme, the Dstrct Attorney
sad he woud take mmedate steps to cose the ranch.
September 29th: Eary fa rans set a ch n the ar, causng some Mornng Star
resdents to eave for warmer cmes. But the courtroom was packed wth those
who consdered the ranch ther home regardess of weather or ega probems.
Werthemer began the proceedngs by cang two frendy neghbors to the stand.
Wam Barow came from an od and respected famy who once had owned the
whoe vaey around Graton. Don Orr was one of the argest appe growers n the
area. They both testfed that Mornng Star peope had not caused them any
troube, and that the hppes were busy ceanng up the ranch.
LOU: "Don Orr was one of the very few peope who saw the future and knew that
t worked. He was aways very hepfu wth respect to the ranch. At east four
tmes he brought hs two-ton fatbed truck up to Mornng Star aong wth hs
severa heathy, arge sons, and together we ceaned up the mess the hppes had
eft - a sub|ect about whch I w speak agan ater because I'm not sure that t
shoud have been ceaned up. At any rate, we were dong what we thought was
rght."
Bearded patrarch Lou, contrastng strangey wth the cean-shaven |udge of hs
own generaton, then took the wtness stand to testfy on hs own behaf.
"In the past seventeen months, I have become aware of a great need n our
socety," he began. "The Great Socety s n reaty a rat race, creatng the knd of
envronment whch can be etha. The runaway |uvenes and army deserters who
come to Mornng Star are a fne exampe of ths. Our socety s transformng so
rapdy, the machne dspacng peope, that t produces bums at an ncreasng
rate. They have become technoogcay unempoyabe, for machnes do ther |obs
better and more effcenty. Ths s a tremendous affront to the empoyed.
Therefore, new avenues of experment must be expored to fnd out what to do
wth a ths esure tme. Aong ths ne, I see Mornng Star as an open, ntentona
communty wth a tremendous potenta for psychoogca and socoogca
dscovery.
"Moreover, communa vng has been heathfu for many. If you suffer from ucers,
don't go to Las Vegas for an expensve vacaton. Come to Mornng Star. Before
n|ectng posterors wth massve doses of vtamn B-12, doctors shoud
recommend a three-month stay n Aternate Socety. We are the frst of many
such communtes to fuf such needs, satsfyng the aw by ovng our neghbors
as we ove ourseves.
"Ths stye of vng can aso be used as a esson of survva n the manner of the
Amercan Indans. As more and more peope return to the and from the ctes,
they must earn the ways of the and - how to survve on t - how to grow ther
own food, how to construct ther own sheters, so that they can go from an urban
to a rura envronment.
"I have cooperated fuy wth the county offcas n attemptng to compy wth
ther wshes n brngng the ranch up to standard. As of today, there are sx
workng toets n runnng order, huge amounts of trash and debrs have been
haued to the dump, and numerous shacks and ean-to's have been demoshed. I
have grandose pans,ncudng a mess-assemby ha and dormtores whch w
be beautfuy constructed n fok archtecture."
The Dstrct Attorney then nterrupted to asked who as n charge when he was
away.
I beeve that Mornng Star s n the hands of the Dvne," Lou reped.
It was ate afternoon when the fna arguments were presented. Werthemer
argued that hs cent had tred to cooperate. The Dstrct Attorney sad that penty
of evdence had been presented to support an n|uncton. Wth the case submtted
on both sdes, the |udge began to read the bans whch woud be enforced at
Mornng Star. They prohbted anyone from dong the foowng:
1 - Operatng an organzed camp unt heath hazards are abated.
2 - Inhabtng any structure, except Mr. Gotteb's one-room cabn, unt they
compy wth budng code standards.
3 - Exposng themseves or engagng n sexua ntercourse n vew of the roadway
or any other propertes.
4 - Trespassng on neghborng propertes.
5 - Depostng garbage or human excreton on the property.
6 - Startng fres except where there s a permt.
7 - Budng new structures or reparng od ones uness a permt s obtaned.
Fnay, he ordered Lou to tear down a structures whch had been condemned
and to hau away a trash wthn thrty days. He further stated that hs order or
any porton of t coud be modfed or suspended at any tme "f good cause was
shown." He was gvng no consderaton to Lou's phosophy because "that can't
be egsated n court. I'm ony nterested n voatons of the aw."
He went on to say that "Mr. Gotteb's predcament remnds me of a man who
says he's budng a hote and nvtes guests whe t's beng but. In other words,
he's puttng the cart before the horse." When Lou's attorney asked for a twenty-
day stay of the order - and then ten, the |udge reped that penty of tme had
aready been gven. The pace had to be ceared by the foowng Wednesday.
Lou's reacton to the proceedngs: "I'm more confused than ever!"
On October 2nd, the rans began n earnest wth a day-ong downpour. Peope
hudded around the frepace n the Lower House, tryng to decde whether to
eave or stay and face arrest.
"I guess when they come, a we can say s that we ve here," someone
commented.
Lou stayed n hs studo, payng hs pano and wonderng what to do. Later he
went over the n|uncton tem by tem.
"No one dsagrees wth that secton... of course... we agree there, but how to
compy? The budng and heath nspectors were here yesterday, and eft me
more confused than ever! Maybe ten grand w do t, but t mght be twenty... I'm
sorry we haven't been abe to convnce the |udge or the peope of Sonoma County
that what we are dong s of hstorc sgnfcance and that we're not threatenng
anybody. The n|uncton s a document drawn up out of fear, but what are they
afrad of? I don't know... If you thnk ths coses ths pace, you're out of your nut!"
The next day a bg feast was prepared. It was the nght before the Wednesday
evcton deadne and the party asted unt eary mornng. Ncknamed 'The Last
Supper,' t was attended by about forty peope who had decded to reman and
face possbe arrest.
FRIAR TUCK: "That was aso about the tme of the 'Beeper.' It was strange, that's
for sure. You'd be sttng n the Lower House, and out n the trees you'd hear
'beep!... beep!...' It was rea steady-ke. 'What the fuck's that?' you'd say and
take a run outsde and start ookn' around. Lke forty guys woud be out there,
and you'd hear t, man, but t was nowhere. It had a ot of peope freaked out for a
ong tme. I can remember peope staggerng out nto the nght to become
competey ost twenty feet from the Lower House, stoned out of ther mnds, n
search of the Beeper."
The foowng mornng, as breakfast was beng prepared, the sherff and two
heath offcas waked nto the Lower House.
"Good mornng, offcers, can we offer you somethng to eat?" one of the cooks
asked.
They decned the nvtaton (there mght be LSD n the food), and nstead
proceeded to nspect the ranch, notebooks and cameras n hand, recordng the
extent to whch Mornng Star was obeyng the |udge's n|uncton. On the bass of
ther nspecton, they fed the foowng affdavt wth the court:
1 - About 21 persons were aseep n eeven dfferent structures on the ranch.
2 - Mr. Gotteb was st mantanng an organzed camp n that 30 or more
persons were vng on the ranch, peope were seepng there and food was beng
consumed.
3 - Mr. Gotteb had not comped wth the requrements of an organzed camp n
that the factes for preparaton and the handng of food were nadequate; the
food and utenss were not propery stored, nor were they cean.
4 - The sewage dsposa factes were nadequate n that the dsposa factes for
the accommodaton of ktchen wastes had not been competed.
5 - Approved garbage contaners were not provded and there was st refuse
yng about the camp, such as trash and rubbsh.
6 - Athough abe to do so, Mr. Gotteb had not requred the resdents to eave the
ranch.
On the bass of the affdavt, the |udge rued Lou n contempt of court. He fned
hm the maxmum fve hundred doars or fve days n |a, addng that for each
day's voaton there woud be a smar penaty.
Lou returned to the ranch feeng checkmated. Sobs and cryng greeted hs news.
Everyone gathered n Don and Sandy's house to decde what to do. Don
suggested that everyone shoud stay on prncpe and that Lou shoud refuse to
pay the fnes. It was ponted out that ths woud be frutess, snce the court woud
smpy attach Lou's bank account. No one wanted to see ths happen.
Don Orr had read of the most recent deveopments n the Press Democrat and
came to the meetng to see f he coud hep. He offered hs farm workers'
dormtores as temporary sheter snce t was off-season and they stood empty.
About a me down Graton Road, the dorms had beds, bankets and cookng
factes. The thought of eavng Mornng Star was heartbreakng, but snce Lou
woud be hurt the most f peope stayed, everyone fnay voted to move out. The
sad exodus began, and by nghtfa Mornng Star stood deserted except for one
oney ght n Lou's shed.
Don Orr's compassonate generosty touched everyone, but few were abe to
seep and most suffered from acute homesckness. Some took to wanderng the
county road n the eary mornng unt they found themseves amost nvountary
back at the ranch. They reazed that t was home, come what may.
LOU: "Don Orr understood competey the whoe dea of Land Access To Whch Is
Dened No One and ts benefca effects, but he coud never qute detach hmsef
from the monster. The ast tme I saw hm n ths fe, he came n and sat down n
the egg shed and sad, 'We, Lou, I'm a success. I'm $400,000 n debt to the Bank
of Amerca.' One week ater he mxed hmsef a mkshake wth a etha dose of
pestcde and ked hmesef."
The foowng mornng, October 7th, Lou phoned the sherff's offce to ask them
what he must do to get out of payng fve hundred more doars that day. They
reped that he must pace the peope who refused to eave the ranch under
ctzen's arrest and the deputes woud come and take them away. Lou reported
ths to the peope who had returned, about thrty by md-mornng. They had
gathered around the campfre to wat for a pot of brown rce to cook.
NEAR: "Lou sat wth us, very depressed about what he was gong to have to do.
Mar|uana sacrament was passed out whch most peope ate so there woud be no
reveang odors when the poce arrved. The poce arrved around one p.m.
Ffteen peope ned up, watng to be arrested. The poce asked each person f he
woud eave mmedatey to avod arrest. Each refused to eave, decarng Mornng
Star was hs home. Then the poce ordered Lou to arrest them. As Lou rected the
words, 'I pace you under arrest,' he hugged and kssed each of hs frends
goodbye.
"They were drven to |a. After beng fngerprnted and photographed, the men
and women were paced n separate ces. Ther voces unted, however, n chorus
after chorus of 'Hare Krshna.'
"I had some traveer's checks stashed. Pror to the arrest, I wrote down
everyone's name wth the ntenton of bang them out as soon as possbe and
caed a ba bondsman. He agreed to gve me a bargan rate. He woud take a
my checks ($120 worth) and free whomever want to be free.
"A the women were freed by hs bond aong wth one man - |unor. The rest of
the men decded to reman n |a and fast. Sandy Kng freaked out when she
earned that Don had chosen to reman n |a. At frst she tred to get back n, but
they woudn't et her back n her ce. Then she started scodng me for havng
baed her out. It was qute a show! The women and |unor were pcked by some
Mornng Star brothers who had chosen not to be busted. Nerves were taut for
those arrested as we as for those who hadn't been.
"Shorty after ths group returned to Mornng Star, Lou took a carfu up to B and
Gwen Wheeer's ranch. B's studo was amost fnshed after a year of hard work,
and the Wheeers had decded to have a housewarmng. They had nvted oca
ranchers, a restaurant owner from Occdenta and aso a the Mornng Star
peope. The ranchers stayed n one corner drnkng beer whe the hppes gobbed
down a the food to the very ast crumb. They found B's dope stash, fnshed t
off and dsappeared down the path to expore the and. Lou was unabe to en|oy
any of t. He was sprawed out on the foor wth the worst headache he had ever
had. He fet ke he was dyng. Those arrested had no hard feengs towards Lou.
They knew he hadn't wanted to bust them, and they ddn't have to be busted.
They tred to cheer hm up, but he was out of t."
GWEN: "On that day, the ovng exporatons of a those psychedec fok
decatey broke the sotude of Sheep Rdge and, unknown to B and me, the
seed of the and's new fe receved the stmuaton t needed to sprout."
|ust after the women were baed out, Gna, Ramn and Katy the Dog drove nto
Mornng Star, fresh from a recuperatve rest at Tostoy Farm. Wth them came
Fruts 'n Nuts Nancy and Way, Nancy's two chdren Greggy and Mchee, her
teenage brother Denny and Toms, a Mexcan-Amercan young man they had met
up north. Ramn was amazed at the changes at the ranch. The Lower House
ktchen and dnng room had been destroyed per order of the county as we as
the porch of the Upper House. No cookng coud go on at the ranch. A meas
were beng prepared at Don Orr's farmworkers' dnng ha whch contaned a we-
apponted ktchen wth a hote-type stove.
RAMON: "If Sonoma County's offcadom had had ther heads screwed on straght,
they woud have heped bud a smar dnng ha at Mornng Star nstead of
tearng down what tte there was. The bombed-out appearance of both houses
dstressed me. It aso encouraged vstors and newcomers to contnue wreckng
the structures because t seemed as f nobody cared what happened to them."
Frendy neghbors raed around, and many memorabe meas were served n
Don Orr's dnng ha. The Orrs, the Barows and many others came and ate there.
|ohn Buter had arrved as we as Coyote, Nea, |mmy Sma, Raymond and
FLorence wth ther beautfu chdren, Daman and Paua, Zen |ack, Tracy, Pat,
Santago, Davd Abraham - the st was endess.
|ohn Buter was a very handsome, very back man who ooked ke the archetypa
Msssspp rverboat worker - ke |m n Huckeberry Fnn - a type that the average
whte person woud treat n a condescendng manner. He had a quet, meodous
way of takng and was extremey hosptabe and generous wth everythng he
owned. He began vng n the Lower House and hs bedroom, whch had orgnay
been Ramn and Gna's, became a pace where anyone coud go at any tme of
day or nght. The rado was aways payng and there was aways somethng to
smoke. Anythng he had he shared, and peope came to te hm ther troubes. A
bg-hearted brother wth ots of sou, very devoted to Lou and the communty,
|ohn fet that Mornng Star was a dream come true, a pace where he fet safe.
RAMON: "|ohn was a ovey man, wth none of the btterness and hostty of so
many other Backs who came. He wasn't a sparkng taker, but somehow there
was nothng more fun than gong to |ohn's room, gettng stoned and stenng to
the rado wth hm. He woud brng out hs speca stash of cookes or weed,
makng you fee so wecome and speca. Durng the tme he ved at the ranch he
was arrested at east sx tmes, spendng many months n |a.
"In contrast, '|unor' payed the roe of the dumb ngger. He was reay very smart,
but he ked to come on that way. He oved to nudge up next to someone stoned
on acd and pay hs bamboo fute n ther ear, rdng a contact hgh, unt the
person went totay beserk!"
COYOTE: "Me and some frends had a crash pad n San Francsco. I was stoned on
acd one day, and thngs were gettng stagnant. Fnay someone sad, 'Let's go
htchhkng! Foow me!' And I sad okay and we stumbed out the door wthout our
seepng bags or anythng, and the next thng I know - bonk! - I'm n the Upper
House. |ust about that tme, everybody had been tod to move off and go to Orr's.
Nobody had gone to |a yet. Somebody gave me a number three cap of MDA, and
then Fruts 'n Nuts Nancy gave me another haf a cap. The next thng I remember
was yng there yeng for hep. It was ntense, but I know I fe n ove wth
everybody. I took my drum and went out to that od cross n the orchard and
payed, and everyone came over and stened. Later on that nght, t was 'Take me
to your favorte spot' tme. Each person took the others to ther favorte spot on
the and. When t was my turn, I took everybody on a wd goose chase. It was the
most totay nvoved hgh I had ever experenced, 'cause you had to do t wth
someone ese. It was no fun by yoursef. But once I got the taste of LSD n my
craw, mm-mm, I coudn't stop. Peope woud come up to me and say, 'How much
to you want?' And I'd say, 'I' cose my eyes and open my mouth and et you
surprse me.' I spt a gram of Orange Sunshne wth a frend of mne n Laguna
Beach, and had a throwng-up contest n downtown Santa Ana."
#
Chapter 8
More Arrests And B Wheeer's Offer
Many Mornng Star peope ved at Don Orr's a wnter. But others moved back to
Mornng Star rght after the frst bust. The men n |a hed out for ten days,
refusng to be baed out or to be reeased on ther own recognzance. But after a
ten-day fast, they accepted O.R.'s The case of the Mornng Star Ffteen was
deayed by the |udge unt md-October and then dropped n eary November.
It was about that tme that Zen |ack arrved, a thn, ascetc-ookng man wth a
wonderfu far for teng funny stores when he wasn't medtatng.
ZEN |ACK: "I frst heard about Mornng Star on Haght Street from an od frend
who was vng there. 'It's a beautfu pace - come on up,' he sad. So I htched up,
and ths guy pcked me up n Sebastopo and sad, 'I' take you up because t's
gettng dark.' He drove me |ust about sunset and sad, 'Here you are,' and ponted
to the Lower and Upper Houses and sad, 'That's where the peope are.' So I got
out. It was quet, wet and dreary. I waked nto the Upper House, and there was
ths one dm forty-watt bub hangng over a ths har and drt and funky cothes -
a roomfu of mosty bg hppe men, Haght Street punks havng dnner. I ooked
for my frend, wakng through the room wth my pack on my back, but I coudn't
make out any faces. And peope were sayng to me, 'Wecome home, brother! H!
How are you? Wecome! Are you hungry? You want somethng to eat?'
"I ddn't know anybody and ddn't recognze anybody, but strangers were comng
up to me and huggng me, you know. It was a mnd-bower. I was reay mnd-
bown by t. And everybody was fthy and beautfu and they were eatng ths
horrbe food under ths reay dreary ghtbub - ths bare ghtbub. Then I sad,
'I'm ookng for a frend, Kye Banks.' And they sad, 'Oh yeah, Kye's here - hey
Kye!' And Kye came over and sad, 'Hey, you made t!' It was |ust ke a wecome
home party. Everybody |ust sad, 'You're wecome!' None of ths 'Who are you?'
You waked nto the pace, and mmedatey they sad 'Wecome home!'"
Fruts 'n Nuts Nancy made a connecton for a number of exotc psychedecs
ncudng MDA. MDA was not a new compound, but t was ony recenty that ts
psychotropc aspects had begun to be apprecated. Psychatrsts found t very
hepfu n gettng patents to oosen up and express ther feengs. Toms was one
of the frst peope at the ranch to try MDA. It was obvous to anyone who saw hm
that he was havng a wonderfu tme, athough he was such a beautfu person
that t was ke gvng Toms a 'Toms' p. One day both Lou and Ramn tred t,
and Ramn was totay sod. He thought that at ast the p had arrved whch you
coud drop nto your grandma's teacup, safe n the knowedge that she woud
thank you for t wth tears n her eyes. It seemed the safest and most
unbummabe trp n the word. Later reports proved ths not to be so.
But that Thanksgvng t reeased a the ove that had not been fndng
expresson. Twenty or thrty peope took t and stood for hours wth ther arms
around each other. It was the utmate heart experence. Some ex-speedfreaks
camed t was |ust speed, and ndeed t was chemcay derved from the
amphetamne moecue, athough the speed aspect was buffered somehow. That
was MDA November, and the Work Party photo taken by the Sherff's Department
came from that tme.
LOU: "On the afternoon of the group photograph, we had a taken MDA, some
that same day, some a few days before. It was a true ove-n, no busht. In the
mdde of everythng, an Itaan TV company showed up. Ther mnds were
absoutey caved n by the gongs-on. Then the poce arrved, athough by that
tme most of the trppers had reentered norma reaty. We were a sttng around
n a group on the h as they passed by on ther way to the orchard to search for
structures and turds. So we asked the budng nspector to take a group shot."
There was a u n county pressure at ths tme. Ramn moved nto Otto's wooden
tp behnd the barn whch was beng used for mornng chantng sessons. Gna
had eft the ranch agan and he, aong wth most of the other men, was n ove
wth Cndy. Cndy woud get up very eary and wak down to Orr's ktchen and
cook a huge pot of mush. Ramn woud foow her down n hs Chevy truck, oad
the mush and drve t back to the ranch. It woud be served by the we to
whomever wanted breakfast.
There were group medtatons and hatha yoga sessons. A number of young men
woud aways be chantng 'Hare Krshna' or 'Omng.' Ramn organzed mornng
chantng n the barn accompaned by readngs from Sr Aurobndo or The Warrors
Of The Ranbow whch deat wth Amercan Indan propheses concernng the star
that woud rse n the east and the chef who woud come brngng wth hm the
Herb of Understandng. But wth Chrstmas oomng, one day Ramn became very
angry and eft for the cty.
RAMON: "I had begun dreamng amost nghty n a romantc way about Cndy,
and whenever that happened to me, I was a goner. I'd wake up eary and go off to
fnd her and te her how much I oved her. I guess she thought I was pretty
strange. Ths went on for severa weeks. Before that started, I had graduay
nvoved mysef n my Sun Yoga once more and was wearng a goden eage
feather n my har. Then one day I put up some money to score a pound of good
weed. I decded that ths tme t woudn't be consumed n the norma haphazard
fashon. Instead, I woud reserve t for the mornng chantng sessons. I was tred
of the unceremona and mmedate consumpton of dope on the pace and was
determned to pay Medcne Man. We, I returned from somewhere a day ater
and was tod, 'Hey, your pound of weed was fantastc!' 'Whaaat?' I yeed. It had
arrved whe I was gone and, n the usua fashon, was dstrbuted and smoked
up. We, I ht the roof. It amazed everyone how strongy I fet about t. But the
combnaton of my unrequted ove and the frustraton of my pans |ust proved too
much. I gave my goden eage feather to Crazy Aen and sang hm my Eage
Chant, subty mpyng he was to take over my roe, and eft for the cty for the
wnter.
"I ved n a warehouse n the Oakand Nava Suppy Depot whch was rented by
my frend Don Bucha, a desgner-manufacturer of eectronc syntheszers. He
gave me a |ob wrng crcut boards, and n my off-hours I payed n hs eectronc
musc studo, tryng to dupcate the sound of my nervous system on the
equpment. One nght I stood up from the contro board and mpored God to take
away any occut or sprtua power I had accumuated. I ddn't want to pay
medcne man any more. I |ust wanted thngs to be more or ess norma. Then I
started spendng a ot of tme down the pennsua wth a new womanfrend.
FRIAR TUCK: "I was trppng through the woods at Mornng Star ate one nght and
I saw these thngs shnng on the ground. I coudn't fgure out what they were, so I
checked them out the next mornng. And here were these Amanta Muscara
mushrooms, and they were huge, man, the sze of a fuckng pancake. So I ran
down to Lou's pace and sad, 'Lou, sten, you got a mnute? C'mon wth me a
second.' So we waked up there, and there were ffty or sxty of them growng
under the pne trees. When Lou saw them he |ust sad, 'A!' And he got down on
hs hands and knees and started eatng them. "Ths s the way t's done," he sad.
"Eat them ke a cow." Everybody dd and - whew! - we got very hgh. It came on a
ot ke acd but wthout the eectrc."
COYOTE: "I was wakng towards the orchard one nght down where my treehouse
was, and I heard these noses behnd me. They sounded ke footsteps, so I
started wakng a tte faster and faster, and then I'd stop and they'd stop, I'd take
one step and they'd take two. I sad 'Wow! Far out!' Whhht! I was gone, man, ke
a bot of scaret ghtnng. But the footsteps were rght behnd me, so I peeed off
around the corner, eaped the fence and cmbed nto my treehouse. I eaped and
grabbed the bottom of the doorway and swung mysef up - that's what I dd. Then
a of a sudden there was ths 'ch-ch-ch,' footsteps, and I sad, 'Guh... there t s
agan!' Womp! I threw somethng over the top of the door and then peered out
ths tte crack. Somethng was wakng around the tree, but I coudn't see what t
was. Then a of a sudden I heard the boards creakn', the boards that were naed
to the tree as a adder, ke they had a heavy weght on 'em. They started creakn'
and I |ust |umped nto my bed and pued the bankets over my head. I heard the
door open, and a of a sudden ths feen' |ust washed over me. I was ayn' there,
you know how when you were a kd and you got scared you pued the bankets
over your head and t was arght. We, I hd out under my bankets, and pretty
soon my chest got ths cod feeng, and then my whoe body started gettng ce-
cod and the ar around me was eectrc. I coudn't beeve how eectrc t was, but
I don't know to ths day what t was. It wasn't no bush-stomper nether!"
NEAR: "On Chrstmas Eve, everyone gathered n Don and Sandy's house. We sat
around the woodstove, feeng good |ust to be together. Don and Sandy aternated
readng the bbe to the gatherng. Lou eft about eght o'cock to |on hs wfe
Doy and ther kds n Berkeey. Then Don's face t up.
"'Hey, I have a great dea!' he sad. 'Let's go to Mdnght Mass.'
Everyone thought t woud be a good thng to do, so Ross was sent out to score
rdes for everyone to Occdenta whe Sandy rummaged through her cothes and
found some rags for kerchefs for the ades' heads. About ffteen fnay arrved at
the church. They were very eary and had to wat for the prest to arrve and
unock the door. When he showed up, they streamed n and took seats n severa
pews. Other sncere foks began arrvng, and soon t was uncomfortaby obvous
that the seats next to the freaks were remanng empty. Some atecomers even
chose to stand rather then st next to them. After the servce, some of the
Mornng Star fok decded to wak back under the fu moon.
"Chrstmas Day began wth the poce wakng everyone up before sunrse, takng
ther names, addresses, brthpaces and soon. They waked n on Toms, |udy and
Doug who were |oyousy bang, but whose pace suddeny sowed to tantrc at the
sght of the unforms and badges. Everyone poured ove on the cops, and the
harassment transformed nto good vbes. They fnay eft wthout bustng anyone.
"By then the sun was shnng brghty, and peope made ther way to a bughur
wheat breakfast n the Upper House. A Chrstmas tree was standng n the vng
room. Sma presents, rangng from roach cps to used socks, had been paced
under the tree for everyone. Kye and Cndy had made wreaths and they crowned
each person as he arrved.
"After breakfast, everyone moved out to the meadow to dance, make musc, or
|ust e on ther backs n ecstasy. Fruts 'n Nuts Nancy, who had mgrated to a
nearby town, arrved wth a arge tray of cupcakes and some |onts. Both were
nstanty consumed. There was no feast that day. Brown rce and pnto beans
were the Chrstmas fare. No one reay mnded - they had had turkey and ham
Chrstmas dnners many tmes n ther parents' homes. At Mornng Star they fed
on the ove of the trba famy. It was aways warm at Mornng Star, even when
your seepng bag was soggy."
FRIAR TUCK: "How about the Phantom Fucker? Has anyone taked about the
Phantom Fucker? On at east one occason, amost everyone I knew at Mornng
Star was vsted n the mdde of the nght by the Phantom Fucker. Whether t was
the same Phantom Fucker or not I don't know, but I doubt t. But say you were
extra oney one nght and wshed someone reay near and dear was wth you.
We, more key than not, durng the nght the Phantom Fucker woud make t
nto your bed and make you! You'd never know who t was that was arousng you
n a postve manner, nor dd you know who t was when they eft. I thnk |ust
about everybody I knew was the Phantom Fucker or the Phantom Fuckee at one
tme or other. I know that Near was for awhe, and I magne Lou was the
Phantom Fucker more than anybody ese I know. No, I reay thnk so! He won't
admt t, and says that durng the Mornng Star years he got ess pussy than at
any other tme n hs entre fe, but I thnk he's a damfoo ar."
Throughout that wnter, Lou contnued to be hed responsbe for everythng that
went on at Mornng Star. Utmatey he was fned $500 thrty-seven tmes for
contempt of court each tme someone was found vng on the ranch, the grand
tota reachng $13,500. If the cost of the mprovements he made by order of the
county were added to the fnes, the abortve bath house, the each nes to the
toets nobody used as we as the vaue of the Upper and Lower houses (both of
whch were fnay budozed at hs expense), Lou was n the hoe about $100,000.
LOU: "In|unctve procedure, as |ohn L. Lews found out as we as many others
under the Taft-Hartey Law, renders you poweress once you have come under t.
The |udge tes you what you w do and then you do t, or otherwse you are
aready guty. He's both the |udge and the |ury. He sets the aw and enforces t.
Very bad. In|unctve procedure s worse than any knd of crmna procedure
because you don't have any - we, I've never been on tra, don't you understand?
Never once. There has never been a tra. These are a orders to show cause, to
demonstrate why I shoud not be found guty, as f you can prove a negatve.
There s no way I coud show why I shoud not. I was aready guty f I had faed
to do what the court thought I shoud have done, and there was no crme. It was a
rea move aganst a fe stye."
In ate February, tte Pam Reed was arrested for assaut on Deputy 'Rocky'
Rockson at Mornng Star.
LOU: "Larry Reed had been found guty of vng at Mornng Star Ranch. As a
resut, he had been put on probaton and tod to eave the ranch. However he had
returned to ve wth hs wfe Pam and Adam Sddartha. Three days earer he had
appeared on a TV show and had admtted that he ved at Mornng Star, a cear
voaton of hs probaton. The sherff's department had seen the show, so they
came out specfcay to get Larry. Deputy Rockson, who covered ths beat, or
'Rocky' as he was caed, and another cop arrved eary n the mornng.
"The frst thng I knew about the bust was that Pam, who was often moved by the
dramatc, was screamng. And Pam coud scream ke I've never heard another
creature scream. It was unbeevabe. There have been good screamers here, but
et's say her screams were resonant and had a certan voca opuence. By the
tme I got there, the cops were haung both of them off to |a. Rocky camed that
Pam had kcked hm n the nuts. She was ess than fve feet ta and seven months
pregnant at the tme. Anyway, they took the whoe famy off and tte Adam
Sddartha went to |uvene Ha. That was a rea bummer, that one, but t gave us
a a vst to |uvene Ha, whch was reay terrbe. I thnk the thng that's bad
about t s that there are so many peope there who are absoutey certan they
know what s n the best nterests of the chdren. Oh ho ho, mother! When you
know what's n the best nterests of somebody ese, t's terrbe"
Pam opted for a |ury tra whch was schedued for Apr and returned to the ranch.
The poce contnued to make perodc checks, ncreasng ther surveance to
amost day when the warmer weather began. As the mornng star rose n the
sky, a cop car woud pu n by Lou's studo and park. Two deputes woud make a
crcut of the property, amng ther fashghts n seepers' faces and demandng
ther names. The n|uncton woud be read aoud whe the person stood yawnng
and rubbng the seep out of ther eyes. If t was the frst tme, a warnng was
ssued. If a week or two went by before the cops found the same person, they
tended |ust to warn them agan. But f they found hm wthn the next few days,
he coud be sure of beng arrested. Obvousy ony hardy sous coud survve, the
'brush rabbts' as Lou named them. At the frst sgn of the deputes' car, they
hghtaed t for the bushes and ta grass.
ZEN |ACK: "The cops were wecome, even though they chased us. Everybody
accepted the game. The cops woud chase you and you'd run. Gna and I went
runnng one mornng n the msty fog through the orchard wth Katy the Dog. We
were naked and t was reay beautfu, runnng naked, rotten appes squshng
under our feet, the cop rght behnd us, sdng and sppng on appes. 'Here he
comes! Here he comes!' He woudn't shoot at us or anythng, but he was runnng
as quety as possbe, hopng we'd thnk he wasn't there any more and stop.
That's when they'd tacke you. There was ths gr who was runnng around a
bush. One cop ran around one sde and another around the other.
"'Oh! You've caught me!' she sad.
"'What's your name?' they asked.
"'Mary Lady,'
"Come on, what's your rea name?' they asked.
"She stamped her foot and sad, 'That's t!'
"They aughed and sad, 'Okay, Mary Lady, f you're here tomorrow, we' take you
to |a.' The cops saw t a as a game too. They'd augh and be good-humored
about t."
Lou and Near had started vng together n an on-and-off way. They certany
made a strkng coupe; Near, young and very beautfu wth a marveous head of
curs, ntegent but rght out of Zap Comcs, and Lou n fu beard and har, the
beeaguered and artcuate prophet of the New Age. Ther reatonshp seemed
cosmcay destned, athough Near ked to test ts eastcty wth handsome
newcomers, somethng whch put Lou through the emotona wrnger on occason.
Each had much to offer the other. In the hard months that foowed, they set a
strong exampe for the rest of the ranch nhabtants.
RAMON: "In eary March, Pam, Gna and Cndy vsted me at my womanfrend's
house n Redwood Cty. They asked me to come up and vst Mornng Star,
mpyng n a somewhat fatterng way that the pace needed my energes. I had
been wantng to vst, and started spendng weekends there. In Apr I moved
back. I parked my od yeow pane truck on the orchard road as a roadbock n an
attempt to keep the orchard free of vehces. One tre had a sow eak and went
fat, so I fattened ts opposte to keep t eve. Lou referred to t as 'Ramn's cave.'
So I was back on the and I oved so much."
GWEN: "One day n eary March, B and I were on our way home from shoppng
when Lou's car, oaded wth peope, pued n front of us. We foowed them,
everybody honkng and wavng, unt they stopped at a house on Coeman Vaey
Road. Lou came up and nvted us to |on them n the ceebraton of |ade's
brthday. That evenng we earned that the county courts had decreed that a
Mornng Star resdents had to eave ther homes or be arrested. The houses were
to be destroyed and Lou was to be fned for every person vng there. The powers
of the government stood n opposton to the exstence of Mornng Star and were
prepared to et nether |ustce nor humanty stand n the way of ts destructon.
"Because the Mornng Star famy oved ther home, qute a few were prepared to
stay and be arrested, f necessary. However there were some who coud not
afford to take the rsk because of prevous warrants, ether for traffc tckets, dope
charges or draft evason. Fames feared havng ther peacefu fe nterrupted by
scenes of arrests, and havng ther chdren paced n foster homes. Much
happness from persona and sprtua growth was experenced at the ranch but, n
the face of osng ther homes, the resdents fet confused and depressed. When
B and I eft that nght, we nvted Lou and hs famy to dnner the foowng
week."
Somewhere durng that evenng's festvtes, Near asked B the queston that was
on a Mornng Star resdents' mnds.
"Why don't you open up your and, B?" she asked, gvng hm a sexy Persan
ktten ook.
He seemed embarrassed by her queston. It woud be ke gvng away hs beoved
and. But somethng ese took over, as f a hgher conscousness spoke to hm.
Perhaps the and tsef was cang the peope to ts groves and meadows.
"I never cosed t," B responded wth a gnt of mschef n hs eyes.
BILL: "I wondered whether n the Amercan and-rghts system there coud be a
radca experment n whch a substanta number of peope ved together on a
pece of and and dd not destroy t. Open Land fet ke the answer. And the and
dd ca, openng tsef."
B's response to Near set a the hearts n the room beatng wdy. Was ths
young Connectcut Yankee reay throwng n hs ot wth Mornng Star? Suddeny
a sorts of new possbtes seemed to take shape, the most mportant beng the
chance to try out Mornng Star's thess on a pece of and ten tmes arger and
much more soated from ts neghbors. It woud provde a refuge form poce
harassment.
BILL: "I was deepy senstve to the fact that I had more and than I needed. I
began to fee t was my duty to share t. The Mornng Star famy were beng
hassed and arrested day. It was a heartbreakng drama. They desperatey
needed a home. It was no accdent that the poce n the sweeps of Mornng Star
arrested the most ovng and responsbe, eavng the wnos, speed freaks and
bkers to tear the frage fabrc and drve the good peope away. The ranch's bad
reputaton and mpossbe vng condtons stemmed from ths. In a speech at that
tme, Caforna governor Ronad Reagan sad, 'Let there be no more Mornng
Stars.' The rony was that n attemptng to cose down Mornng Star, they opened
Sheep Rdge."
On the evenng of the frst day of mass arrests at Mornng Star, Lou and hs
frends came to dnner at B and Gwen's. Mosty women, chdren and those who
had hdden to avod arrest attended, the ma|orty of the men n |a. Sprts were
somber but meow, refectng the pan of the bow to the communty. Gwen had
cooked when she thought was a arge dnner, but when one Mornng Star brother
saw the mea, he offered to hep her cook up a the rest of the food n the house.
And t was a eaten. Conversaton was sparse. Lou ay on the foor, commentng
on the peasantness of the barnke studo wth ts handhewn beams and arge
wndows facng north. Near stood on her head n the corner.
GWEN: "A few days ater, B tod me wth hs tte-boy-dong-what-hs-mother-
tod-hm-not-to-do-and-en|oyng-t expresson that he had opened the Rdge to
anyone who needed a home. I mmedatey saw the sgnfcance of hs decson,
whch was hs aone, and rghtfuy so because t was hs and to do wth as he
peased. But my nta reacton was one of fear. I fet a need to hod on tght as f
we were about to start spnnng. Then I began to fee excted, for I knew that a
seed had |ust sprouted."
BILL: "What I woud ke to say essentay about openng the Rdge s that t was a
rea eap of fath, a rea eap nto the darkness, or the ght - or whatever you want
to ca t. At t was an ncredbe, very revoutonary thng. One of the reasons why
I opened the Rdge was because I wanted a pace n hstory."
#
Chapter 9
Eary Days on the Rdge & The Naked Cop
Born n 1941, B Wheeer came from a ong ne of New Engand Yankees. One of
hs great grandfathers co-founded the Wheeer and Wson Sewng Machne
Company, a sgnfcant force n the Industra Revouton. The company sod out to
Snger around the turn of the century, eavng future generatons of Wheeers
we-off. B attended Kent Schoo, whch he descrbed as "a very ch-ch prep
schoo desgned to perpetuate the upper cass." Hs father ran a rea estate
busness n Brdgeport, Connectcut, unt he ded. B was a sophomore at Yae at
the tme, hs ma|or nterests art and archtecture. Suddeny at the age of twenty
he found hmsef vce-presdent of Wheeer & Co.
BILL: "I got a taste of busness very young n fe, and rose as hgh n the busness
word as I thought I ever woud. So I retred. I was vce-presdent at twenty. What
more was there to do?"
After graduaton he marred hs chdhood sweetheart Sarah and they moved to
San Francsco, then Stnson Beach and fnay Sonoma County n the summer of
1962. They setted nto the rckty abandoned farmhouse on Coeman Vaey Road
named 'Irsh H' as prevousy mentoned. The peacefu, pastora andscapes
fascnated hm, the smooth rong hs punctuated wth groves of cypress and
eucayptus whch fowed towards the ocean ess than a me away. He wanted to
buy some and wth an nhertance from hs father. When a neghbor - od Mr.
Hendron - tod hm of a ranch beng sod by an edery mnster and hs wfe, he
drove nand a few mes to ook at t.
BILL: "My marrage ddn't ast very ong, but I ved at Irsh H for fve years unt I
moved to the Rdge. I fe n ove wth the and at frst sght. I knew t was perfect
for me. The three hundred and ffteen acres, one rdge back from the ocean, were
strangey remnscent of my boyhood New Engand, heavy wooded, good water
and ots of gardenng areas. I made the coupe promse not to se t to anyone
ese, and n 1965 consummated the sae."
The ranch was protected from the county road by a ong and rutted rght-of-way
through another ranch. As a refugee from the cty, B fet he had at ast found hs
terrtory, hs chunk of countrysde where he coud |on the bue|ays and raccoons.
BILL: "The Rdge hed a speca magc for me. It was where I wanted to spend the
rest of my fe. I saw t as the perfect woman, spacous and yrca, cosed and
secure, yet havng great vstas. How I oved her, and how her beauty enraptured
me!"
In August of 1965, |ust after B bought the property, a dry, gusty wnd roared n
from the north at the heght of the fre danger. A power ne went down at the
bottom of Coeman Vaey. The countrysde was tnder-dry, and the sparks gnted
the grass. Fed by the wnd, the fre raced up Sugaroaf H and down nto the
canyon. It wdened to amost a haf-me before anyone saw t. An army of fames
advanced across the Rdge, expodng the oaks and frs n the ntense heat.
B hepessy watched the nferno from the top of the and. Fames eaped from
one treetop to the next wth a roar, soarng hgh nto the sky. He escaped |ust n
tme to make t up to the county road, and returned severa days ater from the
cty to fnd the ush and green andscape a wasted skeeton. Most of the trees had
been ked and the house eveed. The mnster feared that B woud now renege
on the mortgage, but B assured hm that "the and was st there and I st oved
her. Trees woud grow back. She was more mne than ever."
Later that fa, B and a crew of Mexcan-Amercans repanted the East Canyon
wth thrty thousand trees. On the ast day of work, they toasted the and together
wth beer and tequa, hang ts rebrth. By |anuary, 1967, when he began
constructng hs studo, he had met Gwen and she moved up to ve wth hm
shorty thereafter. In |anuary, 1968, they moved nto ther new home, a barnke
structure boastng fourteen-foot cengs. Despte ther efforts to nsuate t, the
studo never warmed up n cod weather and they spent most of the tme hudded
up cose to the cast-ron frepace n ts center.
GWEN: "There was no runnng water, no pumbng, no eectrcty, no gas, no
teephone and sometmes no passabe road to nsuate us from the presence of
our natura envronment. When the wnter storms raged, saturatng the earth and
beatng aganst our house wth ther voent wnds, I fet the mghtness of nature
and our own nsgnfcance and hepessness. The power of manknd, whch I had
aways thought so sgnfcant, was reduced to nothngness by the pure and mghty
forces of Mother Earth.
"Athough t was the mdde of wnter, I found our vegetabe garden at Irsh H
st growng. Wth that exctng dscovery, I became ncreasngy nterested n
gardenng. As the rans poured down, I sat by the fre and read books on growng
thngs. I dreamed of vng the smpe, sef-suffcent fe n the country. My frst
weeks of vng cose to nature made me fee so ovng and gente that I coudn't
magne rasng anmas to k as food. I had met many vegetarans who were
convnced that eatng meat was unnecessary, so that |anuary t seemed rght to
become a vegetaran mysef. B |oned me n my decson."
When the weather began to ghten, they spent more tme out of doors, pantng
thousands more trees to compete the reforestaton of the Rdge. The garden was
fenced and the frst seeds panted. Eectrcty was avaabe at the front gate as
we as a good year-round sprng. They hooked up a pump, set up a 1500-gaon
redwood water tank, and ad many thousands of feet of back pastc ppe that
woud gravty-feed water to the studo and the garden.
GWEN: "I took many sotary waks to en|oy the beauty of the untouched
wderness of the Rdge. At many beautfu spots I stopped to medtate on the
gowng scenery around me. Often the area woud strke me as a fantastc ste for
a house. I wondered f popuaton growth and the expanson of the ctes woud
eventuay cover the and wth houses. But I dsmssed the possbty as
somethng that woud not occur for at east twenty years. I dd not know that
houses woud ndeed cover the and wthn two years, and n a way whch I coud
never have magned. They woud not represent an expanson of the urban areas,
but a return to the trba vage fe.
Shorty after B's offer to the Mornng Star famy, Larry Reed htchhked up to the
Rdge to ook for a campste for hs famy. Cad ony n an embrodered banket,
he presented a strkng mage on the roads between the two ranches. He had |ust
been reeased from |a, and remanng at Mornng Star wth Pam woud |ust have
nvted further arrests. For severa days he searched the woods, fnay settng at
the bottom of the East Canyon besde Coeman Creek, as far from cvzaton as
the and offered. He wshed to avod a repeat performance of hs Mornng Star
experence, where hs 'meadowboat' had perched ony a few hundred feet from
the 'bu's-eye.'
BILL: "Everythng Larry dd was nosy - sngng, eatng or fuckng. A fanatc fath n
the Mornng Star dea personfed hm. A true revoutonary and frontersman, he
was the perfect mdwfe for the openng of the Rdge."
Pam and Adam Sddartha |oned hm a few days ater. Ther arrva was the frst
trcke through a dke ready to burst. One day the and was peacefu and serene,
the next t was swamped wth hordes of peope, kds, cars, nose, trash and
nsecurty. Amost the same day Ronad Reagan procamed "there w be no more
Mornng Stars," Wheeer's Ranch opened ts gates.
GWEN: "I accompaned Pam on the day for her tra for assaut. She had chosen a
|ury tra, beevng that tweve human bengs woud be unabe to convct her and
send her to |a for foowng a deepy emotona, natura nstnct. Wth her nne-
month bey and her tny physca frame, she defended hersef before the court by
expanng the reasons why she had chosen the Mornng Star fe stye. She and
her famy had sacrfced matera weath and comfort for the sprtua satsfacton
of vng n sympathy wth the poor peopes of the earth. Pam testfed that she
had awakened the mornng of the arrest thnkng that the Gestapo had come to
take her husband away. In her desperaton, she had fet an overwhemng need to
defend hm. She was prosecuted by a deputy dstrct attorney whose ony nterest
was n wnnng the case n order to earn status and favor. He ponted out to the
|ury that Pam had assauted peace offcers, that t was a crme and that her
motves were absoutey rreevant to the case as was the fact that she was a tny
pregnant woman. The |ury came back wth ther verdct: guty.
"Hearng the verdct, Pam began to augh. Then she choked, vomted and began
to scream, cry and throw hersef about the courtroom foor. The members of the
court were horrfed. Fearng that the baby woud be born on the spot, the |udge
qucky dsmssed her, nstructng her to return for sentencng after the brth. Pam,
shaken n her fath n the compasson of the human heart, wept a the way home
and fanted as we arrved. Later she revved, surrounded by a her frends that
knew and oved her so we. By mornng she was cam and cheery on her way
back down nto the canyon to awat the brth of her chd. A few weeks ater,
Psyche |oy Ananda was born n the canyon n the frst mornng hours. Shorty after
her brth, Pam, Larry, Adam Sd and the new baby eft for New Mexco."
As 1968 unfoded, a new chapter of the New Age began wth a hardenng of the
nes between the 'freaks' and the 'straghts.' The coorfu, gente vbratons
graduay dsappeared and were repaced by a more mtant, angry atttude.
Brothers and ssters were beng |aed by an estabshment power structure that
defned hppes as outaws. Pot-smokers were beng sentenced to ong terms. The
hard-edged od ways were rubbng aganst the soft Aquaran fe stye and
creatng a caous. The V-sgn was changng to the uprased fst. Aso, the Vetnam
War raged on, bombs were fang on hepess vages and the naton was bady
poarzed on many basc ssues. At Mornng Star, everyone fet the strugge
personay. They knew that the fght coud not end unt the entre country - and
the panet - had been berated from greed and war.
Instead of fames and chdren, Mornng Star was now attractng mosty snge
men wth a heavy emphass on the wne-drnkng 'warror caste,' as Lou referred
to them. Heavy wne sessons around the campfre dsrupted the peace and quet
unt once agan the wne-drnkers were prevaed upon to move down to the
parkng ot. A great dea of anger came to Mornng Star and was reeased n the
orchards and meadows. But better there than n the cty streets.
Zen |ack ved n the mdde of the orchard, havng transformed an od redwood
stump nto a home. Davd and Penny contnued n ther treehouse, Davd
concentratng on hs pantngs. Wth the destructon of both ktchens by order of
the Heath Department, communa meas had decentrazed down to famy
campfres and Coeman stoves. |ohn Buter st ved n the remnants of the Lower
House n spte of frequent arrests for dsobeyng the n|uncton, ookng after the
teenage runaways who showed up. He was busted so repeatedy that he was
made a trustee at the |a. Mornng Star foks woud see hm outsde the
courthouse sweepng the pavement when they attended court. It was easy to sp
hm a coupe of |onts for hm to en|oy ater. Don Kng was aso arrested many
tmes - nne atogether - and spent over sx months n |a, a strong brother wth a
deep fath n the Mornng Star dea.
DON KING: "In the sprt of brotherhood, Mornng Star has thrown open ts doors to
a men and a forces. Fath n man has been transformed nto fath n our Creator.
When ths occurs, chaos s seemngy the resut. Men hear of Utopa, ther sous
hunger for t, and they are guded to Mornng Star. They brng the forces of the
word wth them, the forces the word thrves on. In the sprt of brotherhood,
these forces are aowed to exst and for a tme they run rampant. Ev s not the
busness of brotherhood. Ev s God's busness. Mornng Star does not resst ev,
and a tny speck of Truth s ts gorous reward. It does work! It s true! The meek
do nhert the earth!"
NEAR: "Steve and Lese ved together n a tent n the appe orchard. Eary that
sprng they decded to get marred so that Lese coud wrte home to her upper
mdde cass banker father that she was marred. They asked Lou to perform the
ceremony, and t was decded that some of the straght neghbors aso shoud be
nvted, hopefuy to brdge the communcatons gap. Handwrtten nvtatons were
paced n ther maboxes.
"Saturday was the weddng day. Lese went to get dressed wth her brdesmads.
She wore a whte tabe coth wth fowers. It was poncho stye; a hoe was cut
through the mdde for her head. She ted t at the wast wth a sash. Steve wore
whte pants and a whte ace shrt someone gave hm. Everyone gathered on the
h besde the cross. Ed Hochu was present, and gave red pastc beaded
neckaces to the coupe. Lou wore a poncho converted from a patchwork qut that
a group of Mornng Star women had sewn for hm.
"As the ceremony was about to begn, a group of brdesmads stood besde Lese,
some naked, some cothed. Steve's best man wore drty bue |eans. A fute payer
tooted a pastora meody and everyone took ther paces. A text by Kah Gbran
of the coupe's choosng was read and Lou then asked, 'Lese, do you take Steve
for your husband as ong as you're both happy?' 'I do.' 'Steve, do you take Lese
for your wfe as ong as you're both happy?' 'I do.' Then Lou asked the audence,
'Is there any reason why ths coupe shoud not be wed?'
"'Yes there s!' surred a drunk from Graton. But t was qucky estabshed he was
|ust beng obnoxous and hs protest gnored. 'I now pronounce you man and wfe
for as ong as you're both happy,' Lou then decared. The snge grs a gathered
n one spot and Lese tossed her bouquet. It was caught by naked Dane from
New York Cty. She eaped ahead of the other grs to catch t because she was n
ove wth the futepayer Tom who ved n a hoowed-out redwood stump."
Appe |uce brought by good neghbor Don Orr was passed out. Homemade musc
and dancng started. 'Bony' Saudes, the Press Democrat's on-the-spot reporter
who had covered many Mornng Star stores, wrote up the weddng. He mentoned
that Pau Negr, an Occdenta restaurant owner who was runnng for eecton as
Supervsor, had attended the ceremony. Pau subsequenty ost the eecton. A
few days ater, FBI and CIA men accompaned by the poce came to Mornng Star
ookng for Steve who was AWOL. They coudn't fnd hm, so they asked where Lou
was. Lou was out so they asked for Near. Near emerged from the bath house
naked and soakng wet. The cops became too fustered at seeng a naked woman
to ask any questons and eft at once.
Tex's appearance dupcated the 1940's carcature of The Dope Fend, compete
wth two ong ncsors droopng out of a hary mouth. Propped aganst a teephone
poe on Occdenta's man street, a |ug of Red Mountan besde hm, he presented
an archetypa pcture of what Occdenta's ctzenry feared the most. The truth
was that he was a gente sou who took on the responsbty that summer of
runnng the wno camp at Mornng Star, makng sure there was food to eat and
settng drunken arguments wth dpomatc sk.
LOU: "Tex was the frst man who ever kssed me on the mouth. The fact that he
had a number of teeth mssng exposed me to a arger reaty than I expected. I
severey regret that my pre|udce aganst acoho mted my contacts wth Tex,
but there s no doubt that any unpeasantness I fet at Mornng Star reated to the
consumpton of wne, and Tex consumed hs share."
TEX: "I started smokn' grass |ust about eary '47, and I've been drnkn' wne snce
about '42. I've spent haf my fe n pententares, man, vng wth a ot of hate,
man, a ot of hate. There are very few ways you can come out of the pententary.
Ether you're a tger - grrr - k - k - k - but now me, I got ove. An' t was a
necessary experence. I was n an adut pententary for seven years, but I had
thrty-sx months before that. From when I was sxteen unt I was twenty-fve I
was ocked up n |a. Then from when I was eeven unt I was fourteen I had tme
n |uvene Ha, reform schoo, sht ke that too, whch was a bummer, you know.
But when I was twenty-fve years od, when I got out, I decded to be free. I sad,
'Man, they've taught me a I need to know an' I'm gon' to be free!' And I want
you to know that the pententary' never hod me. That's where my head's at."
NEAR: "'God bess you! You're under arrest!' was the sautaton we receved from
our frendy oca cops. They ddn't usuay bust us uness they had been gven
specfc orders to make arrests. Severa of them even commented that Mornng
Star was the ony paced where they fet wecome. Rob was one. Hs nstncts tod
hm we had a better fe stye than the Roads pattern to whch he was
conformng. He en|oyed takng wth us for a few mnutes when he made the
rounds of the ranch. He even demonstrated hs trust of us by sharng food at an
evenng mea. Before he set hs teeth nto the freshy pcked, ghty steamed
strng beans and chapatts, he asked f there was any LSD n t. We assured hm
there wasn't, and he en|oyed hs organc snack.
"The foowng Saturday, Rob appeared at Mornng Star out of unform. It was hs
day off. Woud we mnd f he spent the day wth us? He |ust needed a pace to
coo out. Wecome, brother! He took off hs shrt to fee the sun, and panted
hmsef on the bu's-eye of the ranch, the front yard of Lou's studo. Some of us
began dong Hatha Yoga postures, and Rob asked us to teach hm. Okay, but frst
he woud have to take off hs shoes. He dd, and managed to get nto some of the
easer postons. But he found hs budog pants too constrctng. A ovey nude gr
expaned he coud do much better wthout any cothes on.
"Rob thought about t for a moment. 'Do you promse not to te anyone?' he
asked. 'I'd hate ke he to have the poce fnd me here naked!'
"Assured of tota dscreton, Rob took off a but hs |ockey shorts. Then, n a burst
of mtant freedom, he took those off too! Hs Mornng Star frends gave hm
encouragement as he contnued tryng the postures, but hs hard, ready-to-fght
musces found t dffcut to reax nto the gente fow of yoga. Fnay he was abe
to stand on hs head and was mantanng hs headstand when he heard the sound
of an approachng car. He took off ke ghtnng for the woods. Everybody coudn't
hep aughng. But the car beonged to a groovy brother and not the Sherff's
department. I went to fetch hm back.
"'Hey, Rob, t's okay! The coast s cear! It's not the cops!' He returned and
re|oned us, sharng n our aughter.
"'You're more scared of the cops than we are,' one sster |oked.
"Rob sheepshy agreed. He contnued dong yoga for about an hour, nterrupted
ony twce more by arrvng cars. Both tmes I caed hm back from the woods. He
decded to take a wak around the ranch. I ddn't accompany hm, but we receved
reports from the persmmon wreess that he was chasng women around the
orchard.
"The next Saturday Rob brought hs wfe Hda wth hm. He fet ke a reguar,
sheddng hs cothes mmedatey. Hda tred not to ook at hm, and nstead
absorbed hersef n a baby who had |ust been born at Mornng Star.
"'Come on, honey,' begged bare Rob. '|ust take off your cothes.'
"'No, I can't,' she reped, btng her p.
"Rob perssted, but wthout success. Mornng Star brothers had to remnd hm not
to ay hs trp on her. Meanwhe, Hda stened teary-eyed to the descrpton of
the natura brth of the baby. She had been forced to gve brth by Caesaran.
They returned the next day at Hda's request because she wanted to brng some
baby cothes she ddn't need. As she sat hodng our newborn arrva, Rob stood
on hs head, naked, ears perked for the sound of approachng autos."
FRIAR TUCK: "Don Kng's dog Trpper ked to rde n cars. You'd open a car door a
crack and - whammo! - he'd be nsde |ust ke that! And he dd not ke to get out.
He was a mean dog when he wanted to be. The ony person who coud get Trpper
out of a car was Don. One nght the cops drove n, and they checked out the
peope around the campfre. Trpper was there, chasng some dog or somethng.
When t came tme for the cops to eave, one of them opened the car door and -
whoosh! - Trpper was nsde!
"'C'mon, dog, get outta there!' the cop sad and stuck n hs hand towards Trpper.
SNAP! went Trpper's teeth. He started hs whoe number, barkng and growng
every tme the cop got cose to hm.
"'Wat a mnute! We' get hm out!' one of the guys sad. He ran down to Don's
house. By the tme Don got there, one of the cops had hs gun out and the other a
can of Mace.
"'Don't do t! Don't do t!' Don screamed.
"But by that tme the cop had pushed the button on the Mace. Ssssst! And poor
Trpper freaked rght out, barkng and |umpng around. Don fnay got hm cooed
out a tte bt. The cops |ust |umped n ther car and spt."
#
Chapter 10
Frst Rdge Setters
Upon the Rdge, the nfux of peope wrought sudden and shatterng changes n
B and Gwen's fe. B and Gwen made an honest attempt to be open and
understandng, but at tmes they |ust wanted everyone to go away. Ther garden
was raded for vegetabes, cars roared through to the back of the and, sht was
eft everywhere and, aong wth the peope there came dogs n ncreasng
numbers. Dogs! It was ony a matter of tme before they raded the neghbors'
sheep.
Beatrce and We B. moved over from Mornng Star wth ther boy Andr, two
dogs and two horses. Beatrce eveed off a pace for ther tent whe We B.
watched. He never was one for dong work, but he made up for t wth hs musc.
Thor, hs staon, soon became mpossbe to contro. He kcked or bt anyone who
tred to nterfere wth hs day rads on campstes, destroyng tents n hs efforts
to get to the grans and oats. Fnay he was gven away because no one had the
heart to castrate hm.
And of course, aong wth the gente fower chdren there came the Impossbes.
Nevada drove n one day monstrousy drunk, weavng on and off the road, takng
out the fencng as he came. He ended up n B's studo, harangung hm on |esus,
Mornng Star and hs snge-handed conquest of the North Koreans. If B ddn't
sten and agree to everythng he sad, Nevada threatened to punch hm out.
On May 10th, the temporary n|uncton aganst Mornng Star was made a
permanent n|uncton whch contnued to forbd Lou or any of hs agents from
operatng an organzed camp, vng n any structures except Lou's studo,
exposng prvate parts, etc, etc. Aso Lou was ordered to tear down a ega
structures - whch now ncuded the Upper and Lower houses - and cean up the
pace.
Aware that the permanent n|uncton woud brng even more refugees to the
Rdge, B tred to estabsh some mnmum rues: bury your sht, no open fres n
the fre season, no budng n the open meadows - the cows have to eat too.
Some peope cooperated whe others |ust aughed.
"We ddn't come here to be tod what to do!"
GWEN: "To put n a toet accordng to the county's reguatons woud have cost
each person sx hundred doars. Inasmuch as ths was out of the queston, we
evoved a human waste dsposa method acceptabe to amost everyone who
came to ve wth us. When one's bowes began to move, one took a shove n
hand and a bref wak n the fresh country ar to seect the perfect spot for a
donaton to Mother Earth. Afterwards, the hoe was refed wth drt and the
shove repaced. Some peope wth chdren preferred to dg a arger hoe n
advance, usng t unt t was fu. I chose to have a dfferent vew from my toet
every day. But some peope who came ether dd not understand the mportance
of buryng ther feces, dd not care or coud not fnd a shove n tme."
By |une, 1968, there were thrty to ffty setters on the Rdge and word was
spreadng fast. On |une 17th, B's brthday, B and Gwen returned from town to
fnd the studo decked out n crepe paper, banners and baoons. Muscans were
payng, and food had been ad on the tabe. Whatever msgvngs and
reservatons they had been feeng meted at ths open expresson of ove from
ther new brothers and ssters. On that day, B reazed that a the dffcutes
trggered by the nfux of refugees were worth t. Hs decson to open the and, no
matter how hard to mantan, was RIGHT ON.
GWEN: "The and was choosng ts setters. No one ever sad who coud or coud
not stay, but the natura course of events often caused peope to move on. Some
eft feeng btter at ther nabty to ft n to the buddng communty, but most eft
wth a ovng atttude towards the Rdge. Of the thousands whose ves crossed on
the paths of the and, ony one person was there from start to fnsh - B Wheeer.
Two or three others were there most of the tme, and hundreds were there for
perods of ess than one year. For many, the Open Land experence was ke
attendng a schoo."
BILL: "The and was open ony nsofar as the peope on t were themseves open.
When they commtted 'cosed' acts, they cosed the and to themseves. When a
person coudn't accept the nes of communcatons and trust of the Mornng Star
conscousness, when they dd voence of one knd or another, they dd not reman
but returned to the greater socety whch offered specfc remedes for amora and
asoca behavor - prson or the hospta. In the frst fve years of Open Land,
durng whch tme many thousands from every stratum of socety passed through
the Rdge, I dd not have to te anyone to eave of remove them mysef more the
fve tmes."
One day Beatrce came to B and suggested they cose the gate to newcomers.
But B, aready commtted to the Open Land dea, had no ntenton of turnng
back. The chaenge to make a workabe communty was tremendous. He had
much the same feeng as when as a panter he confronted an empty canvas - a
mxture of fear of the unknown and the exharaton of an nfnte potenta.
BILL: "The fow of mmgrants waxed as the summer passed. Open Land became
the utmate absurdty, as crazy as New York Cty's subway rush hour. The
magcan poured mk n a neverendng stream nto a tny gass. The Grand Hote
remaned open and never fed."
One day a back man wth an ntense gaze appeared at the studo door. He asked
permsson to sette hs group on the and. Ths took B by surprse, nasmuch as
permsson was sedom asked. Utmatey a sgn was posted on the front gate that
read, 'Land permt to ve on not requred.' That man, Ray, and hs four mae
dscpes setted down near B and Gwen's garden. B genty suggested they
mght fnd another campste further from any mmedate neghbors. Movng
behnd the goat pen, they but a arge pastc dome wth a tny entrance to craw
through. The was, covered wth photographs and regous decoratons, were
domnated by a arge photo of Gurd|eff whom they consdered ther guru. Women
or sex seemed to have no pace wthn ther tghty dscpned exstence. Once
setted nto ther 'monastery,' as they caed t, the 'Gurd|eff Boys' proved
extremey energetc and a fne addton to the communty.
O.B. Ray came that frst summer as a permanent fxture. Suf phosopher, father
fgure, over, superatve good-karma mar|uana farmer (he gave away a he
grew), hs arge tent was aways avaabe to anyone needng a pace to seep.
After survvng three boody andngs n the Pacfc wth the Marnes durng Word
War II, O.B. had been assgned to guard a desert sand wth two other soders.
The other men went crazy, but O.B. oved t so much that he asked for an
extenson of duty. On that sand he dscovered the purpose of hs fe - to do
nothng. That s what made hm the happest. After the war, he was, n hs own
words, 'forced nto savery' drvng a cab n San Francsco for seventeen years
before gettng turned on to Zen by Suzuk Rosh. He retred to Mt. Tamapas for a
year to medtate, take acd and wrte a book about hs regous experences.
O.B.'s augh was a wonderfu thng, and coud be heard from one end of the and
to the other. He was a font of wsdom and meowness at a tmes, a great sage
and much beoved trba eder.
O.B.RAY (excerpted from hs book): "The basc nature of thngs s nhuman,
mpersona, mparta, ndfferent; t s nether cod nor hot, nether soft nor hard,
nether good nor bad; t has no partcuar coor, no partcuar form, no partcuar
texture; t has no emotons, no feengs, no thoughts. It s not made up of such
thngs as moecues, atoms or eectrons. It appears as a brant ght, vbrant,
moduatng. (It seems to be pure energy). It s not seen as f there were a ght
and someone was ookng at the ght. The ght s experenced mmedatey,
wthout the ob|ect-vewer reatonshp. The seer becomes the ght and a
characterstcs vansh or become meanngess. The basc nature of thngs never
stays the same for two consecutve nstants. It s n a constant state of fux,
changng, vbratng, unduatng, concentratng and then metng away; forever
actve, even at rest, reverberatng, movng, wavng. Yet ths basc nature appears
to take the form of an nfnte varety of thngs. These forms appear to be hot or
cod, soft or hard, good or bad, etc. It was never born nor was t created, and t
w never come to an end.
"There s no ego. There s no sou. There s no sef. There s nothng whch I can
ca O.B. Ray."
Cury-hared Chuck arrved from Mornng Star and became B's frst sprtua
teacher. A God-ntoxcated person, Chuck practced the deepest medtaton for
hours on end, totay obvous to hs surroundngs. He spent many days fastng
and n servce to others, hs soe possesson the tattered dress he wore. Hs cury
har formed a bush around hs head, hs body we-browned by the sun. One day
he came and sat n the studo, workng on a pece of paper wth B's drawng
pencs. After he had abored for over an hour, Gwen ooked over hs shouder to
see the word WONDER carefuy drawn and eaboratey coored.
Chuck had ensted n the Army, had gone through basc tranng and receved hs
orders for Vetnam. One day he ooked n the mrror as he was about to shave and
sad, 'What am I dong? I don't want to go to Vetnam and k or be ked.' He put
down hs razor, got a weekend pass and went to the Haght-Ashbury. From there
he caught a rde to Mornng Star and, when the arrests began, moved to the
Rdge. He sept n the barn or out-of-doors and ate whatever was offered hm.
Chuck was oved by everyone. Later, when he went to New Mexco wth the
Mornng Star exodus, he became a Chrstan, cut off hs har, put on shoes and
turned hmsef n.
Cff and Ee camped n the Pne Grove beow the studo, They had no ncome,
but managed to survve wth the hep of ther neghbors. The Los Angees poce
wanted Cff for |umpng ba on a dope charge. They ved quety, Cff usng hs
esure tme to earn southpaw gutar. Barey knowng a note a musc when he
arrved on the Rdge, he evoved nto a fne muscan. Whenever he was around,
there were aways good sounds happenng.
Charotte and Bryce moved on the and, magca and hghy evoved peope. They
but a home behnd Hoffe's H whch was a masterpece of hppe archtecture.
An nteror photo of Bryce sketchng a pregnant Charotte was ater pubshed n
The Whoe Earth Cataog, and the Rdge receved many hundreds of etters n
response. Bryce was a genus at watercoors, metcuousy recordng a the
ndgenous wdfowers. Aso for sx months he panted each dawn and sunset
from atop Hoffe's H. The frst ndcaton Gwen had of Bryce and Charotte's
presence were the wtng poppes n ther garden. They used to come and
carefuy sce the fower to extract the sap, whch they sad got them hgh.
|ohn and Sue and ther four kds drove n one day, foowed by Erro and Sarah and
ther three chdren. They a set up camp at the back of the and. The presence of
the chdren was a deght, but because ther parents were on wefare, t brought
potca pressure on the ranch.
Davd and |oann were another coupe, Davd egotstc, opnonated, energetc. He
and B had severe dsagreements, especay about hs poce dog who was
gettng nto the neghbor's sheep. After ther baby Coveo Vshnu was born, they
moved to the top of the and and but the Chape out of umber savaged from the
runs of Mornng Star houses. He managed to save a mura of Davd Pratt's for a
wa of hs home.
BILL: "Denns was a beautfu back man, a |ve huster nsde a abyrnth of es,
wth a |unge nstnct for survva and a charmng but deady sme whch hssed
through gapped front teeth. He camed to be a doorstep baby, abandoned by hs
mother, but t coud have been an exaggeraton. He was bady hung up on whte
women, hatng them and obsessed by the need to rape them even f were wng
to submt vountary. When confronted wth hs deeds, he sad, 'Oh, that whte
btch! I saw her gong around bang a those guys. She's a whore. She asked for
t. She ddn't want me 'cause I'm back.'
"I remnded hm that other Backs on the and dd not have hs troube. In fact,
many whte women preferred gong wth them. Aso, wthn the communty a man
was nether back, tan or whte but |ust another brother. Most of the Backs who
ved wth us worked through any hang-ups they had about ther race and made a
postve contrbuton.
"But Denns, f he was abe to ure women to hs house, attacked them and rpped
off ther cothes before unromantcay possessng them. If they ressted, he
smashed ther faces n true ghetto tradton. For that matter, anyone who
dsagreed or crossed hm nvted voence. Athough the women he raped were
btter about t, most of them took t phosophcay - not experencng t as a fe-
threatenng stuaton, ony an unpeasant one."
Denns was aso nvoved n steang, both on the and and off. He and others ke
hm, back and whte, had stored up great anger aganst socety and focused ths
anger on the Open Land communty, a pasture of 'sheep' they coud feece wth
no danger of beng busted.
When the patterns of hs behavor became cear and hs abs evaporated n the
ght of numerous compants, B and others tred desperatey to communcate
wth hm. Under a the rage they coud see a beautfu person struggng to
emerge. Denns's prde, however, dd not et hm admt hs trespasses. Not once
dd he confess hs wrongdong.
Steve was another 'tester.' Short and stocky, extremey strong wth knotty footba
payer's musces, he had an open, cherubc face couped wth a soft voce whch
nspred trust and affecton. Even neghborng ranchers hred hm for odd |obs, for
whch B oaned hm hs truck. That summer, a seres of thefts occurred n the
neghborhood. When B saw a brand-new battery n the od truck Steve had
acqured, hs suspcons were aroused. He waked over to where Steve ved on
'The Kno' and found a path eadng down the h. In the mdst of a cump of
trees, he found a arge tarpaun coverng somethng. Under t, he found the
damndest coecton of axes, saws, auto parts, tres, garbage pas fu of foot-ong
saams as we as a frend's toobox wth hs name neaty prnted on the top.
BILL: "Ths was the frst rea crss on the Rdge, the very thng I had hoped to
avod. Whereas Mornng Star had acqured an outaw reputaton, I was tryng to
bud a more aw-abdng mage. If Steve was rppng off socety, then he shoud
be returned to t to be made accountabe, and stopped from usng us as a sheter.
Moreover, beneath that 'Boy Scout' exteror ay a very sck boy who needed
professona hep. I set t as my task to convnce hm to turn hmsef n and seek
treatment. After a dramatc confrontaton and many hours of tak, I was successfu
n dong so. Needess to say, we bew a few mnds at the courthouse when we
showed up and Steve turned hmsef n.
"Wth Steve n custody, severa deputes came out to the and the next day to
retreve the oot. After oadng ther van wth the hardware, one of them sad to
me, 'I ddn't see the food.' Snce t woud not have been worth t for the grocery
stores to recam the food, t was a nce gesture for the poce to gve t to us. In
those days before food stamps, there were many hungry peope on the Rdge who
apprecated t."
GWEN: "A haf-acre was fenced off n the mdde of the ranch for a communty
garden where anyone coud work or pck at any tme. Due to a devout beef n
abstenton from organzaton, the garden went through aternatng perods of
abundance and scarcty. It was not uncommon for one tomato pant to get
weeded, watered, muched, pruned and staked by as many as three peope n one
day and then be totay gnored for two months. But there was never a tme when
vegetabes for dnner coud not be found by a serous seeker. The garden aso
served as a soca gatherng spot. Mosty naked peope coud be seen yng n the
sun, one hand genty weedng the radsh patch, smokng dope and rappng wth
frends.
"Across the road from the communty garden was B's and my persona garden
whch was haf ts sze. It was my fe. I ved n t and sht n t and worked n t
about three hours a day. I knew every pant and every nch of so as we as I
knew the sttches n a sweater I had kntted. B dd the heavy work and I dd the
ghter tasks, the supervsng and the day responsbtes. I was possessve of the
work and the harvest of the garden, and wanted everythng done |ust the rght
way. It provded the man part of our vegetaran menus, and there was penty
over to be shared."
In |uy, a seek-ookng sedan nched down the rutted rght-of-way through |ack
O'Bren's ranch to Wheeer's front gate. In t were two we-dressed and md-
mannered men wth bengn expressons on ther faces. They dentfed themseves
to B as FBI agents, and showed hm a score of waet-szed photos, carefuy
watchng hs face for reactons. How much B's new neghbors had changed snce
they eft the mtary! Cury-hared Chuck wthout hs natura! Gwen refused to
even ook at the snapshots, angered by the thought of hepng the mtary n any
way to fght ther corrupt wars. The agents muttered somethng about harborng
fugtves, |a and breakng the aw. There was a tense moment before they turned
to eave. Masters of the soft se, they had coected ther nformaton from parents
who had patrotcay ratted on ther chdren. "Better n Vetnam than on Open
Land!"
Back at Mornng Star Ranch, fe see-sawed between the harous and the
mpossbe. |ohn Buter returned from the Haght-Ashbury wth two kos of
dynamte grass and sx grs. As peope crowded nto the Lower House to ro
|onts, he magnanmousy nvted everyone nto hs room. 'Come on n, everyone!
Let's get hgh!' It was a sma room at best, but wth thrty-fve peope t was "wa-
to-wa hppe," as Lou used to say.
FRIAR TUCK: "Transt Harry was another Mornng Star character. A bus drver for
the cty of Los Angees, he payed the game of fang down and gettng hurt and
then coectng thousands of doars of nsurance. He ved at the ranch for a year
and a haf. Harry was the ony affuent one up there at the tme. He had the
Amercan mentaty of 'You've got that? We, ook what I've got!' He had ths
great back hearse, a BMW motorcyce, a parachute for a tent and a waterbed.
And a dog that everyone wanted to k because she was so crazy.
"Anyway, he decded he was gong to put up ths waterbed, but he coudn't fgure
out how to do t. He ddn't want to put t on the ground where somethng mght
puncture t, so he decded to hang a bedsprng about fve feet off the ground
between four redwood trees and put the waterbed on that. We, t ddn't qute
pan out. He got the bed about haf fu of water before the S-hooks hodng the
bedsprngs straghtened out. The fucker took off down the h ke a gant
amoeba, amost fattenng someone sttng downh n the woods, stoned out of
hs mnd. But darned f Harry ddn't patch up the hoes and try agan!"
RAMON: "In |uy I vsted Oompa Ranch, a new Marn County commune where
Lou and Near pad frequent vsts. The 750-acre ranch and ts eegant manson
had been rented by Don McCoy, a weathy busnessman, who opened t up to hs
frends. Schoo was beng taught there by Mrs. Garnett Brennan who had been
fred as the prncpa of a nearby schoo for sayng she had smoked mar|uana for
eghteen years. Twce a week, one thousand oaves of bread were baked n a
arge commerca oven set up outdoors. They were dstrbuted free to the cty
communes."
FRIAR TUCK: "Near sad to me, 'Come on up to Oompa!' When I got there, the
peope were reay strange to me - reay werd. McCoy had |ust run through hs
money at the tme - hs famy had sezed hs bank accounts. Lous Kuntz went
there wth me, gong crazy as usua. The ony frendy vbes we got came from
Shea USA and Near, who was gettng t on wth Mchae Mornngstar. One day I
was |ust boppng around, and I went up to the cabn caed Deer Camp to see Don
McCoy. He was reay freaked out at the tme - I mean, he was |ust competey
gone. I waked nto that Deer Camp house, and he had hmsef set hmsef up on
ths huge bed ke a kng sttng on a throne. Near was n the ktchen wth Mchae.
They were yng on one of the tabes n the '69' poston, gvng each other head.
And I sad, 'Oh, sorry!' And they sad, 'No, t's a rght! Come on n, we' be
through n a mnute. Don't worry about t, st down and tak a whe!' And so,
between surps we taked and bushtted, havng a good vst whe they sucked
each other off. It was my frst encounter wth good od ab|ect sexuaty - |ust rght
out n front - and t bew my mnd. I reay thought t was harous!
"Lous Kuntz and I were gettng up at four n the mornng to bake bread. They had
a great set-up, a beautfu ktchen. We must've baked thousands of oaves durng
the tme we were there. Oompa was a trp! I thnk everybody there was
screwng everybody ese!"
RAMON: "Whe vstng Oompa, I decded to move to Berkeey to be wth Betty,
someone I had met durng '67 and |ust remet agan. But frst I had to return to
Mornng Star and pump up the tres of my 'cave.' So I accepted a rde from Ira
Enhorn, a young psychatrst from Phadepha who tod me he had set up some
supportve envronments for schzophrencs, foowng R.D. Lang's bow-out center
concept. I gave hm the whoe Open Land rap as we drove up, extong the
therapeutc vrtues of not teng anyone to eave. When we arrved, hs curosty
was pqued and so I took hm on the tour. Lou was away somewhere.
"In the orchard we were approached by three wnos, one wth a noeum knfe,
one wth a drawn revover and the thrd, Duke, currenty the baddest
motherfucker on the pace. Both hs arms had been paced n paster casts
because of some deep cuts receved n a knfe fght. I don't know who they
thought we were n ther acohoc haze, but they came after us, Duke swngng
hs casts ke cubs, yeng and screamng. The ony thng that kept us from
gettng hurt was that the Mother Force stepped n agan, ths tme n the form of
'Mama,' Duke's back womanfrend. She strpped off her bouse and |umped
between us. 'Get away!' she shouted, and we ddn't have to be tod twce. We
turned and started wakng up the path. I ddn't want to run, because I was afrad
t woud excte 'Tarzan,' the guy wth the revover. Later I earned that Mama
suffered a fractured |aw for her bg-hearted act.
"We went down the road towards Lou's studo to fnd |ohn Buter by the we
hodng a sx-foot Afrcan spear. He had heard the screamng and was on hs way
to save us. |ohn was so beautfu! To see hm, the gentest sou I had ever known,
standng there ke Huey Newton! Rght behnd us came the three banddos. |ohn's
spear and stern demeanor cooed them out enough for Ira to |ump nto hs VW
and burn rubber out the back drveway. I ddn't bame hm. Hs ntaton to
Mornng Star had been too ntense. Years ater I was amazed to read n a New
York newspaper that Ira had been named as a prme suspect when hs
womanfrend's body was dscovered n a trunk n hs coset.
"Attemptng to defuse the scene at Mornng Star, I fnay convnced Tarzan to
exchange hugs, athough I coudn't tak hm nto handng over the psto. That
nght I sept n the bushes pannng my escape whe I stened to Tarzan frng at
random as he waked around the pace. I fet the sprt of the and was mad at me
for eavng agan, and that ths had been the reason for the freak-out.
"The next day I pumped up the tres of my truck wth a bcyce pump. That took a
whe! I hadn't turned over the motor snce the prevous sprng, so I coasted down
the newy reopened front drveway - someone had cut down the cross Don Kng
had paced there as a roadbock. The motor woudn't fre up! Was I gong to be
stranded wth Tarzan and Duke for another nght? I coasted onto Graton Road,
fddng furousy wth the choke, the throtte and every other knob n sght. The
rado was on and I turned t off. Wth a backfre or two, the engne caught and I
was on the road agan."
That summer a arge exodus to New Mexco took pace. Pam and Larry Read,
Beatrce, Davd and Penny Pratt, Superman, Cndy and many more. Gna and Katy
the Dog toured wth the Hog Farm for a few months. It fet ke the Cass of '67
had graduated. Newcomers arrved n ther stead, such as Choctaw Edde who
came wth a totay equpped VW camper and three spder monkeys who ran
around under the appe tree by the we, much to the deght of the stoned
onookers.
#
Chapter 11
The Rdge Trbazes & Lou Fnds Hs Guru
In August the Rdge was agan vsted, ths tme by two somber budng nspectors
answerng a neghbor's compant about 'hammerng.' It was ther |ob to enforce
the budng codes, and none of the structure on the Rdge were up to code.
Inspector Lotspech, who ater became a good frend, was qute sympathetc and
asked permsson to nspect the ranch. Snce not much was vsbe from the road,
B agreed. The nspecton conssted of drvng from one end of the and to the
other. Returnng to hs offce, Lotspech reported seeng a tent or two, but that
was a. Campng wthout a permt at that tme was st ega, athough ater, n
response to the 'hppe menace,' oca potcans passed a aw makng t ega.
In md-August, B prepared for further vsts from county offcadom. He was n
the attc of hs studo one day dong some repar work when he heard someone
enter. He shouted downstars askng what the person wanted, annoyed at another
nterrupton. The person ntroduced hmsef as Corbn Houchns, an attorney
whom Lou had sent over. He had spent some tme at Mornng Star, and one day n
the orchard had en|oyed a profound regous experence whch changed the
course of hs fe. The Open Land movement nterested hm, and he had come to
hep the Rdge n ts mpendng strugge wth the authortes. A Harvard graduate
and former pubc defender, young and deastc, he seemed perfect for the |ob.
BILL: "Some peope have crtczed me for not retanng a oca attorney. There s
an advantage n a awyer who personay knows the |udge and s a part of the
oca potca pcture. But I eected to retan Corbn, a brant speaker, who was
good at remndng the |udge of our consttutona rghts, whch were our ony
defense. So much of what was happenng on the Rdge was ndefensbe. Aso I
saw the fooshness n attemptng to defend mysef as Lou was then tryng to do."
On September 8th, another Mornng Star Matnee envened the courthouse. For
the tenth tme or so, Lou was ordered to show cause as to why he shoudn't be
hed n contempt of court for hs faure to compy wth the permanent n|uncton.
Budng and heath nspectors took the stand and testfed n crsp phrases to the
contnung myrad of voatons. In hs own defense, Lou caed on a contractor-
frend who descrbed hs efforts to get the bath house functonng. Ths dd not
mpress |udge Mahan. Don McCoy from the Oompa commune then stood n the
audence and asked the |udge for permsson to speak. Hs Honor tod hm to shut
up and st down or he woud be thrown out.
"I notce the compant reads 'The Peope versus Lous Gotteb," Don contnued n
spte of the warnng. "We, I'm the peope - "
"Throw hm out!" the |udge screamed, turnng purpe.
St wthn earshot of the court, Don began chantng "God bess a the peope,
God bess |udge Lncon F. Mahan" n the corrdor. That tore t. He was ordered
back nto the courtroom and sentenced to fve days n the sammer. Mahan then
turned to Lou, found hm guty on thrty-seven counts of contempt of court, fned
hm ffteen hundred doars and sentenced hm to two weeks n |a.
Vstng hours durng Don McCoy's and Lou's so|ourn n Sonoma County's |a were
no doubt the most coorfu t had ever seen. Caroads of freaks from the two
communes showed up to pay musc and dance whe Near handed out free
Mornng Star appes and sces of appe pe. Lou's wfe Doy vsted one day aong
wth ther two chdren. Doy was havng a hard tme acceptng Lou's phosophy,
especay now that Near was vng wth hm. The foowng are excerpts from
Lou's etters to Near from hs ce:
LOU: "I am pretty sure that Mother put me and Don together for our mutua
beneft. I fee certan that whatever happens at Oompa, t won't be Don who
denes ts advantages to the next person who comes aong. And f Don doesn't,
who w?
"The eve of regous taent n the ce s phenomenay hgh - the 'crmes' of
these boys are a connected wth conscousness and ther attempts to ater t.
Amazng how young these kds were when they dscovered they were Aternatve
Socety. We have smpy got to stumbe onto more and to open.
"Corbn Houchns was here, and gave me a coupe of new phrases to ponder:
'sautary negect' and 'non-prosecuton of vctmess crmes.'"
Later that same month, a party of offcas searched the Rdge on the pretext of
ookng for runaway |uvenes. B happened to be away that day, and no one
chaenged ther presence. They had a good ook at the property, cameras
snappng, ther worst suspcons confrmed. In spte of Governor Reagan's 'No
more Mornng Stars' statement, here was another one |ust ten mes away.
Inspector Lotspech requested permsson to make a more thorough nspecton.
B dened hm that rght, but tod hm that the studo, whch Lotspech thought
was pre-code, had actuay been bud a year earer. Instead of argung about a
few shacks, a that exsted on the Rdge at that tme, B suggested the studo be
made a test case of the budng codes. He wanted to resove the queston of
whether a man had the rght n a rura envronment to bud a house for hs own
use whch he had no ntenton of reseng.
BILL: "It seemed to me that the rght of a man to bud hs own house as he saw ft
was a basc, consttutona rght that had been usurped by arbtrary aws desgned
to enrch the budng ndustry. Snce ony the rch coud afford to bud under
these aws n rura areas, the code was used to keep poor peope n the cty
ghettos. The code was aso responsbe for the ncreasng archtectura medocrty.
Amerca was begnnng to ook ke a cooke sheet. Athough I was endangerng
my studo by dong ths, I fet t was worth t. The budng code aws were beng
used to cose Mornng Star and were a threat to every New Age communty n
Caforna. I had to fght them for our survva."
GWEN: "Lotspech sat quety drnkng coffee wth us before returnng to hs offce.
Soon afterwards, we earned he had apped for and receved a transfer to a |ob as
nspector of auto traers n another county. He was repaced by Zack Shaw who
had aready shown hs great dstaste for Aternate Cuture by hs effcent
nspecton and destructon of Mornng Star homes."
Conservatve ranchers, who dsagreed wth B about everythng ese,
sympathzed wth hs vews regardng the budng codes. Many of them had been
frustrated n ther own budng pans and hated the codes as much as the Rdge
peope dd. A ther ves they had been abe to bud as they peased. Now
suddeny they were beng tod they must pay for budng permts and
archtectura pans sub|ect to the county's approva. As respected members of
socety, they were not about to break the aw or rock the boat - they had too
much to ose.
BILL: "It was up to the younger generaton to confront the deteroraton of basc
freedoms for whch ths country fought so hard. The mportance of budng your
own nest was centra to the Open Land phosophy. Those who dd t - both men
and women - found t one of the most exharatng experences of ther ves.
Good, sod homes, tght and ft, have been but on the Rdge wth used umber,
second-hand nas and od roofng. The county condemned them as a threat to
heath and safety, but we knew that the stere, ugy, unnterestng tract houses
whch were 'ega' were much more of a threat to the peope nsde them."
The Rdge was formng a trbe, a vage, a communty n a truy organc way.
Neghborhoods sprang up on the and: The Front Gate, The Kno, The Yacht Cub,
The Communty Garden, The East Canyon and The Back Of The Land. Each
evoved ts own personaty, ts own 'canyon cas,' ts own archtectura character.
The Kno was of the earth; the hunters, meat-eaters and outaws hung out there.
More green and ush than the Rdge proper, the Kno's shady paths and oaken
gades hearkened back to what the and was ke when the Pomo and Mwok trbes
roamed the area. The Yacht Cub took ts name from a rowboat someone eft by
the sde of the road near the Front Gate. Peope often gathered there to socaze,
drnk wne and pay musc. Karma Korners, the house where the Zen Tra from
the Kno met the Rdge Road, was another favorte spot. The Mdde Of The Land
wth ts gardens ent tsef to a more sedate scene. The Back Of The Land
attracted fames. And for those who wanted to get away from t a on a hermt
trp or a regous retreat, there was the soated East Canyon.
Thankfuy, the fa rans came n August that year, reevng the fre danger and
puttng peope on notce that wnter was comng. More substanta structures
woud have to be but f they were to survve the cod weather. durng ths tme
some hectc budng went on: the Chape was but by Davd, now known as
'Crazy Davd,' the Log Cabn and the Trange House aso dated from ths perod.
Lou gracousy offered budng materas from the Mornng Star houses whch a
were under destruct orders from the county. In ths way, the Rdge was born from
Mornng Star both on a physca and a sprtua pane.
BILL: "One day whe I was vstng Lou at Mornng Star, one of the bkers who
used to hang out by the we came to me and asked to borrow my truck to chase
after some peope who had |ust rpped hm off. I refused. When I turned my back,
he went to the truck and attempted to start t. I ran over and pued hm out. In
response, he pcked up a hammer and came after me. Somehow I wrested t
away from hm, but n the meantme he had hs teeth n my upper arm and was
chewng away ke t was a t-bone steak. I ooked over at Lou as ths monster
munched my bceps.
"'My God, Lou, do somethng!' I shouted.
"Lou |ust stood there wth an amused Gandhan-Mornng Star expresson on hs
face. 'Don't worry, B,' he tod me. 'He's never hurt anyone.'
"I fnay wrenched mysef away, |umped nto the truck and spt. That was the
extent of my pacfsm that day."
LOU: "The motorcyce thng was knd of nterestng, because those guys never dd
understand anythng about what was gong on at Mornng Star. One tme I asked
ths Gypsy |oker - he had on a eather |acket and a these chans, 'Why don't you
take off your cothes and get a suntan?' And he sad, 'I never take off my coors.'
They kept ther motorcyces runnng a the tme! They'd st on ther machne and
tak to you for haf an hour, the motor runnng but not gong anywhere. God, that
was annoyng!
"One nght the Gypsy |okers came up, but ths was after they had phoned for
permsson to vst. They camped around the we, and the poce came and shook
down the whoe crew. They took ths one guy and reay searched hm. The suts
they wear have a mon pockets, and he started pung out ths, that and the
other unt the whoe top of the poce car was covered wth stuff. But he was
cean, see. So the poce eft, and hs od ady, another eather queen, sat up from
where she had been yng n a seepng bag about sx feet away. She had, oh,
about a pound of pot n there wth her. But ths guy was arrested ater for a
conceaed weapon. He came back and asked me to wrte a etter to the poce
sayng he had been nvted to the ranch. And that got hm off. Of course t was
unnecessary for them to ask permsson to come, snce I never gave nor wthhed
t.
"But these motorcyce groups operate on a funny knd of bass. Once I was takng
to Pau Stefan, the head narc, and sad, 'I |ust don't understand ths motorcyce
trp.' And he sad somethng reay profound. He sad, 'They thnk they are us.'
They are expressng a mtarstc, soemn, warror-caste mpuse and knd of
march around wth a mtary atttude. But t's an mpuse hard for me to
understand, and t payed a very sma roe at Mornng Star Ranch."
Shorty after Lou was reeased from |a, Near was arrested whe takng a sht n
the woods. The |udge tod her, "Ether get a |ob or we' hod you for psychatrc
observaton." So Near worked brefy at a |ob n the cty and ved at Oompa unt
Lou got permsson for her to accompany hm and a group of Oompa frends on a
guru-shoppng, tempe-hoppng |aunt to Inda.
LOU: "I had been attracted by everythng Indan for about three years before Near
and I went to Inda. I went wth the specfc ntent of seeng my guru Mother Mra
at the Sr Aurobndo Ashram. She was over 90 years od at the tme I saw her. It
was a sent Darshan (sttng wth the guru). She |ust ooked nto my eyes, and I
had the mpresson of someone workng reay hard to pop me up to a new eve n
my sprtua evouton. It was a feeng of ndomtabe w and endess tenacty, a
nagara of energy n ths tny ady who was an avatar n our day. I then went back
to my hote room and cred for two hours.
"I saw many other hgh peope n Inda, but magne my surprse when rght n the
Oberoy Grand Hote n Cacutta I encountered Parashva teachng mmortaty!
We, I found mysef |umpng up and down, bouncng up and down. That frst
eyeock wth Chran|va I never w forget even f I ve to be 164,000 years od.
We went from the Grand Hote to hs mud hut n Sonarpur, a suburb of Cacutta,
and n the next 48 hours he dd what the tradtona guru woud have been very
happy to accompsh wth a gfted pup n tweve years, namey, he brought me to
what the Zen peope ca 'no mnd.' Uness you have experenced t, you cannot
know what a tremendous hep ths experence s."
Chran|va was an mpovershed refugee from Bangadesh, an extremey
handsome Benga wth a fowng whte beard. Together wth Lou and Near, he
returned to Cacutta to buy extra mattresses so that everyone coud stay at hs
hut. After buyng severa mattresses and bankets, he bought Lou a frst cass
tcket to rde n comfort wth the mattresses whe he and Near rode n the
suffocatng thrd cass to save money.
When they arrved n Sonarpur, Chran|va nssted on carryng a the mattresses
and bankets. He ddn't want Amercans, whom the Indan vagers consdered at
east royaty f not gods, to be seen carryng a oad. Lou renqushed the
mattresses but Near, to Chran|va's great annoyance, nssted on carryng one.
Near ked to do her hatha yoga every day. Her frst mornng at Sonarpur she went
outsde naked and stood on her head. Then she went down to one of the many
mud ponds, st naked, and went swmmng. A the vagers hd n ther huts,
athough some peeked out ther wndows. Chran|va's famy scoded her. The
women showed her how to wrap her sar so that she coud stand on her head
wthout exposng her crotch to the neghborhood. She agreed to wear the sar
whe practcng yoga, but nssted on swmmng nude. A few weeks ater Don
McCoy and Shea USA went swmmng naked and amost caused a rot.
Meanwhe Ramn toured New Mexco wth hs frend Betty. They vsted a number
of communes, meetng Mornng Star fok who were busy settng n and ookng for
a pece of and. Davd Pratt had become good frends wth some men of the
Pententes, an unusua Cathoc sect who met n secret to perform sef-fageaton
and other strange rtuas. Cndy was watressng at the Thunderbrd Bar n
Pactas, a sma suburb of Abuquerque whe other brothers and ssters were
stayng at the Domes, a nearby commune. Shorty after Ramn returned to
Caforna, they found some and north of Taos on an ard, wateress pateau.
Backbreakng efforts were requred to survve there, but Davd Pratt began
drawng up pans for the puebo they utmatey but and named Mornng Star
East.
Back at Wheeer's Ranch, that frst summer demonstrated that the and coud be
open and st retan some sembance of securty for the nhabtants. As the raw
edges wore off, the trbe began to ge, the vbratons rose, and a group
conscousness evoved. The communty began to show tsef capabe of deang
wth crses as a corporate body. The fow of mmgrants contnued day, despte
the reatve soaton of the and and the mserabe access road.
BILL: "One day I ooked out the studo door and saw a car drve past, wndows
roed up and cameras ponted at me, cckng away. I reazed that the and had
become notorous, potcay hot. Vsts from the FBI and county nspectors
seemed ke back couds of the mpendng storm whch woud threaten our
exstence but of whose fury, as of yet, we had no hnt.
As attorney for the Rdge, Corbn Houchns was ayng the foundaton for a ega
defense whch proved dffcut for the county to break. But utmatey B's ega
fees and expenses neary equaed the amount Lou pad n fnes. However nether
of them questoned ts beng worth every penny.
By the end of 1968, Mornng Star had become her own worst advertsement. Most
peope found t unvabe, unworkabe, mpossbe and dangerous because of the
outaw trbe vng there. In contrast, fewer troubemakers found ther way to the
Rdge because of ts soaton. A nuceus of responsbe communty members
carred the burden of keepng thngs gong, ceanng up the and, mantanng the
water system and encouragng a quet atmosphere. The nhabtants wanted to
create an exampe of Open Land whch was safe, happy, prosperous and a
heathy pace to rear chdren.
The county understood from the start that the Rdge was dfferent from Mornng
Star. In ther deangs wth B, the authortes found hm a more recactrant
personaty than Lou. He was ess of a pacfst, more eager to fght. But when they
reazed the Rdge was as open as Mornng Star, the same n|unctve procedures
were started to cose the pace down.
The Dstrct Attorney fed sut (The Peope vs Wheeer and Does One through a
Hundred) seekng a court order by way of a temporary n|uncton forbddng any
further non-code budng and requestng the remova of the peope from the and.
The sut was based on a seres of nspectons made after a search warrant had
been obtaned. Durng these nspectons, a the non-code budngs and any
garbage was carefuy recorded and photographed. The nspectors were
partcuary ookng for sht whch they carefuy botted for the |udge's deectaton
and ntroduced as exhbts.
The Rdge's ega probems were compounded by a awsut fed aganst B at ths
tme by ther neghbor, |ack O'Bren, who sought to cose the access road whch
ran through hs and.
GWEN: "|ack O'Bren, hs wfe Cara and hs son ved n a arge house n Santa
Rosa, the county seat, and kept a 950-acre ranch that bordered the Rdge for tax
purposes and a quet pace to spend the weekends. When B and I ved aone on
the Rdge, we ony saw the O'Bren's a few tmes a month, and aways exchanged
frendy greetngs and waves. B and |ack taked to each other as two,
strong,ndependent andowners, and Cara and I smed sweety at each other. But
when the Rdge popuaton began to grow, they began to cast worred, suspcous
gances at us. And when Cara, aded by hgh-powered bnocuars, spotted nude
peope wakng on B's and, they became downrght angry. B and |ack's
meetngs began to be marked wth dspays of temper and ntoerance. Cara ony
scowed.
"|ack O'Bren saw everythng that he had worked for so hard n hs fe threatened
by ths buddng boheman communty that used hs ranch as a rght-of-way. He
was prepared to use a hs strategy and power to protect hs nterests. B came
from a weathy, secure background, and dd not share O'Bren's desre to
accumuate capta. He fet he had an absoute rght to do whatever he wanted on
the Rdge, and that O'Bren was cose-mnded for not acceptng t.
"Wthn the Open Land communty, dsagreements coud aways be setted by |ust
workng t out. But the dsagreement between O'Bren and B, caused by the
crossng of two ncompatbe fe styes, shared no common anguage. Athough
O'Bren threatened to organze a vgante commttee to wpe us out, he knew hs
vaues woud be we protected by the ega estabshment because they
eptomzed the Amercan Way. Thus he turned to the Dstrct Attorney to rd
hmsef on what he referred to as 'the human garbage' next door. And the Dstrct
Attorney foowed the same course of acton he had evoved to dea wth the
Mornng Star nhabtants."
BILL: "O'Bren was everythng I was not. A Cathoc Irshman from Dubn, he came
to ths country at the age of eght, pucked chckens n Petauma durng the
Depresson, went nto the mortgage racket and made a mon doars. In 1960 he
bought Sugaroaf Ranch between the Rdge and the county road. He dd not ke
the dea of our access road, but snce ony a mnster and hs wfe used t, he
toerated t. Cara O'Bren, a mdde-aged woman wth bue-tnted har, magned
the Rdge as Sodom and Gomorrah. She dedcated hersef to cosng the
communty down by exertng constant pressure on the authortes. She once sad
to me, 'How many of them do you have vng down there?' and then, on another
occason, 'We were here frst. You have to eave.' She seemed to derve peasure
out of takng photos of Rdge resdents wth her Instamatc whenever we went
past, whch I suspect she showed off wth ggges to her grfrends at tea partes.
The O'Bren's wanted us to eave our ony home so they coud en|oy weekends n
sotude at ther tax wrte-off ranch."
The O'Bren's companed about the gates beng eft open, the traffc at a hours,
and the hordes of barefoot, unkempt no-goods who stoe from them. They
referred to the Rdge nhabtants n the most derogatory terms. When they paced
a ock and a 'No Trespassng' sgn on the gate, both were torn off. At the urgng of
the O'Bren's, the Dstrct Attorney fed charges of Macous Mschef aganst B.
The |udge threw t out of court, but t was merey the frst skrmsh of a ong ega
batte.
BILL: "Corbn Houchns and I shared mescane at the Oompa commune n Marn.
It was a far-out trp, a knd of marrage, n whch we formed a partnershp whch
aowed the Rdge to survve those egay dffcut tmes wth a mnmum of
harassment. He eft hs |ob wth Berkeey Neghborhood Lega Assstance and
went to work defendng us fu-tme. The courts became my second home n 1969
and 1970. I fet ke Pubc Enemy No. 1, a hppe gangster. They were after my
ass."
#
Chapter 12
The Rdge Rad & |ohn Buter Is Murdered
The Rdge's frst Thanksgvng was the frst rea communa ceebraton and feast
on the and. Athough food was scarce n those days, the bg tabe outsde the
studo was ped hgh wth bean and rce dshes, cooked vegetabes, saads, pes,
desserts and breads. There was no turkey, nasmuch as most everyone was
vegetaran ether by choce or economc necessty. The day was one of the ast
cear, warm days of the season, and everyone spent the afternoon stuffng
themseves, sharng stores, aughng and payng musc. When evenng came, a
huge bonfre was but and peope gathered around t, ts warmth brngng them
together as one common famy. They fet the burgeonng strength of a young
seedng frmy rooted n the ground.
GWEN: "Shorty after Thanksgvng, I notced my bouse fet uncomfortabe when t
rubbed aganst my breasts. The coor of my nppes was deepenng, the tps
stckng out further. A warm rush surged through me. 'I'm pregnant,' I sad to
mysef. 'There's a tny beng vng nsde me rght now!' I fet honored and n awe
of my body. My days began to revove around the deveopng chd wthn me. I
panned to gve brth at home. Snce there were no doctors around who
encouraged home deveres, I fet I needed to be n the best shape possbe when
the tme came.
"Athough the ch of wnter had not yet set n, the rans aready had saturated
the ground, and the annua wnter ake had begun to form outsde the studo door.
One quet, drzzy afternoon, a caroad of peope came spnnng and churnng up
the road beore brakng to a mushy stop hafway through the ake. Three or four
Rdge resdents hopped out, gad to be home. The two grs who had gven them a
rde got out aso, ookng a tte ess amused. They stood around wth the others
before acceptng B's nvtaton to dry out n the studo and pan the rescue of
ther car. After much pung and pushng and smokng of |onts, the car and ts
drver started back to Berkeey. The other gr, Aca, stayed at the studo, dppng
soup and payng the gutar."
BILL: "Round, brown eyes, round, young body and round, cury brown har, Aca
spoke softy but wth assurance. After thnkng quety for a whe, she asked me f
I knew of any coffee houses where she coud pay and sng for money. Shorty
before dark, she dressed warmy and set out to fnd a pace to stay. My concern
over her wefare that rany nght was unfounded as I dscovered a few days ater
when she returned to the studo, burstng wth merrment, and reated her
adventures. She had been wecomed at severa peope's houses and was pannng
to go back to the cty, get her thngs and come back to stay.
"Gray weeks passed before I saw her agan. Ths tme, Aca wore the ar of an
estabshed resdent and nothng ese. When most foks were st n warm
sweaters, Aca coud be seen wanderng around n the fog wthout a sttch of
cothes, a book or some sewng under her arm. When the sun began to warm the
ar the foowng sprng, she was n the garden amost every day, dong yoga and
tendng the vegetabes. She was the ony communty member who gardened
reguary that second summer. Wthout her care, the communty garden woud
have never started. In those days she was aso the ony person on the Rdge who
was nether 'wthout ncome' nor on wefare. She generated ncome from varous
creatve pro|ects whch she sod, an actvty then unque among Open Landers.
"Aca began workng on an ntercommuna newsetter, descrbng n
unpretentous scrpt and wth smpe ne drawngs the basc sks needed by
newcomers to ve prmtvey n an soated, rura communty. She demonstrated
wth chdke fudty how to bud a sheter, sht n the ground, chop wood, have a
baby, etc. The pro|ect took her over a year, durng whch tme she eft wth the
wnter '69 exodus that took many Rdge resdents further north nto Humbot
County.
"When she returned the next summer, she announced that the newsetter had
grown nto a book whch was beng prvatey fnanced and pubshed by a
Berkeey pubsher wth the tte Lvng On The Earth. It turned out to be a
phenomenon, the frst edton of 10,000 seng out n three weeks. One copy
found ts way to Bennett Cerf at Random House. Deghted and mpressed, Cerf
bought the book and Aca, now Aca Bay Laure, was sent on a natona
promotona tour to expan to Amerca the |oys of Open Land vng. By the
foowng Chrstmas, Lvng On The Earth had become a best seer wth 150,000
copes sod. It engendered much sympathy and nterest n a smpe, non-technca
fe stye. Whatever t was we were dong together on the and, peope were
hungry to know more."
In eary December, the rans setted n wth a vengeance. Tents began to eak and
the bow away. Foks hudded around woodstoves for warmth unt ther wood
stashes ran out and they were forced nto ther beds. Frst-tme carpenters' homes
suffered hopeessy from eaks and drafts, yet most everyone en|oyed ther new-
found prmtvsm, even f t meant beng wet and cod. Perodcay some resdent
woud gve t up and head back to the cty, a move and a generous frend wth a
warm bath. The fow of peope through the and sowed consderaby. Most cars
coud not negotate the butterscotch puddng access road whch boasted such
hstorc spots as Gruesome Guch, O Pan Rock and the Cavernous Cuvert. At
east once a day someone got stuck and had to be pued out by the four-whee-
drve |eep. But the bad weather, shared among so many, ected an even greater
feeng of famy than before. It was Open Land at ts best.
Some heath probems occurred, many because t was |ust too cod to take a
bath wth the garden hose. Cases of staphyococcus, rngworm, threadworm,
scabes, ce and cods whch ddn't go away pagued the resdents. Wth
professona medca treatment unavaabe, peope turned to fok and Indan
remedes: suphur for scabes, radshes and gnseng for hepatts, Aoe Vera for
herpes, bay eaf tea and arrowroot starch for dysentery, goden sea for skn
nfectons. And garc for wardng off cods, expeng worms and adng the body n
fghtng any vruses passng through. Studyng Mwok trba customs brought the
ranch another wonderfu way to cure wnter aments. A sweat odge was but out
of bent branches covered wth pastc behnd the barn on the sde of the West
Canyon. Severa energetc men spent the mornng spttng wood and startng a
fre to heat the rocks.
"Steambath! Steambath!" The canyons ampfed the shouts so that they coud be
heard on neary every part of the and.
Peope came runnng, sheddng ther cothes n one moton. Lke sardnes n a can,
body to body, grown-ups and kds crammed nto the hut whe the hot rocks were
ptchforked nto a centra pt. Rvers of sweat poured down naked bodes. Water
was spashed on the rocks whch spt searng steam. It was the utmate escape
from the wnter mseres. Cooked bodes fnay emerged, steamng and obster
red, for the run to the garden and a hosedown, eavng the partcpants refreshed
and cean.
Late n |anuary, a whte pane few over the Rdge and began crcng ower.
Accustomed durng the prevous summer to ow-fyng Pper Cubs wth faces
peerng out of them, no one pad much attenton unt t had crced for the sxth
tme. By then the bg whte four-whee-drve sherff's van had drven up to the
door of the studo. One femae and three mae deputes got out and nformed B
they were n 'hot pursut' of draft dodgers and underage |uvenes. They were
gong to search the and. Gwen qucky eft to spread the news whe B began
yeng that they needed a warrant.
Wth ther wake-takes n hand, they drove a over the and, askng questons
and takng photos of structures whch ater were used n obtanng a warrant to
nspect for budng code voatons. The pane contnued fyng around, very ow,
radong messages to the cops on the ground.
GWEN: "I fet angry and afrad. The fe I was vng fet so pure and smpe and
harmess that t was hard for me to fee ke an outaw. It was aganst the aw to
smoke mar|uana, to bud and ve n a house that ddn't have eectrcty, and to
ve n communty wth men who refused to fght n wars or wth others who had
eft ther parents' homes before a certan age. The tranquty of the and was
much dsturbed by these armed men whose very presence mped that we were
dong somethng dangerousy wrong."
BILL: "The edery, sack-|awed offcer n charge tod me they had receved a etter
from a young boy's parents statng that he was on the and and that they wanted
hm back.
"'He's not here,' I tod hm.
"'We have postve nformaton that he s,' he reped.
"'Where's your search warrant?'
"'We don't need one,' he answered arroganty, and ordered me to reman n the
studo whe they searched.
"Dsregardng hs order, I waked to the garden to fnd Cury-hared Chuck. 'Go, go
qucky - they are here!' I yeed.
"He ran off nto the West Canyon. The crcng pane spotted hm and radoed to
the 'ground forces.' He stopped runnng, feeng that fght was frutess. Yedng
to God's w, he setted nto a fu otus poston and went nto deep medtaton.
But he was never found, nor was the boy the deputes came for, athough they
asked for I.D.'s from as many peope as they saw. In order not to return red-faced
and empty-handed, they pcked up another seventeen-year-od youth n spte of
the etter of permsson from hs mother he carred.
"'Gestapo pgs!' we shouted.
"'If that was true, there woudn't be paces ke ths around,' they answered.
"On ther way out, one of ther |eeps became mred n the mud. They unraveed
the wnch but ddn't know how t worked. The and had conquered them n a sma
way, and we en|oyed watchng the spectace. Two deputes pushed, mud coverng
ther unforms. They became as human as we, but what was about our smpe and
peacefu fe that made them treat us so?"
As sprngtme crept nto Sonoma County, the Rdgefok emerged from ther wnter
masma of mud and mody edges to shed ther cothes and reve n the warm
sunght. Ther shared hardshps had created a famy on the and, but one that
often found B's eadershp ackng.
"He's not a hppe," one resdent companed one day when B pued the pug
and then the fuse at the front gate to keep eectrc musc off the and.
GWEN: "From the very frst there were varous ob|ectons to B's roe as supreme
authorty. Peope fet they shoud have the same freedom as f the and beonged
to them. B oved the Rdge and wanted to protect t as he thought best. Hs
responsbty for the upkeep of the pace prompted hm to ay down the aw on
what coud or coud not be done. But many coud not accept hs authortaran
atttude. Because of hs ack of dpomacy, persona msunderstandngs fared."
Graduay t became evdent to both B and Gwen that they were part of an
experment that was out of ther hands. "Let go, et go," Lou woud chant to the
tune of the Seven Dwarfs 'Hegh ho' song durng hs frequent vsts, encouragng
them to |ust 'et t happen.' He ponted out that when a person's most basc
anxety was reeved - a pace to ve - a |oyous expanson of the heart was the
resut. And Open Land offered that possbty to anyone, regardess of ther
condton. The dffcutes B and Gwen were experencng n ad|ustng to ther
new fe were merey part of a natura growth process, he assured them.
After a few weeks, sprng sunshne ceased to be a novety. The raucous party
sprt meowed nto frockng ceebratons of any brthday or hoday that came
aong. For Easter, Crazy Davd erected a huge cross of fr ogs and set t n
concrete on Hoffe's H. It was the hghest pont on the and, named after the frst
person to camp there where the and opened, and afforded a magnfcent vew n
a drectons. On a cear day, Mt. Tamapas coud be seen ffty mes to the south.
Eary Easter mornng, a group of seepy, shuffng sous met at the cross n the
wspy fog where fowers, mar|uana and breakfast ros had been paced. Hands
|oned, they merged ther voces n a ong 'Ommmmmmm' as the frst rays of the
sun perced the msts.
RAMON: "I had returned from New Mexco the prevous fa and contnued on to
Mau to vst The Banana Patch, an Open Land communty set n a vaey of
banana trees. Snce 1966, a dozen homemade houses had been but by young
peope n much the same manner as at Mornng Star. The owner, an oder man
named Davd |oseph, was a natve Hawaan who shared Lou's bg-hearted
atttude towards the homeess, athough at the tme he had never heard of
Mornng Star. When the authortes began to pressure hm, he attempted to deed
the and to God or to a church dedcated to the prncpes of Open Land.
"Davd was a beautfu sprt, a fascnatng and anmated taker. Utmatey he
suffered consderabe persecuton for hs beefs at the hands of the poce and
courts. He fnay had to se The Banana Patch to one of hs attorneys to pay hs
extensve ega fees.
"I orgnay traveed to Hawa wth the ntenton of takng a |ob n Honouu,
earnng some money and contnung to Inda. But Lou wrote me from Cacutta
sayng not to bother. He aready had found HIM for whom we were a watng -
meanng Chran|va, of course - and was brngng hm back to Mornng Star. So I
returned to the manand on a tcket Lou pad for, seepng three days at the
Honouu arport on standby watng for a seat.
"I found Gna workng as a Go-go dancer to pay the rent on a fat on the corner of
Haght and Ashbury. The mnute I arrved, she broke up wth her boyfrend and
nvted me to move n wth her. The pace was fed wth Mornng Star refugees
and street peope, and she retaned two 'bouncers' to shoo out the speedfreaks at
bedtme. A woman named 'Purpe' n the next room envened the nghts by
sngng n an eere fasetto. After a week, I convnced her to gve up her
socoogca experment and we moved to a commune on Coe Street. A chance
encounter wth Don and Sandy Kng trggered our return to Mornng Star Ranch."
On February 17th, |ohn Buter was stabbed to death n the Haght-Ashbury. |ohn
used to te Sonoma County offcas, "I can't eave Mornng Star or I' de." After
numerous arrests and over sxty days n |a, he was forced to eave.
FRIAR TUCK: "|ohn Buter was one he of a man. Lous Kuntz and I were vng n
the cty, and |ohn Buter eft our house ffteen mnutes before he ded. He and ths
chck and ths other coupe came over and we parted for a coupe of hours.
Fnay he sad, 'We, we're spttng. We're gong up to the doughnut shop. Want
to come aong?' And we sad, 'No, man, we're too fucked up.' But we shoud've
went. Had we gone, they mght not have ked hm, at east at that pont. But we
a know why he was ked. It wasn't because he was back wth a whte chck.
Absoutey not. He had been very bg n the crmna nvestgaton dvson of the
Army. He even tod Lou one tme, 'I can straghten ths sht out. If you have any
bg probems, et me know and I' ca |. Edgar Hoover.' And the cat wasn't
kddng! He ddn't say thngs that weren't true. Now you can see why he was
ked.
"The nght of the day |ohn was ked, both Lous and I had taken acd and t was
the frst bum trp I'd ever had. |ust bummed out, man, |ust reay bummed out,
nsane, crazy, a bad trp, seeng knves beng thrown through the ar, reay crazy
thngs. And I'd never had a bad trp before. Then the next day we found out that
|ohn had been ked by Gypsy |okers gong from our house to the doughnut shop
on Stanyan Street. What supposedy happened was that a coupe of Gypsy |okers
drove up n a car - a car, mnd you, and I've never known Gypsy |okers to roam
around n cars - and they |umped out, ran across the street and stabbed |ohn. The
other guy tred to stop them and they stabbed hm too. He recovered. I reay
beeve t was a potca kng. |ohn once tod me, 'I know too much. Some day
they' get me.'"
BART: "After |ohn Buter was ked, the He's Anges tod the Gypsy |okers to strp
ther coors. They |ust tod 'em not to have ther cub any more. They ddn't ke
'em, and ony wanted to have ther own cub around. They don't ke other bke
cubs, 'cause what they do refects on them."
RAMON: "I fee I owe my fe to |ohn Buter for hs nterventon on that ast crazy
day at Mornng Star. Somehow I wasn't abe to pay that debt before |ohn was
ked. He woud be ave today f he hadn't been forced back nto the cty. God
bess |ohn Buter!"
Ramn and Gna vsted Lou and Near at Mornng Star to hear a about Lou's new
guru who was 'on hs way' to save the ranch from the county's persecuton.
However Sergeant Hayes from the sherff's department showed up and tod them
f he found them vng on the and agan, he woud run them n. So they rented a
cabn under the redwoods on the Russan Rver where B Wheeer vsted and
nvted them to move to hs and. But Ramn preferred to stay cose to Mornng
Star where he coud at east spend sunny days. When hs prevous year's
womanfrend Betty arrved whe Don and Sandy were vstng, Gna had a ft of
|eaousy and eft wth Don and Sandy. Ramn returned wth Betty to Berkeey,
acceptng her suggeston to become musca drector of The Foatng Lotus Magc
Opera Company's current producton. One month ater, Gna |oned hm. She gave
a gowng report of her vst to Wheeer's Ranch, and repeated B's nvtaton. In
Apr they moved to the Rdge.
BILL: "In the Apr of 1969, two of my cosest frends came to ve at the Rdge,
Gna and Ramn. She and I were astroogca twns, born on the same day, the
same year."
GWEN: "They moved nto the Mouse House wth Katy the Dog, and Ramn
brought wth hm a quet dpomacy that heped smooth the dfferences between
B and hs rvas. He aso brought hs accordon whch he payed everywhere, a
the tme. Hs musc made any moment a festve occason and, wth hs arrva,
musc began to foursh on the and, attractng muscans to sette and nsprng
others to earn."
BILL: "Ramn taught us about open-tuned musc, access to whch was dened no
one. To ths end he nvented what Lou chrstened the 'Ramon-a-phone,' an
autoharp wth the machne removed, tuned to an open chord, enabng anyone,
even an nfant, to pck t up and nstanty make beautfu, harmonous musc.
Musca heaven for Ramn was the gatherng of a haf-dozen such nstruments
and makng a sound whch n ts compexty and deght, coud ony be descrbed
as the sngng of anges. I was touched to see a muscan of Ramn's
sophstcaton express such a |effersonan beef n peope's nnate musca abty.
Once he put an ad n the oca paper askng for used nstruments, especay
autoharps, for 'The Sgt. Pepper's Open Land Band.' Frmy beevng that the
audence-performer reatonshp was a deadenng dchotomy, he encouraged
everyone to make sounds, whether on Ramon-o-phones or bangng on pans,
sngng, futes or whatever. At gatherngs where ths sprt prevaed, ncredby
compex and beautfu musc resuted. The ndvdua personates merged
symphoncay n prmtve, free-fowng rhythms as an expresson of the |oys of
the fe on the and."
#
Chapter 13
County Inspecton & God Receves a Present
In ate Apr, Corbn Houchns tod B that the Rdge's ega stuaton was no
better than Mornng Star's. He offered no hope that the utmate destructon of the
communty by the county coud be stopped. The experment was doomed uness
the Rdge made an attempt to become ega, ether through becomng an
organzed camp or by budng code houses wth fush toets for everyone. B tod
Corbn to sta them any way he coud, to fght them every step of the way,
hopefuy provdng tme for the communty to deveop and for the revouton to
catch up wth the advance troops.
But the authortes woud not be put off any onger. They went to court for a
search warrant based on nformaton they had acqured on ther prevous rads
and nformed B when they were comng. Corbn made carefu preparatons, even
persuadng B to hre two Burns guards. If any controversy arose n court over an
ssue, the |ury woud be more key to beeve a Burns guard than some absent-
mnded hppe.
On Inspecton Day, Apr 25th, a gant whte sug wth red eyes on ts forehead
crept sowy down the access road, the Sherff's four-whee-drve Carry-a. Watng
at Wheeer's front gate was Corbn, a sm young man wearng a dapper but
mussed sut, two edery Burns guards n bue-gray unforms, two photographers
and a sma custer of Rdgefok. A dumpy man n a short-seeved whte shrt
emerged from the vehce and stared n wde-eyed amazement at the recepton
commttee before announcng hs ntenton to enter. It was Mr. Amaro, Chef
Budng Inspector, carryng a arge sheaf of papers the search warrant.
"I have here an nspecton warrant," Amaro began. "I want to make a routne
nspecton of Mr. Wheeer's property."
"Mr. Amaro, on behaf of Mr. Wheeer, I'm teng you that you do not have
permsson to come on ths and," Corbn reped.
Fuctuatng between anger and reef, Amaro contnued. "Then I'm not comng on
the ranch. If I understand you correcty, you are denyng me access to the and."
"I do not gve you permsson to come on the and," Corbn expaned.
Amaro returned to the vehce, contempated for a moment before returnng to
the gate.
"I fee that I've executed my warrant, and I gve you a copy," he sad. "You agree
that you've dened me the prvege of comng on the and?"
"I' repeat one more tme, Mr. Amaro," Corbn reped. "I do not gve you
PERMISSION to come on ths and."
They went around ke ths another sx tmes before Amaro fted the chan
hodng the gate shut. The offcas, chaenged but not ressted, drove n. More
Rdgefok gathered, ncudng Ramn payng hs accordon. Zack Shaw, another
budng nspector, was aso there. Durng the eary Mornng Star days he had
seemed frendy, but hs son wrote a etter to the Press Democrat sayng he
thought hppes were anmas. Inspector Logsden, aso there, dd not ook very
happy as once agan he poked around n key pes, scrapng od turds nto
bottes for the |udge. Oh, the fascnaton wth feces!
Photographer Bob Ftch had been vng on the Rdge for some tme, utmatey
compng a fe of over four thousand photographs. He ran backwards n front of
the nspecton team, catchng on fm ther expressons of anger and
embarrassment. Gwen was mxng a batch of yoghurt when they reached B's
studo. She ddn't bother to answer Amaro's knock, so Corbn entered. Amaro
knocked agan, hs own camera cckng. Meanwhe Zack Shaw naed a
'condemned' notce on the studo's outer wa. Whomp! Whomp!
"You don't have permsson to touch ths budng!" Corbn shouted.
But a neutra atmosphere was mantaned unt Amaro returned outsde and
pued a protectve rubber skrt off the dranppe to photograph the studo's snk
outet. B charged across eght feet of space and, wthout touchng Amaro,
stood menacngy n front of the dran.
"It sn't far!" he shouted. "He's destroyng t! Leave t the way t was!"
"Are you preventng me from carryng out my nspecton?" Amaro asked wth a
band expresson.
"I'm not preventng you, but you are destroyng my property!" B nssted. "Put t
back the way t was!"
Corbn stepped n. "That's enough," he sad to B. And to Amaro: "It woud be
hepfu f you woud refran from actuay dong damage to the budng."
Once away from B's studo, the ony structure specfcay named n the warrant,
the mood of the processon reaxed. As each campste was nspected, the peope
there |oned the processon. A tro of chdren ran ahead ke a fght of warnng
anges. Anyone coud have escaped nto the woods to avod assocaton wth
obvous code voatons, but most remaned on ther doorsteps.
"What's happened to the B of Rghts, the rght of a man to pursue fe, berty
and the pursut of happness?" |ohn of '|ohn and Sue' asked.
"They're |ust ke Echmann, |ust dong ther |ob," Tommy Terrfc commented wth
a sneer.
Crazy Davd came up wth a song:
"They come n whte shrts, they come n brown,
We're here |ust to wrte t a down,
We're gong to sng, we're gong to dance,
We're gonna take off our shrt and pants,
Ths an't the cty, ths an't the town,
We're here |ust to wrte t a down.
In front of an empty army surpus tent, |ohn made a whmsca comment. "Not
ony does the army make you ve n these, they do t under coercon."
"Forcefu coercon," a deputy reped wth a remnscent sgh to everyone's
aughter.
"If you want to ve n one, they tear t down!" |ohn added. More aughter from
everyone.
The nspectors must have covered ten mes by the end of the day. They departed
weary by md-afternoon. Amaro's whte shrt-ta was untucked, hs pants
saggng, hs movements more of a shuffe than a wak. An equay exhausted
Corbn returned to the studo to dscuss events and future strateges. He advsed
B and Gwen to move out of the studo. It woud demonstrate ther wngness to
compy wth the aw, he expaned, suggestng they rent a room at a oca mote
somethng totay repusve to them. B wanted to reman n the studo, and Gwen
aso dd not want to move away. But she dd not fee reaxed vng there any
more. When cars drove up to ther door at nght, she woud stffen wth fear.
GWEN: "I earned to fog my concern for the ega deangs and pace t second n
mportance to the more rewardng everyday experences of Open Land. A
growng pants are beset wth a certan amount of bght, nsects and varmnts. In
the course of nature, those pants wth the strongest genetc pan and the best
envronment w survve to boom. Our genetc pan was Open Land, and our
envronment the astoundngy beautfu Caforna coasta countrysde."
No farm was compete wthout a cow, so B bought Bonne, a arge, od,
whteface famy mk cow. Later she was |oned by Cauda, a fu-booded |ersey,
the Ezabeth Tayor of the cow word. The two supped many thousands of
gaons to mk, mprovng otherwse defcent dets. Mornngs and evenngs
became natura gatherng tmes for the communty to share the mk and mkng
equay. For cty dweers, mkng offered a rea country experence and gave a
feeng for the reates of food producton.
One day the Hare Krshna devotees vsted. Wth shaven heads and n ther
saffron robes, they chanted besde the communty garden whe the corn waved
ts eaves n apprecaton. Afterwards, they reverenty watched the cows creatures
they regarded as hoy beng mked. Severa devotees gngery took a teat and
squeezed, gggng a the whe. They returned to the cty wth a contaner of
fresh, whoe mk and paced t as an offerng on ther tempe's atar.
When Cauda Cow had her caf, |ohn, Sue and ther chdren ob|ected to havng
the caf removed from ts mother. B expaned that despte the emotona pan
the separaton produced, no other opton exsted. For centures the cow had been
bred to produce much more mk than the caf needed. If the caf remaned wth
the mother beyond the frst few days, t often drank tsef to death.
Moreover, the mother was apt to hod back her mk, savng t for the caf, and
coud deveop mastts, a sometmes fata dsease. Aso, the ony way to tame a
caf was to bottefeed t. Once accustomed to humans, t woud become a gente
mk cow ater. |ohn and Sue coud not understand ths ne of reasonng, so B
suggested they dscontnue drnkng the mk. They dd ths for a whe, but when
they saw how the caf was prosperng under human care, they began comng to
mkng tmes agan.
A few chckens ved n the barn. They ay eggs here and there, whch peope
occasonay found. Sometmes a hdden nest yeded twenty-fve eggs, and on
more than one occason a hungry ndvdua made a dnner out of one of the
ayng hens.
"How woud you ke me to eat you?" B woud shout n rghteous vegetaran
wrath when he caught them.
On May Frst, the cross on Hoffe's H was transformed nto a maypoe. Eatng
and dancng contnued a afternoon. Everyone knew there were hard tmes ahead
and that the Rdge stood n mmnent danger of beng cosed. These ceebratons,
especay the musc, heped everyone forget these probems. The feeng that
'ths may be the ast tme' added a certan pognancy to the gatherngs.
RAMON: "Gna and I ved on the Rdge for a year and a haf. Durng that tme we
saw the Open Land movement prove ts thess: deny access to the and to no one,
and the and w ca the rght foks together. More and more peope came, to
vst, to sette n, or |ust to stay for a whe before movng esewhere. Throughout
that summer, the fow of vstors remaned ntense, but we accepted t as the
prce of educatng others to the new fe stye. So many peope eager to fnd new
ways to ve, to reate to one another and to brng up ther chdren! Amercan
socety abored under a heavy burden of probems cryng out for souton. The
Rdge became a research and deveopment center for tryng out new deas.
"I tended to ook for soutons n terms of some knd of new organzaton nstead
of |ust 'fowng wth t,' but I was earnng. As Od Ray at Mornng Star ponted out,
the oder you are, the more truths you have to unearn. Gna and my combned
ages put us we over the sxty mark, among the two or three odest coupes on
the pace. We earned a great dea from the young peope on the Rdge."
The meda graduay awoke to the Rdge as news. The communty wecomed the
exposure, feeng that the coverage mght brng the troubes wth the county to a
wder and more sympathetc audence. Surey a dscovery as smpe and harmess
as Open Land woud strke the heartstrngs of the naton. To B, t seemed a
conscous step nto hstory wth heavy potca mpcatons.
Photographer Bob Ftch had been the frst to arrve. Former photographer for
Martn Luther Kng he took the famous shot of Coretta Kng at Dr. Kng's funera
whch made the cover of LIFE he aso was an actve support of Cesar Chavez and
the farm workers. Ta and bond, wth a coupe of Nkons sung around hs neck
and a cassette recorder hangng by hs sde, Bob ran on pure nervous energy.
Rdgefok grew to trust hm and he roamed about freey. He hoped that Esqure or
LIFE woud buy the artce he assembed, but Esqure showed no nterest, and Lfe
had ther own team coverng a 'secret' commune n Oregon.
BILL: "The cover of that LIFE ssue showed an ntense-ookng commune famy,
the men n overas, the women n granny dresses and the kds neat and cean.
The beauty of t a brought tears to our eyes. Ther way of fe was descrbed,
aong wth sumptuous coor photos, but the artce decned to dscose ther
ocaton, obvousy to prevent hordes of peope from vstng. As we read t, we fet
that the commune movement had come of age, that Amerca was ready to accept
aternate fe styes.
"The foowng week the Manson story broke and the bubbe burst. Interest n
communes waned, and Bob had troube seng hs artces. A bera Cathoc
paper fnay took t, nude photos and a."
After Bob Ftch eft, the communty decded to have a competey open pocy n
regards to the meda. It woud have been hypocrtca to et some peope n and
excude others whe extong the vrtues of Open Land. Wheeer's and Mornng
Star were among the few communes to foow ths pocy. They fet that the good
w of socety must be promoted, and that one way to acheve ths was through
an open door to the meda. Reporters were frequenty amazed at the hosptaty
they encountered. They got ther story, and n amost a cases t was favorabe.
The San Francsco Chronce pubshed an artce entted 'Where Dd A The
Hppes Go?' by Matand Zane. It was a reasonaby ob|ectve story, sghty
skeptca to be sure, but he refraned from beng snde. The best spread was n
the now-defunct magazne Scanans whch kened the Open Land movement to
the Popusm of the eary nneteen hundreds.
Sara Davdson, a ta, dark-hared woman, appeared to wrte an artce for
Harper's Magazne. Gruesome Guch camed her car, and she spent the nght n
the back seat, terrfed of O'Bren's cows. In the mornng she pushed on
determnedy on foot. After a few days on the Rdge, she wrote a somewhat
skewed story: dope and sex predomnated, whe Open Land receved second
bng:
"Our cuture has absorbed so much of the stye of hp cothes, anguage, drugs,
musc that t has obscured the substance of the movement wth whch peope at
Mornng Star and Wheeer's st strongy dentfy. Beng a hppe, to them, means
droppng out competey, and fndng another way to ve, to support onesef
physcay and sprtuay. It does not mean beng a company freak, workng nne
to fve n a straght |ob and roamng the East Vage on weekends. It means
sayng no to competton, no to the work ethc, no to consumpton of technoogy's
products, no to potca systems and games... They took up what Ramon Sender
cas 'vountary prmtvsm,' budng houses out of mud and trees, panng and
harvestng crops by hand, rong oose tobacco nto cgarettes, grndng ther own
wheat, bakng bread, cannng vegetabes, deverng ther own chdren. They
gave up eectrcty, the teephone, runnng water, gas stoves, even rock musc
whch, of a thngs, s supposed to be the cornerstone of hp cuture. They started
to sng and pay ther own musc foky and quet."
A number of nternatona |ournasts came, one a Persan correspondent who, to
show her unty wth the cause, ntervewed B topess. Concdenty the sherff
was on the and that day. When she saw the unforms and badges approachng,
she qucky put on her shrt and ran out of the house n a panc yeng, "I am not
one of them!" In spte of ths nterrupton, she wrote a strange and naccurate
artce for the London Teegraph whch was repubshed n Germany.
On May 6th, 1969, Lou deeded Mornng Star Ranch to God, causng a sensaton n
the courthouse. Sncker, sncker, went the tte mousetrap mentates.
"Transferrng the tte to the rghtfu owner takes a bg oad off my mnd," Lou
sad. After a, God's hep was requested day n every courtroom n the and. Who
woud have the audacty to |udge whether He was a quafed grantee? It made
headnes around the word. Even peope n Inda heard about t and understood.
Lou even found a precedent under Mosem aw whch for centures had aowed for
donatons of property to Aah. Such a gft was known as a "waqf," and coud be
made by Mosem and non-Mosem ake.
Lou envsoned a statute-free sanctuary where the naked, nameess, homeess
and harmess coud fnd refuge. He beeved that nothng new coud take pace on
a pece of and as ong as t remaned n human hands because the peope woud
be vng there by artfca and not dvne seecton.
LOU: "The ony thng about deedng Mornng Star Ranch to God whch was not
perfect nsofar as far as I was concerned was the fact that the dea dd not
manfest tsef unt there was a permanent n|uncton on the and. So t ooked ke
an attempt to evade the reguatory grasp of the court on regous grounds. I dd
try to donate the and durng the premnary n|uncton, but the mportant thng s
that snce then there have been other peces of and deeded to God whch don't
have ths messness about t. By the way, the whoe thng the dea of deedng the
and to God s dstncty not my dea. It came from Mother Earth through one of
her forms Gna. And she hersef can't remember f she thought t up or f
somebody tod her."
Shorty thereafter, God was sued by a Mrs. Penrose who camed He acted "wth
mace and w" when he caused her house n Arzona to be struck by ghtnng.
She woud gracousy accept Mornng Star Ranch n eu of $100,000 damages. As
f that wasn't funny enough, a man dong tme n |a camed to be God and
answered her sut, at whch the |udge stopped aughng and threw t out of court.
Some months ater, |udge Eymann fnay rued that "Whatever the nature of the
dety, God s nether a natura or artfca person capabe of takng tte under
exstng Caforna aw." Ths decson was sustaned n the Caforna Court of
Appeas. Smpy, t meant that God coud not own and n Caforna because he
coudn't sgn hs name to the deed.
RAMON: "Snce the sun, as I beeved, was God as 'Nearest and Dearest' to us
panetsde (snce matter was merey sowed-down ght, and ght was merey
sowed-down conscousness, and conscousness was merey sowed-down God),
then a one needed for an approprate sgnature was to pace a magnfyng gass
between the dety and the document. I ponted ths out to Lou, but he seemed to
thnk t woud ony mudde the aready murky ega waters."
Snce that tme, and has been deeded to God n other states of the unon as we
as n Caforna tsef, so perhaps ths ssue has not yet been thoroughy tested.
Lou began to spend ong hours n the aw brary, preparng addtona memoranda
provdng that deedng Mornng Star to God was actuay a donaton for pubc use,
but utmatey hs arguments fe on deaf ears.
That May, Natara|a Guru arrved at Mornng Star ookng ke a saffron-robed Santa
Caus. Oompa and Wheeer's peope convened at the haf-wrecked Upper House
to eat the mea whch Natara|a Guru cooked whe stoned hppes sang and
danced around hm.
LOU: "Natara|a s Shva, the knd of the dance. Natara|a Guru was sent here by
Shva, and the day he vsted us was aso the day Near and I conceved our baby
Vshnu. The nght before, Natara|a had been spped a tte STP n hs tea snce he
was stayng wth some hppes n the Haght-Ashbury. You must remember he was
seventy-two years od, and had spent the ast sxteen of them wthout an address,
whch s caed 'Sannyasn' n Inda. I asked hm what was the resut of the STP,
and he reped, 'It has shown me rooms n my Father's manson that I never knew
exsted.' So he understood competey what was happenng. Aso, he
accompaned me, Near and Har to a court hearng at whch he postvey zapped
the |udge."
Od Ray Karam ved at Mornng Star throughout that summer. After a few arrests,
the cops accepted hs presence as the 'caretaker,' and he sept unmoested n the
coset of the now defunct bath house.
LOU: "When the Dvne W begns manfestng on the eve of group acton, t's
amazng to watch the castng. One of the most amazng actors n the Mornng Star
myth was Ray Karam. He was of Lebanese extracton but, snce hs parents frst
came to Mexco, he reay was bngua. When I heard hm speak Engsh, t
seemed that I was stenng to a Mexcan."
RAY: "I know I was ed to Mornng Star by the Sprt. When I got there, I fet those
hgh, sprtua vbratons and a deep, true amount of ove between the peope, no
matter who. Every person, anma, pace or thng was oved for what they were.
There I aso earned to ove and to know we are a brothers. That prompted me to
wrte ths sma poem:
Fadng nght,
Dawns the Mornng Star the ght,
To ght the earth beow
And gude humanty to go,
To go where a n one brotherhood gaddened are,
At a ranch caed Mornng Star.
"I am a man of ffty-two years. I came to Mornng Star when I was ffty. I stayed
there about one year and three months. Snce I was an oder man, I had to stay
there onger because I had more untruths to decondton out of my mnd. Most of
the truths I have dscovered there came from the young peope. The other day I
saw a bg headne n the newspaper, that the potcans were concerned about
the youths' menta heath and say they are crazy. We, I am not a young man. I
am gad I am |ust as crazy as the youth of Amerca, and I am gad that I ke ann
thnk as crazy as they do. If I had known t was ths much fun and ove and peace
to be crazy, I woud have gone crazy much sooner. As t s, t took me ffty years
to drop out of that same word of hate and war sadness to ths crazy word of |oy,
peace and ove. And I earned t there at Mornng Star Ranch from those crazy,
beautfu, young hppes. I am the odest hppe that ever came to Mornng Star,
and I'm |ust as crazy as the youngest hppe that ever came there. And I ove t! I
am sorry I don't know how to wrte we or even spe we, but I hope ths does
hep n some way n the wrtng of the book about Mornng Star Ranch."
FRIAR TUCK: "One nght about three a.m., my od ady and I were yng n the tp,
gettng ready to fa aseep. I was three-quarters aseep when I heard BANG!
BANG! 'Ahhh shaddup!' BANG! BANG! 'Goddamn motherfucker!' Buets were
whnng over my head! Suddeny I was up, you know boom! I'm up and screamng,
man. I had a twenty gauge shotgun under my bed, so I grabbed t. Obvousy
Nevada was n a Korean frontne frame of mnd. By ths tme my neghbor Steve
had ptter-patter'd up to the tp. 'Tuck, Tuck! Are you a rght?' 'Yeah man,' I
answered. 'But ths crazy motherfucker's got a gun!'
"We, next thng I knew Nevada had hs foot n the door whch had a canvas cover
hangng down and pow! I ht hm wth the gun butt through the canvas. He went
stumbng back and anded on the ground. I went runnng out and, man, I had that
shotgun oaded and cocked. I was pssed off! I swung the muzze rght nto
Nevada's stomach, and then Steve came runnng over and put a twenty-two rght
up aganst Nevada's nose ha-ha-ha-ha!
"We started takng back 'n forth whether we wanted to off hm or not. And Steve
sad, 'We, we coud bury hm down there across from the ranch. Don't worry,
nobody' ever fnd out. |ust pu the trgger, man.'
"Nevada sobered up |ust ke that. He was reay freaked! We amost ked hm
there and then. I must've beaten on hm for about ten mnutes. Crazy
motherfucker! He shot three fuckn' hoes n my tp, that bastard! Three fuckn'
hoes!"
Don McCoy moved to Mornng Star and but a sma house for hmsef and Syva,
who took many exceent photographs of that era. Don had been through some
hard tmes at Oompa, and for a number of months hs moods were
unpredctabe.
RAMON: "I vsted Lou at hs studo one evenng. Near had a pot of beans cookng
on the hot pate, and Lou and Don were there aong wth Don's rabbt who was
hoppng around on ther mattress, eavng tte turds behnd hm. Fnay Near
sad, 'Lsten, I don't mnd havng you guys n here, but the rabbt has got to stay
outsde. Open Land sn't Open House.'
"And Don McCoy freaked out. 'What do you mean the rabbt has to stay outsde?'
he shouted. 'Ths s God's and, sn't t? Open Land for peope s Open Land for
rabbts!'
"He started screamng and shoutng. Fnay he went outsde, took the garbage
cans and threw them on the roof of the studo. Franky I was knd of scared. The
whoe scene went on for about ffteen mnutes whe Lou |ust ay on the mattress,
rectng some prayer n Latn.
"Another day, two frends of Lou's arrved. Bob had vsted before. He mmedatey
took off a hs cothes and stood on hs head whe Lou greeted Lncon, a panst
from Los Angees. Fnay Lou waked over to upsde-down Bob and sad, 'Hey, t's
consdered very hgh n Inda to pss standng on your head.' And so, wth a tte
more encouragement from the guru, Bob et go a stream. And he pssed up hs
nose, he pssed n hs eyes, he pssed n hs beard. A the whe, Lou kept sayng,
'Very hgh, very hgh. Goden showers of bss!' We, t turned out Lou had never
tred t for hmsef. He camed to have been workng up to t for a coupe of
weeks.
"What he had been abe to do was pss whe payng Bach at the pano. 'It's
great!' he reported. 'It's fantastc! It's the et-go of the century. But the ony thng
s, t's turnng the pedas green.'"
FRIAR TUCK: "Another tme I remember Lou pacng furousy up and down the
garden path. Don McCoy, Chef and a few others had decded that Lou shoud be
berated from hatng oud musc. In ther acohoc stupor, they had taken Don's
stereo and set t up next to Lou's wndows at about fve o'cock n the mornng.
They stuck the speakers rght up aganst them and turned up the voume fu
bast. It bew Lou rght out of bed, but he woudn't turn the damn thng off. Fnay
he went out to the garden and started wakng back and forth, back and forth for
about an hour or so. I was sttng up n the meadow watchng hm. Nobody went
cose to hm, nobody went anywhere near hm, because he was grttng hs teeth,
shakng hs head and growng ke an anma.
"Fnay I got up the courage to go down and tak to hm. 'Lou, what's wrong?" I
asked. And he sad, 'I don't want to be taked to!' 'Hey man,' I sad. 'Whatever
happened s over, and there's nothng you can do about t.' 'Don't tak to me,' he
sad. 'Don't come near me! Go away! I'm crazy!' And I sad, 'A rght, that's neat.'
But by that afternoon, he had cooed down."
#
Chapter 14
Back Sunday
One Sunday n |une, a coupe came from San Francsco wth ther frends to get
marred at Wheeer's Ranch. It was a beautfu, sunny day and, as peope began to
gather n the Pne Grove, word crcuated that there was some very speca punch
beng served n a tte gade. The punchbow contaned a mere two quarts of frut
|uce, but t had been aced wth fve hundred tabs of pure Owsey LSD wth a tte
psyocbn for favor and some mescane for coor. Ffty peope consumed a of t,
tte knowng |ust how potent the mxture was.
"Ths an't Oympa beer," B commented after sppng ess than a ffth of a cup.
Fve mnutes ater t began to come on very strong.
Gna brought Ramn a cupfu whch they shared before gong back for another to
gve Lou and Near who were vstng that day. Whe they searched for ther
frends they took a few more sps. Some 'acd vrgns' and other nnocents drank
up to a cup and a haf. And t turned nto a rea, od-fashoned group acd freak-
out.
COYOTE: "I notced a these peope hangng around a punchbow, so I got n ne
for a fu cup, and waked back and fed up agan. I ddn't know what was
happenng, but then I saw the guy who had been servng the punch, and he was
yng on the ground quverng, and I sad, 'Wow! Ths must be dosed!'"
Ramn sat down and began payng hs accordon, fgurng he had a haf-hour to
pay musc before enghtenment ht. Four mnutes ater some very strrrange
thngs began happenng to hs nsdes. The LSD was httng fast! Peope n the
Pne Grove were ookng at each other strangey as f to say, "Wow, do you fee
what I fee?"
"We'd better go somewhere by ourseves," Gna sad to Ramn. "I'm gettng very
hgh! Is everythng gong to be a rght?"
"Sure, sure," Ramn reped, not reay so sure. "But t's gong to be a tota wpe-
out trp."
They waked down the hsde to a sma cump of redwoods not far from the
communty garden. Waves of energy were rppng through the ar and through
both of them. The peaks kept gettng hgher and hgher and coser and coser
together. Fnay they were fat on ther backs. Back n the Pne Grove, peope
started throwng up, ther bodes tryng to re|ect the overdose. No one knew how
much had been n the punch or how much they had taken. Other peope were
rong on the ground, screamng for hep. One gr began btng anyone near her
between screams.
I thnk we've been posoned," Gna gasped. "I've got to get some water."
She staggered to the communty garden water faucet, Ramn waftng aong
behnd her, hs head sprang off nto the hot summer sky. Erro and Sarah's son
Moses and a coupe of |ohn and Sue's kds were there. Gna doused her face and
fed a gaon |ug.
"We've got to take water to the others," she sad, starng back up the hsde.
In Ramn's eyes she transformed nto an Od Testament maden carryng fe-
savng water to her trbespeope. Now and then another scream woud escape
from the Pne Grove and they woud put on a burst of speed.
"Get me some doooooooowners!" It was a cry from the depths of he. "Get me
some doooooooooowners!"
Upon enterng the grove, t seemed as f they had faen nto some knd of
demonc nferno. Bursts of frenzed drummng set a backdrop for fashy dressed
strangers who were wakng amessy around. Of a the peope there, Ramn
recognzed ony one - Pat de Vta, a Mornng Star sster, who ooked out-of-her-
mnd terrfed.
Lou sauntered up. "We, Pat, ooks ke you've made t ths tme," he sad,
mpyng she had fnay gotten as hgh as she coud.
Nobody seemed nterested n Gna's water |ug, so she and Ramn sowy made
ther way down the hsde, Ramn pourng water over hs head every few steps.
Meanwhe, Cff had run down to the Wow Sprngs where he hd out for the rest
of the trp, feeng awfu. Zen |ack sat on an ad|acent hsde ntonng "In the
begnnng there was..." n a boomng voce but then forgettng what happened
next. A day he woud amost fnd out what was n the begnnng but then t
euded hm and he had to start a over agan. "In the begnnng..."
Someone turned to B who had stayed on n the Pne Grove. "Ths tme you've
gone too far," he sad. "It's too much!"
B staggered down to Gwen who, seven months pregnant, had avoded the
punch and was hoeng her garden. What dd he have to do wth creatng ths
nsanty, B wondered.
GWEN: "B was worred that peope woud get hurt, that the cops were comng,
that the water tank was runnng dry and that any number of other caamtes were
mmnent. What was happenng on the Rdge was so ntense that he fet the whoe
word was focusng ts attenton on us. I assured hm that I woud ook after a the
detas. We waked back up to the studo where we found numerous bodes
sprawed a over the foor. Haf were moanng for water, Garbage Mke was
mumbng about trash and ceanng up, and Zen |ack was st tryng to fnd out
what was 'n the begnnng,' but as t faded from hs grasp, he sank nto despar
ony to be rased agan by hs next fash of nspraton. I went up to the front gate
to turn on the water pump because every faucet on the Rdge was wde open and
crowded by crawng, wrthng, naked, muddy, stoned hppes. A aong the road,
peope were runnng around mady, shed of ther cothes, wth expressons of
searchng horror. One man I had seen earer wakng wth crutches and thrown
them away aong wth hs cothng and gasses and was crawng around ke a
baby n search of ts mother."
Fnay some LSD veteran suggested that everyone gather n a crce, hod hands
and 'Om' together. That seemed to brng thngs more under contro for that
partcuar group of trppers. Lou and Near had mssed out on the refreshments
and reappeared wakng towards Ramn and Near from the garden. Near was
goden and naked, Lou n hs whte Hndu pants and shrt, both n ther norma,
psychotc frame of mnd.
"Gna! Ramn!" Zen |ack's voce boomed across the meadow whch he was
descendng wth faterng footsteps. "Come to me! Come to me!" Hs ntonatons
were postvey Shakespearean.
"My God, you're a reay stoned!" Near excamed, starng at her frends. Zen |ack
waved hs sknny arms and foated coser. Ramn hed up the gaon |ug and
poured more water over hs expodng head. He fet that f he ddn't touch water
every few mnutes, he had no reference pont for reaty. Zen |ack swooped
around them, tweakng Near's Tampax strng before beng tacked by a young
amorous-ookng mae.
Some truy unearthy screams started from behnd the Pne Grove. They put Gna
nto a panc, and she went to e down n a mud pudde besde the faucet, her
whte nghtgown turnng brown. Ramn fet rresstby drawn to the screamer. If
whoever t was ddn't stop, he thought, everybody w reay freak out! Around the
curve of the road came |ane, naked and totay goodbye out of t. Every few stops
or so she emtted a truy unbeevabe hoer. It came from deep nsde of her, and
she ended t wth her tongue protrudng n a gaggng refex. Her od man Erc and
a few other guys were crcng around, tryng to hod her and cam her down. Erc
had a very neat neckace of btes she had gven hm. The whoe group drfted
down to the by-now archetypa water faucet where Lou was standng. He tred to
cam |ane down. She bt hm, so he tred bowng hs stack. No good. She ay on
the ground gaspng ke a anded fsh. Ramn gave her some water whch heped
temporary. Now and then some natty dressed person came by and tred to
assure everyone that the punch was 'the pure stuff,' but that a ffth of a cup was a
fu dose.
Lard and Vvan materazed out of nowhere, Mornng Star 1967 graduates. Lard
gave Ramn a nutty ooks as f to say, "Isn't fe |ust too crazy to beeve?"
Somehow that exchange of gances wth hs frend heped Ramn cam down. He
started tendng frst to Gna n the mud pudde and then |ane fat on her back n
the road, gong back and forth. At one pont he ooked up at Hoffe's H, and t
seemed as f there were hundreds of peope ned up on t. Oh God, he thought,
someone has drven out and phoned n sayng, "There are a hundred peope dyng
at Wheeer's! Send out the cops, the fre brgade, the rescue squad! Hep!" They
must be throwng peope nto ambuances, he thought. But then he faced hs
paranoa: "So okay, they're haung everyone away on stretchers, and a of
Occdenta s up here watchng the debace. It can ony brng a of us coser
together." The worst that coud happen then ddn't seem so bad.
Some peope dd freak and eave. A gr up at the front gate tod newcomers,
"Don't go down there. The Dev s oose!"
However no poce came and no one teephoned from town for assstance. The
Rdge communty worked t through on ther own n true Open Land tradton.
Once agan, the ack of easy access to the outsde had proved a bessng.
GWEN: "I waked back to the garden where |ane was shrekng and btng
everyone who came near here. Foks tred dfferent soothng tactcs ony to come
reeng away cutchng at ther wounds. As I eft the garden and waked aong the
road, I fet I was vstng the wdest menta hospta on earth. Wthn the nvsbe
was of each person's 'cubce,' a dfferent crazy human drama was unfodng. My
stomach was stckng out pretty far, and ts gow of peace tended to surround
peope and brng them out of ther nteror madness whenever I took ther hand
and et the warmth of my center fow nto them."
In the ate afternoon, the weddng fnay took pace. It was a strange, surreastc
ceremony wth everythng n sow moton. The brde passed a bow of wne to the
brdegroom who dropped t. The mnster expaned that the broken peces of the
bow symbozed the comng together of the brda coupe. B found hmsef
wonderng about that.
Ramn began to suspect that the heat of the sun mght be payng an mportant
part n keepng them a so crazy. He personay fet the need for a coo, shady
pace. Gna was by now yng on the manure pe whe |ane was st thrashng n
the roadway. So he turned to a man named Harod who wasn't stoned and asked
for hep n gettng the women and hmsef nto the barn. Harod, a beautfu
brother, escorted the women nto the barn where a four of them ay down on the
sweet-smeng straw. He exuded a cam, confdent sympathy whch reassured
them that everythng was reay gong to be a rght. They began to fee much
better. In the ater afternoon, Gna went out to e n the sunshne. B came by
and assured everyone that a was we f not qute back to norma. |ane mped
off on a bstered foot to fnd Erc.
Ramn went to B's studo and found hm entertanng, of a peope, a straght
young woman from Freestone who was very upset because a neghbor was gong
to butcher a steer. The anma had been grazng n the ot across from her house
and she fet she had estabshed a frendy reatonshp wth t. She taked for a
ong tme about vegetaransm and how she was a for t, but what coud she feed
her husband? She must have been experencng a 'contact hgh,' because she
taked on and on, obvousy en|oyng her vst, her frst tme on the Rdge.
RAMON: "Ths tte touch of non-stoned reaty fet good. I then waked down to
Gna, and we took a stro to the end of the and and back up to the studo wth my
accordon, aughng and havng a good tme. The sun was settng, and a group
had gathered to watch the huge, rpe persmmon moon come up over the hs. I
payed "Shne On, Harvest Moon" n fourteen dfferent psychedec varatons
whe Harod dd a softshoe routne and cracked sy |okes whch made everyone
augh and augh. It fet so good |ust to be ave, to have survved wth no one dead
or permanenty fpped out."
Reports trcked n from a corners of the and. A beautfu young gr named
Cauda had faen off Shant the mare nto a bush. Cff thought the revouton had
started and thrown a rock through a studo wndow. Some guy smeared sht a
over hmsef and ran around huggng everyone. Don and Sandy Kng, quety vng
by themseves at the bottom of the West Canyon, reported ater that the
vbratons were not-to-be-beeved strange from 'up top' that day. Everyone n hs
own way had gone through some knd of he and ved through t.
"Ah, psychedec spendor," Gna ntoned, wth a sweep of her hand to the stars.
And B beeved that he had understood the agony and ecstasy of man that day,
the experence Adous Huxey caed 'Between Heaven and He.'
DAMIAN: "We, I drank that stuff and wthn two mnutes I coudn't wak, I |ust
coudn't wak. So I fgured we, f I can't wak I'm gonna craw, so I crawed out n
the hot sun and went around n crces for a whe, and then the sky opened up
and I saw a coupe of guys up there bown' horns and I thought, 'Sht, man, t's
the end of the word!' And there were ten or ffteen peope ned up beow Hoffe's
H n a straght ne watng for the ambuances to come. I woud've gone to the
hospta that day f somebody had taken me. Some hecopters few over that day
too, and there were a coupe of guys n army unforms, so I started thnkng
maybe we'd been dosed by the cops wth STP. I thought maybe t was ke a |oke
or somethng that the Santa Rosa offcas were payn' on us.
We, fnay I crawed down nto the canyon and puked my guts out, and then I
started feen' pretty good! My od ady st teases me about t. She says I went up
the h fuy cothed, you know, everythng on, and when I came back I had ost
everythng, my shoes, my pants, my ID, everythng. I was stark-assed naked!"
The story behnd the punch was that the caterer, a rock promoter from Seatte,
en|oyed gettng peope so stoned that they saw God. The week before he had
done the same thng n San Francsco at a rock concert and some ffteen peope
who saw too much God went to the hospta. It was of no sma credt to the
Rdgefok that they had enough of a communty and enough trust n each other so
that everyone got through the experence wthout permanent harm. Whenever
that day s taked about, and t st remans one of the favorte stores among
those who were there, t s referred to as 'Back Sunday.'
ZEN |ACK: "On Back Sunday I |umped up reazng the whoe thng! A the peope
beng there, a the dope, the whoe stuaton takng pace n such a freaked-out
way, and I ooked at Lou and sad, 'He's the one responsbe! You're responsbe
for ths, Lou Gotteb! And I sad t n a happy way, zonked to the mts, you know.
So okay, Open Land s Back Sunday. And what's Back Sunday mean to you? A
pure es and fowers, but t's - you know - your hoy day and honess can be
back too. It takes a forms. Now, for an outsde observer to wtness Back
Sunday, someone who hadn't experenced an acd trp or the Open Land trp, t
mght have ooked ke a rea bummer. You know, peope shrekng and fang
about. But once you've taken acd, you know what the stuaton s, and you know
t's not so, ahh, ugy. It's not so back. And afterwards, everybody sad, 'Hey, you
know what? We ved through t, heh-heh!' We, so what was Back Sunday? It was
somethng that coudn't have taken pace probaby anywhere ese n the word,
not n a state park, not n the cty or n a prvate home somewhere. It ony coud
have happened on a pece of and rued by anarchy or not rued at a. It had to
happen where t was totay free to have whatever happened happen!"
COYOTE: "There was ths guy down at the creek, and he was scoopng mud and
hodng t up to the sun and gong, 'Gwurk!.' I |umped off a cff to see f I coud
hurt mysef but I coudn't. I'd never seen so many stoned peope n my fe, but I
don't know why t's caed 'Back Sunday,' That's an exaggeraton!"
BILL: "My own feengs about LSD are that t shoud be taken sparngy and ony n
a supportve envronment. If the condtons are rght, LSD can be en|oyabe and
educatona, but f they are wrong, expect a bum trp. Acd s norganc. Artfca
fertzer w produce bg frut but the food vaue and the goodness are nothng
compared to somethng organcay grown. Most peope, after a certan amount of
LSD-takng, fnd they have gotten as much out of t as they can and turn to
sprtua and yogc dscpnes for a more astng attanment of expanded
conscousness. Chemca heghtenng of awareness can be a trap and a dead end.
"Drugs have never been a probem on the Rdge. Extremey popuar, they are
consumed as soon as they get here. A favorte agrcutura pursut was growng
your own. Rarey have any hard drugs such as heron, methedrne or other types
of speed been used on the and. Our soaton precuded a habt, and many
addcts came here to kck ther addctons. It there was a vanous drug on the
and, t was acoho. Any voence, dsturbance or troube usuay was caused by t.
Drnkng owered the vbratons and renforced the worst n human behavor,
tendences and desres. Future hstorans surey w fnd t puzzng that our
socety made t ega and mar|uana ega."
COYOTE: "For the record, I' chaenge anybody to an acd-eatng contest anytme,
any pace, any where. I've tred every drug there s to try, and I'm A-Amercan.
The prze s the Cosmos, of whch I am currenty the Presdent. I' gve up my
badge and trade postons f I ose. But when I te peope how much acd I've
eaten n my fe, they don't beeve me! They refuse to beeve me!"
ZEN |ACK: "Open Land Booge-man, Open Land Booge-man! Shut up, shut up, I'm
the Booge-man, Open Land's the Booge-man! Eat, seep, sht, make ove wth the
Booge-Man! Now, once you've earned how the Booge-Man can be ved wth,
then you're not afrad of hm anymore. There s no Booge-Man, nothn' to fear.
Death sn't to be feared because we're the gratefu dead.
We come out here, and everythng we had that we thought was ours, physcay,
mentay, emotonay, gets rpped! Rght? And we stand naked, goofy, starn' at
the sun, babbng great btherng dotc nothngs, freakng on dope. Everythng
that's consdered to be of worth n straght socety s totay ost, surrounded wth
trash, dsease, no future, our past s runed, we're a heap - haeu|ah! Then when
you stand up wth nothn', you reaze where t's a comn' from. What's reay
worthwhe sn't somethng that money can't buy me ove, baby! Dum-de-dum, I
need some money and I need t fast, rp t off from the rung cass... We are
hppes, sy hppes! Yes, that's what you are! Stoned hppes!
"To be convnced to open your and, take any of your probems, any one of your
probems or hang-ups, and I bet you can trace t to some sort of physca thng - a
car, a woman, your food, your house payments. Whatever t s, you know that f
you et go of t and don't watch over t, somebody ese greedy enough s gong to
atch onto t and take t away from you, and then there's a that pan and horror
and sorrow. So what you do s you earn to et go, |ust et go of whatever t s you
have, especay and. Let go of t, and watch t get taken, and when you earn to
be taken and sme and not have t hurt, then you're free of t. Now f you have
property and you're hoardng t, that's a sefsh thng, and t causes pan for others
and for yoursef. So et go, you know, and become extremey freaky ke Mornng
Star - Open Land peope, where they et go of everythng n an unreastc way,
thank God, and then you' earn a ot about ove and you' be concerned more
about others and utmatey t' a baance out. Let go of 'em a!
"That's what Back Sunday was a about, where you ddn't have a choce to et go
or not, whether you wanted to ve or de. You |ust got ked, heh-heh. You were
so rpped that you |ust had no dea. Every now and then you'd pop back n and
say, 'Oh yeah, I'm stoned on LSDeeee! Who's that? Where'd that brd come from?
Aha! That's my great unce! I' catch hm by the ta and fy off to the moon of
seven ves!' It was a beautfu party, see, the stuaton was perfect, good food,
beautfu coors, baoons, great day, good musc, everyone reaxed. It was my
frst day back n the country, and when somebody offered me dope, I fgured what
do you need dope for? Ths s beautfu! You don't need any dope because
everybody's aready hgh! And then the dope came, and then the whoe thng was
|ust thrown out nto, unh, you coudn't say what t was. It was |ust the bggest
dope trp I'd ever seen!"
#
Chapter 15
Rdge Summer & An Intervew Wth Tex
GWEN: "After the prevous summer of cars roarng through the and n couds of
dust wth rados barng, we decded to keep a vehces at the front gate and wak
from there to our homes. Ths decson contrbuted greaty to the beauty and
peace of the Rdge. A two-ton truck was bought for use by the communty, and
began to repace the need for ndvduay owned cars. Severa peope earned to
drve t, od Ben among them. Communty 'runs' were schedued two or three
tmes a week, and ncuded stops at the aundromats, grocery stores, heath food
stores and produce stands. Neghbors stared n amazement as we swayed aong
the country roads wth a oad of coorfuy dressed, wndbown peope cutchng
sacks of aundry and suppes. Storekeepers reacted wth mxed feengs when the
truck empted ts passengers at ther doors. They worred about possbe
shopftng, but apprecated the busness from the Rdgefok who spent most of
what tte money they had on food. Whenever the truck broke down, the ranch
mechancs fxed t, subsequenty assumng contro over who used t. However
ther authorty was constanty n queston."
|uy brought beautfu weather. Ramn, Gna and Katy the Dog, squrreed away n
ther tte canvas and wood house under the wd ac, found themseves happy
beyond ther wdest dreams. "We are a but a dream that Katy dreams," Ramn
wrote one day n hs |ourna. "And Katy s but a dream that her nose dreams." He
paused to sten. Toote-dee-toot! A recorder sounded on the path. Bg, smng
Aan appeared wth a sackfu of nstruments and goodes, accompaned by a
womanfrend named Louse. Aan had arrved the prevous year at Mornng Star to
vst Lou. As owner of The Gate of Horn n the 'fftes, a Chcago fok musc cub, he
had hred the Lmeters to perform there. When the cub foded, Aan returned to
coege for a Ph.D. n psychoogy before |onng the Cv Rghts movement n the
South. He recorded much of the musc, some of whch Fokways Records
subsequenty reeased. Wth ther mutua nterest n 'peope's musc,' he and
Ramn became good frends. When Gna and Ramn moved to the Rdge, Aan
foowed them there. He was aready an experenced 'Open Lander,' but Louse
was not. Gna worred about how cean and neat she ooked, and wated for the
nevtabe, "Hey, where's the bathroom?" nqury.
Ramn and Aan began payng a smpe ad-back stye of musc wth a drone
background wth |ust a few chord changes under smpe meodes. The musc
broke the ce wth Louse, and Aan smed at hs frends. They had not seen hm
for some months and smed back, gad to see hm agan.
A few days ater, NBC Teevson came to the Rdge to 'overexpose us,' as Ramn
caed t. A pck-up band gathered on Hoffe's H, B and Gna tootng away on
home-made straw 'oboes' and the accordon pumpng away.
LOU: "'Overexpose!' Grrr! Ramn knows that rrtates me, because our fe s an
open mnstry. It's mpossbe to overexpose us. We must ve wthout a backstage
- wthout dressng rooms. A out front, the pea under every she. Now, when the
meda comes out to ook at Open Land, t s because HE s sendng them! Who s
HE? HE s God, and God s tryng to te other peope that ths s the way to the fe
of mmortaty. It's mpossbe to overexpose ths. That's what I ca, ragaando a
Ramn."
RAMON: "Fruts 'n Nuts Nancy's kds Gorde and Noree, seven and nne years od,
came to vst. They had been roamng happy over the Rdge a day and were
very hungry, so we fed them our supper. Whenever Nancy and Noree had an
argument, Noree woud take her seepng bag and go vst someone for a few
days. How good trba vng s for chdren, not |ust stuck under ther parents'
thumbs a the tme."
Garbage Yoga day, n preparaton for the county nspectors. Garbage Mke was n
charge, hs ong beard actng as a garbage-detector. He was caed 'Garbage' for
short, a popuar fgure on the and, a soft-spoken brother wth a constant twnke
n hs eye. Ramn returned ater to hs house and began to camoufage t to hde
t for the nspecton. He repanted bushes and dragged ogs across the tra, dead-
endng the path at an unused campste above them on the hsde. Wd ac
branches made a good cover for the roof, screenng the Mouse House from pryng
hecopters and the Sherff's arpane. He ped them hgh because they woud
keep the house coo durng the hot summer.
Wth the expanson of the gardens and the ncrease n popuaton, the ranch's
water suppy needed upgradng. The sprng at the front gate was pumpng to
capacty and yet not suffcent for the communty's needs. B had started pans
for constructng a dam beow the Wow Sprng, a few hundred yards from the
communty garden. He had taked to frends, read books and gathered materas.
Forms were naed n pace as we as a ong sde to feed the concrete down the
hsde. When he was ready for the frst pourng, he caed a meetng to ask for
hep. But many peope resented B's request, camng he was |ust payng
dctator agan, wantng to be the boss and askng them to provde free abor. He
shoud have made the new water suppy a communty pro|ect form the begnnng,
they sad. Others expressed the vew that concrete was unaesthetc, whe st
others, who knew from experence that eaderess communty pro|ects progressed
at a sna's pace, sad nothng.
No one offered to hep B, and he coudn't do t aone.; It ooked ke the gardens
woud be condemned to a ong, dry summer wthout rrgaton. However the next
day, Gwen's bg, strong brothers Peter and Todd vsted and vounteered to hep.
The dam was soon fnshed, a wndm set up and pumpng a pentfu suppy of
cear water nto the thrsty so.
RAMON: "B Wheeer, B Wheeer, what to do wth hm? That's what I used to
thnk as I watched hs panfu transformaton from an ndependent, rascbe oner-
artst to a patent, understandng brother and teacher. So often hs mpatence
wth others ess sked or wth a dfferent approach to a |ob erupted n sarcastc
remarks that made the other person wonder why he was wastng hs tme tryng
to hep. The change took some tme, and B grew more n sprt and compasson
than anyone ese durng those years.
"The eary Rdge setters, who had experenced B as a feuda prnce rdng on
horseback nto ther humbe camps wth a pompous ar, nurtured many
resentments. They saw hm as a rch young man n a fancy studo who was aways
teng them what to do n snotty Ivy League tones. But the rea B Wheeer was a
person wth a true vson of the Mornng Star dea and wth the courage to stake
everythng he had to see t come to fruton. The batte to save the Rdge
communty was a true heartbreaker, a sprt-shatterer, and B took the brunt on
hs own shouders. I ove and bess hm for t."
At Corbn's nsstence, B ordered some chemca outhouses from Empre
Santaton so that Corbn coud demonstrate there had been an attempt to provde
addtona toet factes on the Rdge. Photographs were taken of the toets n
use - Gna emergng wth a satsfed expresson. Superman, who had |ust returned
from New Mexco, took an LSD trp n one n an attempt to consecrate t. But
amost everyone hated the damned thngs. They reeked of noxous, norganc
chemcas, but perhaps they woud mpress the |udge. Once a week or so, the
Empre Santaton truck rumbed down the mpossbe access road, sucked out the
hodng tanks and puffed back up the h, gurgng as t went, wth sx or seven
hppes hangng on the back.
One day, Lou, Near and Zen |ack came to the Mouse House for breakfast. Zen
|ack, wth hs ong toes and funny stores, had setted on a neghborng hsde. A
dedcated bacheor professng cebacy, he apsed occasonay wth one of the
many beautfu ssters who admred hm. Katy the Dog ked hm too, except for
the tme when she was nursng her puppes and he pcked her up and tred to
suck mk out of one teat. That was beyond the pae of her dgnty!
Fruts 'n Nuts Nancy aso vsted that mornng. She brought wth her her atest
regous enthusasm, The Uranta Book and eft one of the twenty copes she had
ordered. An endess strng of men frends had heped her bud her house on the
Kno, and her dream was to transform the whoe ranch nto a garden.
Harod, of Back Sunday fame, aso |oned the party. Broad-shoudered and
smng, he had grown up as one of trpets n a carnva famy. Wth hm came
'New' Chuck or 'Laguna' Chuck, a very bonde ex-surfer who hed the current
Rdge record for 'Omng.'
RAMON: "I remember t was a scorcher of a day. After everyone eft, I moved to
the baby redwood grove to start an embrodery. It was a tny, very magc pace,
|ust bg enough for two peope. The 'was' were made of a burned-out redwood
trunk, shny and back wth charcoa. I went there whenever I wanted to be aone,
wakng faen ogs so as not to break a path through the underbrush. Wd
cucumber vnes twned n the branches n Art Nouveau arabesques. bearng ther
strange prcky fruts. A par of bue|ays ved there, and the frst tme I vsted had
set up a terrfc screechng. But fnay I became an ntate, and they accepted my
vsts n good humor."
Tex moved to the Rdge and but hmsef a tny house down by the communty
stove whch sat out n the mdde of the meadow by the Wow Sprng. He ved
there wth a beautfu young woman named Rosemary and served hot meas to
anyone who needed them. On the ast day of |uy, Ramn pad them a vst and
turned on the tape recorder hdden n hs shouder bag. Cyntha from Ro Ndo was
vstng as we as Baker Bart.
TEX: "Who s t?"
RAMON: "Ramn!"
TEX: "Ray-mone! Come n! Cose the door, and smoke some of what we're
smokn'! We have some fne rasn bread wth peanut butter and |ey too. Lke a
pece of bread?"
RAMON: "Thanks, but I |ust ate."
RADIO: "Suggested reta prce, $110 doars."
CYNTHIA: "Raymone, why don't you st down? Can't you st down?"
TEX: "The bread's pretty good! We aready O.D.'d, but t's tasty, rghteousy tasty!
Ant't t good? Bart baked t."
CYNTHIA: "What dd you put n that bread, man?"
BART: "Peanut butter, sat, yeast, four and water."
CYNTHIA: "Whoe wheat four ony?"
BART: "Yeah, that's a."
TEX: "So, what d'you do about a the peope, Raymone?"
CYNTHIA: "Yeah, a the straaaaaange peope that come!"
TEX: "An' they say, 'Where's the restaurant?' What about the guy who waked n
my door and sad, 'Can I |on you?,' an' I sad, 'Look, man, I'd rather not,' and he
sad, 'We, now that I'm here...' Lke I mean he was n my house! Ha-ha-ha! He's
n my house! What am I supposed to do? Kck hm n the nuts and chase hm out?
It's ke the day me an' her was hongry, an' I put a can of mnestrone soup on the
stove an' waked to the toet, an' by the tme I got back - before the soup was
even warm - some cat had come down the road, took my pot of soup off the stove
and fed t to some hongry kds. I sad, 'We, man, I'm a hongry kd, my od ady's
hongry, an' here you ate up my goddam soup an' - an' the peope who had eaten
the soup were strangers and sad, 'Oh, don't worry, we're cookng somethng.
We' gve you somethng to eat. You know what they dd? They offered me
somebody ese's food that was on the stove! 'We're cookng somethng. We' feed
you.' An' I sad, 'What about my can of mnestrone soup? And how come my od
ady's hongry?' We, ths cat says, 'Those kds were hongry.' An' I sad, 'So am I!!'
Now I don't mnd gvn' a the food n the word, man, but don't take my food off
the stove. That's my can of mnestrone soup, and my od ady's hongry! If I hadn't
had another can of t here, I'd a reay been bown out!"
CYNTHIA: "We, what do you do about that, man? You know, you don't seem to do
anythng about t."
TEX: "So what do you want me to do?"
CYNTHIA: "I don't know!"
BART: "Labe your food 'Tex.'"
TEX: "I don't want to abe my food! I don't want to abe my food!"
CYNTHIA: "Rght on!"
RAMON: (sngng) "We, what go 'round come around."
TEX: (sngng) "An' f we don't go 'round we mess around, and f we gon' to mess
around we're gon' to mess up so we'd better go 'rounnnnnd!"
RAMON: "We, I fgure a you can do s be honest."
TEX: "A I can do s make sure my kds ve! Somebody came down ths mornng
and sad, 'Can I use some of your honey for some pancakes?' An' I sad, 'We, I
don't have much honey. Sparngy, go ahead an' use t.' If they use t a up that's
far out. I' |ust have to scuffe about tryn' to get some more, but I'd rather not
gve t a away because I need some. My od ady's hongry."
CYNTHIA: "Unh, man, I got kds. I'd be more out front than that. I'm ten' you. Out
front!"
TEX: "I'm hp to responsbtes. I'm faced wth a few of 'em rght here... rght
now... An' n order to be free I must be responsbe."
CYNTHIA: "Reay."
TEX: "I know where my head's at, an' I don't pay no fuckn' games on mysef."
CYNTHIA: "And hopefuy not on anyone ese ether."
TEX: "I ay t down rght dead n front of 'em, hard as t s, ke t s, whether they
ke t or not. That's the way t s. If I don't ke somebody, I' te 'em rght out, free
face front, out front and n front of everybody, an' te 'em why I don't ke 'em! An'
f they can dg that, they can ether adapt to the stuaton or ese they can forget
about me forever! I don't gve a fuck, man. I set a reaty n front of a person,
man, an' I cannot be humbe. I can be rea, but I cannot be humbe. |ust ke ths
cat comes down here sayn', 'Unh, am I too ate for breakfast?' An' I say, "We,
ook, I'm n bed.' He says, 'We, what are you servn' ths mornng?' And I says,
'We, I dunno. I don't have anythng to serve. Ths s not a cafetera.' He says, 'Oh!
I'm under the mpresson because ast nght I came here an' I ate. An' they tod
me I coud eat n the mornng.' I says, 'Far out! You got somethng to cook, go
ahead and cook t.'
CYNTHIA: "Rght on."
TEX: "If somebody comes to my door an' says, 'Can I come n?,' I say 'I'd rather
you ddn't.' I don't say they can't. I don't kck nobody out, but I et 'em know when
I'm havn' some persona stuff."
CYNTHIA: "I suppose t's a dfferent thng when you're so soated up here that
kckng somebody out means they may have to seep on the ground."
TEX: "I sept on the ground before I had ths house here, rght? And t was rann'
and cod. I used to guard the oats from the horses so we coud make breakfast n
the mornng an' feed the peope that ved here. If I can do that, they can seep
out there on a nce warm nght. Before I even had ths house I was seepng on the
ground rght outsde so nobody woud stea the food, and so the horses woudn't
eat up the oats. The horses w eat up a hundred pounds of oats n one nght, and
then everybody|s comn' down sayn', 'What's for breakfast?' I say, 'Oh penty of
oats, but the horses got 'em a.' Or a the brown rce or somethn'. An' the horses
have penty of grass out there. Nobody was hepng me. I had a hard tme |ust
gettn' peope to ug water to put n the pot. I had a hard tme gettn' anybody
draggn' on down here to chop some frewood 'cause a they wanted was to st
there and eat, smokn' up the tobacco or the dope. They were qute wn' to do
that. We, I'm gad I'm reeved of that responsbty, 'cause I fee so much better
now. I fee they're gon' to have to hep themseves or ese they're not gon' to
make any advancement whatever, rght? They gotta hep themseves. My
shouders are heavy, and f anybody gets sck or n troube, I' be the frst one
there to try to hep them. But when they can hep themseves and |ust won't do t,
and are ayn' the sht on me... I'm sorry, but you have to do t yoursef. That's the
ony way they can get strong enough to overcome ther shortcomngs, you know.
The ony way to get strong s - s to do what you fear."
RAMON: "Man, I'd be busy for a ong tme!"
TEX: "We, I am busy for a ong tme! A my fe I've had to be, an' I st have too
many thngs that I fear that I have eft to do."
RAMON: "But man, the unverse s so fu that - "
TEX: "We reaze the unverse s fu, we reaze the unverse s too fu, man! We
don't know how to weed t out! Because we mght be the most nferor - we |ust
don't know. We want to keep the quaty f we expect anythng to survve us. But
we a |ust come an' go anyway, so what's the dfference? The thng s to make t
groovy whe you're here. An' - an' - an' try to ook for a tte bt of compasson for
your brothers an' neghbors. An' the peope who are fuckn' peope around, we
don't need them reay. We don't need then at a, an' I'm knda down on 'em, |ust
a tte bt down on 'em. An' the peope who have to take orders w not uness
somebody tes 'em to do t. It's a beehve, man. You have the workers, the drones
an' the babystters an' the babes an' the mothers an' the fathers - an' the chcks."
CYNTHIA: "And you aso have the cops."
TEX: "You have to have a of 'em."
CYNTHIA: "Reay?"
TEX: "But we don't need so many of 'em, of course. We can poce ourseves f we
have our own truth."
CYNTHIA: "I'm not takn' about your own, you know. I'm takn' about outsde."
TEX: "We have 'em here... I happen to be one of 'em... And I know who the others
are. They don't even reaze t. An' I got my workers an' I got my overs. I got that
cat here who' go out an' chop wood a day ong |ust to get that voent sht out of
hm. An' the cat that can't do that - not capabe of t, but he' st down an' wash
dshes or |ust tend the fre. I got a guy here that can bake bread better than
anybody I've met, and I've got a few cooks that can cook reay good."
CYNTHIA: "I'm reay mpressed wth your bread, man. It's good!"
TEX: "Bart's one of the best bakers I've ever run across!"
RAMON: "You want to try - woud you ke to hear a hoy mantra? I' sng you one,
but t's not reay sngng."
TEX: "I hate repettous chants. They're too, unh, mwahhhhmah! I ke to hear t
comn', changn' every tme the changes change. The fact s that changes change.
Otherwse, unh, t's reay too repettous. It remnds me of regmentaton, an' I te
you, I hate t."
RAMON: "A you have to do s - "
TEX: "I'd rather not hear any repetton. I hate to repeat-peat-peat mysef. I hate-
hate-hate to repeat-peat-peat mysef!"
CYNTHIA: "You're reay -"
TEX: "I reay-reay-reay hate-hate-hate to repeat-peat-peat mysef!"
RAMON: "What f I guarantee you' get twce as hgh as you are rght now?"
TEX: "We, I' be drnkn' ths wne, and you' probaby guarantee t, Raymone,
but work out! I' earn somethn'!"
RAMON: "Okay, a t s - "
TEX: "I mght even |on you."
RAMON: "A t s s an ancent name of the sun, and ah - "
TEX: "Rumpestskn, rumpestskn, rumpestskn..."
RAMON: "It's on your breath ke Eeahhhouuueh, Eeahhhouuueh." (He contnues
for a few mnutes.)
TEX: "You know what you remnded me of s - a you dd was bud a meow,
bended tone, and t sounded ke o' Bob Dyan when he stopped rappng and got
nto a 'Lay, ady, ay.' You fe n ove, and that's what's happenng. A you dd was
get out of the rap bag and nto a monotone, you know. It sounded good! And I
sang a tte song to her here whe you were sngn', an' t - t was where t was
at!"
BART: "It sounded rea good!"
TEX: "Yeah! I dug t!"
CYNTHIA: "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
TEX: "What're you tryn' to say? What're you tryn' to say?"
RAMON: "That a there s s everybody - everybody prayng together n ther own
way."
TEX: "Dd anybody dg that or not?"
CYNTHIA: "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
TEX: "Far out! You done t!"
#
Chapter 16
Baby Raspberry Arrves & Parents Vst
Ta, bonde-tressed Trudy, eghteen and fresh from her arstocratc Chcago
famy, moved n next door to the Mouse House. She became the frst woman on
the and to bud her own home.
TRUDY: "The day I came to the and I was handed a tab of PCP, and that dd get
me ntegrated nto the communty very fast. I went down to the chape, and Terry-
Pau had |ust taked ths narc nto buyng everyone beer and ce cream, and so
they were havng a bg party. Everyone was stoned on PCP, and there was ths
mantra gong on between Mchee and Mgue who had |ust gotten together. They
were reay at the heght of ther thng. We were a wrthng around n ths huge
mass, and I was |ust sort of watchng, so out of t, and they were sayng,
'Mchee, Mgue, Mchee, Mgue,' We were a gettng nto t, |ust wrthng
around. I thnk that the effect of that PCP ddn't wear off for qute a whe. I |ust
ooked up at one pont, and there was Terry-Pau on top of me. 'You want to go
home?' he asked. And I dd, so that was how I anded at hs pace.
"The mornng that O.B. tod me I shoud move away from Terry-Pau, seven men
came by to see me. I was obvousy up for grabs. But n genera, I fet that my fe
on the Rdge was the antdote to a the years of gong to schoo, workng hard,
stayng up ate, appyng huge amounts of tenson to mysef, growng up n a
scene that had a ot of sadness. Peope got nto such gref and sadness and
werdness and nhbtons. And ots of gut. The famy money was made off of
barbed wre, reay the antthess of Open Land. I mean, God!"
GWEN: "Trudy was wakng aong the road one day and, as I passed, I caed out a
frendy greetng. Ta, somber and beautfu, she gave no answer, as f to say that
greetngs were not necessary. There were so many phosophes on the ranch that
I gave t no more thought. Peter tod me that Trudy was budng her own house,
and durng the next month I often saw her carryng umber. Another day I saw her
on the communty run to get a few thngs she needed to fnshed her house. She
seemed so excted and occuped wth her own thoughts. Next tme I saw her, she
was smng from ear to ear, her bue eyes sparkng wth merrment. When I
vsted her house, I found a sod patform wth canvas sdes, many wndows, a
bed oft and a canvas roof. There was a sma pe of chopped wood under the cast
ron stove. Athough sparsey furnshed, the house was mmacuate and Trudy was
beamng.
"When she frst arrved, she shared the demma of many snge women who
wanted to ve on the Rdge. They found they coud not manage t wthout sharng
the heavy physca work wth a man, and thereby runnng the rsk of an unwanted
or unhappy persona reatonshp. Trudy's exampe was foowed by other ssters
who wshed to have ther own househods."
On |uy fourth, B and Gwen were awakened at nght by the du roar of engnes
comng from Coeman Vaey Road on the Passaaqua ranch a me to the west. A
processon of snge ghts were bobbng n the darkness. To B, the nose seemed
very omnous. He guessed at once they were about to have ther frst vst from a
motorcyce gang, somethng everyone thought nevtabe but about whch no one
knew what to do.
He tod Gwen he was gong 'up top' to meet them. Despte her eght-month bey,
she nssted on comng aong. By the tme they arrved at O'Bren's front gate, the
processon was about to enter. He went up to ther eader and tod hm the Rdge
was havng ega probems whch made ther very exstence precarous. If the
bkers were to come on the and en masse, t mght we be a factor n cosng the
pace permanenty. As ndvduas, any of the gang were wecome to vst, he
expaned. But as a group they were not. The eader tod hm that after they had
been evcted from ther campste on the Russan Rver, the sherff's deputes tod
them to go to Wheeer's Ranch, provng Ramn theory that t had been the poce
who frst sent the 'heaves' to Mornng Star.
By ths tme, the O'Bren's, ther hred man and hs son had arrved.
"Why don't you et them go down there," Cara O'Bren sneered. "They're anmas,
|ust ke you."
After what seemed ke an hour of persuason, the eader agreed to move on. |ust
as B and Gwen were eavng, O'Bren's hred man's son drove nto the back of
ther car. B knew t had been ntentona. Gettng out, he ran up to the young
man's wndow and punched hm n the nose. Hs pacfst deas n tatters and
nursng a sore fst, he drove Gwen down the rutted road to ther bed.
The fow of peope through the Rdge remnded Ramn of Mornng Star n 1967.
Many young, ntense sprtua seekers arrved, some to sette whe others |ust
passed through. Andres Tamm was a young yog nterested n Sr Aurobndo's
teachngs. A somewhat dstant, severe personaty, he spent the summer before
eavng for Inda. He returned wth the name 'Durga Chatanya' and but a shrne
n the East Canyon before movng north to Mt. Shasta. There he acqured and and
started a regous retreat dedcated to the Dvne Mother.
Some frends of Ramn's from the Foatng Lotus Magc Opera Company n
Berkeey vsted. Gna, feeng somewhat 'overpeo-ped,' threw a tantrum at
evenng mkng when Ramn announced they were about to have sx guests for
supper. She then fet guty and swung to the other extreme, nvtng everyone at
mkng to ther house. Ramn suggested a party on Hoffe's H nstead, and they
spent the evenng payng musc together. The next day, the vstors hked wth
ther host to the East Canyon for a swm. The canyon was green and coo, ush
undergrowth aternatng wth towerng redwoods. The paths topped at a steep
hsde over Coeman Creek, and they sd on ther bottoms down the fna
hundred feet. A three-foot mar|uana pant was growng n the grave of the
creekbed. They pcked a few eaves to smoke, bathed n a shaow poo and
waked upstream, the burbng water the ony sound n the stness. Katy the Dog,
ncredby pregnant from a romantc fng at Mornng Star, accompaned them ony
part of the way before urchng home.
KATY THE DOG: "That day I fet ke a satche of burgar's toos on egs. A few days
ater, I started scratchng around to make a nest before Gna fnay setted me
down n my usua spot on the foot of the bed. Around mdnght the puppes
started oozng out whe I panted wth each contracton. Ramn ran out of candes
and started ghtng brthday candes to watch. One, two, three puppes. I chewed
through ther umbca cords and tore the sacs encosng them. Then I cked them
unt they started to squrm and grope for a teat. The sxth was born dead. Ah,
motherhood agan! I gazed proudy at my human frends. For Ramn, t was the
frst tme n hs thrty-four years he had seen anythng born. Perhaps I shoud aso
say how much I've en|oyed beng a communty dog. Lucky I was born sma so
that the oca ranchers thnk of me more as a rodent. A rodent! What an nsut!"
RAMON: "Gna was returnng home from town yesterday, and the car had to wat
because the county was fxng Coeman Vaey Road. Rafae was drvng, and they
wated and wated unt he thought the guy waved them on. So he started edgng
forward towards the fagman. And the fagman shouted, 'Hey, boy, where d'you
thnk you're gong?' And Gna stuck her head out the wndow wth Katy n her ap
and yeed, 'I'm gong to ask my dog to bte you, you bastard!' But ater she
passed the road crew agan and made the V sgn to the fagman and he made the
V sgn back."
TEX: "He was apoogzng to her, but that's coo. The same thng happened to us
when we drove on the road. The cat sad 'stop!' and they had a bg tree out across
the road ke that, man. And I sad, 'Unh, we're stopped, you know,' and asked the
fagman how ong he thought t woud be before we coud get through. And he
sad, 'We, you mght have to wat a bt.' So I sad, 'Far out! We have some tme to
smoke some dope. Woud you ke to |on us and smoke some grass and some
hash and drnk some wne?' He sad, 'No, ah, I' pass.' But he was so shocked,
surprsed ke. I ad t on hm ke, 'Here's the word, man,' and he sad, 'I don't
want t.' Thanks but no thanks, you know. Then he backed off a bt. Then the dude
who was drvn' |umped out of the car and went up and was watchn' and got
takn' wth the foreman. 'Oh yeah,' he sad. 'We're |ust watn' to pass, see, an'
we're smokn' some dope and drnkn' some wne down here whe we're watn',
you know.'
"So the foreman caed the guy down and made hm cear off the road and we
drove on through. Heh-heh, we were the ony car there and we ony had to wat
fve mnutes. They et us through, ha-ha! They woudn't et us st there too ong
because we don't gve a fuck. And they're |ust puttn' n ther tme. They |ust
knocked a the sht off the road and et us through. They're not condtoned to
say, 'Wow! I' get stoned!'"
A new type of mdde-aged tourst began appearng that summer. The expresson
of bored curosty that usuay marked ther faces was repaced by one of concern
and fear. They were parents searchng desperatey for ther runaway chdren.
News of the Haght-Ashbury had spread to every corner of Amerca, and
thousands of teenagers contnued to take to the hghways to get there. Because
Mornng Star and Wheeer's were open, they were among the most popuar paces
to search for ost chdren. Many worred parents vsted wth snapshots of ther
chdren, teng ther stores and askng for hep. The Rdgefok aways tred to
soothe them, expanng how peacefu and ovng most hppes were, and that
ther chdren were probaby n a good stuaton.
BILL: "We used to encourage kds to get t together wth ther parents, but t was a
thn ne. Kds have rghts too, f not egay then at east moray. And many were
escapees from |uvene homes. We never tod on them, but aways tred for a
reconcaton."
RAMON: "Gwen's unce |ohn Hot, a we-known educator, suggests n one of hs
books that chdren be aowed to take on both the freedoms and responsbtes
of aduthood at any age. Chdren are a very oppressed group n our socety
because they have few ega rghts of ther own. Hod aso suggested that a chd
be gven enough money so that he coud freey seect the peope wth whom he
wshed to ve. Perhaps wefare payments shoud be made to a chdren, or at
east those who appy for them, a knd of federa schoo and vng aowance.
They they themseves coud work out ther ves.
"|uvene |ustce s a horrendous, tragc aspect of our socety. As Lou remarked
when Adam Sddartha was arrested, t's a terrbe bummer when a chd s paced
n the hands of aduts who are totay convnced they know what s n hs own best
nterests. The next beraton movement must be Chdren's Lberaton. Hot
hmsef once admtted he reached hs own radca concusons after vsts to state-
operated chdren's homes.
"One mother who vsted the Rdge turned out to be an amazng person. Her
daughter was vng wth her boyfrend on the back of the and, and the mother
came to spend some tme wth them. O.B. took her on a tour and made t hs |ob
to see she fet comfortabe. Imagne my surprse when a few days ater I spotted
her at a Sunday Feast, yng naked on the ground, wrggng ecstatcay to the
beat of the back conga drummers besde her. She had taken the name 'Mornng
Star' and was apparenty havng a marveous vacaton. She stayed on for some
weeks and became a good frend of the communty. I thnk her daughter was
amazed by the way her mother setted n."
Mornng Star contnued to be home for a sma group of determned peope who
adapted to the perodc poce vsts as best they coud. One day Ph Brougham
and Len Brown vsted wth Len's younger sster. They accompaned Lou, Near,
Gna and Ramn on a tour of some and for sae across the Russan Rver. Len
had fed out nto a beautfu, posed young woman. Ph, frzzy red har framng a
smng face, taked and aughed on the drve.
The acreage was andocked, but accessbe on foot from the neghborng Appe
Tree Canyon commune. A Mornng Star brother vng there took the group on a
tour. The and was hy, heavy forested wth redwood, bay and madrone. It
ad|oned a Pomo Indan bura ground as we as a mnera sprng. And t was
cheap - forty acres for $3000, an unheard-of ow prce for that area. Lou |ust
happened to have coected that amount to pay hs contempt of court fnes.
Shoud he buy the and nstead?
The foowng day Gwen went nto abor. Gna and Ramn attended the brth n B
and Gwen's tte garden home.
RAMON: "Raspberry Hummngbrd Sundown Wheeer was born at 6:34:40 as near
as we coud fgure t. Gwen was magnfcent and the baby perfect. We were a
besde ourseves wth happness. It coudn't have been a better brth, out there
next to the corn patch, the sunset gow matchng the ecstasy we fet n beng abe
to partcpate n such a sacred event. B's verba encouragement to Gwen
became known as 'Poppa Wy's Prepartum Pep Tak' when t was repeated at
other brths on the and."
After Raspberry's brth, Lou, Near, Gna and Ramn drove back to the rea estate
offce and bought the forty acres for God. The reator tred to put quotaton marks
around God, to 'God' God, as t were. But Lou sad no, the deed must read from
the Bank of Amerca to God, straght and smpe. They named the and Raspberry
n honor of the new fe at the Rdge.
Raspberry's frst trp away from the ranch came shorty thereafter when B and
Gwen vsted Grandma Passaaqua, the matrarch of the sheep ranchng famy
whose and bordered Wheeer's to the west. Grandma had been crcuatng a
petton requestng the county cose down the Rdge communty. A frage, whte-
hared seventy-year-od, she patroed her ranch wth a shotgun and a two-way
rado. Coeman Vaey Road ran through the mdde of her property, and
sometmes Rdge vstors wandered off the road nto one of her pastures. Some
hppe stoned on LSD even went swmmng n her water tank one day.
She was deghted to meet Raspberry but was horrfed at her name. Invted
nsde, B and Gwen sat at her ktchen tabe and taked. She tod them that her
granddaughters coud no onger rde ther horses nto the West Canyon because
of nude mae sunbathers. Aso, she was constanty osng sheep to wanderng
dogs. Through her bnocuars, she had counted twenty dogs on the Rdge n one
day. She had heard there were ex-cons vng there, and fet that ther presence
threatened the ves and possessons of her famy.
B expaned that most everyone who came to hs and was peace-ovng, and
that the communty wanted to mantan frendy reatons wth the neghbors. If
the Rdge was cosed, many fames woud be homeess. Grandma fet
compasson for the fames, expanng her man worry nvoved the snge men.
After a ong dscusson, B persuaded her to drop the petton on the condton
that the Rdge mt ts dog popuaton to four, a of whom woud be kept ndoors
at nght. The trade-off seemed reasonabe, and they parted wth a mutua feeng
of trust.
Wth the ega pressure aganst the Rdge ncreasng, B asked Ramn to wrte a
pamphet expanng ther stuaton and askng for fnanca hep. Both the Rdge
and Mornng Star needed to communcate n ther own words what they were
dong, and how the authortes were respondng. Ramn typed away for some
days and consuted wth frends before puttng together the frst Open Land
Manfesto whch was prnted that fa. Hs wrtng was concse and movng,
descrbng the |oys and heartbreaks of Open Land. The Whoe Earth Cataog
reprnted a photo and squb wth the resut that B receved fve hundred
requests for copes from a over the country (see Appendx A).
Word trcked back from Inda that Chran|va was n Nepa on hs way to the
States but had cashed n the tcket Lou had bought hm. Lou fretted, fnay
sendng a second tcket. At ast Chran|va arrved! Sm form cad n Lev's, he had
htchhked from the arport to Mornng Star, a fact that mpressed Superman very
much. "A htchhkng guru!" he commented n amazement. A wecomng party
was prepared for the whte-bearded hoy man at the Rdge on the frst of
September. Peope gathered n the Pne Grove, some LSD crcuated and the
muscans tuned up.
By the tme Lou, Near, Chran|va and a group of Oompa fok arrved, the
muscans were too stoned to pay. The chdren had taken over the nstruments,
bangng away happy on the drums whe Cauda Cow mosed over to see what
was happenng. Four beautfu naked ssters paced a garand of pnk es around
Chran|va's neck.
"I'm ony a beggar," he sad, bowng to the ground n apprecaton of the honor.
Everyone stared n growng deght at ths handsome Benga who camed to be
the Creator of the Unverse n human form. Later that day, whe takng a tour of
the and, Chran|va descrbed what he saw as 'dvne nfantsm.' A man of
tremendous energy and ookng younger than hs ffty-seven years, he rested
brefy at O.B.'s tent, the Rdge's own hoy man.
Sometme durng that afternoon, Nevada staggered up to hm, drunk as usua. "I
shee tha' you're a hoy man," he hccuped n Chran|va's face. "Have you sheen
|esus, motherfucker?"
When Chran|va was tod Nevada's name, he commented, "Ah, yes, the testng
grounds."
There was a great dea of dscusson about Chran|va durng the next days. Zen
|ack fet he was a phony and eft mmedatey for the San Francsco Zen Center to
cear hs head wth some no-nonsense medtaton.
ZEN |ACK: "We're a Lou's utmate dream - Mornng Star, Wheeer's Ranch. And
he sees a hs efforts and work - the whoe thng - beng washed away n gaons
of Red Mountan wne and voence and screamng and knves. So he goes to Inda
to fnd the guru - the great hash-smokng guru. And fnay, after months and
months of deays, Chran|va arrves at Mornng Star. The wnos are down by the
Lower House gettng oaded on wne, heh-heh-heh. But the guru to save Mornng
Star from the wnos s here! He goes down and comes back staggerng, boody-
eyed drunk, and says to Lou, heh-heh-heh, 'Why do you spend so much money on
hashsh? Ths Red Mountan s |ust as good!'"
The next day many peope gathered at Mornng Star to hear Chran|va dscuss
the new age whch he caed 'Shva Kapa.' He chanted the Bhagavad Gta on Don
and Sandy's patform - a that remaned of ther house after compyng wth the
county's budng code - whe the steners ounged and dozed. He then eft for the
cty to gve a tak over a oca hp rado staton and see the sghts.
FRIAR TUCK: "When Chran|va came to Mornng star, he set hmsef above the
rest of the peope there. He was very aoof, to say the east. Anyway, eary one
mornng Ch-Ch, as we caed hm, was sttng n the otus poston wth a hs grs
around hm.
"Nevada came stumbng up wth a |ug of wne n one hand. He squnted at the
group, weavng back and forth. 'Wha' th' fuck's gon' on?' he nqured potey.
Then he posted hmsef drecty n front of Ch-Ch, |ust barey managng to stay on
hs feet, starng at hm. 'Ah' trade yuh thsh botte of wne for thoshe two chcks,'
he sad, pontng at two of the more uscous-ookng women.
"And Ch-Ch, of course, ddn't say a word. He |ust sat there wth hs eyes cosed.
"'D'n you hear wha' Ah shad?' Nevada screamed. 'Don' you unnershtan', man?
Ah shad Ah' trade you thsh whoe botte of wne for thoshe two chcks!' And he
gave the ssters a peasant eer.
"But Ch-Ch was above t a. He must've reazed Nevada was there, but he ddn't
reay want to hear what he had to say. I guess Nevada had been drnkng a nght
or somethng. Anyway, Nevada started rubbng hs stomach - I wtnessed the
whoe thng, man. 'Unhhh, thsh goddam wne sh reay - up!' And he puked a
over Ch-Ch."
RAMON: "Lou had great hopes for 'Father,' as hs dscpes caed Chran|va. He
expected hm to sette n at Mornng Star and zap the county offcas wth hgh
vbratons. Instead, Chran|va spent more and more tme n the cty and made t
cear he ddn't ke fe at the ranch. It's prmtve earthness remnded hm too
much of the poverty of Inda, |ust what he wanted to forget. For hm there was
nothng new about shttng n the woods, and he preferred the amentes of hot
water and cean surroundngs."
"Lou tred to hde hs dsappontment, but sad he was wrtng Chran|va's tte
grandson n Inda a ong etter about t a. Near had not accepted Lou's guru as
her own, and remaned somewhat crtca of the gongs-on."
#
C hapter 17
The Ahmsa Church, The Manfesto & Another Inspecton
One day Cff and Ramn rode over to Mornng Star n the back of the communty
truck aong wth a oad of garbage on ts way to the dump. Cff had hs gutar, and
Ramn hs accordon strapped to hs shouders whch he was aowng the bumps
n the road to pay for hm. Cff, a vewre, nutty, vbrant but sometmes grouchy
brother, was evovng nto a sef-taught southpaw gutarst on a rght-hand gutar.
From hs house n the Pne Grove he fufed the roe of a communty watchdog,
barkng at newcomers he consdered uncoo.
LOU: "Cff s a great muscan, but affcted wth the same troubes Ramn and I
know about muscans. He once came to me and companed that my mere
presence turned everythng nto a teacher-pup reatonshp. For exampe, when
Ramn and Aan were puttng together Aan's house, he sad, 'Lou, when you
appear, peope automatcay begn bendng nas and actng n a pecuar manner.
It's terrbe, Lou, because that's what you do every tme you show up!'
"And I know ths s a true faut of mne, because t's an aergc reacton to
ensembe performance of musc. In other words, I've payed n ensembe for so
many years, that uness t's done my way I don't pay at a. And Cff understands
that and he resents t, of course. Now I recenty notced he has put on gasses to
be abe to read musc, and so he' understand my poston because I've recenty
taken my gasses off."
Ramn vsted Mornng Star frequenty durng Chran|va's stay, caught up n the
exctement surroundng the guru. He took the opportunty to pck up some umber
out of the runs of the Lower House, a wndow frame from |ohn Buter's room, a
door Sandy Kng had decorated. Sandy was nne and a haf months pregnant,
vng wth Don at the bottom of the West Canyon. At ast she went nto abor and
devered a huge boy - over ten pounds. She tore a tte, but otherwse came
through beautfuy. The baby was another Open Land beauty and they named
hm Ranbow Canyon Kng.
Smar to Lou, B Wheeer began spendng a great dea of tme n the courts.
Asde from the county's own show-cause actons, |ack O'Bren had sued to cose
the rght-of-way through hs ranch. B and hs attorney Corbn began to consder
formng a corporaton to remove the burden of Rdge ownershp from B's
shouders. The more the communty grew from a random coecton of ndvduas
nto an ntegra trbe, the more pressng the need to spread responsbty more
eveny among the peope. Fnanca contrbutons had begun trcke n, and the
decson about how to spend them needed to be shared. Aso the communty
needed some way to confront the estabshment other than B's short-tempered
shoutng.
Corbn created a church structure whch he named The Ahmsa Church from
Gandh's term for non-voence. Some peope ob|ected to the name because they
were unfamar wth t. Aso an Ahmsa Church aready exsted somewhere ese.
But Corbn wanted to base hs arguments upon how harmess the Rdgefok were
n spte of ther radca Open Land concept, and thus shoud be eft aone. So the
name stuck, and the church was formed as a ega Caforna corporaton wth a
board of trustees eected once a year. The eectons were cassc New Age events
because whoever wanted the |ob was the one who got t. There was aways
someone around who woud accept the presdency, whe those who ked
numbers and money gravtated to the |ob of treasurer. Church actvtes waxed
and waned accordng to seasona rhythms, but n every ater crss t proved a
hep n gettng thngs accompshed.
Wthn the artces of The Ahmsa Church was ncuded a secton entted 'Keepng
The Fath:'
"Ths corporaton exsts for the worshp of God, our Heaveny Father, and of the
earth, our Mother, through the practce and dssemnaton of the doctrne of
harmessness to the earth and to one's feow men. A drectors and offcers of
ths corporaton are charged wth the duty of keepng the foregong artce of fath.
Among the prmary functons of the corporaton s the mantenance of the
premses of the church as Open Land. The board of drectors sha make rues and
reguatons as t deems necessary or desr-abe for the mantenance of Open
Land, foowng aways the prncpe that a brothers and ssters who w act so as
to keep the and open have a home n the Ahmsa Church."
Corbn then drew up a ong and compcated deed wth provsons that the and
coud never be sod, expoted for proft, rented, borrowed or cosed. In the event
of the faure of the church, the and woud revert back to B or hs hers. Ths
provson prevented the and from beng gven to somethng ke the Boy Scouts of
Amerca whch by Caforna Law coud have happened f the church foded
wthout a provson for the dspersa of ts assets. Otherwse, the Rdge was now
church and and common property for as ong as the Ahmsa Church mantaned
ts exstence.
Corbn then tred to get a tax exempton for the corporaton. Other somewhat
smar groups had acheved a smar status, but when the Interna Revenue
Servce fnay got around to revewng the appcaton, ther requrements
suddeny became a great dea tghter than before. They turned down the request,
expanng that the Rdge resembed a cooperatve country cub more than a
chartabe nsttuton. Corbn wanted to appea the decson, but other more
pressng matters ntervened.
The Ahmsa Church receved donatons and pad for such expenses as cow feed,
ega fees and repars to the communty truck whch had become the prmary
means of transportaton n and out of the ranch. Church members organzed food
conspraces whch bought food n buk at whoesae prces, haued t back to the
and and dstrbuted t. Sacks of gran were eft n the Free Store n the barn, and
peope took what they needed. Aso, the Church started a denta fund whch
aowed some peope to get ther teeth fxed.
RAMON: "Ah, the Free Store, an nsttuton so dear to Gna's heart. She moved t
tem by tem to the Mouse House, a dress here, a coat there, unt fnay out of
desperaton I packed t a up and took t back to the barn. Then the whoe process
began agan as Gna, assumng her aternate dentty 'Peachy Freestore,'
burrowed happy n the pes of cothng for hours."
Offcers of the Ahmsa Church fronted for the peope wth the Wefare
Department, sgned rent recepts and kept appontments. The ast presdent of
the Church, Snakept Edde, used hs poston to resove many probems. He had
been born nto a back mdde-cass famy n Oakand. Durng hs twentes and
after a faed marrage, he moved to an soated northern Caforna county wth a
whte womanfrend. Because he was one of the few Backs around, vng n a
mxed marrage and consdered 'uppty,' the oca poce made no secret of ther
hatred of hm. He was nvoved n a number of scrapes, and arrved at the Rdge n
1969, saxophone n hand, sportng a haf-shaved head. He began to bud a
rambng, mut-stored manson on the sde of Hoffe's H near an abandoned
we referred to as 'The Snake Pt' because of the numerous snakes coed and
draped n ts murky depths. Hs house broke every rue n the budng code but
was a masterpece of nventon. For the next severa years he hoed up, workng
on hs musc whch evoved nto a free-form, hghy expressve, Mes Davs stye.
As an advocate of peope's musc, he emphaszed the creatve, spontaneous sde
rather than the technca, and encouraged many to make musc who otherwse
woud not have done so.
At the end of September, the county gave the Rdge twenty-four hour notce of ts
ntenton to conduct a three-day nspecton. The foowng day was a busy one,
everyone scurryng about ceanng up the pace. On the frst nspecton mornng,
many of the nhabtants eft to spend the day at the Russan Rver. A bg busoad
of freaks had drven n durng the nght and parked on top of Hoffe's H next to
the cross, the ceremona gatherng spot. The bus stood at the center of an
exposon of beongngs and seepng bodes. When Ramn went to warn them of
the mpendng offca vst, a drowsy arm handed hm a bagge of mescane n
response.
Thursday brought more offcas. The communty truck, |ust eavng, encountered
them at O'Bren's front gate. The Rdgefok yeed at them, especay at one cop
Sam Merovtch, an ex-L.A. poceman who was dsked by everyone for hs
nsenstve, up-tght pggshness. Ths was one of the few tmes that the
communty as a group vented ts feengs aganst the county offcas.
LOU: "I deepy resent the word 'pg' used n connecton wth peace offcers. It has
been my experence snce I ved at Mornng Star that peope who are caed to
the offce of aw enforcement are reay 'Kshatrya' or warror caste. Mornng Star
Ranch has become a gatherng-pace for warror caste peope. Of course we are
a a-caste - we are a prests, warrors, busnessmen, artsans, servants and
outcasts, but the emphass n those who have assembed here to free Mother
Earth from excusve ownershp are prmary warror caste. And smar to other
peace offcers, Sam s warror caste.
"The more I assocate wth peace offcers from the Sonoma County Sherff's offce,
the more I respect the professon. Aas, the more I assocate wth attorneys and
|udges, the ower my respect fas for those partcuar cangs because they are
ke prosttutes - peope who render a servce professonay whch shoud be free.
Now Sam s not a partcuary perceptve ndvdua, but he has an dea of what s
happenng.
"There have been three offcers on the Mornng Star beat who understood what
was gong on: |ohn Nchos, Dan Mner and Bob Waker. And the |ob of a peace
offcer n our tme can test the sou of a man. I mean, f you receve a 5150 - a ca
to apprehend a psychopath - et's say there's a nutty ady throwng oranges
around n the Safeway - that ca may come at 9:45 when you've ony been on the
|ob forty-fve mnutes and your coffee has hardy setted. You go to pck up the
ady who s very nce except that she draws a four-nch fngerna scratch down
your face when you try to te her to stop throwng frut around the store. Haf an
hour ater you are caed to a domestc argument where the feow greets you at
the door wth a shotgun. It's an argument n whch you have no possbe nterest
except that he's aready knocked two teeth out of hs wfe's mouth.
"Bob Waker has tod me amentngy that there shoud be some knd of
psychoogst present at the offce to whom an offcer can go and say, 'Look, I've
aready had two encounters whch have rendered me unft to contnue my day's
work. It won't be mangerng f I say I can't do any more.' If those two ncdents
happen before 10:30 n the mornng, you can fgure out where you' be by 4:30
that afternoon. You' be psychotc. You' be unabe to render servces of peace to
anybody. But nevertheess the sherff's deputes st do so, and my respect for the
professon rses."
COYOTE: "We'd be wakng around the and, trppng on acd, and |ust out of the
cear bue sky we'd see somebody we'd never seen before wth a very, very dark-
coored aura. He'd try to be frendy, but at the same tme he was beng very cod
to us, seeng what knd of nformaton he coud get. So we'd |ust wak up to hm
and go, 'H, how are you?' and when he opened hs mouth to say somethng we'd
shove acd n t. 'Here, man, you need ths. What's the matter wth you? Why
aren't you beng coo?' And he'd say, 'Ghrh, what's that? What are you dong?'
And we'd say, 'We, have a good trp,' and wak off nto the sunset. Whchever
way the wnd was bowng, that's the way we'd go. I thnk we dosed somethng
ke seven pgs up there, seven peope who we fet reay needed t because they
gave off the vbes ke they were there to see what we were up to."
BART: "The |aer, who Samue got to know, tod hm they'd ost more undercover
agents to Open Land than to any other pro|ect - not physcay but sprtuay."
Whe the Manfesto was beng prepared for the prnter, many trps were made to
San Francsco. Durng one of them, Gna, B and Ramn stopped off to see Lou
and Near at the apartment where Chran|va was stayng. The atmosphere was a
bt straned, and Near eft wth them on ther return to the Rdge. What was gong
on?
LOU: "My whoe fe has been dedcated to the proposton that f anyone s tod to
eave anywhere they have to foow me out. But Chran|va, to whom I have made
a sprtua surrender because he has a more evoved conscousness than my own,
sensng that I'm hung up on my dscovery of Open Land - not my dscovery, but I
do formuate t more frequenty than others - anyway, Chran|va sad to hmsef, 'I
have to crash Lou oose from ths or he w be the and-access-to-whch-s-dened-
no-one do for the rest of hs fe! You wnd hm up and he says, "Land-access-to-
whch-s-dened-no-one, and-access-to-whch-s-dened-no-one!" But how sha I
do t? I' stage a tte scene, and then he' have to gve up!'
"So the scene began wth Near poppng two strawberry LSD tabs of 225
mcrograms each nto Chran|va's mouth on the sy. And Chran|va, who had been
dosed before, ooked at me and sad, 'The same dumb |oke! Ths s the fourth tme
they are gvng me ths!' He was very angry and sad, 'Near, get out!' And then he
turned to me and sad, 'We, are you gong too?' I stayed, athough needess to
say there was extended domestc unrest n my house for a whe. We are a
sncere asprants beng hastened to our heart's desre n the most drect possbe
way."
When the Manfesto went to the prnter, Ramn began wrtng down hs regon at
Corbn's request. He fnshed t the day before Lou's brthday (October 10th) and
tred t out on Fruts'n Nuts Nancy and Od Ben. They ked t and were very
encouragng. Entted Mornng Star Fath, Thy Open Land Church (see Appendx
B), t ncorporated suggestons from Aan, B and Lou among others. The next
day, a group from the Rdge eft for Mornng Star for Lou's brthday but mssed
hm. Ramn forgot hs accordon at the post offce and had to go back for t. The
trp contnued to the cty where, after supper wth Gwen's brother Peter, they
vsted Chran|va. When he began hs what-a-drag-t-s-to-ve-n-the-woods-ke-
anmas harangue, Ramn became angry.
"But we are anmas!" he nssted.
"Get out!" Chran|va yeed. "Get out!"
Gna and Ramn stood up to eave, trembng wth emoton.
"Theatrca braggart!" Ramn shouted and eft the room.
"God bess Mornng Star!" Gna added, and sammed the front door. "God bess
the poor and the homeess!"
LOU: "Ramn of course hurt Chran|va deepy, and the reason - that was made
cear to me - s that |ust because I have found my guru doesn't mean that a of
my frends and co-workers must accept the same guru. That's absoutey
preposterous. It must be an acton of the heart - a spontaneous outcroppng of
dvne ove.
"Chran|va has of course hurt me many tmes for my own beneft. I woud say that
the wound from whch I have yet to recover s when he took me asde one day
and sad, 'Your whoe open and thng s nothng but a re-run of Vnova Bhave.'
Vnova Bhave s the dscpe of Gandh who s the orgnator of the Bhu-Dan (and
gft) movement n Inda. I have never recovered from that bow. Vnova has done
great work, but the probem s that he has never opened and ke a otus, but
nstead ke a corporaton. That s the Indan hang-up. But Vnova s very hgh.
Everybody n Inda oves Vnova-|. But Open Land n the Unted States s no re-run
of anythng. If you can fnd a precedent for ths, I want to see t. Now Chran|va
knew a ths, but he wanted to defate my ego |ust a trfe and took ths path to do
so."
RAMON: "I must confess that I was aready somewhat annoyed at Chran|va
before I came nto hs presence that day. I had heard reports of hs tantrums, of
hs referrng to Lou as 'that |ewsh ape' and to Near as 'od cheesy cunt,' epthets
that seemed somewhat ackng n the ove and grattude you woud thnk he
woud fee for the peope who had haued hm and hs famy out of a mud hut nto
what coud ony seem ke an earthy paradse n comparson. Later we became
frendy agan, athough I saw tte to emuate among hs crce of dscpes and
famy. He seemed to run a sort of cty dope recreaton center."
LOU: "One of the deghts of havng a guru s known as bad-mouthng the guru,
whch I am unabe to do. I cannot to that. But I eave you to some of hs
goddesses who can do t so much better than I. Then you' see, and Chran|va w
ove t because every tme you say anythng about hm he says, 'It's me!'"
RAMON: "On October 21st, the county housewreckers arrved at Mornng Star. By
the |udge's order, the budozer growed across the meadow, tearng up the frage
topso and knockng down a redwood by the front drveway. In two days a the
exstng structures except for Lou's studo had dsappeared nto the wreckng
machnes. Goodbye Lower House, goodbye Upper House, garage, goodbye dear
od barn, Don and Sandy's patform, Davd and Penny's treehouse, Pam and
Larry's meadowboat. Three pum trees went wth the Lower house. New houses
can be but n a few weeks, but trees take ong years to estabsh themseves and
bear frut. Kers! Desecraters!"
LOU: "Durng the frst budozng, I freaked out ony once. The budozers began
pushng down the Upper House. Near and I got nto the car and eft. When we
came back, not ony was the house gone but they had torn down the garage too.
That's when I reay got annoyed. I started yeng and cursng Zack Shaw, the
budng nspector, and one of the men drvng the budozer got scared but
contnued to do hs |ob. The nterestng thng was that my studo was never
touched, and t never was up to code. It was, however, wthn 300 feet of an
operatng toet facty - the bath house - a facty that operated for about four
days before t was nundated wth sht from a the offerngs. Orgnay Chuck
Herrck tod me I coud have an operatona shthouse for ess than $300. Some
ffteen grand ater, t was st not functonng. So that was a breech brth. The
pro|ect of erectng a code shthouse at Mornng Star broke three men. When t
fnay was competed, t operated for four days."
NEAR: "8:00 a.m. The oud cangng of the budozer be awakened those st
seepng at Mornng Star. Two dump trucks wth a crew of eght men had arrved.
Some brought aong ther teenage chdren aong to watch the 'fun.' They had a
map prepared by the Dstrct Attorney pnpontng a the homes. Resdents were
tod to grab what possessons they coud and spt. Those wth tps ran to
dsassembe them and hde the canvas and poes. Others grabbed ther seepng
bags and hd them n the woods. Some resdents peaded wth the wreckng crews
not to destroy ther homes. The spokesman for the wreckers gave the od ne
about ony foowng orders, and stated that they ntended to do what they were
gettng pad for.
"I foowed them around readng aoud from the Od Testament, naked as usua,
whe they demoshed the houses. They tred to gnore me, athough some found
me somewhat dstractng. An hour ater, frends returned from a town trp wth
two watermeons. We gathered and had a watermeon party, nvtng the wreckng
crew to |on us. The crew gnored the nvtaton. The party was hed about twenty
feet from the house they were demoshng. We sang 'Hare Krshna' and other
sprtua songs. A messenger eft to nform the Wheeer Ranch fok of the
destructon. A few hours ater, B and Crazy Davd showed up wth a move
camera and sound equpment. They took off a ther cothes before begnnng to
fm and record. The camera notceaby upset the wreckers but they contnued
wth ther work. By ths tme the poce had arrved to protect the destructon
crew.
"Frendy freaks pued out gutars and futes and started makng musc. Others
sang and danced, mosty naked. A few foowed two wreckers down to Davd and
Cathy's house n a redwood grove near the brook. Snce the budozer coudn't
penetrate the grove, the men carred wreckng bars. They caed out for everyone
to vacate the house before they attacked t.
"'Go away! We're bang!' Davd yeed.
"A poceman was caed, and Davd and Cathy were evcted from ther house.
Cathy was eght months pregnant. She begged the men to eave her house aone,
and then began to cry. She stood there, cryng, watchng the demoton of the
house where she had panned to have her baby. A the houses were destroyed.
The wreckers made a pe of the wood and burned t. The remans of ths fre
smodered and smoked for two months.
"There was no need for the budozer to return the next day. When 9 o'cock
passed and we were sure they woudn't be back, the sound of hammers and saws
started. Peope were begnnng to bud new homes. Ths tme the structures were
desgned so they coud be dsassembed qucky and hdden n the woods n case
the wreckers reappeared. The tps were rased agan, and the good fe went on
at Mornng Star."
#
Chapter 18
Babes In The Woods
The drama, beauty and emoton of a home brth s deep and exquste. When a
mother went nto abor, the whoe and tnged wth exctement and antcpaton.
Often peope woud gather outsde the house and 'Om.' Muscans woud pay
whatever was peasng to the mother and chd. Everyone wanted to be there
when the baby was born. To be nvted was a speca prvege, mpyng that the
mother had a speca pace n her heart for you. As the chd grew up, you kept
that speca cose reatonshp whch sharng n the brth had gven you.
GWEN: "Two babes were born at the bottom of each canyon. One of the women
had troube expeng the pacenta after the brth, so she hked up the steep
canyon wa wth t hangng out of her ke a ta. But she arrved safey at the
hospta. At another Rdge brth, the coupe and ther frends dropped acd. Both
mother and chd pad for t afterwards by gettng sck. Brth s penty hgh wthout
such fooshness."
BILL: "The most chaotc brth I ever attended on the and was n a sma tent n the
mdde of the nght. The mother was havng her second chd, and her frst was
st too young to understand what was happenng. She thought her mother was
wounded, and spent the whoe ast part of the abor cutchng her mother's head
and screamng at the top of her ungs. The confuson was compounded by the
poor umnaton provded by a hssng Coeman antern. When the mother started
to dever, the baby came very qucky. The feow who was catchng dropped the
ba! The newborn baby was rong around n the boody sheets, seemngy unabe
to breathe. Gwen rushed over from the other sde of the tent, fshed the chd up
and turned t upsde down so the mucus woud dran. At ast t showed sgns of
fe.
"The most together brth I wtnessed was by a back mother. She dd not et out
one sound, and the abor asted ony about four hours, unusua for a frst brth.
The expresson on her face was busnesske and confdent. If she fet any pan,
she dd not show t, and her baby was as fne and heathy as any born on the
Rdge."
At that tme most doctors dd not approve of home brths, et aone out n the
woods wth no hospta nearby n case of troube. The ack of ceanness,
knowedge and preparedness terrfed them. But n the ffteen or so brths on the
Rdge, not one doctor asssted. Lucky, there never were any ma|or compcatons
despte the amateur mdwfery and prmtve condtons. On one occason, after
thrty-sx hours of abor, the mother was taken to the hospta; the baby |ust
woudn't come out. Upon arrva, she gave brth on her second contracton. Some
nnate fear must have been hodng her back.
Nowadays more and more doctors are begnnng to understand how the added
safety of the hospta s offset by the vbratons of ness and death. Practces
such as takng the baby away from ts mother shorty after brth and pacng t n a
stere nursery, of not encouragng breast-feedng, of automatc crcumcson of
the boys - a these are changng because mothers are nsstng upon a more
natura approach. So often the hospta transforms brth nto an ugy event.
Increasng numbers of doctors are wng to dever at home, and there s an
attempt to cense mdwves n Caforna. Perhaps the dea souton woud be a
mobe unt - a 'devery van' equpped for surgery - parked outsde and avaabe
f the mother experenced compcatons.
GWEN: "At eghteen, Caro had been reeased from |uvene Ha, paced there by
her mother who had been unabe to understand her daughter's rebeous, free
sprt. Hearng of Mornng Star, she and two boyfrends moved there and set up a
camp. Soon she was pregnant and dd not know who was the father. As the baby
grew nsde her, she began to beeve God wshed her to have the chd and woud
care for her. She moved to the Rdge n May, 1968, when she was aready nne
months pregnant. Athough she oved Mornng Star, she coud not fee reaxed
about havng her baby whe runnng the rsk of beng arrested.
"Her frst contractons came whe she sept n the back of a car parked on the
county road by some frends who were returnng from a move. Reazng she was
n abor, she decded to wak the me and a haf down the access road to be wth
Beatrce and We B. n ther tent. By dawn, her contractons were two mnutes
apart and she moved outsde to e on a banket whe Beatrce chopped wood,
but a fre and put some water on the stove. As the sun rose hgher, word spread
that Caro was havng her baby. Aduts, chdren and dogs began to gather. Wth
the sun two hand-wdths above the horzon, Caro pushed a baby gr nto the
word whom she named Mornng Star. The mother was exhausted but ecstatc, the
baby heathy, the day beautfu, and everyone hugged and congratuated each
other.
"We a eft to go about our mornng rounds fed wth the frst deep sense of
ourseves as a strong, |oyousy unted famy. The beauty of the event strred deep
emotons n me, and I spent the rest of the day wth fantases of gvng brth.
Athough I had aways wanted chdren, I suffered from unpeasant notons about
chdbrth. The dscovery that havng a baby coud be a warm, happy event was
very exctng to me. Caro's strong fath n God's ove and carng was shared by
many of us that day.
"Later that same year I became pregnant, and the romantc notons of materna
bss were qucky shattered by my ncreasng need for emotona support and
B's reverse need to get away from feeng trapped. New msunderstandngs
deveoped between us. We began to share ess and ess of our ves, and I began
to fee the desperaton of beng ocked n an rreversbe stuaton. But the sprtua
serenty the Rdge offered me, and my own ove for my formng chd gave me the
peace I needed to en|oy fuy the physca experence mothers fnd so bessed.
"Durng the ranest wnter months, my uterus pushed heavy on my badder.
Severa tmes a nght I dashed out nto the ran to pee and then hurry back nto
the warm bed. I dreamed of huge trees covered wth frut under a shnng sun. As
my stomach grew bgger, I wanted more and more to be aone. The studo was
the center of the communty, and a day ong peope came by for one reason or
another. At dnner I coud be cookng for two or for twenty. The red 'condemned'
notce staped to the outsde wa added to my nsecurty. One warm |une evenng,
when the studo was fed wth peope, I took a my beddng and went to seep n
the garden on a pe of much hay. I dozed off under a sky fed wth countess
stars and awoke n the mornng sunshne to fnd a gourd growng besde my bed. I
never sept n the studo agan.
"The weather favored us wth no more foggy days unt the fa. Sometmes the
fog crept n at nght, but the sun aways burned t off by eary mornng. After I
moved out of the studo, t became more or ess the communty mess ha and I
rarey entered t. B moved our mattress to the garden and hung a tarpaun over
t. We added a sma extenson to the garden, but sheves, set up a tabe and a
wood stove and put our cothes n a wooden box. Our bed was surrounded by
growng thngs. We ate our own vegetabes and went naked a day ong. I was
profoundy content vng outdoors n such a smpe manner, wth housekeepng
reduced to a mnmum. I have never en|oyed any house more than I en|oyed vng
amdst the fog, the sun and the pants.
"Because I was aone most of the tme, my thoughts focused on preparng my
nest for the brth of my chd. I was n ove wth beng pregnant, and the dea of
gvng brth outdoors was very peasng. I fet strong, confdant that wth my body
and my body aone I coud provde everythng my baby needed. Yet on the advce
of frends, I vsted a doctor. He was horror strcken that I was over seven months
pregnant and had not had a check-up. He asked f I had been takng ron
suppements.
"'No, but I've been eatng my f of organc vegetabes, raw mk and fresh ferte
eggs,' I reped.
"'That has nothng to do wth t,' he snapped. After feeng my stomach, he added,
'It s the man concern of our offce to see that the mother s comfortabe durng
abor. Many women speak of natura chdbrth, but I have yet to see one do t.' He
schedued me for another appontment and a more thorough examnaton, but I
dd not return.
"In the mornngs, B got up frst and but a fre n the stove. If t was foggy, he
hung my damp dress to warm and dry by the fre. I got up, dressed and cooked
breakfast whe he went to hep wth the mornng mkng. I coud hear the peope
gatherng at the barn, cang greetngs to each other, and the cangng of the mk
pa whe I cooked eggs |ust gathered from the hen house aong wth freshy
pcked vegetabes. B brought the mk and the atest gossp. We ncuded
whatever frut was n season wth our breakfast. Wd raspberres rpened earest,
foowed by wd backberres and then an abundance of Gravensten appes from
Mornng Star's orchard.
"After breakfast, I washed the dshes n the frst sun-warmed water n the garden
hose. The rest of the mornng I spent n the garden weedng, waterng, haung
compost and much, dggng up new pots wth occasona breaks to e n the sun
beneath the eaves of my pants to admre ther coors and patterns aganst the
sun and bue sky.
"In the noonday heat, I took hot showers wth the garden hose. After unch, I
napped yng naked n the shade of the tarp. Afternoons I spent readng, workng
on my baby's qut, dong exercses and practcng my breathng for abor, rubbng
my arge stomach and feeng my expandng breasts. Frends vsted, and
occasonay a naked tourst, cothes and shoes n hand, waked by the fence
peerng at me. There were severa reguars I recognzed and gnored. Now and
then someone stopped and stared as f expectng me to put on a show or nvte
them n. I woud pu on a dress and gare unt they went away. Other toursts
waked rght up to me. When I asked f they wanted somethng, they answered,
'No, I'm |ust ookng.' It was as f we were a fe-stye zoo.
"As the sun sank towards the ocean, Rdgefok drfted to the evenng mkng va
the communty garden to coect somethng for supper. I usuay cooked a pot of
rce and whatever vegetabes were rpe. When the fog dd not bow n, we ay n
the warmth of the evenng, gazng up at the nfnte heavens fed wth stars,
feeng the greatness of the unverse and the smpe beauty of exstng wthn t.
"B was expectng a boy and wanted to name hm after hs dead father.
Whenever I suggested grs' names, he sad 'It's gong to be a boy.' So I thought
about grs' names to mysef. I wanted to name her after a pant, but I coud not
thnk of a fower or herb that seemed approprate. Then I thought of Raspberry.
The red raspberres n our garden were decous, and I ked the sound of the
word. I mentoned t to B but he made no comment.
"One month before the expected brth date, I experenced a heavy mucus
dscharge. Charotte tod me to expect the baby wthn three weeks. It seemed too
soon to me. My stomach was not that arge, and I had been thnkng t woud be a
ate brth. But I gathered together scssors, cord, a nasa syrnge, surgca goves,
dapers, a rubber sheet, towes and pads. I sterzed them a and ted them up n
pastc bags, pacng them besde my mdwfery books to be ready when needed. I
was antcpatng the brth wth confdence. B, who had been hestant at frst, was
now happy expectng to dever.
"One week before the expected devery date, I spent the whoe sunny day feeng
a rush of energy such as I had not experenced for severa months. I baked bread,
worked n the garden, and dd not take my usua afternoon nap. I fet a very fant
sensaton n my stomach and wondered f t coud be the start of abor. Late that
afternoon I was sttng on the bed chattng wth two frends. When they got up to
eave, I began peeng uncontroaby a over the covers. I wondered how that was
possbe, but then reazed the cear qud was amnotc fud. My water bag had
burst. I coud not fee any contractons yet, but I knew I must be n abor. I then
fet a rushng need to sht, and empted my bowes nto the earth outsde the
garden. I was ready.
"A coupe of hours ater, B came home from a trp to town for a fashght n case
t was a nght devery. Athough I coudn't fee any contractons, I had read that
the frst abor of a heathy woman took from eght to tweve hours, so I expected
to dever that nght. It seemed so smpe. We gathered a the brth suppes,
checked the tme and wound an od god watch that had beonged to my
grandmother. We ate supper and, wth darkness settng over the and, went to
bed. I ay very st, feeng very fant contractons ke md menstrua cramps. But
uness I concentrated they drfted away. Soon I fe aseep and began to dream. A
very powerfu contracton awoke me, and I tred to stay awake to see f there
woud be more. The next thng I knew, the rooster was crowng and t was
mornng.
"Was I n abor? I coudn't fee any contractons. I cooked breakfast, fed the caf n
the barn and started some work n the garden. B ponted out that my water bag
had burst so I must be n abor. He suggested I e down and concentrate about
beng n abor. I foowed hs advce and ay on the bed thnkng what a beautfu,
hot August day t was, perfect for havng a baby. Before ong I began to fee more
contractons, stronger and coser together than the nght before. Around noon we
tmed the contractons - three mnutes apart. B decded to get Gna and Ramn.
They appeared wth Katy the Dog and a Ramon-a-phone. Lyng on the bed next to
me, they chatted, payed musc and passed around a |ont. I dd not fee ke
smokng. I wanted a the oxygen avaabe to me and fet qute stoned aready.
Gna made unch but I wasn't hungry. By three o'cock the contractons became
stronger and even coser together. I was pantng now and gvng my fu attenton
to what I was dong. I gave my watch to Ramn to do the tmng. As the abor
became more exctng, he overwound the watch unt t broke, ts hands at sx-
thrty.
"Tme dsappeared for me. The next hours swred by n a seres of vsons and
emotons strung together on one thn thread of conscousness. I experenced
sudden desres - to run the ength of the ranch, to pee, to eat chocoate, to get
angry at those around me. On the other sde of the fence I saw a row of faces I
coudn't dentfy except for Cauda Cow who was gazng at me wth such
sweetness and deep understandng. Wth each contracton my stomach rose hgh
and hard on one sde and the tps of my nppes hardened and protruded. I panted
faster, and fet the contractons overwhem me. Incredbe sensatons were
sweepng through my body, one contracton foowng another so cosey that I
coudn't get the rest I needed between them.
"B began to massage and tak to me genty but frmy about the sensatons of
brth. I fet strengthened by the musc of hs words. Gna hed one hand and
Ramn the other, both gvng me ther tota attenton and ove. Occasonay the
contractons woud stop before returnng at rreguar ntervas. I companed that
the baby was never gong to come, that the bed was drty and that I coudn't
stand t any more. What f somethng went wrong? I reazed that I must be n the
transton stage and that I shoud not push unt my body started dong t. Tme
wore on and I fnay sad to B, 'I can't stand t. I've got to push.' He sad to go
ahead.
"Wth the next contracton I began to push, tryng to fee ke a tube of toothpaste
beng squeezed out from the bottom. In the mdde of the contracton, my body
foowed my desre to push. I fet the forces of my musces pushng the head nto
the brth cana. I braced my feet aganst B's knees and wth each contracton
pushed wth my egs and pued down wth a my strength on my frends' hands.
As the top haf of my body rose, my head fe back and my mouth reeased a haf
grunt, haf ye. I fet a huge hardness fng my vagna very tghty. Between
contractons I apsed nto a dream state unt I fet my musces begn to str agan.
Then I brought my whoe attenton to expe the hard head of my chd, my oved
one, further nto the word. When the head crowned, B began shrek and ggge,
sayng t ooked ke a foot. I tod hm no, t was the head. Wth the next
contracton, I fet my ncredby taut and tngng aba sde over the ears, nose
and chn. From the cres reverberatng around me, I knew the head was out. Wth
one more contracton I fet the shouders, the ebows, the torso, the egs and feet
a sde out nto B's watng hands. I ooked down at my chd and saw a sknny,
red, squrmng baby et out a stream of pee from a beautfu tte cunt.
"Everybody was cryng and screamng, and B was sayng t was the most
beautfu thng he had ever seen. He paced her on my stomach, and I turned to
gaze nto her eyes as she turned to gaze nto mne. She was ookng to see what
mother she had gotten as I was ookng to see what chd I had been gven. At that
moment, I heard B ca her 'Raspberry.'
"After the cord stopped pusatng and started to dry, B ted and cut t whe I
wated for a contracton to expe the pacenta. When none came, I hed Raspberry
to my breast. I wondered f mk was reay gong to fow from them, f the breasts
of a gr were gong to transform nto the breasts of a mother. When Raspberry
fet my nppe aganst her cheek, she qucky turned her head and began suckng
as f she had been dong t for thousands of years. I was the begnner. She sucked
as f she was pannng to suck forever, so I pued her away to put my energy nto
expeng the pacenta. I squatted and pushed my sore stomach as hard as I coud
unt the deep red, shny pacenta sd out, ony to hang by a pece of skn. I know I
shoud not pu t out, that t must come out ntact. So I wated, pushng, osng
strength, unt Ee came and twsted t unt t came oose.
"We removed the boody sheets as evenng came. I made a fresh bed, ceaned
Raspberry and mysef, and got nto bed wth Raspberry and B for the nght. The
fog was comng n, so I pued a cover over her head, hodng t up wth my arm so
she woud breathe easy. Many tmes durng the nght I awoke and stened to her
breathng, smeng her newborn smes and feeng so much ove for ths new
person who had |ust arrved from so very far away."
#
Chapter 19
The Haoween Rad
On October 31st, county offcadom descended n force on the Rdge communty.
The frst fa rans aready had brought a tnge of green grass to the goden brown
of the prevous summer. B was reparng the communty truck n the barn, and
Gwen was n the garden wth Raspberry. Someone came runnng up and tod B
that three sherff's deputes and a matron had |ust cmbed over the back fence
and were questonng peope. Fushed and angry, B cmbed nto the truck aong
wth Gwen's brother Peter and drove off to nvestgate. Gwen put on her cothes,
dressed Raspberry and waked out of the garden |ust n tme to get a perfect vew
of the drama occurrng n the meadow.
GWEN: "I saw B wakng stffy and qucky over to a cump of trees. Then I heard
some shouts, and saw B runnng backwards, screamng at the three offcers
pursung hm. One offcer dropped to one knee and drew hs revover.
"'Bg man wth a gun!' B taunted. 'Go ahead and shoot!'
"The offcer hestated, returned the gun to ts hoster, and ran towards B. B
pcked up a trcyce, threw t n the offcer's path and contnued runnng. Three
more offcers came down the h and severa more ran by me on the road. B
dodged and ran out of my sght nto a guy, foowed by a the offcers as we as
Peter who was shoutng, 'Don't hurt hm! Don't hurt hm!'
"Cff, who was wakng naked down the h, ooked over where B ay under a
pe of poce and started shoutng, 'Hey, ay off hm, man! Cut t out!' I fet a hot
rush of bood surge through me. Cutchng Raspberry, I began to run towards the
scene. I arrved n tme to see both B and Peter pnned to the ground wth about
ten offcers on top of them. B was covered wth bood. I began screamng and
cang the deputes fou names. They straghtened up and ooked at me as f they
wanted to dsappear. Then they pued B and Peter to ther feet and handcuffed
them. When we asked why they were arrestng B and Peter, they reped, 'If you
don't want to get arrested, you'd better start movng.' The sherff's car drove
away wth Peter ookng embarrassed and sghty worred. B ooked as f a hs
adrenan had been spent."
TRUDY: "We were standng around under the bg oak tree gettng stoned, a whoe
bunch of us. Then the cops came, and there was one reay hard-faced woman.
She was wearng pants, and came over to confront us. We |ust stood there whe
she ooked us over. Mchee, who was under age, fnay got scared and started
movng off, but the ady cop ponted at her and sad, 'I want that one!' And the
cops went over and grabbed her arms.
"'No, I'm over eghteen,' Mchee sad. 'I'm ega. I have I.D.'
"'Go get t,' sad the ady cop.
"So they waked over to my pace. I was tryng to thnk fast how I coud end her
my I.D. because they hadn't questoned me. If I coud somehow |ust dsappear --
but t ddn't work. I ended up havng to prove I was me, and that ddn't make any
dfference at a."
GWEN: "I camed down, reazng I woud have to fnd a way to get B and Peter
out of |a. I asked Aan to hep me. As we got nto hs car, we heard Gna's oud
voce preachng to a the offcers how peace-ovng we were and how we
deserved to be et aone. As we drove to |a, Raspberry aseep on my ap, I was
st shaken by the memory of B and Peter pnned beneath the hard knees of a
those offcers.
"At the sherff's department, I was tod B and Peter had been booked on a feony
charge of assaut and battery. I snapped at the matron, 'It was your offcers who
were dong the assaut and battery, you know.'
"She stared at me wth a gnt n her eye. 'You want to be behnd bars too, ady?'
she asked.
"I sad nothng more. We gathered together the ba money for B who n turn
baed out Peter. Raspberry awoke, and the same matron who had threatened me
before ooked at Raspberry and sad, 'My, aren't you cute!' I gared at her,
rememberng a fearfu dream of beng n |a and havng my baby taken away
from me. Wth B and Peter reeased, we waked to the parkng ot n a gow of
mutua reef. A sherff's car drove past, and Aan gave t a bg whack on the rear
wth hs fst. The car stopped, sowy backed up, and the offcer's brought hs eyes
eve wth Aan's.
"'Oh, I beg pardon, sr,' Aan qucky sad. 'I |ust sort of stumbed nto you there.'
The cops ooked at each of us and then drove on. Aan had expressed the tenson
we a fet at havng been struck and not beng abe to strke back. We coud ony
accept what had happened and foow where t ed, through many court
appearances and awyers' conferences to next summer's 'not guty' verdct for
Peter and a hung |ury for B."
A |ewsh accountant who had vsted Mornng Star and had brothery feengs for
the cause somehow had spped onto the |ury as the ast |uror seected. He hung
the |ury, eeven to one, and B was never retred. Instead he peaded guty to the
ess serous charge of 'dsturbng the peace' and got off wth a ffty-doar fne.
"Who dsturbed whose peace on whose and?" he asked aconcay when t was a
over.
LOU: "That mtary poceman dd open B's thrd eye, no doubt about that.
Unfortunatey he dd t wth a par of handcuffs, and that was to prove to B that
he had an ungovernabe temper whch, I'm deghted to say, has snce been
brought under contro beautfuy. He st kes to ye, but the ast tme they
busted the Rdge, Bustn came up to B and sad, 'B, I'm n charge today, so
|ust shut up and do what you're tod.' And thereby he saved B's ass, because t
was as f he gave B a hypnotc suggeston. Nothng truy voent w happen wth
Open Land. There w never be any voent confrontatons. Maybe some
perphera skrmshes w nvove a tte boodshed, but that's not voence."
The facts of the rad were peced together: twenty-fve offcers, poce, FBI,
|uvene. narcotcs and MP's had converged on the and wthout beneft of search
warrants. They demanded I.D.'s, forcby entered peope's' homes, knock down
and searched one young man whom they mstook for B. So t was obvous they
were out to get hm that day.
RAMON: "It was hard to beeve that n a so-caed democracy a mob of armed
poce coud vent ther savagery upon a vage of unarmed peope. B had tred
to keep sxteen-year-od Mchee from beng dragged back to reform schoo. He
had expaned to her that she ddn't have to answer any questons because the
poce were on the and totay egay. Pow! He was ht wth the handcuffs.
Spttng a mouthfu of bood over the MP, he took off across the fed wth the cops
after hm. Peter arrved |ust n tme to pu a few of them off hs brother-n-aw."
Ramn's Berkeey frend Betty appeared at one of the Sunday feasts accompaned
by a young coupe, Dea and Bark, neghbors of hers. Dea and Bark announced
they were buyng the thousand-acre ranch one property to the southeast, a
beautfu horseshoe-shaped vaey. Aso they were defntey nterested n startng
a communty. Ther arrva brought a wave of optmsm to the embatted
Wheeer's fok who fet that ths new ranch, even f not Open Land, woud provde
a group of frendy neghbors nearby.
The wnter was such a good tme on the Rdge, vng cose to the weather and the
woodburnng stoves. But t raned so much that wnter that the sound of fang
ran became much too famar to the soggy resdents. Weeks went by wthout
sun. Tents, cothng and bodes became permanenty damp and cod. Peope
began eavng on vacatons or for good, gvng up the endurance test, ther mnds
fed wth thoughts of warm, dry -- even 'code' houses wth hot water.
Ramn waked to the top of Dea and Bark's property wth them. Wheeer's was
vsbe a quarter-me away, and Bark mentoned that often they coud hear musc
from the gatherngs when the wnd bew from the Rdge. Lou and Near aso vsted
the new neghbors. The day after, some heath nspectors came by wth photos of
peope shttng on the and -- photos whch they sad had been taken at the Rdge.
"You don't want that happenng here, do you?" they asked.
It became obvous that county offcas were upset by Dea and Bark's gambt.
They suspected B of buyng more property under other peope's names. To
Ramn, t a was remnscent of a song from hs chdhood:
Cose the door, they're comng n the wndows,
Cose the wndows, they're comng n the door.
Cose the door, they're comng n the wndows,
Oh my God, they oozng thru the foor!
Gna conceved after a year of tryng to get pregnant and began radatng a
heathy gow. In ate |anuary, Ramn's Amercan foster mother |ua Davs vsted
brefy from the East Coast. They had not seen each other for fve years, ther ast
get-together a stormy one. It was wth some trepdaton that he took hs bearded
sef to San Francsco and drove her back up to Sonoma County. The road to the
Rdge was n ts usua butterscotch-puddng condton, too much for a seventy-
year-od ady, so nstead a dnner was ad on at Irsh H, B's prevous house on
Coeman Vaey Road. A panter named Tom Fed ved there, a superb cook and
raconteur. Don and Sandy wth Ranbow, Peter, Lou and Near, Gwen and B wth
Raspberry, Gna and Katy the Dog attended. |ua drank vodka whe everyone ese
smoked grass. Lou sat besde her whsperng funny stores n her ear whe Ramn
stood back watchng two haves of hs fe merge. Later, Ramn and Gna drove
her around the countrysde sngng some of the Mornng Star chants. To hs
deght, t was obvous she was en|oyng hersef. Ths marked the begnnng of a
renewa of ther reatonshp.
The bad weather contnued throughout February, wth the us n the ranstorms
murky wth fog. Cods worsened and nfectons dd not hea. The run-off washed
new bactera nto the water suppy, spreadng darrhea throughout the
communty. And st t raned, wth wndy gusts knockng down trees and breakng
wndows. By the end of that month, wth no end to the storms n sght, about a
thrd of the Rdge popuaton gave t up and eft. But on March frst, the sun broke
out and the couds vanshed. A the coors transformed from greys to green and
bue whe everyone spread themseves n the wecome sunshne to bake the
mdew out of ther bodes. Wth ths onged-for arrva of sprng, the pace of fe
acceerated.
Apr brought Near and Lou ther baby boy Vshnu. She experenced a bref, easy
abor wth |ust Lou n attendance. Wecome, Vshnu! A strong, handsome baby.
(see Near's descrpton n the Appendces)
LOU: "It was too bad there weren't more peope present the nght of Vshnu's
brth. Actuay the dea of the concepton of Vshnu -- the annuncaton, f you buy
the myth -- came n Chran|va's house n Inda -- n Sonarpur. There, for the frst
tme whe Near and I were en|oyng connuba bss, I fet the desre to create
Vshnu. Vshnu sad, 'create me.' I understood for the frst tme what Chran|va
meant when he sad about hs own grandson Vshnu, 'He ws and I act.' And I
sad, 'Rght on! That's what I want for mysef. I want to have a guru n the house!'
So now we have a new generaton of Vshnus, fufng the bessed Swam
Vvekananda's predcton when he wrote, 'I ook forward to the tme when Chrsts
w be born n custers ke grapes.' That's what s happenng! It's a Vshnu
generaton. And to the extent that we od farts can pck up on ther methods, we
w be dong God's w. Whe on the other hand, to the extent that we put our trp
on them, we w be dong the w of the Dev -- arrestng the evouton of human
conscousness. "
The feast gven n honor of Chran|va the prevous fa had ntated the new
custom at the Rdge of weeky Sunday feasts. For the next three years, hardy a
Sunday went by that was not a day of communa ceebraton. On Sunday mornng,
every househod began preparng food for the gatherng. Around noon peope
started carryng ther offerngs and nstruments to some pcturesque spot. After
the mea, the muscans woud begn to pay a throbbng, swrng musc whch
seemed to sprng from the roots of the and and spread n dancng crces to the
sky. Everyone ooked forward to these get-togethers as a tme for open, orgastc
reveng n the trba energes. Even the wnter weather seemed to honor the
nsttuton by contrbutng a cear sky for amost every Sunday.
As the concept of Open Land deveoped, for many of ts practtoners t began to
mean 'Open Everythng,' open house, open waet, open bed, open car, open
cupboard. Persona freedoms, so mted n most of socety, became of prmary
mportance. More and more t began to be beeved that f everybody dd exacty
what they fet ke dong every day, then everythng that reay needed to be done
woud get done. In such a heathy, natura state, each person woud gravtate to
the roe or occupaton best suted to hm or her. Persona prvacy, mnma rues
and the occasona need for decsve acton payed a constant tug-of-war wthn
the basc anarchc framework of the communty.
RAMON: "I had promsed Gna a chcken coop for Easter, and so I got busy on the
campste uph from us, puttng n a fenced run and reassembng a coop Gna
had found one day by the roadsde whe on a communty run. She had ped t
onto the truck aong wth everyone's groceres and aundry and brought t home
n trumph. Shorty thereafter, some frends came by wth a rooster and sx hens.
Ths frst rooster dropped dead amost mmedatey, so we started brngng other
roosters from the barn for audtons. One freaked and ran rght back where he fet
he beonged, another's crow made us st bot uprght at dawn. Fnay we found
Brewster X. Rooster (X for 'Xerxes') wth a genteman's demeanor and a soft
voce. He ft n perfecty, the hens agreed, and by that summer Gna was
coectng about two dozen ferte eggs a week."
Stephen Gaskn's Monday Nght Cass was gong strong n San Francsco. It had
begun as a course n North Amerca Whte Wtchcraft at San Francsco State,
becomng so popuar that Stephen moved to a concert ha where he spoke to
amost three thousand peope every week from 1968 unt 1970. These were fne,
nstructve occasons attended by the cream of the hp word. Many Rdgefok
made the effort to attend reguary and stened carefuy to hs message of ove,
honesty and understandng. Athough he never vsted the Rdge, he exerted a
strong nfuence there.
BILL: "Stephen's teachngs had a wonderfu effect upon us and we hated to see
hm and hs peope eave the Bay Area. But t was tme for them to fnd ther own
and. Ther caravan of buses traveed across Amerca before fnay settng n
Tennessee on a thousand acres. There they contnued settng a fne exampe of a
cosey knt feowshp that coud get thngs done. Ther own pubshng company
provded a good documentaton of ther message."
About ths tme, B's reatonshp wth hs attorney Corbn began to deterorate.
Corbn's tota fees had grown to, what seemed to B, exhorbtant heghts, and
B's annoyance was compounded when he vsted Corbn's new Unon Street
offce. Why ddn't Corbn |ust move up on the Rdge? he asked hmsef and others.
They began spendng more and more of ther meetngs argung unt fnay B
tod Corbn that nasmuch as money had posoned ther reatonshp, none woud
pass between them from then on. Corbn reped that B shoud ook for another
attorney, and that any of the downtown frms woud ether augh n hs face or
ese charge hm much more.
BILL: "About a week ater, whe htchhkng up the coast, I was pcked up by a
dapper genteman drvng a sma sports car. On our way north he taked about
hs marta probems and I about my ega ones. I nvted hm up to the Rdge, and
he came the next day to have tea on our garden house. Then came the
mndbower: he sad our conversaton the prevous day had heped sette hs
head, and he wshed to return the favor by offerng the servces of hs forty-four
member aw frm n San Francsco. Ths s how Aan Cobb, our new awyer, took
over the appea of the n|uncton, wth the resut that the county had to wat much
onger to brng n ts budozers than t dd wth Mornng Star. Preparng the appea
was a huge task, consderng that the stack of court transcrpts was a foot hgh.
We w forever be ndebted to hm for hs openheartedness. He tod me once that
he fet that God had caed hm to our case. I know that s the truth."
#
Chapter 20
Reatonshps & So Ray's Brth
BILL: "As the sun sank beow the western rdge, peope gathered by the barn for
the evenng mkng, some to hep, others to watch and vst wth ther frends.
Cauda and Vrgna, our fathfu cows, ambed down Hoffe's H and passed by
unconcerned to ther stanchons fu of hay and gran. Some dstance from the
barn, a gr stood by hersef. Long, brown har fe to her wast, framng an eegant
face wth we-defned features, a promnent forehead, deepset eyes so dark the
pup and rs seemed to be one, gvng her a percng gaze, a strong but decate
nose, fu but subte ps and a ong neck set on broad shouders. Her hands hung
from ong shapey arms and her egs were smary moded, gvng her a wowy
quaty. Yet there was somethng substanta about her, amost athetc. Her
breasts were young, frm and fu. I was mmedatey attracted by the magc
surroundng her. I approached and we spoke, she answerng n a soft southern
accent. I nvted her to come to my studo the next day, suggestng a wak nto the
canyon for a swm. The next mornng I found her sttng by a campfre sppng
some tea. She seemed amost surprsed to see me, but accepted my studo
nvtaton. We spent some tme there, she workng on her gutar and I tryng to do
a drawng. Then off we went to the canyon, pungng happy down the hsde.
"It was st eary mornng, and the sun had not yet burned off the fog when we
reached the swmmng hoe at the bottom of the East Canyon. It was one of my
favorte spots, ush wth surroundng trees dppng nto the fve-foot-deep poo. A
bg rock at one end made a perfect dvng patform. We took our cothes off, swam
and aughed. Afterwards, as the sun fnay dssoved the fog, we found a soft,
grassy spot. Fang nto each other's arms, we became one body. In that sweet,
sunny pace, foded wthn the protecton of the canyon was, we spent the
mornng makng ove and takng about ourseves, our fames and past
romances. She asked me f I dd ths to a young grs who came to the ranch,
remarkng that t was the funnest thng that had ever happened to her. On the
wak back to the top, she easy kept up wth me; she was a strong woman. Later
n the day she eft for the cty but gave me her address. Patrca and I saw much
of each other after that encounter -- perhaps too much, because our ove affar
ended my marrage to Gwen.
"I had ths fantasy that I wanted to try out, of havng two wves. So I brought my
new sweetheart up from the cty and the three of us spent the nght together. For
me t was great, but the women dd not get off on t. Gwen sad that by the end of
the nght the bed smeed ke a gymnasum. The secret to havng two wves,
supposedy, s to treat both absoutey equay. Ths was one of the reasons why
my experment dd not work.
"At that tme, Stephen Gaskn was exposng us to some brand new deas
regardng marrage and famy fe. He fet that a man havng two wves or a
woman havng two husbands was bound to fa because of the ack of symmetry.
Instead he recommended that group marrage aways retan a equa number of
both sexes, descrbng the four-way marrage he hmsef practced at the tme n
whch they traded partners every nght. My own attempts at marta bss coud
best be descrbed as a batteground where ex-wves and chdren abounded. Love
reatonshps had eft me exhausted and baffed.
"Tremendous sex myths have been connected wth the Rdge and wth the
communa movement n genera. The 'hppe chck' became as much a sex symbo
for Amercan socety as the arne stewardess ('Fy Me To Havana!'). But I coud
not beeve there was any more sexua actvty at the Rdge than anywhere ese. It
was |ust that we tred to be more honest and up-front about t than our parents.
"The Rdge contaned the whoe sexua spectrum from cebates, horny snge
men, berated women, gay scenes to stabe marred coupes who had not sexua
nterest n anyone but each other.
A few orges occurred (someone aways had the cap), but they were more of a
|oke than anythng ese. Most peope preferred prvacy to groups for the workng
out of ther sexua dramas. As for mysef, my marrage to Gwen was reasonaby
stabe for as ong as t asted, except that I was havng affars on the sde and she
was not. I coud not aow her the same freedom I took for mysef, whch made me
a sexst and a mae chauvnst. Nor coud I be honest wth her about my sexua
actvtes because of my fear of hurtng her as we as my gut, and my worry that
she mght eave me.
"If any generazaton coud be made about the famy on Open Land, t was that
the tradtona mode of father, mother and chd was the excepton rather than
the rue. The nucear famy rarey stayed ntact when bombarded by the ntense
nterpersona energes of aternate cuture. It seemed as f greater affatons and
oyates were beng demanded of us than those of the bood eve. Coupes
attemptng to stay together woud gve each other the freedom to have outsde
reatonshps, utmatey shatterng the marrage.
"Car |ung once wrote that |eaousy was the absence of ove. If one truy oves a
person, one shoud approve of whatever makes that person happy, even f t
ncudes a sexua reatonshp wth another person. Ths concept presented the
basc argument: attached versus detached ove. Some sad that oose or 'open'
marrages tended to ead to dssouton of the bond. Others sad the same of
communtes whch have reaxed access rues -- that the effort was doomed to
faure. At Mornng Star, Lou began to refuse to perform marrages because he fet
t was merey erectng a No Trespassng sgn. Ceary there exsted fronters
nvovng the famy and ts reatonshp to the and whch barey had begun to be
expored. To change patterns of cuture ngraned for generatons requred a
monumentay conscous effort, but for those of us who had come from fames
characterzed by strfe, msery and hypocrsy, the changed seemed a necessary
and natura aternatve.
Aso, the nucear famy of modern tmes was a reatvey recent phenomenon.
Homes used to ncude not ony father and mother, but grandparents, aunts and
sometmes servants, a of whom heped take care of the chdren. Often the
chdren receved more ove from persons other than the parents. Wthn ths type
of extended famy, the chd-rearng pressures were essened on the mother and
shared among more aduts. Open Land dupcated the extended famy, trba
vage context wthn whch even sma chdren coud run freey, the parents
secure n the knowedge that there were many ovng peope about wng to care
for them."
GWEN: "One evenng of a hot summer day, B nvted Patrca to dnner. When I
ooked up and saw her wakng down the path, her ong, sken har swngng, I
knew mmedatey that B had faen n ove. He had had womenfrends before
durng our marrage, but ths one was dfferent. Durng dnner B was very
excted, throwng gances at Patrca and me and then gggng. Patrca remaned
cam and posed. After dnner, when she got up to eave, B foowed her wth hs
eyes, feeng the confuson of beng unabe to communcate to me what I aready
knew.
"The next few weeks were fed wth B and Patrca's growng nfatuaton, my
sow, panfu ad|ustment to the wthdrawa of B's attentons, and my fute
attempts to grow coser to Patrca. My emotons began to tear me apart. I fet the
earth beng pued from beneath my feet.
"B wanted us both to be hs wves, Patrca wanted to be excusvey wth B. I
wanted to be acceptng of what was happenng, but fet desperatey hurt.
Athough we spent some tme together, none of these feengs were ever brought
out. I fet we were each wakng a tghtrope, and were observng some knd of
strct etquette to keep from fang wth a crash.
"One day, n desperaton, I hopped aboard a van wth frends on ther way to
Coorado. Raspberry and I spent a week traveng the Southwest, but the pan of
my fang reatonshp kept me from en|oyng the trp. Eary on a Sunday mornng
I returned, hopng everythng woud have returned to norma. B was reeved to
see us and procamed he had decded to gve up Patrca. I dropped some
mescane and, a tte ater, he and Patrca dropped some acd. We a three sat
together at the Sunday feast, stoned, feeng psychedec ove and tryng to share
t wth each other. By evenng I coud see that B and Patrca dd not want to
part, so we a cmbed nto bed together. We made ove most of that nght. I was
terrfed, ncredby aroused and satsfed at the same tme. Fnay we drfted off
nto a sound and peacefu seep.
"Raspberry awoke eary to nurse, and whe I ay wth her cured by my sde, my
breast n her mouth, B and Patrca began to make ove agan. When he got up,
he patted us both and sad, 'I have two such beautfu women.' The psychedec
had worn off. I fet a snap of anger. I resented beng 'had.' Patrca must have had
a smar sentment, because she returned to her prevous boyfrend. That day my
bond of ove wth B shattered wth the reazaton that he expected me to aow
a second wfe for hs peasure, but dd not have the remotest ntenton of aowng
a second husband for mne. The mbaance topped our reatonshp, and I began
to search for a way out."
RAMON: "B and Gwen's emotona upheavas were fet very personay by the
communty. Frends raed to Gwen to hep her through her dffcut tme. B was
caught n a stuaton beyond hs emotona maturty and foundered bady. As
someone who aso had faen off the marrage-go-round severa tmes, I fet
compasson for both my frends and coud ony hope that the sprtua strength of
our trba famy woud keep them afoat. A communty s strong f t has the
eastcty to support a member durng a dffcut emotona upheava.
"Wth B and Gwen both centra roe modes on the Rdge, t was nevtabe that
ther upheavas nfuenced the genera tone of the communty. A berated snges
atmosphere seem to pervade the fe, and Gna and I began to fee ke stuffy
parents n the mdde of t a."
That summer there were new babes everywhere. Forest Green Gras, Chandra,
Kokham, Chrstan and many more to numerous to st. At Mornng Star, Lou's
deedng of the and to God had undergone a seres of maneuvers whch fnay
cumnated n exhaustng the possbty of a favorabe decson n the Santa Rosa
courts. Lou then drew up a memorandum whch, athough admttng that the
queston of God as grantee mght be wthout ega precedent, mantaned that the
|udge was exceedng hs consttutona authorty n rung aganst the deed. In
August, Lou, st actng as hs own attorney, fed a Suppementa Memorandum
argung that hs deedng of Mornng Star to God conssted of a ega dedcaton of
the and for pubc use. Pubc use of the and was aready common knowedge, so
t coud be argued that t aready was n use as dedcated.
Aso n August, a frendy awyer named Soomon fed an Amcus Curae (Frend of
the Court) bref whch argued among other ponts that fndng the deed to God
vad woud uphod a chartabe gft of the and for pubc use, and suggested the
|udge appont a guardan or trustee for Mornng Star. Another Amcus Curae bref
prepared by a group of hotshot Yae Law students argued that the rght to
regous freedom shoud aways be nterpreted beray by the courts, and that
the exstence of the deed tsef proved the dedcatory ntent of the prevous
owner. Lou, who by now had spent many ong hours n the aw brares, prased t
as a nce pece of ega work.
RAMON: "On September 13, Gna's bag of waters broke and she went nto ght
abor. By evenng t was obvous that the baby was fnay on ts way. Gna was
restess, fndng t hard to get comfortabe. Lucky, our Mornng Star brother Ph
Brougham showed up. An expert Rechan masseur, we coud not have asked for a
better heper. He sat behnd her on the bed, keepng her reaxed by kneadng her
back and sdes, whe I sat n front as somethng to grab durng each contracton.
Bascay, she receved a sxteen-hour massage. Gna's brother, Lou, Near, Vshnu,
B, Gwen and Raspberry a gathered at our house.
"Havng a baby seemed to turn Gna nto a Gypsy dancer. It was a sow abor, but
she kept on top of t by 'omng' durng each contracton. A cow across the canyon
often answered her wth a sympathetc moo. Around four a.m. she fnay went
nto second stage and proceeded to stay there unt amost eght. At ast, wth the
frst mornng sunbeams dartng n the wndow, she grabbed the center post of the
house and, kneeng, devered the head. I was behnd her and |ust managed to
catch the baby when he tumbed out. |oy, reef, transports of deght beyond
words! We had a beautfu buddha baby boy of about 7 pounds. I ad hm on
Gna's tummy |ust as Beatrce, mother of three boys, came down |ust n tme to
suggest watng to cut the umbca cord unt a whte fatty pug appeared. We
wated forty mnutes and, sure enough, there t was! I then ted and cord and cut
t.
"That nght we medtated together, and mutuay were gven the name So Ray.
Inasmuch as hs frst experence of fe was a beam of sunght, the name seemed
more than approprate. Aso he had an Unce So n hs mother's famy.
"The whoe communty re|oced wth us. Everyone showered us wth ove and
many kndnesses, brngng us cooked meas and many presents for the baby.
Raspberry and Vshnu were both present at the brth and Raspberry, upon seeng
Gna a few days ater, squatted and grunted, rememberng the devery."
GWEN: "Gna expressed her abor wth much drama. In the ght of the candes,
she few about the tny room, shrekng and moanng most of the nght. At ong
ast the baby sthered out nto hs father's arms, and Gna ay back wth her son's
brth accompshed, experencng the deep contentment that wpes away the
memory of angry pan. A newborn son woke up the Open Land famy to a |oyous
new day.
"I eft the same mornng for San Francsco, feeng weak, exhausted, and wth a
sharp ache growng n my sde. The severty of the pan prompted an eary return
to the ranch. Ramn n the communty truck pcked up Peter and me htchhkng.
We rounded the ast corner that brought us to the top of the h overookng the
Rdge and at once saw a coumn of smoke rsng from the East Canyon. It seemed
to be comng from the vcnty of Gna's and Ramn's house. Ramn started the
truck hurtng down the bumpy access road, and wth each bump the pan n my
sde stabbed me. Hafway down, I grabbed Peter and sad I coudn't make t any
further, but I knew that f I was et out I woudn't be abe to move from the spot. I
grpped Peter's arm tghter and hed on unt we reached the garden. They
mmedatey ran off to fght the fre whch turned out to be Cff's tent hafway
down the east canyon road. I wated to catch my breath and then sowy, nch by
nch, moved my cramped body to my bed, not to move a har for fve days.
"B came home to te me how Cff, our sef-apponted fre chef, had been
cookng enchadas on hs stove. Hs tent had caught on fre, and n turn the huge
redwood stump outsde had started burnng, actng ke a chmney for the fames.
The Rdgefok had formed a bucket brgade from the nearest water ne about
three-quarters of a me away. Peope were fng cups, bows, anythng from the
sowy drppng faucet and then runnng down the steep h naked, cryng, scared.
We coudn't put t out, but were abe to contan t unt three fre trucks arrved
aong wth the borate bombers -- the fre-fghtng panes. One of the tank trucks
bew ts engne, and the fremen had a hard tme keepng ther mnds on the fre,
what wth Frzzy Nancy n |ust a top and no bottoms and Corky ony wearng
boots. But the fre chef was very compmentary to our vounteer brgade,
athough he suggested that next tme t mght be a good dea to put on some
cothes."
Gwen was sck for a ong tme, not reazng t was hepatts. The smpest day
chores put her back n bed weak and trembng, emotonay draned. Fnay she
phoned her parents and made arrangements to recuperate at ther house.
Hepatts swept through the ranch that year, affctng a arge number of
resdents.
#
Chapter 21
The Frst Death & The Mghty Avengers
By the fa of 1970, the Rdge had acqured a ffty-passenger yeow schoobus.
Instead of rdng ke catte n the truck, peope now coud go to town n stye,
sttng on cushoned seats. On the day of the partcuar communty run, Rdgefok
gathered by the front gate eary n the mornng. When t was tme to start, the
vounteer drver announced that everyone who was abe to wak shoud foow the
bus on foot to the top gate, a dstance of about a me. Mutterng compants, the
partcpants began the uph cmb whe the bus crawed, heavng and groanng,
over the ruts, hoes, guches and rocks of the access road. At the top gate t
wated for everyone to catch up. At ast, oaded wth peope, kds and bags of
aundry, t pued out onto the county road. Generay every seat was fed and
then some.
In Occdenta, the bus pued nto |erry's gas staton and a hat was passed for gas
money. Foks trunded off to the post offce or store to buy a goode before
oadng back n agan. The next stop was the aundromat n Sebastopo. Townsfok
woud ook up n amazement from ther magaznes as the pace fed wth ong-
hared, naked chdren and huge bags of very drty cothes. Once the machnes
were fed, the bus proceeded to the organc grocery store. Some foks stayed n
Sebastopo to do errands or |ust stand around Man Street to n|ect a tte groovy
atmosphere nto a very band envronment. Wth a the errands accompshed and
the aundry foded, everyone ped back nto the bus and headed for the frut
stand on the way home. The frut stand owners aways were thred by the
sudden nfux of customers but equay terrfed of possbe thefts. At ast, packed
wth boxes, bags of food, aundry, |ugs of kerosene, packages, babes, the bus
started off on the fna eg of the |ourney home.
Communty runs were aways ong, and everyone was exhausted by the tme they
roed through the front gate of the ranch. There were those few who went aong
|ust for the fun of t, but for the average person t was a necessary ordea.
Inevtaby some kerosene sped or a baby had the shts or somebody companed
bttery about a partcuar stop that hadn't been made. Grapefruts and oranges
whzzed over heads n exchange for candy bars. Often everyone broke nto song
on the home stretch whe the bus maneuvered the curves of Coeman Vaey.
Once on the ranch proper, the bus drove the ength of the and to et off peope
wth ther bags and boxes at the begnnng of the tras to ther houses.
Those who had panned the trp carefuy woud not have to go on another run for
a whe. Others woud suddeny fnd they had forgotten somethng crtca and
woud have to go on the very next one. But the day after a run was a good day to
stay home n the quet countrysde wth cean sheets and a fu cupboard addng
to the |oy.
As Thanksgvng roed around, Ramn and a Gna prepared to eave the and wth
tte So Ray.
BILL: "Ramn had become an enormous energy center, someone to whom
everyone went for hep and advce. He began of fee the constant stream of
vstors as a rp-off, takng hm away from famy, musc and wrtng. So they
moved n wth the Fower famy near Mornng Star, od frends wth whom they
had stayed before movng to the Rdge."
RAMON: "It was very hard to eave the and, but somethng was pushng us on.
Partay t was a desre to have a few more of the amentes such as hot water
now that we had a baby. Aso, what wth B and Gwen's breakup, we began to
fee ke the ony stabe coupe eft on the Rdge. I dd not en|oy payng the od
and stodgy conservatve n the bubbng fe-stye experment whch the ranch had
become. Whatever the reasons, we dd move before Chrstmas ony to have So
Ray contract pneumona a few weeks ater. He and Gna spent a week n the
hospta, Gna seepng on the foor besde hs crb unt a nce nurse moved a
char nto the room for her. We spent the baance of the wnter n the southern
Caforna desert to gve So Ray tme to regan hs strength away from the
dampness of Sonoma County."
Aca Bay Laure returned to the Rdge that wnter, a ceebrty because of her
book "Lvng On The Earth." The meda foowed her to the ranch, both The New
York Tmes and Lfe sendng reporters and photographers. Lfe sponsored a sam-
bang Sunday feast, and the Rdgefok put on the dog for them wth a sauna and
the Sheep Rdge Band. Aca strummed aong on an acoustc bass gutar whch
was her ony garment. But t was a too funky for Lfe, who scrapped the artce n
favor of a sck, md-western hppe weddng where everyone ooked cean and
were dressed n the photos.
That sprng, Aca returned to New York to promote the Random House edton of
her book. An ncredby taented and perceptve person, she more than anyone
ese communcated the aternate cuture to mdde-cass Amerca n a peasng
form. She was a hard worker for the revouton.
BILL: "We a fet that the dea of Open Land had to be communcated. For once,
Amerca had somethng besdes war to export. We had no fear of reveang our
ocaton, dentty or actvtes to anyone who woud sten. Good news! Open
Land!"
Stephen Gaskn returned to San Francsco from the caravan bus tour of the Unted
States to start up hs Monday Nght Cass meetngs once more. The communty
bus began takng peope to the cty every week for these hgh, sprtua get-
togethers. Everyone who attended benefted from the experence, but Stephen
was preparng to go on the road agan. Durng the fna farewe meetng,
someone came up to B and whspered that the nude body of a young boy had
|ust been found on the Rdge, supposedy dead from a drug overdose. In B's
mnd, ths speed mmedate troube, because the authortes and newspapers
woud have a fed day.
BILL: "It was |ust the sort of thng that gave moms and dads nghtmares about us.
My frst reacton was to keep the thng quet, but the Rdge had a tota nabty to
keep anythng secret - t |ust wasn't part of our way of dong thngs. When I
returned home that nght, I fet compeed to check out the rumor. It was wet and
cod outdoors, wth thck bankets of fog rong over the and. The body was
supposed to be under a fr tree on Hoffe's H, but no one was too sure exacty
whch one. The h seemed ke a set for a horror move, the darkness and mst
barey perced by the feebe ray of my fashght. Ghosts, demons and monsters
staked me at every turn. I fet as f the corpse was gong to reach out and drape a
chng hand over my shouder, but I stumbed on through the wet bushes ookng
under every tree, morbdy fascnated yet terrfed that I woud be successfu n
my search."
As t turned out, B's ghoush pgrmage turned up nothng, and he had to wat
unt mornng to be guded to the body by the orgna dscoverer, Davd Pooe.
Davd had recenty come to the and after beng evcted from the Open Land
beach settement n Bonas. On the west sde of Hoffe's H, where hardy anyone
ever went, the body ay brused and battered, wth a sght tnge of green growng
on hm and a fant hum of nsects around hs head. Davd expaned how he had
been smokng hs mornng |ont down at O.B.'s tent. Suddeny he got up and
waked some three hundred yards drecty to the body, as f t had communcated
wth hm.
The corpse dd not seem as young as had been rumored. He ooked about twenty,
probaby |ust reeased from the servce snce he was cean shaven. But what to do
wth the body? B's frst ncnaton was to bury hm then and there, because t
was obvousy ong overdue. But there was the probem of the authortes fndng
out. The body woud then be exhumed and embarrassng questons asked. Aso, t
seemed strange to bury hm wthout any dea of who he was. Someone suggested
droppng hm off at a street corner, but apparenty he had been dead for a coupe
weeks and woud not have - ugh - hed together for the trp. The ast aternatve
was the best: et the dead bury the dead and ca the coroner.
Out they came ater that day n a funera processon, two deputy sherffs, a
camera man, a coroner who wore rubber goves the whoe tme, and an
undertaker who tod B he had chosen hs professon because t was the cosest
he coud get to beng a doctor. The nvestgatng offcer assured B that he woud
do tte wth the case, addng wth a bg wnk that he know how the feow had
ded.
Eventuay the story was peced together: the deceased came onto the Rdge wth
severa frends, camped up near the crest of Hoffe's H, dropped somethng they
thought was acd, and went on an extended three-day trp. Hs frends deserted
hm as he became ncreasngy werder, and he spent the next three days atop
the h huggng the cross the Crazy Davd had erected there. A few peope saw
hm and thought he was pretty strange. But there had been a ot of rare, regous
behavor by vstors before, so they shned t on. On the thrd day, he took off hs
cothes, waked down to the fr tree, crawed up underneath t and ded of
exposure. From the expresson on hs face and the thrashng around he had
obvousy done, t had been an agonzng death.
Ths was the frst human death on the and snce t had opened, and t remnded
everyone of ther mortaty. The vbratons on the Rdge were mute and morbund
that evenng when everyone gathered on Hoffe's H for a wake. Hodng hands,
they formed a crce around a huge bonfre. After a sence, a ong 'om' rang out.
Drums graduay |oned n to renforce the chantng, and someone wth a ute
nspred the gutars to begn. The group sang and sang, sngng every song they
knew, and the musc seemed to revve everyone's sprts. Death was understood
as a part of the natura fow of thngs, and not as a portent of mpendng doom for
the communty.
GWEN: "Less than two months ater, the communty experenced ts second
death. Ths one passed wth hardy a rppe, because t was of a fe not qute born.
Anne had gven brth prematurey n the hospta where the baby was kept n an
ncubator for a month. The day the baby was reeased, Anne moved up to the
Rdge, took off her cothes and the baby's cothes, and came wakng down to the
steambath. When I frst saw her, I had to ook agan. It seemed she was hodng a
mnature, very od man on the verge of dyng. I ddn't want to stare, but my eyes
kept turnng n ther drecton. Anne wore the expresson of a very proud mother,
but my God the baby! Coud t be a member of our speces? Was t od or young?
Dead or ave?
"The foowng mornng the baby ddn't awaken, and Anne bured t besde her
house. A few days ater I watched her sttng cross-egged on the hsde
throughout the day, starng out at the horzon. Her body was gettng burned by
the sun. I tod her I thought she shoud move nto the shade. 'There's nothng that
matters,' she answered, her sme showng her embarrassment at the pan
shootng from her eyes."
A trbe formed on the Kno who named themseves The Mghty Avengers after the
Marve Comcs superheroes. 'A ha to The Mghty Avengers! Rght on, brothers
and ssters!' They worshpped a oca speces of woodpecker whom they caed
The Badaba, and used 'Badaba' as a greetng and a mantra. Mosty they seemed
dedcated to excessve vng through acoho and drugs, athough on a number of
occasons they provded a servce to the communty.
COYOTE: "I remember that rght after I went up to Hoffe's H one day I was
wakng wth Funkdog and Pau-Terry, and for some reason, I dunno, I fe fat on
my face. Then I woke up and started aughng my ass off. Everybody ooked at me
and asked, 'Are you a rght?' And I sad, 'We, I'm Captan Amerca, you're
Sargeant Pau-Terry, and you're Prvate Frst-Cass Funkdog. We're The Mghty
Avengers! And Bart's Back Bot, eader of the nhumans!' And they sad, 'Wow! A
rght!' And we trpped around and found Bart and sad, 'Hey, Bart, you anna be n
the Mghty Avengers?' And he sad, 'Wow, that's a good dea! If we're a
superheroes, we won't have any more hasses about war or anythng!' So we
|oned forces that day.
"Later I sobered up and forgot I even sad t, but Bart kept sayng, 'That's a pretty
good dea, you know,' so we began wakng around teng everybody we were
superheroes. Maverck and Steve Wensten |oned us, and then we formed the
Lades' Auxary. At one of the church meetngs on Hoffe's h, the Lades'
Auxary unt went to B Wheeer and tod hm to announce there was gong to be
an orgy at Snakept Edde's. Then they |ust snatched us, and we were |ust fuckng
a over the pace, |ust pror to the orgy proper, Chck |ohnne came over and
snatched me, and we wanted to fuck on top of the Communty Truck. It was fed
wth horsesht, but nstead we went over to the meadow where the Maypoe was
and started gettng t on. Then ater than evenng we a met over at Snakept's
and had a bg od orgy. A wonderfu tme! Most peope were shy. Nobody wanted
to take ther cothes off, but we were |ust fuckng and suckng a over the pace.
Some guys coudn't get hard-on's, but the grs were pretty understandng. They'd
|ust entce 'em there and get 'em n ther cutches and |ust do them under! I got
the cap rghteousy aong wth everybody ese. The Communty Hospta was
bown away when we pued up n the schoobus wth forty peope a comng n to
get shots."
Maverck, ta, bond, handsome, was born n Kentucky. Hs parents abandoned
hm n the Appaachan Mountans when he was three years od. He ved wth the
anmas, eatng bugs and mce, and earned much woodore. Hs cothes were
made of anma skns and he exuded the aura of an ncredby heathy, strong
person. Many myths grew up around hm, and hs hgh, sprtua quates made
hm a nature god n the eyes of the women on the Kno.
AMBRIELLE: "There was another orgy where I |ust fe n ove wth everyone there.
We a started drnkng wne, and I was knd of freaked out because I had a bunch
of overs there of both sexes. I had been wth Maverck and ths other guy too, but
Maverck |ust took me to hm and sad, 'Make ove. It woud be wonderfu.' Then a
of a sudden everybody n the room started makng ove. But a coupe of peope
showed up who we weren't n ove wth, some rea crass macho types who waked
n and sad, 'Oh, an orgy.' It was ke peope had to have a certan conscousness
of gvng or ese t woud suck up the energy feds."
Cats had become a probem on the Rdge, breedng profusey and many gong
wd. When hungry, they raded peope's food stashes. The mghty Avengers'
atttude was, "Eat my food and I' eat you." As a resut, a number of cats ended
up beng cooked n pots for dnner. Ths took care of the surpus cat popuaton as
we as a few persona pets that wandered nto the wrong pace at the wrong tme.
|ughead, one of the favorte barn cats, met such a fate.
BILL: "A myth grew up around the cat-eatng on the Rdge, confrmng suspcons
about our werdness n the eyes of some neghbors. Yet The Mghty Avengers'
souton to the cat overpopuaton probem seemed more sensbe to me than
takng them to the SPCA to be gassed, the most common aternatve. I mysef
cannot magne eatng one, athough I'm tod they are qute tasty, a bt ke rabbt.
Aso t must be sad of the cat eaters that they used the whoe anma, eatng the
fesh, wearng the fur, and fashonng |ewery and roach cps out of the bones."
It became Maverck's |ob to k the cat. Frst he woud stroke t as t ay on hs ap
purrng, thankng t for the use of ts body whch was to become food. Then he
devered one sharp bow to the base of ts neck, breakng ts spne before cuttng
ts throat and sknnng t.
Durng 1971, Snakept Edde became presdent of the Ahmsa Church. As the
peope's representatve, he went to the county authortes and demanded food
stamps for the peope on the and. Up unt then, food stamps had been dened
the resdents snce the tme the and had opened. It was the offca pocy of
those admnsterng the food stamp program n Sonoma County not to feed
hppes. Durng hs meetngs wth the food stamp board, Snakept dressed
mmacuatey, wth a pressed sut, te and poshed shoes. Hs ndomtabe w
reduced the bureaucrats to submsson, and fnay the board awarded food
stamps to everyone on the and who quafed. The forty doars a month of food
stamps made the dfference between weath and poverty for many. What the
government spent n food stamps, t saved n hospta expenses for manourshed
peope. Aso t emnated a ot of rppng off from the oca stores.
In genera, the Ahmsa Church functoned as an organ of communcaton, aowng
the members to be heard n the potcs of the county. Snce B was no onger the
ega owner of the and, the courts coud not fne or mprson hm as they dd Lou.
Reef from that burden aowed B to reax and en|oy fe once more, now that he
was no onger the offcas' target.
COYOTE: "The Mghty Avengers got rea heavy one tme because we were gettng
sck and tred of peope ayng ther no-tobacco-smokng trps on us. A the peope
who smoked tobacco were supposed to st at the back of the bus, but one day
Dane sat n the mdde and t up a cgarette. Instanty Cff and a coupe of others
|umped on her for smokng, and tod her to get off the bus. So a the cgarette
smokers mmedatey fred up n sympathy wth her. I heard about t, and got mad
as we as a few other Avengers. So we went nto Occdenta the next day and
bought somethng ke four cases of beer and four gaons of wne and htched
back to Wheeer's. By that tme we were roarng drunk. We got to the and, and
who shoud be meet but Cff and O.B. When we saw Cff, we a got on hs sht for
the trp he ad on Dane. We a t up cgarettes and bew smoke n hs face and
tod hm f he ddn't ke tobacco he coud |ust move out of the way.
"O.B. was gong, 'You want some acd?' And we sad, 'Yeah, we want some acd.'
So he started gvng us acd. Bart and Ouet Steve showed up, and we were a
gettng drunk and eatng acd. The next thng I know, we're a down at the house
and we heard the chan saw go off. So Ross and I took off down the hsde wth
an ax hande. It was Today cuttng frewood for B Wheeer. And we sad, 'Unh,
cuttng frewood for B Wheeer agan, huh? Whatsa matter? You ke kssng hs
ass or somethng? Boy, every tme we see you peope, you're so gratefu for beng
here, aren't cha? How come you're dong a these trps for hm and how come you
never do anythng for anybody ese? Look at a these ades around here, man.
They need frewood too, you know. Why don't you cut wood for them?' And he |ust
went, 'duhhh.' So then Ross ht hm wth the ax hande on the hand, and Today
went 'Arhh!' and started yeng at us, and we're aughn 'at hm and |umpn'
around.
"We came down on a the peope who were actng ke B Wheeer was God. So
we pued Today out n the open, and the next thng we knew everybody's
crowdn' around. And Bart sad, 'How's t gong to be, Today. One at a tme or a
together?' And he sad, 'I gve up. I surrender.' And he went out and cut frewood
for the ades.
"Then we went back to the house and put an ax on the ax hande. We heard some
yeng, so we waked over to check t out, and there's Ouet Steve standng and
yeng at B Wheeer, cang hm an asshoe. Gwen Wheeer came out wth a
bucket of water and spashed t over Steve's head. So one of us went over and
started choppng on B Wheeer's prvate water tank wth the ax. Wheeer came
out, roarng ndgnant. 'You deserve ths!' he shouted, and the next thng I knew
Funk Dog was pckn' me up and ayn' me on the bed. I don't know how I got
there.
"We even coaborated wth Lou on a ot of our pro|ects we dd towards B
Wheeer. We went over to see Lou one tme whe we were trppng, and we tod
hm about how a the peope focked around B, ke puttng B at the head, you
know, sayng, 'Oh far out, B,' or 'Yeah, B, yeah,' but we |ust gnored t. 'Sht, t
was |ust B Wheeer, another person, you know. But when the sht came rght
down, he carred the ba. I was amazed. He had a ot of heart. We even taked
about makn' hm an honorary Mghty Avenger ater on."
"So anyway, Lou asked us, 'We does he smoke dope?' And we sad, 'No. he's not
smokn' dope. He gave t up.' And Lou sad, 'What you shoud do s go over there,
tacke hm, pn hm down to the ground and bow some pot smoke n hs face.'
And that's exacty what we dd! A these peope were worshppng hm a the
tme. We |ust stood there for a few mnutes and took n a n, and then we dashed
over and |umped on hm and gave hm a great bg bear hug. I sat on hs shouders
and sad, 'A rght, B, ths s t, man, and - poof! ' we gave hm a supercharge!
And ths story s n dedcaton to Steve Wensten, formery known as Supersteve,
who |ust pershed. He was a frend to a. Whew, so many of the Avengers have bt
the drt. There's a ot of them that are gone."
BART: "Steve Wensten, thrd n command of The Mghty Avengers, dropped dead
n |uy, 1976, n front of the Gurneve post offce due to manutrton and
exhauston. He had been on the road for two years, and he aways sad he was
gong to be a martyr for Open Land. He had |ust come across the country wth a
sxty-pound backpack, and he wasn't a very bg guy. He was on hs way to see us
and a sster n the area. Aso, he was nto downers and had some n hs system,
but he wasn't O.D.'d or anythng ke that. But he hadn't been eatng, and t was
on that reay hot day we had. He was on hs way up to Wheeer's, but he was
ked by the system, the freeways and a the pouton."
COYOTE: "Fash! Fash! Superman's ave and we, merey south of the border, a
rumors to the contrary! But the way a these peope went out, there were no two
deaths ake."
When the rumors about Superman were sorted out, the truth was that he had
ded of a bran hemorrhage n San Francsco Genera Hospta. A Mornng Star
brother of unknown ancestry, sparechanger extrordnare, Superman w aways
be ovngy remembered by those who knew hm.
#
Chapter 22
A Frend Retres & The Bg Dope Rad
In the sprng of 1971, |udge Shedecker, the kndy od man before whom so many
of the Mornng Star and Wheeer's resdents had appeared so many tmes, retred
from the muncpa bench. He aways had tred to be far, and hated to put peope
n |a. A dnner was hed n hs honor, and about thrty Rdgefok attended as we
as a group from Mornng Star after an anonymous donor made one hundred and
ffty doars of tckets avaabe for ther use. The dnner was attended by a the
Sonoma County bgwgs, awyers, |udges and potcans. A dscernbe rppe went
through the dstngushed gatherng when the hppes arrved, some present even
thnkng there was gong to be some sort of troube. Later t was rumored that
Cara O'Bren had been the anonymous donor, and that she had bought tckets for
the Rdge because she was angry at the |udge for beng so enent wth them.
Shorty after the ong-hared contngents arrved, the od |udge stood up and
gracousy wecomed them, addressng them as "Our frends from Mornng Star
and Wheeer ranches." That broke the ce, and everyone had a wonderfu evenng,
sttng at the same tabes as the peope who had been ther enemes. The
benefactor's strateges had backfred.
After the dnner, B wrote a etter to the |udge thankng hm for hs wecome. Hs
wfe reped, agreeng that t had been a memorabe occason, and suggestng
that f a ese faed n the strugge wth the county, that the shnng exampe of
Gandh shoud be an nspraton.
The Rdge dd ndeed set a fne exampe of cv dsobedence. The resdents
contnued to bud ther communty and form ther trbe as f the offca represson
and court orders dd not exst. The documents were |ust so much paper, ke the
New Engand Bue Laws whch were st on the books but whch no one obeyed
because of ther absurdty. Enforcement of budng and heath codes n rura
areas fe nto the same category. One court order requred the destructon of the
budngs and the remova of the peope from the and, but t was n abeyance
pendng the appea. Lke the condemned man, the Rdge hoped for a mrace, a
change n the aw or the turnng of the potca cmate nto one more favorabe to
ther cause. Unt then, they pursued the arduous course of stang offcadom,
watchng the revouton gan momentum and hopng the potca penduum had
reached ts zenth n ts swng to the rght. The two hundredth annversary of
Amerca was on the horzon, and everyone hoped they woud have somethng to
ceebrate.
BILL: "Peope were often mystfed as to why we had so much ega troube. Why
was t, they asked, that we ran so counter to the current whe other Aternate
Cuture communtes were abe to homogenze nto the dverse fabrc of Amercan
socety? The reasons were manfod, not the east beng economc. Immedate
neghbors were not abe to se ther and to the deveopers for the hgh prces
they wanted because of our presence. The ega batte represented a knd of
range war, the outcome of whch woud determne whether the and woud be
used for hundred-thousand-doar homes set n concrete nto budozed hsdes or
for sma bodegradabe shacks whch bended nto the andscape and were
nfntey more ecoogca. Our contnued presence woud determne whether the
and woud be protected or expoted.
"But bascay, our troubes stemmed from our beng open. Any person was
wecome to come and make hmsef a rent-free home. Ths pocy ran so counter
to the Amercan prvate property mana, so totay out of the ream of most
peope's experence, that no one coud beeve n ts vabty, especay those
persons whose ves and work were based on totay opposte presumptons. The
authortes, as an expresson of the common w, were forced to take acton
aganst Mornng Star and Wheeer Ranch. They vewed us as a cancerous tumor
whch must be excsed from the body potc, not as a heathy growth out of the
basc assumptons of the U.S. Consttuton."
Dea and Bark were progressng wth ther pans for ther thousand-acre spread.
They partcpated n the Rdge's food conspracy, and the communty truck
stopped to dever ther order to them. Gene Rugges, a poet frend of B's and an
od Rdge dweer, moved over wth hs famy and but a house there. Gwen and
B seemed to have made up ther dfferences and were vng together agan. "If
ony we coud be gven another fve years, the resut woud be ncredbe!" B
wrote n a etter to Ramn. "But how great w be the sacrfces to get t!"
The weather that February was sunny and warm, trggerng a burst of gardenng
actvty. Dozens of frut trees were panted under Fruts 'n Nuts Nancy's
nspratona nsstence. Raspberry was becomng a tte gr, and Lou, Near and
Vshnu hed forth at Mornng Star where thngs were very meow, athough
'monstrousy overdogged,' as Lou put t.
One day n ate February, B was up at the front gate checkng over the water
system. He spotted a pck-up wth a camper drvng down the road from O'Bren's
h. For some reason t gave hm an uneasy feeng. Havng fnshed hs chores, he
started towards the back of the and. He ony had covered a short dstance when
someone caught up wth hm, sayng there were about ten men armed wth rfes
at the front gate askng for B. Hs frst thought was that ths was the ong-
awated vgante rad. But another person came up wth the nformaton that they
were poce offcers.
He retraced hs steps to fnd Butch Carstadt from Narcotcs watng for hm. Butch
sad he had postve nformaton that a San Ouentn escapee was on the Rdge
and wanted to come on the and. B asked for hs search warrant, and Butch
reped that they were n 'hot pursut' and ddn't need one. Snce ths was the
fourth tme the county had used the same excuse to rad the Rdge, B ddn't
take to t kndy.
"Get the fuck off the and!" he shouted angry.
Butch smed sereney. After about ffteen mnutes, the rest of the posse returned
from the Kno where they had been urkng n the bushes watng for ther prey --
who ucky dd not show up. Bustn, the chef narc, waked up carryng a
submachne gun, and B made a few sarcastc comments about the weapon. He
reterated that he was tred of ega rads, and that t woud be to ther beneft to
get a search warrant before comng out to the Rdge. Bustn, stung by B's
remarks, reped that yes, ndeed, they woud have one the next tme they came
back.
A few days after, a ranch resdent returned after havng done some tme n |a. He
reported that he had overheard a conversaton n the Sherff's offce about a
proposed dope rad on the Rdge. Word spread advsng everyone to hde ther
mar|uana pants, and advsng anyone who was 'hot' to eave for the tme beng.
The two San Ouentn escapees eft the Kno that nght. |oe had been servng tme
for rape, whe Harod, one of the and's best mkers, had been sentenced for rape
and murder. Both were we ked for ther communty sprt and md manner.
Harod was caught some tme ater, but he eft behnd a woman frend on the
ranch who ater bore hs chd.
On the day of the expected rad, B opened hs eyes when the frst rays of
sunght streamed nto ther tte garden house. He |umped out of bed and ran
outsde to scan the hsde on O'Bren's and.
"|esus!" he excamed. There were scores of poce cars parked a over the access
road.
He was on hs way out the garden gate when he was stopped by severa deputes
and marched back to hs house. The men began to search through B and Gwen's
beongngs. Gwen pcked up Raspberry and went outsde to take a 'somewhat
paranod sht' behnd a bush before wakng up towards Hoffe's H. She wanted
to warn peope who were aseep, but from the htop she coud see groups of
armed men aready coverng the whoe ranch.
Over one hundred and ffty aw enforcement offcas from a over the Bay Area
were nvoved, deputy sherffs, oca poce, a knds of narcotcs personne,
mtary poce and San Ouentn guards. A hecopter and surveance arpanes
buzzed ow n the sky.
BILL: "As a esson n humty, I hghy recommend havng your house searched. A
ady cop hepng the deputes found an avocado on top of the cebox whch she
suggested be eaten because t was gettng overrpe. They searched drawers,
medcne boxes, herb contaners, mattresses and cothng. The sera numbers of
my cameras, bnocuars and chansaw were carefuy noted down. I watched the
proceedngs carefuy because I knew they were not above pantng some dope."
Bustn showed up wth a search warrant forty-eght pages ong, contanng among
other thngs the two-year-od artce from Harper's Magazne whch mentoned
that dope was smoked on the and, Bustn's statement that he had seen dope
growng on the and and a second statement that he had postve proof two San
Ouentn convcts were hdng on the Rdge. He |oned n the search of B and
Gwen's house, fndng a sma stee box whch was |ammed shut. He shook t and
stened ntenty, a frown furrowng hs eyebrows. Then he worked on t wth
ncreasng frustraton, convnced t contaned B's 'works.' Fnay he gave t up
grudgngy. Too bad, because a t contaned were the parts for Gwen's sewng
machne.
Gwen remaned wth a sma group who had |oned hands on Hoffe's H. Together
they watched the poce, grey-sknned and haress members of ther own speces,
craw through the bushes wth ther weapons at the ready. The sun was burnng
through the ght msts, roosters were crowng, and yet a over the and peope
were beng awakened by armed men askng questons and searchng ther
beongngs.
The rad was thorough, the authortes not takng any chances concernng ts
egaty. Even the Dstrct Attorney had come aong to advse on any ega
probems whch mght crop up. They foowed the strategy of postng a guard
besde each house to keep the occupants under house arrest unt a search team
of narcotcs offcers arrved to fnd the dope. There wasn't much to fnd. But they
had to fnd somethng for ther efforts, and busted peope for seeds, spare
roaches and suspcous-ookng ps and powders. Some pot seedngs had
sprouted overnght n one house, and some new foks had arrved after dark n
another and hadn't been warned. The bg whte sherff's van oaded up about
thrty resdents under arrest and the processon of cars, hecopters and armed
men wound ts way up O'Bren's road, eavng a stunned and speechess
communty n ther wake.
COYOTE: "I was wakng out my front door, |ust wakng up, and I started to take a
eak. I ooked up and saw ths Day-Go-coored hecopter dsgused as a gant
dragonfy. They knew everybody on the and was nto psychedecs, and they
wanted to foo us. We, I stopped pssng rght on the spot, and turned around and
waked nto my house and got nto my bed and got out agan and waked back
outsde. It was |ust too mnd-bowng for me, that gant dragonfy, so I fggered I'd
|ust start the day a over agan. Next thng that happened was my neghbor
Bucky and hs grfrend brought ther tomato crates wth baby mar|uana pants
out, and I heard ths ampfed voce say. 'A rght, don't make a move! Ths s the
Sonoma County sherffs!' And Bucky sad, 'Whaaat?' I ooked up, and ths door
opened n the dragonfy and these guys were sdng down ths rope wth rfes and
sht. I was fpped out! I don't know, but I thnk they mght have been more stoned
than us or somethng, man! I waked back nto my house and rearranged a my
Amercan fags. Then I put my mar|uana pants out n front and |ust went for a
wak. I ended up n Occdenta wth Daman and we got drunk as skunks. We saw
a sherff's van go drvng by wth a bunch of cean-ookng freaks. Somehow they
ddn't ook ke Wheeer's peope."
BART: "Oh, those poor peope who got arrested! And a ot of them were vstors,
too!"
COYOTE: "A of a sudden somebody n the van hed up a dope ppe, you know, up
to the wndow, wth a bg sht-eatng grn. They were a wavng and fashng the
peace sgn. They ddn't gve us a rde, though. We, I've seen two Hghway Patro
cars eat t at Opan Rock and Transmsson Rock on the road nto Wheeer's. Wow
but they were pssed off! I came by and aughed my ass off. I asked them f they
were a rght? 'Hey, man, whyn't cha come down to Wheeer's, man? Wanta hang
out wth the freaks for a whe?'"
Ffteen peope fnay were hed on a thousand doars ba apece. Corbn got the
ba reduced, but st t cost a ot to get everyone out of |a. But after the County's
enormous expense and effort, the 'bg dope rad' ddn't even brng n enough
grass to turn on the peope who had been arrested. When the Dstrct Attorney
reazed that the rad had faed, he gave those arrested the choce of peadng
guty and gettng off on the condton they never return to the Rdge or peadng
non guty and gong through wth a tra. A but one peaded guty, packed ther
beongngs and eft.
Wam Sheehan refused to pead guty. The bagge of mar|uana seeds whch
were found n the tent n whch he had been arrested were not hs, and nothng n
the word was gong to make hm say they were. He took hs pea through sx
months of court appearances wth Corbn defendng hm. He based hs defense on
the argument that the warrant used that day was much too broad, and argued
that usng one search warrant for so many dfferent budngs was an outrageous
voaton of the Fourth Amendment, the search and sezure artce. The superor
Court |udge agreed wth hm on the narrow grounds that Bustn's gatherng of
dope-growng evdence on hs prevous vst to the and nvadated the warrant
used on the foow-up rad. When Sonoma County appeaed the verdct, the Frst
Court of Appeas agreed competey wth Corbn that the Rdge nhabtants'
consttutona rghts had been voated, and the Sheehan case s now precedent
aw n Caforna. Banket search warrants can no onger be ssued for the purpose
of radng communes of mutpe dwengs. They must be specfc.
Ths court decson provded a sma vctory for the rghts of Open Land resdents.
Corbn aso wanted wanted to fe sut aganst the County, but B dsagreed. It
ony woud have made them more enemes nstead of what they needed -- more
frends. Bustn, the Dstrct Attorney and ther cohorts had made monkeys out of
themseves n court, and that was satsfacton enough.
Longer days and a warmer sun pushed the watng buds nto boom. The green
hs sparked, the grass rppng n waves n the breeze. Fowers covered the feds
and bossoms fed the trees. The muscans gathered and the Rdge soca season
boomed. Homes were constanty fed wth frends brngng good cheer and happy
conversaton.
GWEN: "If your house was empty and soca contact was needed, grab up your
baby-gutar-dope-smng face and take a wak to the garden, Hoffe's H or to a
frend's house where you woud fnd the soca scene of your dreams. Every
mornng the sun rose on another day made especay for you to pay n. May
games were offered. Besdes dong nothng, there was payng house, payng
carpenter, payng truck drver, payng farmer, payng artst, cook, yog, mother,
-- or |ust payng, a free for the choosng."
Aca Bay Laure returned to the ranch wth a strong sense of ndependence and
an nterest n the sparke of stmuaton of the bg word. After a, she was now a
famous wrter and ustrator. That wnter she was no onger the 'naked gr dong
yoga n the garden.' Instead, she began payng bass for the tght group of
muscans formng out of the Open Land band. She focused peope's nterests
upon pubshng the Second Open Land Manfesto, and encouraged her frends to
wrte, drawn and generay get nvoved n the arts. In February, she receved her
frst arge royaty check from Random House, and wth ths sudden weath, she
chose to contrbute to the sprt of Open Land.
A |ont for everyone at dawn on Hoffe's H began the day of ceebratng her
book. Musc and gourmet feastng spread across the and, and the ceebratory
sprt dd not stop unt Aca eft a few months ater. A bakery was set up n the
Pne Grove where Baker Bart and the Mghty Avengers began bakng bread every
day, gvng t away to anyone who wanted t. Sunday feasts became bountfu
spreads, and more and more foks shared n the festvtes.
The Open Land band's musc was a ke a pot of rch soup, a broth of drummers,
percussonsts, gutarsts, strans of varyng favors added by futes, fddes, voces
and an occasona horn. Dancers served as garnsh. The taste vared accordng to
the ngredents avaabe at the tme, but t unfed everyone, spreadng from ts
center to every wdy dancng gr, coud, tree, as the Sunday Feast reached ts
peak. Costumes, naked bodes, aughng chdren, the happy haucnator was n
heaven n ts mdst.
As the sun sank towards the horzon, the musc took a meow turn and foks
started wanderng home. A fog bank appeared over the western rdge ke a huge,
sow-moton wave pourng nto the canyon. The mkers gathered at the barn, the
cank of the mk pa punctuatng the stod crunch-crunch of Cauda munchng
her afafa n the sta. When dusk faded nto darkness, kerosene amps and
candes gowed n the wndows of the sma houses. Another peacefu nght of
crckets and ows began, wth the wnd genty soughng through the tree
branches.
At the Easter mornng servce, Aca arrved dressed as a brght pnk Easter egg
and her frend Sunny n a baby bue bunny costume. Gfts were dstrbuted of
home-made marzpan Easter eggs seasoned wth Cear Lght acd. The hot sun
unfured everyone's conscousness, the petas of the group mnd openng tsef to
absorb the heang powers of the ght and ar. Aca, Sunny and Lou ed the
processon to the western sde of Hoffe's H sngng a song they made up aong
the way, 'Have A Psychedec Easter.' Hundreds of dyed chcken eggs had been
hdden n the bushes and grass. Baskets n hand, the chdren spread out to fnd
them. The aduts shed ther cothes as the day warmed up.
An eaborate feast was carred to the emerad meadow at the back of the and
and arranged aong a spacous faen treetrunk whose branches were decorated
wth gay coored banners. Everythng sparked, everyone radated bss, the brds
sang and the and gowed. A steambath began, and the feastng contnued on nto
the evenng.
GWEN: "On Easter, the musc fowed to ts perfecton. The creatvty of the
performers synchronzed wth the many expanded conscousnesses of the
steners. Easter evenng, Aca met wth Cff, Sunny and Een to suggest they
begn payng eectrc nstruments. After two years of acoustc gutar, Cff fet
ready to start somethng new. Sunny, a recent arrva, had sung wth an eectrc
band n the cty and was the source of the suggeston. Een had been payng
fdde wth them and aso approved of the dea. The resut was that Aca rented
the ranch one h west of the Rdge where there was an eectrcay wred house
and the band moved there. Vewed from the ar, the property formed a fve-
ponted star, so they named ther group The Star Mountan Band.
"Ther departure produced a ntense, tearng feeng n the communty. Muscans
who were eft behnd fet cut off and eft out. Apprecatve steners were suddeny
aware of the vacuum eft by the departure of ths musca core group. The very
phosophy of Open Land seemed threatened by the band removng tsef to a
cosed pace. But they expaned they st wanted to exchange wth everyone on
the Rdge, but aso they wanted to commt themseves to each other n a way that
woud further ther musca nterests. It wasn't ong before the Rdgefok coud
hear famar songs and voces echong from the western rdge, a to an eectrca
accompanment.
"Athough the move to Star Mountan was orgnay ntended to ncude a sma
group of peope, a drummer was needed. So Drummer Dan went. An equpment
manager was needed, so Ta Tom went. Then Corky was needed, as were Mary,
We B., Say and others. By the next wnter, the Star Mountan popuaton stood
at twenty-fve, a peope who had ved on Open Land, oved t and were ookng
for a way to recreate the festye wthout beng hassed by the poce. So they
cosed the entrance gate and ocked t."
RAMON: "It s nterestng to note that Star Mountan contnued to thrve and
prosper through the years that foowed. As an Star Mountan ex-resdent mysef, I
am very gratefu that t dd. But t aso convnced me that t was the radca Open
Land creed that brought most of the heat from the County. As a phosophy and
way of fe, t truy threatened the status quo n ways whch those of us caught up
n t coud not magne. The very strength and |ustness of the cause trggered the
authortes' to cose t down. 'What f ths dea spreads?' they thought. 'What
woud happen to the whoe concept of and as a commodty to be bought and
sod? To the prveges of the anded few?' A ot of peope ooked at Open Land
and t struck fear nto ther hearts, because n ther heart of hearts they knew that
they had more than ther share of ths word's goodes."
#
Chapter 23
How Mornng Star Ranch Was Named and Dedcated To Mother Before Lou Bought
It & Oak Grove Davd
RAMON: "One sunny mornng n May, 1971, Lou, Near, Vshnu, Gna, So Ray, Katy
Dog and I were drvng back from the ocean through Freestone. We stopped at the
Wshng We Nursery to see our frend Tom Fed who was workng there, and aso
to tak to a man I w ca Pau who had partcpated n the namng of Mornng Star
Ranch. An ascetc-ookng man wth promnent cheekbones framng deep-set
eyes, Pau had |ust moved back to Sonoma County after a number of years away.
He sat wth us n a tny, acy gazebo surrounded by rows of nursery pants and
trees. Whe the mockngbrds sang uscous meodes from the redwoods on the
hsde beyond, he tod the foowng story.
PAUL: "In 1969 and '60, |ohn Beecher was the owner of the ranch. He was the
grandson of Harret Beecher Stowe, the abotonst author of Unce Tom's Cabn,
and hmsef a poet and seeker wth an abdng concern for humanty. Aso he was
the Novce Master of The Thrd Order Of St. Domnc, a Cathoc ay order wth a
house n San Francsco. I aso was a member of the Order at that tme, and groups
of us woud go up to the ranch for retreats, or perhaps I shoud say nforma
semnars, sx or eght peope at a tme.
"The weekends passed quety. I'd get up eary, feed the chckens and coect the
eggs, and then go down to the brook and take my cothes off. There's a bg
beautfu rock there near the stream. I used to st there, surrounded by trees and
water. No matter what you mght thnk, t was nspratona.
"|ohn Beecher was thnkng about gvng the ranch to the Cathoc Church. He
decded to dedcate the ranch to the Vrgn Mary and to name t. A of us were
asked what we thought the name shoud be, and one day we constructed a cross
out of redwood and put t up on the h overookng the front drve.
"I suggested that f he was gong to dedcate the ranch to the Vrgn, t shoud be
caed the Mornng Star. The name comes from the Ltany of The Bessed Vrgn,
from whch two other names were suggested. A the names were wrtten down
and paced anonymousy n a box. The part of the Ltany we are takng about runs
as foows:
Mystca Rose (suggested)
Tower of Davd
Tower of Ivory
House of God
Ark of the Covenant
Gate of Heaven (suggested)
Mornng Star (suggested)
"Athough there were never any group mystca experences, many peope found
t nspratona. As far as any drect experences of God, I certany fet the Dvne
Mother's presence and I know many others dd aso. |ohn Beecher was gong to
donate the ranch to the Church, and now Lou Gotteb has deeded t to God."
GWEN: "At nght, B often haf-awoke from hs seep, st competey mmersed n
hs dreams. One evenng he |umped out of bed, ooked out the wndow and
shouted, 'My God, the studo's on fre!' I pued hm back, tod hm he was
dreamng and he setted back to seep.

"Less than a week ater, we were awakened by shouts of 'Fre n the studo! Fre n
the studo!' B ooked out the wndow and saw the vson he had seen n hs
dream. The back of the studo was aready beng cked by angry, crackng
fames. By the tme B had run naked to the scene, the rest of the studo had
been enveoped. The fre shot hgh nto the sky, sendng sparks fyng the ength
of the ranch. Lucky the ground was st we soaked by the wnter rans and
nothng ese caught fre. I put my arms around B, and waked hm home feeng
as f I was hodng hm from fyng away wth the sparks.
GWEN: "The bossomng of Easter was a cumnatng pont n the ves of many
Rdgefok. Some fet t as a tme to move on n search of new drectons, whe
those who stayed fet that they shoud fnd ther new drectons wthn the aready
exstng open and structure.
"Athough B was never abe to free hmsef totay from the roe of authorty
whch had begun on the frst day the ranch opened ts gate, the maturng of the
ranch brought many who ghtened hs oad of conscous responsbty. Rod took
over the water system and the mechanca mantenance of the vehces, Garbage
Mke the trash probem and functoned as the ecoogca conscence of the and,
Mary Garvn dd the Ahmsa Church secretary work, Ta Tom offered hs hep on
any pro|ect wth whch B became nvoved. Such an endess number of confcts
and confrontatons! 'Somebody rpped off my campste! 'My od ady has a terrbe
earache and must get to the hospta!' 'Some crazy guy s foowng me around
tryng to rape me!' 'The horses are up on O'Bren's agan!' 'There's another hoe n
the water ne!' 'Somebody's stuck n Gruesome Guch and no cars can get by!'
'Can I borrow you saw/wrench/broom/etc/.' But graduay peope were begnnng
to go to other peope for resouton of ther probems.
"Indvdua fames vng n ther own homes had been the basc pattern adopted
by Openanders. Sma fames sometmes ncuded bood reatons or reatons of
ove or convenence. Durng that fourth summer, a group of twenty of us came
together as one famy. Each had come to a pont n ther snge or nucear famy
fe where they fet a need to expand and to change. Those wth chdren wanted
to share the parentng and ther ove, whe those who were snge wanted to be
members of a famy. Craftshop Bob donated hs ffteen-foot, crcuar, wa-ess
structure as a famy center, and we began by hodng famy dnners every nght.
A arge crcuar tabe was set n the center, and the foor spread wth sawdust and
compost. When the sun stood two fsts above the horzon, the famy woud gather
wth the dshes they had cooked for supper. Everyone hed hands and 'om'd'
together before sttng down to share the mea. Athough the famy was
consdered open to a comers, t remaned surprsngy stabe at about twenty
partcpants. Because meas were never panned n advance, at tmes they
conssted of fve dfferent dshes of spaghett or, even worse, rce. But the famy
supper was a source of warmth and frendshp, and for most of us our frst
experence wth cose communa vng. We had at the same tme the advantages
of a bg famy and the prvacy of our own sheters when needed.
"That same summer, B competed our new house, an octagon underneath the
wdespread oak at the edge of the garden. It was a 'rea' house wth doors that
shut and doube was to nsuate the nteror. He had but t mosty from beautfu
secondhand redwood from an od chcken coop he had torn down. Athough I ved
n t ony one month, I oved t and fet I was vng n the house of The Od Woman
Who Lved In A Shoe. But the path of separaton from B whch began the year
before fnay opened before me.
"On |uy 1st, the day dawned warm and I decded to vst Star Mountan. B
dropped Raspberry and me off on hs way to the cty; I panned to wak back home
through the canyon. The Star Mountan 'man house' was but n 1950's suburban
stye wth a custer of boxke rooms. A front porch ran the fu ength of the
southwest wa, and the nteror had been decorated wth Persan rugs, wa
hangngs, Indan bedspreads, eectrc nstruments and faces that had come out of
the hs of Open Land.
"Later that day when I prepared to eave, Ta Tom offered to hep me carry
Raspberry. We set off on our hke down one of the rdges, wakng under huge fr
trees and through wast-hgh goden grasses to the canyon bottom where Fndey
Creek ran sparkng towards the coast. We spashed n the coo water before
headng up the steep, treeess sde of the West Canyon of Wheeer's Ranch.
Raspberry became heaver and heaver, and we stopped to rest severa tmes,
pantng heavy and drenched wth sweat. When we took the fna steps to the top,
we fe to the ground exhausted and wated for our breathng to quet.
"Wthout speakng a word, Tom and I decded to spend the rest of the day
together. We took showers together, brushed each other's har n the sunght,
rubbed our bodes wth o and made a dsh for the famy supper. After dnner,
Tom carred Raspberry home for me and I asked hm to spend the nght. He
acquesced senty, and we went upstars together.
"I had not made ove wth anyone but B for four years. The next mornng I
awoke feeng recharged wth vta energes and spent the day en|oyng Tom's
company. In the evenng, he returned to Star Mountan. I fet I had to change my
vng arrangements and moved outsde once agan. Once more a tarpaun
protected me from the fog and I en|oyed the smpcty of outdoor vng.
"At summer's end, the famy mea was dscontnued when an rate dshwasher
bured a the dshes and haf the famy suddeny decded to go to Hawa and
Mexco n ther contnung search for the perfect festye. On September 1st, Tom,
Raspberry and I htchhked to Kentucky and spent two weeks vng n the ush
growth and humdty of southern Kentucky before htchng back to Caforna. I
returned frst to Star Mountan and then to the Rdge. The day was foggy, the and
quet. Wth coder weather approachng, the popuaton had dmnshed
consderaby and many of my cosest frends had moved away. I sat aone n Lyn's
house revng the prevous years, I heard many voces, saw many ovng faces,
and fet n the core of my beng the meanng of a those beautfu days spent
vng wthn the ongong creaton of and access to whch was dened no one. But
as I waked from spot to beoved spot that afternoon, I no onger fet the ca to
return to t. I knew then that t was no onger my home.
"Raspberry and I moved nto the sma shed where Tom ved at Star Mountan.
Soon afterwards, my brother Peter and hs wfe moved n wth us. I weaned
Raspberry, and she began to spend nghts wth B on the Rdge. I st vsted the
and often, and athough mu fe fet removed from t, every tme I opened the
garden gate tears sprang nto my eyes. So the next crtca year and a haf of the
Rdge's fe wtnessed at a sght dstance, hearng shouts and sounds drft across
the canyon and, ony ater, the stores behnd them."
BART: "I had some acd n a tte brass box wth a red rose on top, and t was rea
nce acd that Crtter Davd had gven me. I had some rock sat n t n chunks, and
t was the eftovers of about two hundred hts we had had. Anyway, I went off the
and wth a frend who had some hash and cocane, and we went down by the
Russan Rver. We were knda ate, and we saw ths cop car comng and knew he
saw us because he started to speed up. So my frends threw out hs cocane and
an ounce of hash. They pued us over, three unformed cops and a
pancothesman, and sad they had seen hm throw somethng. So they went
crawng around n the bushes, but they coudn't fnd t, and searched us aganst
our permsson nstead. We protested, but they found my acd stash and a ppe on
my frend, and one cop sad, 'Now ook, we're |ust ookng for some dope to
smoke. If you can ke te us where to get some, or fnd us the stuff you threw
away, we' |ust et you go. A we need s a d.' And we're gong 'Whaaat?'
'So he ooked n my brass box and sad, 'Ths s LSD -- I know t s.' And I sad,
'We, actuay, unh, t's rock sat -- a speca formua. I'm not sure what t s reay,
but t gves me penty of energy and makes my vson rea cear. And I need a ot
of energy to hke n and out of the canyons at Wheeer's, and I sweat a ot and
don't want to drnk water a the tme so I eat ths sat. And ths cop ooked at me
and sad, 'Are you payng games wth me?' And I sad, 'No, I'm teng you the
truth.' And I was, 'cause I thought here I was handcuffed and we, somethng's
got to come through for me, and maybe ths acd woud pu some magc for me.
And he sad, 'I want to test ths stuff out and see what t reay s.' So he cked a
fnger and stuck t n the box and put t n hs mouth. And the other cops go 'Wow!
He tasted that! Let me taste t too!' And they a tasted t and sad, 'We, t tastes
ke rock sat.' But n about ten mnutes they started smng and ther eyes started
to gow a tte more, you know, and we started teng |okes. And I sad, 'Coud you
pease et us go?' And they sad, 'Oh, okay,' and unocked the handcuffs and et us
go and they've never bothered me agan! And I st bump nto that cop who had
that grn on hs face. I tod them they coud keep the box, and I'm sure they ate
more of t. We waked back and found the ounce of hash and the cocane and
went and stayed wth these three grs at ther cabn."
Open Land seemed to exst n a potca vacuum. At tmes t seemed a rudderess
shp drftng hepessy and amessy n a storm, but n reaty ts course was set
by subte and yet very rea energes stemmng from the and tsef and the trbes
who setted there. These energes were sef-correctng and non-authortaran,
extremey decate and easy overrdden, but woe to the man who tred. Yet
someone dd come aong who saw the Open Land freedoms as an opportunty to
usurp power and who tred to become a sef-apponted kng.
BILL: "Davd of the Oak Grove had tremendous sef-confdence, and beeved hs
power to be equa to any man's. He gathered a foowng of peope mesmerzed by
hs Rasputn-ke manpuatve abtes, hs hypnotc aura and hs endess rap
about astroogy, ove and God. Of medum heght, thn and bony, he was muscuar
n a suppe way, a typca yog bud. He coud fa nto a fu otus posture as easy
as most peope sat down. Shouder-ength har, fu beard, dark-compexoned,
deep-set eyes, sharp nose, thn ps and promnent forehead, he was
unforgettabe and ft Steve Gaskn's descrpton of 'the scary beatnk.'
"He came onto the Rdge n the summer of 1971 and mmedatey set to budng
n an open meadow besde the Oak Grove. Ths upset many peope, snce we tred
to keep open spaces open and encouraged peope to bud n protected, secuded
spots to preserve the rura quaty of the and. Davd mantaned that snce God
owned the and, no one was gong to te hm where to bud. After some ntense
dscussons, he fnay dd agree to move further nto the Oak Grove, but ths
orgna dsagreement characterzed the stormy reatonshp he had wth the
communty for the next year.
"A month ater, he came nto my garden and tod me that my dog woud have to
be taken off the and or he woud k her wth hs 'zen bow and arrow.' I expaned
that 'Laa' had been on the and snce before t opened, and that when dogs were
banned from comng on the Rdge, the dogs that were aready there had been
aowed to stay. Davd dd not buy ths; he sad t was hypocrtca of me to have a
dog when no one ese coud have one. Because of ths confrontaton, a meetng
was hed and t was decded that Laa coud stay on as an excepton to the dog
rue. Durng that meetng, Davd sat opposte me, starng needes of hatred and
compettveness. The argument had not been over the dog at a, but rather an
ego cash between us.
"We fought over the water system that summer too. Davd fet that by dggng out
the sprng and encosng t, he coud mprove the fow and ower the bactera
count. Wthout consutng those who had been mantanng the water suppy, he
went to work on t. Hs theores were sound, but n practce he made a mghty
mess of thngs, shuttng off a the water for a week and makng a ot of work for
others who had to repar the damage.
"Davd's foowers or 'famy,' who regarded hm as an avatar or guru, conssted of
three or four men and haf a dozen women. Durng hs tme on the Rdge, the
number grew graduay because he was aways ookng for new recruts. To |on
hs famy, one had to have the rght 'vbratons' and the rght astroogca sgn.
Hs pan was to have a woman from every sgn of the Zodac n hs group wth a
correspondng house n the Oak Grove for her. He and hs foowers eventuay
but fve houses wth ths dea n mnd. They were extremey energetc, organzed
peope. For a newcomer to |on, Davd requred a week's fast and a surrender to
hs w. Authorty was admnstered by an nterestng peckng order wth Davd,
naturay, at the head, foowed by the rest of the men n a descendng order of
mportance endng n a patsy. Even the patsy, however, was superor to the
women who were competey domnated. They sept wth the men on a rotatng
bass, and were seen as the embodment of compete and unversa ove. As such,
they were expected to be sent and to radate these feengs. Wakng about the
and n ther handmade, ong, fowng pasey prnts made from Madras
bedspreads, whsperng and gggng to each other, they appeared as New Age
costered nuns. A hs foowers were encouraged to sever tes wth od frends
and reatves. Once n the famy, t became dffcut for outsders to communcate
wth the members. "Davd beeved that sprtua enghtenment was to be found
through drugs, and he sued them to break down conscous and unconscous
cutura and soca barrers wthn the famy. He often dosed vstors wth acd to
gan power over them, and rumor had t that he deat cdrugs on the sde to hep
fnance hs pro|ects. In any case, he aways seemed to have penty of grass. Other
ncome came from new members turnng over ther savngs to the famy,. credt
card scams and shopftng whch he ratonazed as reevng the store of ts bad
karma. He wanted a the Rdgefok to become members of hs famy and fet the
ony obstace to that end was me. The hostty and unpeasant encounters
between us ncreased n both frequency and ntensty unt, n the sprng of 1972,
for ths and other reasons, I eft the Rdge wth uncertan pans. I had been vng
n Aternate Socety for four years, and decded that Davd's trp had to resove
tsef wthn the communty wthout my beng there.
"Upon my departure,he moved qucky. Attemptng to gan contro of the Ahmsa
Church by beng eected presdent, he caed dawn meetngs on top of Hoffe's H
to effect t. They were tense affars, the Rdgefok not approvng of hs power-
trppng. Ths was the one tme when accesson to the presdency by sef-
appontment was not agreed to. Becomng aware of Davd's pans, even the most
non-potca peope stffened n defense of chershed Open Land freedoms. Bad
feengs grew so ntense that an armed party gathered on Hoffe's H wth the
ntenton of marchng on the Oak Grove famy and teng them to eave or ese. It
must have become cear to Davd that he had to eave once he saw hs ambtons
crumped by the fber, ntent and drecton of the communty. The Rdgefok were
so anxous for Davd to eave that they traded the od schoo bus to the famy for
ther Oak Grove structures. These were turned ater nto a communty center.
Davd and hs famy eft the and on the day before my return."
BART: "I dd acd wth Oak Grove Davd after B eft, two hts of Orange Sunshne.
He tred to get me to eat ffteen. He'd aways been tryng to get me to |on hs
famy. So I ate the acd, came on to t, and tod hm what I coud see - that
everybody had et hm cop ther head. He wanted to be my thoughts, but I had not
desre for that. I tod hm, 'What you're dong s fne wth me, but a ot of peope
are upset and t's |ust too heavy. Eventuay you' have to eave the and.' But he
sad, 'No, I got so much power. I coud make you go fyng off the earth!' He
wanted to scare me, but he coudn't do anythng. I was confdent of that."
RAMON: "Enghtenment s sort of ke gof. If you can get on the green and stay
out of those sand traps whch are a the power trps around t. I thnk Davd was
caught n a sand trap and |ust sunk deeper and deeper."
BART: "I coud see the perfecton of the unverse on that acd, and when I ooked
at Davd, a I coud thnk of was 'psychotc.' A freey assembed group that
ncuded Young Chef, Snakept Edde, Maverck, Crtter Dave, O.B. Ray, Drty Dan
and Bear, went to Davd and sad, 'We'd ke to see you gone!' O.B. took on the
karma of beng the spokesman sos that there woudn't be any voence, because
some of the guys were carryng bg stcks. O.B. sad, 'You shoud eave or there'
be voence.'"
AMBRIELLE: "There was a ady who sad, "'m gong to get n wth Davd's famy
and fnd out exacty what they're dong, and then I'm gong to te everybody and
we can get rd of them. She went wth them for a ong tme, and the text tme I
saw her, she was totay branwashed. Her eyes were gazed over and she wasn't
the same person. Davd was aso n ove wth Meane. She kept runnng nto hm
n the woods, and she woud say 'no,' but one day she was wakng and she saw
Mchae, her over, ahead ahead of her. She went runnng up to hm, and when
she ooked at hm t was Davd. Isn't that heavy? He hypnotzed her nto thnkng
he was Mchae unt she ooked at hs face!
"I wasn't there at that ast communty meetng, but the decson was that the
communty woud gve them the bus and then they woud have transportaton and
coud eave. Davd agreed to that. A the peope stood n a crce, 'omng' and
chantng, as they eft the and. The skes were a couded over, but when Davd's
famy drove off, the couds parted and the sun shone through and there was a
ranbow.
"I thnk Davd's trp was ths one person takng a ths energy from a whoe group
of person and becomng very powerfu, ke Chares Manson, drawng out these
peope's fe forces. You coud see n the gazed eyes that they had no w of ther
own."
Ramon, Gna and So Ray returned to the Rdge that September, fresh from a vst
to Aan and Prsca on Mau. Smar to Gwen, they fet the beauty and deasm of
the communty but coud not sette n agan. One day whe Gna and So Ray were
at the beach, Ramon moved them over to Star Mountan, ptchng ther tent on an
od fre road facng the Rdge.
In the sprng of 1972, the provsons of O'Bren's awsut went nto effect, mtng
traffc on the access road to the Rdge to B and hs mmedate famy, fve soca
vstors per month (provded they had wrtten nvtatons) and 'tradesmen.' A foot
traffc was forbdden.
BILL: "I cannot overemphasze the effect of the access road's status on the
communty. When t was passabe durng the dry season, the and was hot,
socay and potcay. Despte our remoteness, the word streamed to our gate
and nto our ves. It was a hard yoga, constanty beng torn apart by outsde
forces, but somethng n my sprt oved t. The wet wnter season was a tme for
recuperaton. The communty drew coser together, and the popuaton dwnded.
When the O'Bren awsut restrcted road traffc, the whoe nature of the
communty changed. We saw that the |udge had done us a favor, aowng us to
survve and prosper. We mssed the fow of peope, the |uce from outsde, but we
were abe to generate more of our own. Truthfuy, the traffc on the road probaby
shoud have been restrcted at a much earer date, but I |ust coud not brng
mysef to do t. I took prde n our beng open, n our abty to hande t, even wth
the ega hasses t brought. If the road was to be cassed, et them be the ones to
do t. I coud not turn away a snge brother or sster."
"COMMENT FROM AN ANONYMOUS SISTER: "Especay f she was reay cute."
In 1969, when O'Bren began hs frst attempts to mt access road traffc, B
decded he needed an ace up hs seeve. Hs mother had eft hm some money,
and so he used t to buy the Star Mountan ranch, But he put the deed under
Gwen's maden name. When Rdge traffc was reduced to a trcke, the nhabtants
began wakng n va Star Mountan, an arduous trek that nvoved cmbng a very
steep canyon wa. Star Mountan peope ad out a tra that bypassed the Man
House, and a constant fow of backpack-aden Rdgefok coud be seen trudgng
aong t amost day.
The Rdge popuaton graduay decreased durng the wnter months. Caroyn
came back nto B's fe. She woud spend some weeks wth hm and then
dsappear back to her natve Mssour. He then woud foow her and brng her
back. Ramon and Gna broke up that same sprng of 1972, Ramon |onng Aca n
the Serras where they began pannng a book together. That summer they
traveed to Centra and South Amerca n the process of wrtng t. Gna stayed on
at Star Mountan, feeng cose to the peope there.
RAMON: "Ths was a hard tme for Gna and me, but we needed some space and
tme apart to see each other better. Aca and I were away through the foowng
wnter. When we returned, we had competed Beng Of The Sun, the book we had
dreamed of dong for so ong. Lou, Near and Vshnu were vng outsde Los
Angees, Lou havng returned to the Lmeters to earn some money. The Mornng
Star ega expenses and Contempt of Court fnes had ceaned hm out. Franky, I
was reeved when he fnay eft Mornng Star. Many peope had advsed hm to do
so, ncudng mysef. He had done as much as he coud do there, and the ast few
tmes I vsted hm at the ranch t seemed as f he had reached a dead end, a
staemate wthout a souton.
"Whe Aca and I were away, B and Patrca had marred n a church weddng,
beeve t or not! We returned to fnd most of my od neghbors and frends from
the Rdge vng at Star Mountan. They had formed a cose-knt famy, wth the
band at the center. Aan had faen n ove wth Dea from the Pastures, and she
moved n wth hm. They formed a strong, vbrant dyad, two Psces fsh swmmng
wthn the same stream of conscousness, and we a re|oced n ther happness.
Gna had found a Hndu guru whom she was ardenty foowng around the
country, sngng sacred songs and dressng n cotton sars, but st basng hersef
at the ranch."
#
Chapter 24
Troube Ahead, Troube Behnd
Excerpts From B Wheeer's |ourna
December 27, 1972
San Francsco: drnkng coffee n the Cafe Treste wth a the cty crazes. I |ust
caed my awyer A Cobb, who tod me to expect the worst n February or March.
It doesn't ook ke the Supreme Court w hear our appea. I phoned Gna, and she
suggested we go to Oakand to hear her guru who's hodng forth there. At ths
pont I'm ready for anythng.
December 20, 1972
Sheep Rdge, 8 a.m.: water frozen n the ppes, ony comes n spurts from the
faucets. A cear, frosty mornng, wth more thoughts about our home and how t's
threatened. It's a so cear to me. I dared to chaenge the system and now must
pay the prce. I -- we -- a the same. The pay nexoraby grnds to ts cmax. What
w be our death song? Actors n search of a paywrte and stage found t here --
God and the and. No one kes to know the end of the drama before t happens, a
deep, terrfyng abyss of suspense tngng the mnd towards the predctabe yet
unconsconabe end. Of course t s happenng every day n Vetnam, homes
abandoned and destroyed. What must the |ews have fet n Germany? The Indans
n Amerca? And of course, Mornng Star, budozed four tmes up to now.
|anuary 11, 1973
Sheep Rdge:
Canyon Waters
We hear the roar beow us
the fow, the torrent,
a trcke -- a stream -- a rver
over ts banks,
brown rushng waters
that say you are a part of me.
We punge across -- the
force near my center,
yearnng me to the ocean.
A twg gves me baance,
then a mb to the other sde.
You say, "I can't make t!"
"Hod on to me," I say,
and onto the far bank we fa
aughng |oyousy
n each other's arms.
Canyon waters, take me wth you.
|anuary 12, 1973
A steady ran a nght. The Russan Rver must be foodng. Matches are gettng
hard to ght, a measure of how wet t s outsde. But I've put away a good stash of
wood, the roof doesn't eak, so et t pour!
Very much aone, crawng nto mysef, gatherng my energes. The abyss of
oneness yeds to the exataton of sef -- the |oys of sprtua as we as physca
masturbaton exceed those of any other knd of ove these days. The desperaton
of oneness aganst the even greater despar of attached companonshp. And
what about ove? Where does that ft n?
|anuary 20, 1973
Sheep Rdge, 11 p.m.: Last nght at mkng, Cauda |ust woud not get up.
Screamng, yeng, kckng, pushng and pung, I coud not get her to move. I
returned home and asked |ance and Meody to gve her some comfort. The
massaged her teats for haf an hour, and sad she stopped moanng and even
stood up a bt. But ths mornng she was down agan, unabe to get up. I knew the
end was near. When |ance saw her, she nssted we try to get a vet. That mornng
she phoned an easy dozen, mporng them to come out, cryng over the phone.
But we were too far away. Fnay one agreed. We met hm up at O'Bren's gate
and rode hm down n the red truck. Ta, anguar, thrty-one years od, obvousy
knd and open-mnded, not too put off by us. He was fne. We taked of cows and
ove of cows on the drve down.
On frst sght he coud te there was no hope. Deep sunken eyes wth tears
pourng out of them, ong ptfu moans and shaow, rapd breathng pus a beow-
norma temperature. She was no onger fghtng the nfecton, and any drugs he
gave her woud be a waste. I asked f she shoud be put out of her msery and he
agreed.
Sady we rode hm back up the h. After payng hm $42 (he apoogzed for
chargng so much for a termna case), he eft and I went to O'Bren's hred man to
borrow a gun. The prospect of bastng Cauda's brans out was panfu, but her
sufferng more so. Nobody home at O'Bren's. Then the vet came back. I'd
forgotten to unock the gate for hm. He agreed to come down and gve her a
sedatve shot to k her. So back down we go on our errand of mercy.
When we arrved, our dear cow was surrounded by the ovng peope who had
mked her so many tmes. I tod them we were gong to put her away. No one
ob|ected. Straddng her neck, the vet skfuy n|ected the drug. Wthn second
she cosed her eyes as we 'om'd' to the settng sun. Goodbye, Cauda.
Apr 10, 1973
The peope on the and have been gven 24 hours' notce. The n|uncton was
posted yesterday, and |ack O'Bren has gracousy opened hs road from ten to
two so that they can eave. Everyone s supposed to pack and get out. A meetng
was hed on Hoffe's H ast nght. The I Chng sad to stck together, but the
forces aganst us are too great -- dspersa of seed. What to do? What to do? Cv
dsobedence, beng |oy whe beng busted. The hppes are the |oke of the
Revouton. They don't want to k, therefore are hated.
Apr 11, 1973
It's a been a bur, runnng back and forth, drvng, teephonng, tryng to pu
somethng out of the dsaster confrontng us. Everyone has known for years t was
comng, and yet ts arrva has been a shock. Yes, t reay s gong to happen ths
tme. We're |onng the mons of homeess refugees down through hstory. That's
probaby not much of a change for many of the Rdgefok, as they were refugees
when they arrved. Now they're on the road agan, thrown back nto socety. The
twenty-four-hour notce has got to be one of the more nhumane offca acts of
Sonoma County. The changes peope are gong through because of ths are
rppng them apart. Why a twenty-four-hour notce when we've been here for over
four years? Are they afrad of us? As we ose our homes, do they fear n secret
that someday they' ose thers aso?
Thus far, the cops have been an odd mxture of tough fronts but compassonate
acts. The were the ones to persuade O'Bren's hred man to et the truck through
the gate on the return from a communty run. A cop saw the mothers and kds
("Gee whz, I've got a wfe and kds at home!"), and tod hm to et them through. I
can't beeve that any of them resh the |ob of ceanng us out of here. Durng
these hard tmes, the communty has pued together as never before, peope
open and generous wth everythng they have, food possessons. No one reay
understands what's happenng, except that t's a mythc moment fu of the
deepest feengs.
Apr 13, 1973
At the courthouse today Hayes, the undersherff, tod me that |udge Mahan ssued
a restranng order aganst hs own n|uncton. Amazng! A Cobb succeeded n
gettng us some tme so that our appcaton for a campground permt can be
heard wthout a the peope eavng the and frst. Ths permt woud aow non-
code structures to stand. A that needs to be done s the constructon of a code
bath house and ktchen whch woud satsfy the Heath Department. We tred for
the same permt n 1971, but got shot down by the potcans. I don't thnk we
have a much better chance now, but t's our ony hope for survva as a
communty. The restranng order runs for ten days, at whch tme the |udge w
determne whether there's any further reason to restran the budozers.
I mentoned to Hayes the outrageousness of the twenty-four-hour evcton notce,
and that even the poorest of the poor are gven thrty days' notce. He sad that
we had had two years to thnk about t whe our appea was pendng, and that
anyway, they had backed down from that twenty-four-hour busness. Ony after
pressure from our attorney, I remnded hm. I sad t was cear that the county
regarded us as nggers, and woud ke to sweep us away. Started by my words,
he tod me not to say that. "You have never tod me the truth," I reped.
Outsde the courtroom, |udge Mahan emerged red-faced, overweght, a snar on
hs ps -- pure Genet. "Thank you, Your Honor, for what you dd," I sad. "It was
rght."
"Ony temporary," he reped, and then, as an afterthought, "But then, a of fe s
ony temporary."
Apr 25, 1973
The |udge rued aganst us, and the and s now offcay cosed. The Sherff's
Department came out yesterday for a meetng wth me. Ther atttude ths tme
was much dfferent than before the ten-day restranng order. Now they were fuy
conscous of what they ere dong, that peope's homes and and were beng taken.
Uness they wanted troube, and I beeve they dd not, they woud have to move
wth care and tact. The receved a ot of bad pubcty over the twenty-four-hour
evcton attempt. The potcay created refugee stuaton whch gnores any
resettement of fames has nasty mpcatons and coud nger over them for
years. They are fuy aware that by cosng us down they are not sovng anythng.
Instead they are creatng more probems by dspacng peope, addng to the
burgeonng popuaton of street peope and freaks n other parts of the county.
They are merey burstng the pod and spreadng the seed. The ony aternatve
open to us s to wat for the potcs of Sonoma County and the country at arge to
change. It may be coser than we thnk. Watergate. Now t's become cear to most
Amercans that Nxon's Law'n Order smokescreen merey hd hs own crmna
behavor. Peope w be ookng for more postve aternatves to soca probems,
and the most obvous of these s -- Open Land.
What's happenng on the and rght now? Around ffty to seventy-fve hard core
Openanders reman. These are hgh tmes for us, much sharng and good
feengs. As for mysef, I'm very much nto the garden ths year, and want to
reman to work on t. Somethng s teng me to stay on and watch the pants
grow. It's a rght for peope to ve n my resdence, accordng to the sherff
yesterday, so I' try to keep a few cose frends here hepng out. The growng
vtaty of the garden somehow transcends the destructon ranng down upon us.
May 6, 1973
Houses are gong down at the rate of about one a day. We are tryng to dsmante
them before the county sends n the budozers, both to save ther bng me for
them and save some of the umber as we. Snakept Edde's went yesterday,
Davd and Meody tore ther own down, the umber neaty stacked. |ance's house
and Verne's w go next. Lots of umber to bud new nests. The tearng down
doesn't seem an atogether bad thng, returnng the and to her former state,
reevng her of the burden of man's structures, no matter how ghty they rode
upon her breast. They were the persona expresson of those who but and ved
n them, fu of the |oys, sufferngs, nspratons and dffcutes of the sous who
passed through them. As we take them down, we fee a the years of cumuatve
efforts of the househoders. The board so ovngy ftted, so carefuy |oned, now s
rpped out ke a tooth from a |aw and thrown n a pe, a the magc dsspated. As
I wrte ths n the eary dawn, I pace n the stove a board from a recenty torn-
down house. It seems to gve off a speca warmth, poppng and hssng a tae of
the days and nghts t has seen, of od frends and magc moments.
May 12, 1973
Today I asked Raph Amaro, the chef budng nspector, and tod hm we were
tearng down the houses at a steady rate whch woud aow us to cear the and n
about a month. I begged hm to hod off the budozers for that amount of tme. He
refused to gve me a straght answer, sayng ony that demoton frms had been
contacted but that the fna arrangements had not been made.
May 15, 1973
I met George, the cop assgned to the and, n Occdenta yesterday. It was a
much more reaxed meetng that our prevous one. I gave hm a st of the peope
who woud be vng n my house, and aso tod hm that peope woud be comng
durng the day to tear down houses. I asked hm not to bust them. He reped
there woud be no exceptons to the n|uncton except for those peope vng n
my house. He went on about the werdness between the D.A.'s offce and the
Sherff's Department. Evdenty the Sherff's not nterested n beng strct about
the n|uncton, but when neghbors compan that peope are st vng on the
Rdge, the D.A. bames the Sherff and vce versa. Naturay we reman n the
mdde, gettng the worst of t. Ony n Amerca! But what happens when she runs
out of gas? The wrtng s on the wa, but Amerca's so crazy! And meanwhe,
they won't et us be Indans agan. Thank God for the green, growng thngs n the
garden.
May 20, 1973; 12:45 a.m. Sunday
Patrca and I are at Cff's house at Star Mountan because we're homeess. Last
Wednesday we went to San Francsco for the day. Before we eft that mornng, we
heard budozers at work up on O'Bren's cuttng a new road on the east sde of
Sugaroaf Mountan. We ddn't thnk much of t, snce t was the begnnng of the
fre season and O'Bren was probaby makng a fre access road. We ddn't want to
beeve O'Bren was havng a whoe new road but so that the machnes woud
have an easy access to destroy our communty. After spendng the nght n the
cty, we started north. In Cotat, about thrty mes from home, we stopped for
groceres and I bought a Press Democrat. There on the front page -- "Wheeer
Ranch Is Razed." The short artce descrbed budozers arrvng on the and,
demoton of homes and reported no arrests. It caed s "a mode commune." I
was readng our obtuary.
Anger, despar and hatred fashed through me as we raced home -- gong home
when there was no home to go to. It was reay true. From the h on O'Bren's we
ooked down and saw an area of scraped earth where my studo had once stood.
At the front gate we met a group of peope gettng ready to eave n a pck-up
truck. They ooked ke a Kathe Kowtz thograph, an Eduard Munch woodcut,
ther faces ned wth shock and msery. "We' be back together," I tod them. "I
ove you a." "We w aways be together," was ther repy.
Down the road we went, rasng a huge coud of dust behnd us, dust kcked up by
the heavy machnery. Budozer tracks scar the ground for years. Out garden was
st there, but our house was not. A pe of broken stcks and rubbe was a that
remaned. I spotted the roof beam n the wreckage. How I remembered every
tnest deta! Our beongngs had been paced under the oak that had shetered
my house -- a sturdy tree, sturder than my creatons. The pano and prntng
press they had put besde the garden. A so strange! A my thngs and no house
to put them n! But I was gratefu for sma favors. After a, they coud have
budozed a my possessons aong wth the structures. It was obvous that n the
process of ceanng out the house they had gone through everythng ookng for
dope, my desk, Patrca's trunk, boxes. But they had been dsapponted.
The budozers had appeared as f by magc at the front gate at sx-thrty n the
mornng, havng drven up O'Bren's new road whch they had made the day
before. For the Rdgefok, t must have been a horrfyng sght to see those huge
monsters umberng onto the and. They started at the far end of the ranch wth
|m's house, then to Evergreen's, then Tony's whch we had aready torn down.
But they oaded up the good materas, and the baance of the umber they
pushed around a bt to break t up so t coud never be used agan. Scorched earth
pocy.
We earned ater that some of the budozng crew were prsoners who refused to
partcpate n the carnage. Later they were dscpned and gven extra tme. One
of the budozer operators was a young man from Marn County. When he reazed
what he was beng pad to do, he baked.
"Hey, these are peopes' homes, man!" he shouted. "We can't do ths! What the
fuck's happenng, anyway?" He waked away from hs machne shakng hs head
n amazement.
The rest of team moved n on the treehouse, a beatfcay organc structure but
around a bg od oak. Unfortunatey they coudn't dfferentate the house from the
tree and knocked both of them down. Sorry 'bout that, buddy. And they eft the
barn. That woud have been even too much for those hred kers. My house and
studo got t next. Davd and Meody begged them to wat a day unt I got back,
so we coud move our thngs ourseves. They were fnay tod to eave or ese
they woud be arrested. A budozer operator tod me ater that the budng
nspector ddn't want to bother cearng out our thngs, but |ust wanted to push
the house over as t stood.
I was terrby depressed, but aso reazed that the budozers woud be back
tomorrow to fnsh the nghtmare uness we dd somethng. There were ffty
houses to go, and we fgured t mght take them a week to compete the |ob.
Besdes beng terrby expensve, t was very hard on the and. Such destructon!
We had been fung nto a war zone, but t was Fear versus Love. Burn, baby, burn!
Whch s |ust what we dd. I went to Rod and sad, "Let's get to t!"
At the Trange house, we took out the woodstove and anythng ese of vaue. Rod
poured some gas n a corner, threw a match, and the house was a roarng nferno.
Fames cked up through the fog, burnng a hoe through to the cear, nght sky.
Hypnotzed, we watched wth a strange peasure, a morbd fascnaton. In a fash
of nature's energes, a house dsappeared n |ust fve mnutes.
A that nght we went from house to house reenactng the same rtua. We began
competng for the rght to ght the match, turnng nto nsane pyromanacs.
Purfcaton. God power. He ddn't want to see any more of hs and sced up by
those machnes. At dawn we torched the ast house on the Kno. We had burned
a ffty. Stumbng home, I met Rod who was standng by hs burnng cabn. "Let t
a go,"he sad. "Wanna roast some marshmaows?"
About eght that mornng the machnes returned, aong wth ten squad cars fu of
the Sherff's Department's tactca and goon squad. George gazed at me wth an 'I
tod you so' expresson on hs happy, smng face. I went up to the ead car.
"Sorry to dsappont you, but a the houses are gone," I sad.
"Whaddya mean?"
"We burned them down ast nght," I reped, wakng away feeng defeatedy
vctorous.
But the budozers came anyway. cankng down the road ke prmeva monsters. I
ran up to the operator and asked hm to go away, that there was nothng eft. He
sad he had a few peces eft to pck up. I ran down to set aght the pe of rubbe
that had been my home but the cops surrounded me.
"No more burnng," they warned me.
So the monsters came, foowed by debrs trucks nto whch they oaded the
kndng they had made. Such ncredbe nsanty! Pure Kafka. Carefuy, the drver
scraped a the stcks off the ground as f he was a housewfe sweepng her vng
room, runnng back and forth to get every ast shred. The debrs trucks headed for
the dump. Unabe to wthstand the futty of t a, I went to the drver and tod
hm he was tearng down my garden fence. The few remanng stcks made no
dfference.
He ooked at me wth ncredbe compasson and hepessness. "I don't ke ths
any more than you do," he sad, and went on wth hs |ob.
May 23, 1973
We are st recoverng from the shock of t a, pckng up the peces and tryng to
put them back together -- fndng a home, settng down. Defntey a ow pont,
dscouraged and determned to make a stand. They won't run us out. Hopefuy,
wthn the not too dstant future, we' be abe to get back to the and we ove so
much. Lvng wth eectrcty and gas stoves, coffee n seconds n ths ktchen
where I'm sttng -- t's |ust not for me. Gmme that od sow woodstove, so that t
takes a haf hour to make coffee. We've got penty of tme.
|uy 6, 1973
It was wndy ast nght after we returned from the Rdge, but today's cear and
fne. The hoes for the septc tank and each ne are |ust about fnshed. Rod and I
went off for grave to use n the each fed. We had to use a |ackhammer to get
through the hard rock. I hated to use t, but I fet ke the nose put the neghbors
on notce not to fuck wth us. Machne gun fantasy. The nspectors are comng
Monday, and I'm confdent there' be no troube. Hopefuy the work w be
approved and we' be bae to get a traer permt. At east we' have a home
agan.
On Monday, Don Smth from the Heath Department gave the septc system hs
okay.
"Far out," he sad. "B Wheeer has a septc system. I thought I'd never see t
happen."
On Tuesday, I went to the Budng Inspecton Department for a sx-month
temporary traer permt whe we but the new house. They ddn't want to gve
me one, but they had no choce snce a my papers were 'n order.'
The baance of the week I spent runnng around ookng for a traer. We found
one n Santa Rosa, battered but servceabe. Now |ust a matter of gettng t down
the access road to the and. Buck, my neghbor to the south, dened permsson,
sayng he ddn't want to set a precedent for my use of hs road. He was fang n
ne wth the rest of the neghbors who ddn't want to see us back on the and. So
that eft me no other choce. I had to take the O'Bren road f the traer was to
come n.
Frday the thrteenth! If I had known what was gong to happen, I woud have
stayed n bed. Late that afternoon we hooked up the traer to the bg green truck,
foowng t wth the red truck carryng tmbers to hep t over the rougher parts of
the road. I knew that takng the traer n woud tear t up, but I was desperate. I
fgured that somehow we woud fnesse t onto the and. On Coeman Vaey Road
we met a sherff's deputy who warned us that O'Bren's hred man was watng for
us and woud not aow us to brng the traer down to the and. I went back to a
pay phone to ca the Sherff's department. I tod them I was fuy wthn my rghts
to take a traer n. They sad they'd check t out and ca me back. I wated for
ffteen mnutes but the ca was not returned. It was gettng to be ate n the
afternoon. I was due to fy to the East Coast the foowng day. It was now or
never.
I found qute a recepton watng at O'Bren's front gate: the hred man, sx-gun
strapped to hs hp, an overgrown kd workng out hs cowboy fantasy, and Cara
O'Bren wth her Lncon Contnenta. She stood defanty behnd the gate. I tod
her I ddn't want to hurt her, and that she was breakng the aw by not aowng
me to come through. Two cop cars had arrved by ths tme, and I asked the
deputes to arrest her. They refused. Ther nstructons were to stay out of t, but
not aow anyone to get hurt. I showed Cara the traer permts and that t was a
perfecty ega. She sad, "I don't care! You're not gong to use the road." The
bass for her refusa was that the traer was not ordnary traffc and therefore, by
her defnton of the court order, not aowed on the road.
I took the ock off the gate and pued the truck up to t. The gate swung open and
she fe. The hred man |umped out of hs pck-up and tod her to e st. He
wanted to take a photograph. The deputy came over to me and arrested me for
assaut wth a deady weapon.
"You've bown t," he tod me as I sumped n the back of the patro car. "You've
reay done t ths tme."
I was n a state of tota shock. Those same words had been spoken to me four
years before on Back Sunday by a bystander whe peope reeed around out of
ther mnds on acd, as f I was responsbe for what happened. Was I responsbe
ths tme or was t another hard God- |oke?
We, I was nnocent unt proven guty, but an arrest on a Frday nght means |a
unt Monday. |udges don't work weekends. Wth my ba set at thrty thousand
doars, my ony hope was to wat unt Monday when the |udge mght ower the
ba. The stee door cosed wth a sckenng metac cank, and the reaty of my
arrest and mprsonment dawned on me. A free man one moment, a save the
next, no fear but a deep depresson because of my hepessness. No way out of
that sma green room where waves of caustrophoba swamped me. I wanted to
scream and beat aganst the was n panc. Then I remembered how Lou had sad
to me, "|a s nothng." I began pacng back and forth, as f that sma freedom of
movement woud break the boundares of those pressng was. After a few
mnutes I camed down. After a, t was a n my head.
The temporary hodng ce measured no more than ten feet square, wth nothng
to st on except the concrete foor. A washbasn covered wth what ooked ke
bood stood n one corner, a shtter next to t. The bue-green was hed some
grafft: "|ustce -- the dea the D.A. makes wth your awyer." Sharng the ce wth
me were three other new arrvas, two Phpnos dong weekends, and a drunk
seepng bssfuy n the corner cutchng a bank depost bag the same way a tte
gr woud hod a favorte do. It turned out he was a bartender and had been
arrested drvng home from work after havng samped too many of hs own
wares. The bag contaned the bar's recepts for the week.
After an hour or so, they got around to bookng me: brthdate, prevous arrests,
address, empty the pockets, bet and shoeaces off n case I decded to end t a. I
eaned aganst a wa, egs spread, as the deputy fet my body through my
cothes, then nto another room to be photographed and fngerprnted. Oh, those
mug shots! Mne turned me nto a dope fend mass murderer. Then I was ed to
another hodng ce, the drunk tank, arger than the frst, wth the added uxures
of concrete benches and prson tobacco. From there I went upstars. My cothes
were exchanged for prson wear aong wth a towe, a sheet and a thn foam
mattress. A sgn read: "Prsoners must pay for anythng mutated." A shower was
requred, and then a medc came n and asked me to squeeze my cock to see f
any pus came out. He wanted to squrt some Oue nto my pubc hars and behnd
my head for ce, but I tod hm I'd take my chances. Beng a kndy chap, he et
me by wthout the requste dose of poson. At ast I was assgned a ce,number
eght on B row. Arrested at four- thrty, I was bedded, fuy processed, n the
Sonoma County |a by ten.
It was a ong, ong nght. |a has a tmeess quaty about t -- no watches to te
the tme, no sun to see, |ust a dark box that seemed to go on forever. A heavy
feeng of oneness came over me, watng for a mornng that never seemed to
come. I reved the unrea events of that day, gong over the smaest deta from
every ange, backwards and forwards, my thought gong round and round,
repeatng questons to whch there were no answers. At dawn I fe nto an
exhausted seep ony to be awakened what seemed ke an hour ater by the ghts
beng turned on.
Was t mornng? Haf an hour ater, the ce door roed open and chow tme was
caed. Some forty prsoners on my row fed seepy to the day room where a
food was served through the bars. What shoud I do about eatng? |a cusne
woud not cater to vegetaran tastes. I consdered fastng, but was afrad of
spacng out, that the added eement of hunger woud be too much to hande. I
resoved to eat |ust enough to keep my stomach workng so that I coud
concentrate on keepng my head together for three days. The smeed
remnscenty of rancd beef bouon soup, so I passed t on. The mk n the cerea
I drank and the nce red appe was apprecated. But the pancakes found another
home. Actuay, the food was not a that dfferent from the Denny's across the
street. |a food s |ust good od average Amercan sht- pastc food, refned and
fucked wth beyond recognton, deady posonous but wth enough nutrton eft
to aow the eater to survve margnay.
Immedatey after breakfast, amost everyone went back to bed, many seepng
unt noon. Seepng s a fne art. "I dreamed I was out of here." My three
cemates were a champon seepers, wrappng towes around ther eyes to bock
ouy the ce ght. It amazed me how those guys coud seep! One was n for od
traffc tckets, and was watng on a paycheck to arrve from Hawa where hs
carpenter's |ob pad a hundred doars a day. On Sunday he was reeased and on
hs way back to the sands.
The second feow was an accused murderer, hed on seventy-fve thousand
doars ba, even worse than mne. He had found a body and reported t to the
poce who turned around and arrested hm for the crme. They had paced hm n
Sotary for a week as a dangerous man, but he seemed okay to me. We payed
cards, and he was a shrewd payer. I en|oyed hs company. Then there was
Merdeth, a graduate of sx years n the pententary. He had tred to escape from
a work camp but was caught n a roadbock on hs way to Canada after hkng
fourteen mes through the hs to the hghway. The exharaton of freedom
durng that hke must have been ncredbe, but the prce for that feeng was fve
more years n the pen.
As a sxteen-year-od, hs father had beaten hm and kcked hm out. Hs specaty
became hodng up check-cashng estabshments. The newspapers dubbed hm a
pote thef because he aways sad 'pease' and 'thank you' durng the robbery.
After fve years of hgh vng, he was fnay caught and convcted of numerous
armed robberes, sentenced to fve years to fe, one of those ndetermnate terms
whch aows the prson authortes to set the ength. Ths was aso the way they
kept George |ackson n |a for so ong.
Merdeth was a super-rapper, a smooth- takng con man, an entertanng and
cever teacher for me that weekend. Accordng to hm, homosexuaty n the pen
was not that wdespread, and those that practced t were mosty gay before.
Admttedy the young, pretty guys wth weak ws ended up wth stretched
asshoes, but anyone who reay wanted to be eft aone was eft aone. He tod me
that when a condemned man from Death Row was brought across the yard n
chans to see hs awyer or whatever, two guards waked n front and two behnd
hm whe the front guards shouted, "Dead man! Dead man!" If the prsoners n
the yard don't move out of the way, they are shot by the guards n the tower.
Backs and Whtes stay apart n prson, he sad. He had some back frends he
woud greet, but he woud never wak the yard wth them. The Whtes were
organzed nto the Nazs and the Whte Aryan brotherhood, the Backs nto the
Musms and the Panthers, whe the Mexcan-Amercans had ther own
organzatons.
Lunch was the most unpaatabe mea of the day -- Koo-Ad and two sandwches
of very whte bread, uncheon meat and cheese. Afterwards t was ock-up tme
agan, the choce beng back n the ce or remanng n the day room whch was
fne except for the TV. The ncessant nose of that nerve-wrackng and headache-
producng machne! Its ncredbe medocrty and the submna Amercan
housewfe dstracton madness t spouted made the room unbearabe for me for
any ength of tme. So most often I opted for the reatve quet of my ce, dong a
ot of thnkng and readng. I struck up a conversaton wth an nmate who was n
for shootng a cop. I tod hm I panned on beng out n a few days. Coud I do
anythng for hm on the outsde?
"Yes," he sad. "You can te the peope that we're no onger deang wth human
bengs but wth a machne, startng wth Rchard Nxon and gong a the way
down to the punk cop. Te the peope to wake up before t's too ate and they ose
a ther freedom."
Sometme n the md-afternoon, Yard Tme was caed. Ths was the exercse
perod of one hour, a chance to stretch the musces and get ther day dose of
Vtamn D. It took pace n the |a nner courtyard, a dee| concrete cavern nto
whch the sunght seeped a few hours a day. Durng ths perod I heard my name
caed, and was taken back nsde where I was greeted by a awyer. I fet ke he
was Henry |ames vstng Thoreau.
"What are you dong n there?"
"What are you dong out there?"
In a sma vstng room he asked me what had happened and I tod hm the
detas. He was reassurng, teng me that t mght ook bad now,but that t mght
be an entrey dfferent story ater. Hs presence was ke food to a starvng man.
As we taked I became more and more emotona unt I burst nto tears, cryng
uncontroaby the same way as when my father ded. He tod me to et t a out,
that t was good for me. So the d bew off, but then t setted back on even
tghter than before. But I fet reeved, and my bond of brotherhood wth hm that
day went far beyond the usua awyer-cent reatonshp. How I apprecated hs
presence!
The next day I reacted wth tears agan when some frends came to see me. It was
the reguar vstng day, once a week on Saturday or Sunday dependng where
your name occurred wthn the aphabet. The vsts were mted to a haf-hour on
two teephones across a gass partton, not exacty ntmate but better than
nothng. I tred to keep t together, but a those beautfu faces and famar,
ovng voces! My tears rose agan ke food waters. I had taken so much for
granted unt I had ost t. That day I earned how mportant t s for peope to vst
ther oved ones behnd bars.
Ceary |a was puttng me through changes. I was so emotona, my nerves shot. I
experenced despar, anger, spttng headaches and constant worry. The prsoner
n the next ce to mne had hs mattress taken away because he had threatened
to hang hmsef wth t. Caught steang a woman's waet, and possessng a ong
record of convctons and tme served, he faced many more years as a resut of
that sma crme. What dd he have to ve for? What dd I have to ve for? A the
thngs for whch I had worked so hard over the past years were crumbng around
me. I had punged nto the depths, and yet a survva nstnct was growng n me,
teng me to et a hod on mysef, that many other men had gone through the |a
experence proftaby and that I coud aso. Sr Aurobndo, Thoreau, Gandh, Tm
Leary, a host of contemporary Amercan back warrors and young Amercans who
had refused to fght an un|ust war -- those were |ust a few who had done the
|ahouse yoga. And n my three short days, I was earnng t aso.
Dnner was served at four, the most substanta mea of the day. I ate |ust enough
to f my stomach and then went back to my ce. Lghts out at ten, and the
beraton of seep. The frst day wore nto the next, and I cacuated the hafway
pont n my mnd., When I reached t, I knew I woud have no probem survvng
the baance.
RAMON: "On Monday, the |udge owered B's ba to ten thousand, and Zen |ack
and I drove over to the bank to cash a check for hm. The casher began countng
t out n hundreds and fftes. I suggested a casher's check, wth |ack fantaszng a
fast trp across the Mexcan border besde me. Laughng, I shook my head. Poor
B Wheeer! We had to sprng hm. So back we drove, and B was out."
BILL: "SO... as far as I'm concerned ths s the end of ths act. I'm ready to begn
another, but n a dfferent pace and dfferent tme. Ramon tes me that fve years
ago we were twenty years ahead of our tme. If true, that means that f ffteen
years Open Land w be apprecated as the ogca aternatve to |as and nsane
asyums. As for mysef, I'm gong to et the Revouton catch up wth me ths tme.
Nevertheess, we of the Mornng Star fath, those of us who have been drven back
to the ctes, soon w be back on the and , happy n our gardens wth our
fames and oved ones agan. We are ookng for coo, hasse-free and, not a
paradse but free, open paces founded on ove and not fear, compasson and not
competton. We need space statons, sanctuares, ast resorts, bow-out centers,
go-toos, freedom exercse camps, goof 'n ba parks, tme-out terrtores, home-
free homes. Whatever you want to ca them, the sensaton s aways recognzabe
to everyone: 'Wecome home, brother and sster!' And even you, dear reader, are
one of us."
#
Chapter 25
Other Lands
Other rghteous peope foowed Lou's exampe and dedcated ther property to
God. In |anuary, 1971, Gary Ward, a Mornng Star graduate, deeded an nherted
quarter-acre parce to God n Lake County. The duy recorded deed states that,
asde from ownershp of the property, God aso has bathng rghts n Cear Lake.
In Apr of that same year, Near receved a etter from her chdhood frend Ann
sayng she was comng to vst Mornng Star wth her husband Noe and ther tte
gr Png. They arrved shorty thereafter, havng drven across the country n ther
od staton wagon. Near and Ann spent hours takng about od tmes together,
and then Near gave them the fu tour before they moved nto an abandoned
house n the barnyard.
About a week ater, Noe and Ann returned to Connectcut where they sod ther
house and went on the road searchng for and to buy. In |une, they wrote to
announce they had purchased a one-thousand-acre pace n Kentucky and deed t
drecty to God. Don and Sandy Kng eft to beng vng there, foowed shorty by
other foks. From a reports, t s the most beautfu pece of Open Land so far.
Subsequenty t aso receved a name from the Ltany to the Bessed Vrgn -- Gate
Of Heaven.
In 1968, a doctor from Brookyn named Emmanue Bomse showed up at Mornng
Star. He was searchng for hs son Bob who had dropped out and changed hs
name to 'Beybutton.' He franky admtted ther reatonshp had deterorated
before they ost contact.
"Buy some and and open t up," Lou tod hm. "Then your son w show up."
'Manny' became a good frend, and kept n touch through frequent etters. Fnay
he went on a vst to Mornng Star East n New Mexco. Located on some and near
Arroyo Hondo, a group ncudng Davd and Penny Pratt, Pam and Larry Read,
Cndy and many others were busy budng a beautfuy desgned adobe budng.
Durng hs tme there, Manny wtnessed hs frst on-the-and brth. A few months
ater he found some and and prepared to purchase t. To hs deght, he receved
a phone ca from Beybutton. He asked hm what he wanted to name the
property, and Beybutton suggested 'Kngdom of Heaven.' So that became ts
name, but unfortunatey the oca resdents found the newcomers too far out. It
was a tme of consderabe tenson between the Mexcan-Amercan odtmers and
the new wave of young peope streamng nto the Southwest. There were some
shootngs, wth the resut that the property had to be abandoned.
Mornng Star East aso had a dffcut strugge. Startng from scratch on ard desert
and, they attempted bravey to make an open-door communty vabe n a much
harsher cmate and fnay had to admt defeat. Here are some excerpts from the
correspondence.
Dear Gna, Ramn, B and Gwen, Lou and Near:
We.. we.. we. Yes, I sad, yes I w say yes. Here n Mornngstar Puebo Home
for Retred Hppes I don't know what the word s comng to, I decare.
Ob|ectve news:
Purpe Ar, 8 pounds & somethng
Boy of Beatrce and We B.
and very purpe and very ary
It's scary. Scratch that.
Other news: There are probaby 80 to 100 peope here, and they're a dggng
hoes and they're a 15 years od and there's genera aarm but aso desperate
boredom. We reay ought to reay come up wth somethng better to get the od
sprng adrenane gong than
that. But's t's comng to the fore, as t were, the adrenane, I mean. There's a
Zen Macrobotc Church whch ncudes ths whoe mesa -- The Reaty
Constructon Company and Mornngstar. Regge and Larry Sten are offcers aong
wth Mchae and peope from Reaty.
And the we s soon to be workng, and there's a new road from the Dome, and
there have been Peyote meetngs ths wnter. I've been to two, a ot of us have,
and the weather s generay warm.
My dupex swtchng system has a chatterng reay, Larry says. The troube wth
etters s that I seem to thnk they have to be progress reports, and I can't report
on any progress except on such strange spaces.
I made a patchwork Mornng Star shrt and wear t constanty except to put on
combat unform to hau wood and chop water. Davd has made a new choppng
bock.
There was a meetng of a Mornngstar caed yesterday mornng for the
afternoon, and by afternoon t was totay forgotten about by a, and there s
some concern about tghtenng up our schedue.
And the Kva s reay far out -- sometmes those underground vbes get so hgh
that I'm sure some of the earth goes wth t -- the whoe mesa, maybe.
Ramn, some of your songs are aways foatng around n the ar. "Great Eterna
Mother" (that one coos the kds out), "Ony Thou" -- sung wth Peyote Songs. "You
Are A Sacred Vesse" -- magc.
Love to you from
Pam
We |ust got a teescope wth a sun ens, aong wth a corporaton -- Zen
Macrobotc Church -- whch s beng renovated nto a ega front to protect
Mchae from soe responsbty for other peope's ndscretons.
However corporatons have a votng group whch, f taken serousy, amounts to a
government (thus budng and zonng codes, popuaton contro, etc. busht, 'No
Dogs" karma whee). Mornngstar producton: New person cears away sagebrush,
begns to dg hoe. Someone says, "You can't do that here."
Ca a meetng n the Kva. Nobody comes to the meetng.
I ye at the kds pantng grafft on the vegas, "You'd better fuckng stop that
now!" Hgh on mescane, I repent and take a wood chse to the Kva.
Gong....
Sure s fast and far-out here
Larry
Dear Lou and Near:
Have |ust competed a day of sence -- no sma feat for a compusve babber.
A but one coupe has moved nto the puebo. It's not exaggeratng to say we're
ecstatcay happy n our new home. The three Gothc arches n the back wa of
our room (facng East) and the |apanese door n front pus the adobe stove and
the skyght gve a ot of varety to a 12 by 12 room.
A the rooms are vasty dfferent. You've got to come and see.
Chdren are fne, Peope fne. I have a premonton that we w a be qute
dfferent peope n the sprng. Soca barrers are dssovng. We're ookng forward
to earnng to open up and see the hasses n perspectve as they occur.
New concepts of prvacy are formuatng themseves. Everybody seems more
ave a
the tme. A phases of fe, a aspects, have wthn themseves the capacty for
greater conscousness. Everyday fe s becomng a yoga. Boredom s nonexstent
-- at east from where I stand. Payng a ot of musc -- Pau's room a Scandnavan-
type masterpece. Davd's a Token masterpece.
Rght now everyone s more or ess physcay exhausted and spendng days
earnng to reax and ad|ust to new fe, and puttng around wth fna touches --
.e. doors, wndows, paster, etc. Next man probem s frewood. We have none --
have to gather t.
Mchae engneered a ake n the vaey -- a natura thng to do wth a stagnant
pond. IT's reay beautfu and deep. I'm excted about pantng fowers around t
next sprng.
Man purpose of ths etter s to send you some homegrown.
Love to you.
Pam and Larry
Sddartha and Psyche
9-14-69
Dear Lou:
Ths afternoon I returned from New Mexco where I spent a week tyng oose ends
together. A contract has been sgned, a down payment made, and an 'abstract' of
the tte has been started. If a goes we, we shoud have the and n about a
month. Haeu|ah!
On Frday I sgned the contract. On Saturday my son Bob suddeny appeared on
the mesa! Haeu|ah agan! He had htchhked from Los Angees. If he had come
one day ater or I had eft one day sooner, we woud have mssed each other.
The moment I arrve on the mesa the babes start poppng. Some peope are
ranmakers -- I seem to brng on the babes. Rose and Barbara gave brth whe I
was here. That's three out of four who were born whe I was there, not countng
another one over at Reaty.
I st haven't gven up on contactng parents. I pan to keep after them and see
what happens. Some resuts are aready vsbe. Parents are vstng ther kds on
the mesa. Larry Sten and |ane are wrtng to ther fames. There s
communcaton. There may be much more. Who can forete?
Yours,
Manny
Dear Lou and Near,
Chare s not a wno at a. He |ust got sghty drunk one nght on some
homebrew that tasted more ke beer. That was before 'Professor' eft who now s
back here once agan.
Whe the budozers were over there wth you, we were puttng on our roofs whch
we st are. IT's a ong process, and we're about a thrd of the way done. Each
frepace s beautfu and very dfferent from any other. Chare desgned hs
wndow ke ths:
/\
/| | | |\
| | | | | |
Other wndows are tranges, damond, eght-sded, sx-sded, fve-sded, and a
cross and some rectanges too.
NORTH
| There was gong
to be a round room
Ernest here, but three
& Rosanne Davd Rob coupes came ate
& Sharon & Bonne and wanted rooms.
|ason
& Lnda Chare
Byron & Wayne
Larry
& Pam Pau
& Rose
Larry
& Pat Regge
& Barbara
ktchen |oe Davd Bea
& Kathy & Penny & kds Kva
The ktchen w be two stores wth a cone on top, but t's ony part way up on one
story and we don't have the bucks to fnsh t. So probaby next sprng.
There are a few other houses on the outskrts of the puebo. A's house, |eff and
Laura's and two others.
March 1970
Mesa Mumbngs
Dear Lou, Near, Ramn, Gna and frends
Very happy to know Gna s pregnant. Is that st for sure? Laura s pregnant once
agan. I don't know f we tod you, but Dave and Sharon have a baby gr, 5
pounds 5 ounces on the day of the Soar ecpse. Aso on the same day, Buffao
Bob from New Buffao eft hs body whch had T.B. He was bured on the and.
A free-ance photographer and hs wfe who wrtes for hm s here takng pctures,
so there shoud be some more meda stuff on us soon. (You saw the Parade
artce, I guess). We, there's ots of controversy about t, but they sad they won't
gve ocaton or any names.
A few peope from Reaty came over to run new peope off, but no success.
Another man from Reaty was here yesterday n a much dfferent mood, pontng
out passages from the Bbe.
Raymond and Forence |ust arrved wth three youngest kds. Aen Gnsberg was
seen over at New Buffao and nvted here today. Peyote runs from Texas got back
wth about seventy pounds for the Easter prayer meetng. We gave some to New
Buffao for ther Good Frday nght meetng. A snake came and whspered n
someone's ear 'be carefu' when they were yng n the peyote feds. As they eft
the tny town of 100, they saw a crew of roadbocks gong the other way, but no
notce was taken of them (Mornngstar heroes) as they passed. We had an Indan
to run the meetng, but he backed out so we may have to have a non-Indan
meetng.
Pam s now vng wth Fndey whom you met when you were here. He's got red
har, and Psyche and Sddartha are vng wth them n a tp. Larry usuay ves
aone now. He's dong pretty good work.
News has t that Gnsberg |ust arrved at Pam's tp. Pease send more Manfestos
f you can. We gave the ast one to the photographer. Send more Mornngstar
cards too. Davd has been oudy sngng Wateroo. A greenhouse s gong up.
Lots of ove from the Rest Home of Burned-Out Hppes.
#
Introducton
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Home Free Home: Afterword
Afterword
LOU: (Apr, 1973) "Dear Hearts, God s tme, and the dea of Open Land spreads
as and when He ws. It has been gven to us to see how to remove ove's
prncpa obstace - the excusve ownershp of and, but defendng ths dscovery
n obsoete ways w ony freak out the 'andords.'
"The rch want to gve. Beeve t. And openng and - or, n ega termnoogy,
deedng and to God, s the frst step n aowng ove to transform a compettve
economy of abundance nto ts next stage, the Garden of Eden. For me, that
means 'set the exampe.' Out takng about t and get busy. Earn some money
and use t to buy and and deed t to God. Others w foow sut.
"The ony thng wrong wth Open Land s that there sn't enough of t yet.
Whatever 'bummers' that we who ved on Open Land experenced w dsappear
when there are many more Mornng Star Ranches. The practce of never teng
anyone to eave Open Land s a temporary expedent. If there were enough
paces, everyone coud fnd hs own home naturay. Dvney postoned neghbors
do not put ther trps on one another. Expand your own bss toerance, and
everythng w be groovy. I ove you,
"Lou"
NEAR: (Not For Hre But For Hgher) "The need for potca soca change workers
who march and protest s mosty transcended on Open Land. Potcs are
nonexstent, except that most of us use bss as our potca tactc. The women's
b groups ack the structure to protest here. Wth no aws and no morta form of
authorty, beraton es ony n freeng your mnd, rasng your conscousness,
dscoverng what makes you happy and then dong t.
"As a woman, I've grown happy accustomed to Open Land fe. There s no soca
pressure to work, be a housewfe, or get marred. Peope smngy accept
reatonshps that once abeed a woman a 'sut.'
"Bearng chdren s of course our choce, thanks to brth contro. Most women
parturatng on Open Land experence orgasms nstead of abor pans. Snce gvng
brth s a natura, heathy event, very few women desre or need the surveance
of a doctor.
"Those who ve together on Open Land fee a famar bond. Babes are brought
up reatng to many peope as ther mommes and daddes. Sometmes, when a
group of parents and babes have gathered and a baby cres, I see the nearest
mother reachng out to comfort and sucke t, whether the baby s boogcay her
own or not.
"As the chd grows, t deveops ndependence rapdy. He knows a the peope on
the and ove hm. He fees free to wander over the meadows. Carna parents
don't have to worry about ther chdren. The and provdes a gente, natura
envronment.
"Most men don't hod |obs, and ths gves them the opportunty to share the |oys
and tensons of parenthood. I personay prefer vng wth a non-workng man. I
woud rather be groovng wth hm than watng for hm to come home from work.
"At Mornng Star Ranch, four non-boogca brothers and ssters bud a chdren's
house. At that tme, the chdren were mosty two and three-year-ods. The aduts
gathered the chdren every Thursday and catered to ther whms. The parents
en|oyed a rea day of rest, whe ther chdren's greatest need was fufed -
attenton from a fresh source. The creators of ths happenng orgnay thought
they woud be provdng the chdren wth a schoo. After the frst sesson, they
reazed t was a schoo, ony the chdren were the teachers. They named t
'Eden.'
"At Wheeer's, a smar experment began. Every day, chdren coud be brought
to the bakery. They found ther paymates there, and aduts who wanted to take
care of them. There was no need to schedue who woud watch them on whch
day. It aways happened spontaneousy. In the Great Socety, non-boogca
parents usuay have tte or nothng to do wth chdren uness they are gettng
pad for ther tme. The harmony of Open Land puts non-boogca parents nto
the fow of parenthood. The word needs more of ths conscousness!"
RAMON: (1976) "Mornng Star has been more or ess deserted for three years. Lou
moved out, and donated hs studo as umber for homes on the Rdge. Choctaw
Edde rebut t n mnature on the back of hs '46 Chevy truck and putt-putted off
nto the sunset, eaf sprngs saggng. Lou regrouped wth the Lmeters and s
back on the road, entertanng n hs nmtabe fashon wth hs own speca brand
of humor. B Wheeer s tryng to get the n|uncton fted by budng a code
house. Aso he found a frend to buy out the O'Bren's, so that coses THAT
partcuar chapter, athough Cara O'Bren fed a cv sut as a resut of that front
gate affar whch contnued n tgaton for some tme.
"Od ways pass sowy, but |erry Brown's governorshp has been a arge eap n the
rght drecton. Gna s eadng an exctng exstence n the cty. Near and Vshnu
are vng n Hawa aong wth other trbesfok, spread out n sma encaves. We
have been scattered n a drectons, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryand, New
Mexco, Coorado, South Amerca, each person takng a spark of the fre knded
durng our Open Land experences. Whenever some of us meet, the tak nevtaby
gravtates to 'the good od days,' and a certan wstfu tone creeps nto our voces.
Wth few dssentng votes, those who ved at the Rdge and Mornng Star yearn to
see that sprt revve once more. But then, t never ded! We were forcefuy
detrbazed n the same manner as the Natve Amercans."
RAMON: (1986) "It's now twenty years snce that fatefu sprng when I moved to
Mornng Star Ranch and was |oned by Lou and others. I too have returned to cty
vng, where I can carve out a wrter's career for mysef. I try to return to Sonoma
County a few tmes a year to see frends, but I am bascay a cty mouse at the
moment. I fee ke my 'yoga' for the present s to burrow nto the 'heart of the
beast' and do whatever tasks are assgned to me.
"How ronc that our current presdent s the very man who, as governor of
Caforna, once sad, 'There w be no more Mornng Stars!' In spte of Reagan's
pronouncement, and Sonoma County's successfu war agan the Open Land
movement, Aternate Socety thrves. One ony has to drve up the coast from San
Francsco to Vancouver to encounter watershed after watershed of good peope
quety growng ther fames and gardens, vng genty on the earth. The
penduum w nevtaby swng back towards a greater awareness of humanty's
need to ve n sma, trba groups. In spte of the growng nghtmares of
terrorsm, atomc hoocaust, pouton, I st reman optmstc that the seeds
panted so ong ago w bossom n our chdren's generaton nto a new, more
conscous socety."
RAMON: (1998) "Yet another addendum, thrteen years ater! Meanwhe, Lou dd
the unthnkabe, and checked out of ths dmenson n |uy, 1996. "Lou!" We yeed
after hm. "Stop! Don't de! You promsed to stck around for you concert pano
debut!" But -- whoom! -- he was gone n a day. In ess than a day. In |ust a few
hours. Read the whoe story here n: the |uy, 1996 MOST Newsetter.
"Sorry, Dear Hearts," I can hear Lou say. "It's |ust that I got reassgned, and t's a
terrfc new gg! But we' a be together agan."
For a those who en|oyed the peasure of Lou's presence over the years, he has
eft a very arge and empty space n our ves. No one I can thnk of coud, ke
Lou, both entertan and nstruct n equa amounts, and at the same tme.
Bessngs, dear brother! God speed, and thank you.
It fees good fnay to get ths story out, and et you, the reader, share the
experence of how a group of foks attempted to harmonze themseves back wth
Mother Earth, wth the eements and wth a vng thngs. Our way, vountary
prmtvsm, not ony was harmess to the panet but aso harmonous wth the
trba stye of fe but nto our DNA. Whenever I watch a documentary about some
trba group, such as those vng aong the Amazon, I compare the eegant pace of
ther fe stye wth our own frenzed one. Ther fe offers them so much esure --
a few hours hoeng the garden n the coo of the mornng, oungng n a hammock
for a ong sesta or to pay wth ther babes, and then perhaps a few hours fshng
for supper towards evenng. Meanwhe here we are, surrounded by our marveous
abor-savng devces that poute the envronment n a sorts of ways, workng
sxty hours a week to pay them off! Who, I ask you, are the unenghtened
heathen?
Meanwhe, despte the crses and catastrophes, I reman hopefu because I know
that the essons we earned "back then" have taken root and fowered n ways
mysterous and mracuous. A new generaton s growng up that understands n
the depths of ther nature what we had to dscover by tra and error, by bastng
away the ayers of accumuated crud from our sprts so that, at ast, we coud
emerge, ke butterfes from our cutura cocoons, as who we reay were. May
thousands more butterfes take wng!
NEAR: "Open Land gves us open hearts whch ead us to open fames. But the
whoe key s Open Land as a servce!"
#