Doug was  a Manager at the Telegraph Rep

he was portly and looked like Oliver hardy  "Laurel and Hardy"

Doug wore a Tweed suit coat and bow tie.

He was quiet and reserved stoic and fancied himself a chachter or film enthusiast.

One night (Friday) I was showing the second show of Night of the living dead. 6:00 o'clock show.

Doug normal working was from 6:00 to closing.

Between shows I ran down to Bongo Burger on Dwight and bought my dinner (a Persian burger ground lamb on a long french roll)

I started the show and got comfortable and started to eat my dinner. I noticed Doug was standing below and to my left at the foot of the steps to the booth.

The film had a very unique and gory sequence of  zombies eating dead people. I could see Doug transfixed by what he was seeing on the screen. I decided to have a little fun and quietly stepped down next to him and offered him a bite of my burger.  His reaction was pure terror. Doug was stoic and seemingly unshakeable but not that night. I don't know if he ever forgave me.

Meg & Meg and John, Humboldt world air

Meg was a stunningly Beautiful woman.

When I met her she was a Stewardess for World Air. Her primary work was flying Troops to and from Vietnam.

She was Friends with frank and patty, and when she was in the bay area she would often spend a few nights at Franks place. (layovers)

I really liked her and  she was friendly with me , just friends.

She would bring  lots of great Pot from south east Asia , apparently she was staff and was not checked by customs so she could easily smuggle drugs.

I remember a few times she came back and we would spend time at Franks apartment on Haste  across he street from the Theater (Cinema arts)   One particular afternoon she invited me to Franks and we smoked som Vietnamese Pot  it was dark and sticky very potent. we listened tot he new Santana album. yes that was a thing to get together and listen to the latest albums. I think it was  "Abraxis."

April 17, 1970. Santana began sessions for what would be their breakthrough album, Abraxas, at Wally Heider's Recording Studio, San Francisco, California. When released in September of that year, it peaked at No.1.

Fast forward 1981

Meg moved to Humboldt county with John, they had a pot farm .

They invited me up to consult on security Ideas. Problem was to know when vehicles were approaching several miles down the road.  (I recommended a motion sensor and a CB radio)

This was a turning point for me. I realized that  I was taking some risks and skirting on the edges of  illegal activities.This was reinforced by a later incident where Frank actually nearly got me in serious trouble. (stole my parking stickers and  got caught at LBL stealing glassware. )

That was the incident that  ended my friendship with Frank. I felt totally betrayed.

Meg story  As I mentioned Meg was a very pretty woman. and  flirty / the story I heard was that she had participated in a Smuggling operation from South America. the Drug was  cocaine and the method was overland. the group had penetrated a legitimate documentary film team and had several vehicles and a real project. along the way they had sequestered a significant quantity of Cocaine in the  vehicles.

From whet I understood Meg would  distract  border officials. this apparently was successful since Meg was never caught.

I also understood she stopped smuggling when the Vietnam war ended and her  lack of customs avoidance made it  far more risky. Also I think she came under some pressure from organized smugglers to take risks she was no longer comfortable with.

Tidbit , one of the discussions while visiting at Humboldt location was about the difficulty in sequestering large amounts of cash from the very lucrative Pot business.

For my services in consulting  that summer, I was presented with two feed sacks full of small bud Pot and clippings.  , it was delivered around Christmas 1980 -82 In the middle of the  night by a courtier. I had no Idea it was even coming. Amazing. I sold some and  later actually threw a lot of it away,Just not into it anymore.

I have not seen or spoken to anyone from that group since., It was pretty scary and I had a son to raise alone.

y ,

Patty Was Franks girlfriend. , Patty had a heroin problem. however it did not seem to be out of control.

Patty was tall blond very nice looking  slender and soft spoken.

Frank liked her allot.

I have no Idea what happened to Patty.

One incident. One evening I was at the Theater and Frank asked me to go across the street  to their apartment and to get a small box near their bed stand.  He could not leave the theater while the film was running.

I was not told why but I assume patty had been arrested and Frank was concerned that the apartment would be searched. so I was doing clean up. I never looked in the box so I can honestly say I don't know what was in it.

In 1970 Patty told me about being in the room when Charles Manson shot a drug dealer.

She mentioned a pro football player ( was also there)   Rosie Grier This was what Patty told me not anythignn I can verify

The story was that a person was upset about a drug deal and started  to cause issues. Someone in the house called Charles Manson over to help settle the matter. He came over and shot the  unhappy trouble maker.

From  Wikipedia

Tex Watson became involved in drug dealing and robbed a 22-year-old rival named Bernard "Lotsapoppa" Crowe. Crowe allegedly responded with a threat to kill everyone at Spahn Ranch. In response, Manson shot Crowe on July 1, 1969, at Manson's Hollywood apartment.

 Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier (born July 14, 1932) is an American actor, singer, Protestant minister, and former professional football player. He was a notable college football player for Pennsylvania State University who earned a retrospective place in the National Collegiate Athletic Association 100th anniversary list of 100 most influential student athletes. A professional player for twelve seasons, Grier was a member of the New York Giants and the original Fearsome Foursome of the Los Angeles Rams. He played in the Pro Bowl twice.

Cynthia Grabenor  One Saturday night I remember stopping by my Dad's house 506 Boulevard  way. I had my Norton. He asked where I was going . I said Keystone Berkeley  to see John Lee Hooker. He remarked that he had some very early JLH records and I should enjoy it. This is Nov or Dec 1972

Keystone was a Black painted storefront on University at Shattuck in Berkeley.

Dark inside as well.

The JLH show was great. But I noticed and started talking with Cindy.

(Lack details) but we agreed to see each other again.

Tail of the Yak (Alcatraz ave)West of telegraph Ave on the south side. Driving past fairly frequently for as many years as the store was in business I was reminded of my time with Cindy once in awhile I would step in .

This was a Tibetan Art store  incense and other Tibetan religious and cultural items.

Cindy had a friend who lived nearby , apartment on an upper floor.

"Gene"? An older woman 60 ish who I recalled smoked a lot, she also seemed to be a person with wisdom and advice that Cindy found valuable

Live Oak Oak  park museum for a Tibetan art show. Tibetan religious chanting  low in the background  beautiful art meditative mood.

Live oak Park was where I hung out at age 14 and 15. A very different experience appreciating art than drinking and smoking with my gang of friends. What a difference 5 years made

Cafe Mediterranean Telegraph.

Some of the places we went / met.

She had a son Osiris abut 4. He Ex was Larry Hertz.

He had a Green Pickup truck ( Chevy I think)

Cindy had an old Land cruiser which was  problematic.in poor repair.

I introduced her to my Dad at  the Trident in Sausalito , I think we had escargot.

Dad liked her and  suggested to her that I was a sensitive kid.

Cindy is 4-5 years older than I am.

It occurs to me how much happened in a short amount of time.

We connected

she introduced me to a lot of thought  and philosophy and another side of this life experience.

more feeling and intuitive

She had a sense of spirituality and transcendent consciousness.

Carlos Casteneda Joseph Campbell Alan Watts

My persistent vision of Cindy was imagined as an Andrew Weith painting of a girl on a hill below a stone house.

Cindy lived in Saint Helena  and worked with the Farm Workers union.

I remember getting croissants and going to this small stone farm house in Sonoma  It had a hand pumped well .We had some nice wine there

Pauley Creek

The Girl that came to visit. Cindy Visited me and we had a nice time. I think I had tonsillitis at the time and she brought me some antibiotics.

She stayed a few days I was sad when she left.

A few weeks later we had a visit from a friend of Sterley's  One of the guests was a young teen aged girl.

This 15-16 year old   came into my tent while everyone was a sleep and  we did what young folks do.

This is one of my life regrets . I had some time to think about this  and realized she was too young and that I needed to be very careful in life. It seemed stupid since  there was no relationship only  lust.

I think in retrospect  I felt some guilt and lack of fidelity to Cindy. I broke trust and we had a spiritual connection that should have prevailed in my actions.

Eureka

I left the claim to visit Cindy in Eureka. late June foggy it was always foggy there.

She had just moved into a house , the house was south facing, there was a lumber yard nearby .

I remember getting some lumber and building a bed frame for Cindy.

There was some tension unease in the visit. 50 years later I draw the suspicion that my infidelity had a role in this tension.

At the time though I felt a sense of impending loss. a sense of injustice and fate. The spiritual self discovery path that i was on was enhancing my sensitivity to all things. My awareness was very  high.

I had also had a very close call on the trip up  on highway 99 when I was stopped by the Highway patrol and instead of a ticket the Cop praised my driving. I was at the time facing the military draft and was pretty sure they were looking for me. The last thing I wanted was to have a cop run my ID. He did not.

Saylor

Return

Turn around

Chico

Fire engine

Life change

Draft Status

PTSD? As I look back at the MC accident I am pretty sure the trauma had some long lasting effects. not just physical but an emotional searing., I feel like I had a difficult time with understanding  and adapting adjusting to the  trauma and the change  my life went through . This resulted in a focus on Cindy that felt like a great loss and  hole in life.  I am ultimately very thankful for the life I have lived and  the lessons and life principles which Cindy helped me to codify internally.