A Wake-Up Call to The new CMA President

Dear Dr. Simpson

You’re holding Aces and Eights

I’m Calling Your Hand

I have been attempting to arrange a contact with you for the last 6 weeks but have had no success. I received an acknowledgement of receipt from Chantel Nadeau Aug 21 so I know my communications have made it as far as your staff. My attempts at any further contact have not succeeded. E-mails are unanswered and phone calls are never returned.

What I do not know is if you are even aware I have been trying to contact you?

If it is Chantel or your secretary doing the screening I suggest you straighten them out and we can start over. If it is by your order that I am blocked I suggest you remove it or we have a very serious problem.

I do not want an adversarial relationship, but now you are following in Fransescutti’s footsteps to narcissism and the belief you are above communicating with a commoner. I don’t think that can be avoided if you won’t consider my input.

I am a Medical Marijuana Advocate and in the single year of his Presidency he effectively destroyed any hope I had of saving Medical Marijuana. As of yesterday, his blockade of signatures and encouragement of all the Canadian Colleges of Physicians and Surgeions Marijuana Policys to include stupid and punitive regulations. No one can find a physician because none of your doctors is willing to risk being given the Kamermans Treatment and intentionally and unjustifiably ruined and sent to Coventry.

As of this morning I read that the College of Family Physicians under the inspired leadership of College CEO Dr. Francine Lemire just considered the 40000 already qualified recipients under the MMAR who can’t get any medication, and in a stroke of stupidity equal to or superior to that of Dr. Lou completely eliminated about 90% of the patients who will qualify for treatment by Family Physicians.

I stress the Family Physicians because it is they who will see nearly all new applicants. The other 60% of the CMA membership the Specialists will seldom if ever come in contact except on a consultative basis that has nothing to do with pot!

It was bad enough that Dr. Lemire limited treatment to dried marijuana which might account for 10%? of the applicants but then also denies a list of diagnosed medical conditions and then eliminates adult treatment for only those over 25.

Is there is a miracle: she might wind up with a half-a-dozen who qualify for treatment by a bunch of Physicians who don’t know fuck all about marijuana which necessitated the idiotic advice.

Dr. Simpson it’s about time somebody in the hierarchy of the CMA actually communicated with the patients who are getting rolled over and explained why they should not feel like they have been betrayed by the people they expected to help them deal with their health problems. All we hear is the bullshit and lies about the harm and the risk and the benefits and hazards of marijuana from the Medical Profession at large: the whole damned lot of you. The First Pillar of Character is Honesty and we have been hearing nothing but lies for the past decade

I suggest you contact me for a first class lesson in Common Bloody Sense and an exposure to the realities of life. This blockade and stupid confrontation has to be mended. The doctor/patient relationship in Cannabis is down to Liar/Victim and I think I can help you get it back to one based on trust and not paranoia.

I hope for a response and that you be willing to listen to me, my intentions are honourable and I have a very good argument for a change in direction.

I can be reached by return e-mail or by phone at 1-604-585-0236 all day every day.

If you choose not to reply, well, how are you at fisticuffs?

In anticipation of a reply

Best regards

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

As posted in

Medical Marijuana with TheSmeeGoanGuy

At

http://goan-smee.blogspot.ca/

The Touch of the Master's Hand

 

The Touch of the Master's Hand

'Twas battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.

"What am I bid, good people", he cried,
"Who starts the bidding for me?"
"One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?"
"Two dollars, who makes it three?"
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,"

But, No,
From the room far back a gray bearded man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet
As sweet as the angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said "What now am I bid for this old violin?"
As he held it aloft with its' bow.

"One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?"
"Two thousand, Who makes it three?"
"Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone", said he.

The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
"We just don't understand."
"What changed its' worth?"
Swift came the reply.
"The Touch of the Masters Hand."

And many a man with life out of tune
All battered with bourbon and gin
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin

A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.

But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the Touch of the Masters' Hand.

Myra Brooks Welch

Susie Ouids Eulogy

Susie Ouids Eulogy

Written by Her Eldest Son Ryan

 

Susie

There are so many things I could say about my step mom and to list them all would be an eternity of conversing as she truly was an amazing woman. She was one of the kindest; happiest people I have ever met in my life to the point were it was infectious. You couldn’t help but smile when you were around her, even towards the end. She loved everyone here and even in her most painful moments she was more concerned about others, then herself. This was just the kind of person she was, she had that one true selfless characteristic that makes the difference between a good person and a great one. This great lady was one of the women that helped to shape me into the man I am today. Without her I would never have seen some of the lessons I needed to have a loving marriage among many other things.
When Susie met my dad he was in a dark place and it was her that bought the flashlight and rope to help him climb out of that pit of despair he was stuck in. One of the most amazing thing about this is it all happened in a span of two weeks. This brief courtship blossomed into an 18 and a half year marriage, A true love at first site marriage.
When dad told me about Susie, It literally was the day before she came down, I remember him showing me a picture and I asked him if that was her daughter, not so much, it was Susie from her not much younger years. Dad was so happy when she came down, I know this because I had to sleep on the couch for the first two weeks before they had a room of there own. To this day as far as I am concerned they were just cuddling a lot as they have ever since then as Susie never returned back to Ontario.
In all the years of my life up to this point I had never seen my dad so happy. I truly can’t remember a time in the 18 and a half years of their marriage were they ever fought unless it was over the last piece of cake or something then all bets were off. Now that doesn’t mean they didn’t at times see differences in ideas, but when they did it would only end on a compromise as things were never a fight between them. Just these two loving people finding mutual ground to continue to make each other happy and build on their loving Marriage.
I believe that if Susie was here right now watching she wouldn’t want to see sad faces but rather smiles on fond memories everyone has of her. Each one of us will have one; she was just that kind of person. I would like to share 2 of my favourites and though they might sound simple, I will always remember them. 1 was what she would make me for my birthday dinners. As per my request it was the same every year, porkchops with mushroom soup onion sauce baked over a bed of rice. Dessert didn’t matter; it just had to be that for dinner. I think she was always surprised by this since it was not all that extravagant. She always said it was the easiest thing to make but the truth is I have tried to make this dish more times then I care to admit and it never tasts right. Looking back I think it was the love she put into it that made it amazing or crack thats the only other possibility.
The second memory took place after I got back from Edmonton. I was still really sick and in a lot of pain and due to my brain issues if I herd any loud noises it would cause panic attack like stress and to my surprise Susie was very aware of this. I became aware of this fact when my dad just talked a couple decibels too high and she jumped on him like a mama bear. All she did was give a look; like teachers do in school. The kind of look where you decide your “not going to do that again”. This was the day I realized she was not just a women that married my dad, but she was one of my parents.
To me Susie will always be the embodiment of the bible verse found in the book of Corinthians which reads. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends
There is one last thing I think Susie would like me to say on her behalf and its addressed to you Dad. She would always want you to remember how hard she worked to get you to become the happy man she turned you into. This is not because of any debt she would want you to feel as I know for a fact that you made her as happy as she made you but because of the life she would want for you.
She loved you so much that she sat in the car with me making me promise to watch over you if she passed away. She wanted you to have an amazing life. But her biggest fear was that you would blame yourself for her passing: Something that she knew was an is not your fault. So if you truly want to honor Susie, laugh for her, be happy in her stead, love others, smile, experience things and know that Susie is with Jesus in heaven and the path to her is always through him. So until you get there, continue to make her smile by living life the way she would have wanted for you so that she can watch the adventure of your life continue until you see her again.
In closing:
Forgive any notions you have of self fault.
Susie Q was humble and modest to the point were you may question if she ever really knew how amazing she was. The truth is she knew this because my dad aspired to let her know ever day most certainly was one that forever gets remembered as loving!

Rest in Peace

The Ly’n King of the VPD

The Ly’n King of the VPD

 

 

Constable Brian Montague

Media Relations Officer

 

 

N.B.:  

Shortly after I published this post Constable Montague replied and said he wasn’t going to deal with me any more. He also advise the above picture is not him and asked me to remove it. 

I replied:

As far as the picture goes I got it from Google Images after a search for ​"Constable Brian Montague VPD" and all the pics with that name are that guy.

I said you're a liar and I'm more inclined to believe Google. The picture stays until you can provide another. I suggest you call Google and complain or provide me with another that you approve of. Until then, the picture stays as is!

 

 

 

Greetings again Constable Montague:

I am truly disappointed that you have failed to contact me. You made the mistake of putting your direct telephone number (Brian Montague T: 604-717-2807 ) at the bottom of your reply to my questions to the Mayor, the Chief and you about why the raids on the Jim’s Weeds Dispensaries and the SWAT team tactics used with no justification.

 

A reply from a Media Relations Officer was completely unexpected. I may only be a Blogger (http://goan-smee.blogspot.ca/) but I like to think of myself as half-assed decent Investigative Journalist asking a lot more relevant questions than the National Media lot who claim the title.

 

I replied to you and informed you who I was, the reasons for my complaint, and advised you I would phone you the next day tenth of September and did!

 

I have now phoned you twice, requested a return call, left my phone number and waited. Dead silence for over a week. Why did you bother to reply? I never expected one. If it was a compliment for the “fascinating approach”, Thank you!

If that was the only reason and you had no intentions of answering any questions then Fuck You! I truly wanted to deal with a Cop Mentality first hand. I have a degree in Psychology but no experience with the Abnormal.

 

I don’t want to talk any more because another Cop has a looser mouth than yours and disclosed what’s up. I was told by a VPD drug squad member that they are actively investigating all the clubs and dispensaries (prioritizing based on community complaints) by sending in undercovers to see if medical diagnosis is required as well as if minors are able to purchase. So it is advised that these protocols be adhered to.

 

Which brings me back to Jim’s Weeds and no probable cause and a couple of questions that you will never answer because your primary function is damage control and you would not be in your position if you were not a very skilled professional liar and distorter of the truth.

 

Your primary function is to put a lid on the problem until it goes away. The misuse of the exemptions in the Access to Information Act allows you to declare that there is an investigation in process and then claim any disclosure of information could damage the result. There is no time limit on investigations and given enough time the video showing the three cops beating the shit out the woman in the wheelchair will be forgotten and no answers or explanation are required.

Unfortunately no-one will ever find out what was accomplished by raiding Jim’s.

From the news reports Some unknown source complained that there was some unknown customer who was buying very cheap pot from Jim, and then in defiance of Jim’s rules, reselling to unknown youth in the neighbourhood. Jim did nothing but sell to a qualified customer.

If that was true there was no probable cause. But I will never find out, it’s under investigation and you would never answer truthfully answer questions like:

1. Did you have a warrant based on these anonymous allegations? I doubt it!
2. Did you find anything incriminating during the raid? I doubt it?
3. Were any unlicensed or under age customers present? No!

If there had been Jim would still be in jail!

4. What did you find that justifiged seizure of the shop’s contents?
5. Was there a probable cause for that? I doubt it!
6. What evidence did you get from the pot plants you seized?
7. Did you return them before they died? I doubt it?
8. Quite obviously you never discovered any evidence of a crime or there would have long since been charges:
9. Have you returned all the seized products? I doubt it!
10.  Are you going to try to charge Jim for storage? Probably: he’s got no place to put since you bastards forced him out of business.

Jim was an example of what all Dispensary owners should be: the best of the whole lot. He was damned near a saint to his customers. He was a source of accurate information about Medical Marijuana use. He could determine what your condition needed and recommend something that would help relieve the symptoms you were having! He could tell you the genetics of the source and for many of them a verifiable estimate of its cannabinoid ratio and content.

His only crime was selling the best and cheapest pot in Vancouver (at times as low as $3/g. for poor people) and probably in Canada by running an online supply line to other poverty stricken victims from coast to coast. The VPD busted Jim just as the Halifax Nazi’s are currently busting Christopher Enns and Farm Assist for persecution on a technicality.

I think I’ve run out of steam so I’ll leave you to stew in your own juice. It’s actions like yours that have turned all police in North America into potential enemies of the public at large. This is being published as a warning never to trust a cop or tell them anything. To do so puts your rights and freedom at risk!

Now I Wait For You To Knock on My Door

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

LIAR! LIAR! PANTS ON FIRE!

Abbotsford Councillor Henry Braun is a Liar!

I’m Calling Him Out on It!

My E-mail to Abbotsford Council --Sept. 18, 2014

Dear Mayor Banman and Councillors:

While I would like to request that all Council members read this, it is specifically addressed to Councillor Henry Braun for what I believe is an outright lie regarding the safety hazards related to the growth of Medical Marijuana.

Councillor Braun:

This morning I read your statement as reported in the Cannabis Digest on Tuesday Sept 16, 2014 that the privacy policy of Health Canada in failing to disclose the location of Federally Licensed Medical Marijuana grow-ops is costing the City of Abbotsford and its residents “horrendous expense”.

You want all BC Municipalities to demand a change to over-rule the privacy right

You state as a matter of fact “the city has had multiple instances of homebuyers unknowingly purchasing former grow-op locations — leaving them with costly repair bills to fix tampered electrical wires and mould issues.

You sir are a LIAR!

You state two “Facts” that are either outright lies or a monstrous distortion of a minor isolated occasional problem.

I want to know what your city data base has on record to support your outrageous statements. I would like a reply from you and answers to a couple of very simple questions.

If you are telling the truth then you should be able to easily answer with a simple search of city records and come with the following clarifications:

1. What was the “horrendous” expense to the City in Fiscal 2013?
2. What is the “horrendous” expense” so far in 2014”
3. How many “Multiple instances” were reported in 2013?
4. How many “Multiple instances” were reported in 2014?

You state: “Somebody buys a house and they basically have to gut the inside of it. You’re talking $50,000”!

5. How many multiple instance had “tampered electrical wires”?
6. What was the average cost to repair?
7. How many multiple instance had “mould issues”?
8. What was the average cost to repair?

I will wait for your reply

To all you other Councillors:

As I see it Henry spoke for the Council and if he really did, you’re all as stupid and bigoted as him. Take a good look at Henry’s answers and make your own assessment of what is truth!

Best regards:

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

Medical Marijuana Advocate and Ethical Critic

http://goan-smee.blogspot.ca/

Vancouver Cops Are Criminals

Vancouver Cops Are Criminals

They Ignore Citizen Rights

All I want is some answers

A Follow-up to Request Number One

                                                               September 8, 2014

To: Mayor Gregor Robertson:    gregor.robertson@vancouver.ca

Cc: Chief Jim Chu                     pss@vpd.ca,

Cc: Constable Brian Montague   vpd@vpd.ca

Dear Mayor and Chief: A month ago I sent you a request for information about the change in marijuana policing and asked for clarification of some issues. Neither one of you even acknowledged receipt.

http://goan-smee.blogspot.ca/2014/08/my-complaint-to-mayor-robertson-and.html

This time when someone decided to raid a dispensary without probable cause one of you appointed a mouthpiece: Constable Brian Montague so I decided to go directly to him for clarification

Dear Constable Montague:

Re the VPD Informal Guidelines For "Illegal" Medical Marijuana Dispensaries:

I recently read your explanation of the rationale behind the actions taken against two Medical Marijuana Dispensaries as reported by Jeremiah Vandermeer, Cannabis Culture - Wednesday, September 3 2014

You were quite articulate in outlining the entire reprehensible criminal

Dispensary business and you were forceful in laying down the law to all of them” Putting your position together from your statements equals

"Don't market to children. Don't sell to children. Don't create fire hazards. Don't operate in a manner that clearly puts financial gain ahead of public safety or providing any type of medical service."

I can actually understand those as logical objectives to enforce.

“That said, the VPD has a priority based approach to policing and these shops are, for the most part, a lower priority for our limited resources. That does not mean that one of these businesses can't become a priority if public safety becomes a concern."

It is quite reasonable that there is a high priority to public safety but then you take it too far!

“We do not want to prevent someone from getting any form of medical care they may require," Montague said, "but we have a duty to the public to ensure public safety is a priority.”

In short:any threat to public safety and you shut down the medication just so you can get some front page exposure doing your job and blow some of those limited resources you value so much.

You did not have probable cause to commit these raids!

Per information you have provided us:

Jim’s Weeds Raid was based on anonymous allegations that some of his customers were taking advantage of the low price and reselling it to minors in the neighbourhood. I see no probable cause to invade Jim’s because he wasn’t charging enough. He was selling to legitimate licensees at prices that us guys on the bottom could afford. You guys busted and put him out of business because he was costing his competitors in the “Street” business, not out of any concern for public safety.

There was no threat to the public from the Jim’s Weeds operation and the Swat Team tactics operation was carried out in a manner to provide maximum press coverage and yielded no result as far as any indication of criminal misconduct or you would have arrested somebody instead of confiscating their inventory and equipment to deter them reopening. You would have been far further ahead to have closed down the Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary operating right next door to Jim’s. They are not only a threat to public safety but financial gain is their sole motivation.  They don’t know shit about any medical benefit their products should be used for. You know they’re on the Street selling crap but they might fight back.

Where was the public threat in the Budzilla raid? Once again there is an anonymous allegation that they are selling indiscriminately to any one including youth whether they have a license or not. Why bother sending in a couple of the boys to make a buy and get some evidence. Nope let’s have us a raid and get some overtime. 

I was amazed by your triumph in finding everything one expects to find in a Marijuana Dispensary. "Products comprised of dry marijuana and THC-infused edibles, including candy and cookies," 

What even worse to me is your opinion that the "appearance and packaging of many of these items could be potentially very appealing to children." You have no evidence whatsoever that the child attracting design was an intentional bait for child abuse yet you chuck it in to create the aura of evil of all of these criminals who were once again not arrested or charged.

Constable Montague: You stated

“There is a reason those businesses were targeted for enforcement while others have not."

I want to know what the reason was! For each! What gave probable cause that justified the invasion, search and seizure of contents, harassing and threatening customers and staff: Cops acting like a bunch of pigs at the hog trough to create an image of the force on the job and then walking away with not one bloody charge to justify the waste of time and money for blatant political posturing?

Who was the individual who authorized this raid and who gave him the power to waste money on stuff like this crap?

“Compassion clubs and med-pot dispensaries, though technically illegal, have existed in Vancouver for more than a decade. Police and City Council members have been quoted in the press criticizing federal government policies :

Why are you now interfering with the rights of patients to access medicine and pledging to leave dispensaries alone, as long as they are providing marijuana for medical use.”

What happened? We had a stable peaceful secure scene living here in Vancouver with a need for Medical Marijuana and the cops weren’t an enemy? Both of the premises raided were providing marijuana for medical use: what raises their profile above all the others? Any evidence to support the anonymous accusations?

I would like to know who the anonymous bureaucrat is and where he gets the right to make decisions that fuck up my life and cost me money.

Constable Montague: I would appreciate a reply.

I would appreciate an acknowledgement of receipt and a reply within the next week.

Thank you for your time and consideration

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

By copy to Mayor Robertson and Chief Chu.

Why is it necessary for me to keep chasing a low level flunky to get information about whether you, his superiors, are concealing either your roles or your ignorance of this public betrayal of trust?

I sent you both a detailed list of questions that you both ignored after the Jim’s Weeds raid. I really would like an answer; you don’t even have to look for them: they’re out there on the Web at

http://goan-smee.blogspot.ca/2014/08/my-complaint-to-mayor-robertson-and.html

I truly hope I can get a response from one of: the Mayor? The Chief? Or (The designated Mouthpiece) but I doubt I will. It seems that altitude on the Totem Pole removes our leaders from any responsibility to answer questions regarding their conduct when questionable.

I would very much like to know if any of you had advance knowledge and gave consent to this betrayal of a decade of respect for but I doubt I will.

The simple conclusion is that if neither the Mayor or Chief Chu gave approval for these abusive tactics then there is a Rogue in the Ranks and their command authority has been violated and illegally assumed. What are you going to do about that? Somebody started this shit and the voting public and residents of Vancouver deserve to know who.

I’m going to end here.

In conclusion I don’t expect an answer except maybe some blow-by bullshit from Constable Montague but very little in the form of fact or reasons.

I hope somebody will provide some answers. What kind of odds that someone will? Astronomically negative!

We shall see

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

The “Green Thing” in Our Days

The “Green Thing” in Our Days

A Good Lesson for This Day

Old versus Young

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.

The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady was somewhat taken aback but the recovered her poise and conceded the point and  said that "she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. 
The older lady went on to explain:

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.
But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief(remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. 

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in arazor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the"green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person.
We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to really piss us off... especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smart-ass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

Those were the good old days before our children ruined it.

Put that in  your pipe and smoke it! 

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

The Big Footed Snake

 

The Big Footed Snake

A Bringer of Blessings

 

When I was a young man growing up in Alberta one summer I worked for the Forestry Department and was part of Stand by Crew to fight Forest fires. I was stationed at the Entrance Ranger station north of Hinton just up the road from the Entrance Trading Post.

It was a crazy job where you sat around painting rocks along the driveway until the siren went off and we went to work. 6 of us all with 70# of backpack, shovel, pick, food, water plus plus plus pile into the back of the Forestry Truck with Siren flashing lights and crazy Ranger Joe Pasamera at the wheel.

We would race to the end of goddamned nowhere to drag another 100# of Mercury Fire Pump over hill and dale for a couple of hours to get to the fire and then get to work. That was usually non-stop for a couple of days or so but if we couldn’t handle it the major crew arrived to relieve us. We were first responders: First in, first out and back to painting rocks. Hard bloody work but the company guys and a lot of beer made it a good remembrance.

The Entrance Trading post was sort of the community meeting place for all the local Indians. I was fortunate enough to make a large number of them friends and was welcome all over the little village. I was able to join in ceremonies as a welcome guest and had a seat as a front row observer. I am a detail freak and one of the first things I noticed was the beauty of their traditional costumes: Particularly the buckskin, bead work and best of all porcupine quill patterns that were a marvel of precision design. I wanted to have one

I spent almost a quarter of my summer pay ($125 a week and found) and managed to find a friends mother who made me a complete outfit of buckskin with a really beautiful array of bead and quills. It hung in the corner of my bedroom where I could always see it for seven years until marriage forbade its use. I was a dancer and wore my warrior outfit when I was on the hunt at all the local Country dance halls. I was a good looking young guy, a master of bullshit and pretty good with my dukes if any of the local boys resented me trying to romance his baby out to my car. Unfortunately if you take your wife to the dance you put on your good clothes and act nice to everybody. The lady frowned on fisticuffs and there went the Warrior.

I always looked at my breastplate and moccasins and wondered where the designs came from particularly the porcupine quills. Now 50 years later I finally found out the source in a collection of Native America Lore at

http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore16.html

It’s all the fault of a Snake

 

The Snake with the Big Feet

Native American Lore

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Long ago, in that far-off happy time when the world was new, and there were no white people at all, only Indians and animals, there was a snake who was different from other snakes. He had feet-big feet. And the other snakes, because he was different, hated him, and made life wretched for him. Finally, they drove him away from the country where the snakes lived, saying, "A good long way from here live other ugly creatures with feet like yours. Go and live with them!" And the poor, unhappy Snake had to go away.

For days and days, he travelled. The weather grew cold and food became hard to find. At last, exhausted, his feet cut and frostbitten, he lay down on the bank of a river to die.

The Deer, E-se-ko-to-ye, looked out of a willow thicket, and saw the Snake lying on the river bank. Pitying him, the deer took the Snake into his own lodge and gave him food and medicine for his bleeding feet.

The Deer told the Snake that there were indeed creatures with feet like his who would befriend him, but that some among these would be enemies whom it would be necessary to kill before he could reach safety.

He showed the Snake how to make a shelter for protection from the cold and taught him how to make moccasins of deerskin to protect his feet. And at dawn the Snake continued his journey.

The sun was far down the western sky, and it was bitter cold when the Snake made camp the next night. As he gathered boughs for a shelter, Kais-kap the porcupine appeared. Shivering, the Porcupine asked him, "Will you give me shelter in your lodge for the night?"

The Snake said, "It's very little that I have, but you are welcome to share it."

"I am grateful," said Kais-kap, "and perhaps I can do something for you. Those are beautiful moccasins, brother, but they do not match your skin. Take some of my quills, and make a pattern on them, for good luck." So they worked a pattern on the moccasins with the porcupine quills, and the Snake went on his way again.

As the Deer had told him, he met enemies. Three times he was challenged by hostile Indians, and three times he killed his adversary.

At last he met an Indian who greeted him in a friendly manner. The Snake had no gifts for this kindly chief, so he gave him the moccasins. And that, so the old Ones say, was how our people first learned to make moccasins of deerskin, and to ornament them with porcupine quills in patterns, like those on the back of a snake. And from that day on the Snake lived in the lodge of the chief, counting his coup of scalps with the warriors by the Council fire and, for a long time, was happy.

But the chief had a daughter who was beautiful and kind, and the Snake came to love her very much indeed. He wished that he were human, so that he might marry the maiden, and have his own lodge. He knew there was no hope of this unless the High Gods, the Above Spirits took pity on him, and would perform a miracle on his behalf.

So he fasted and prayed for many, many days. But all his fasting and praying had no result, and at last the Snake came very ill.

Now, in the tribe, there was a very highly skilled Medicine Man. Mo'ki-ya was an old man, so old that he had seen and known, and understood, everything that came within the compass of his people's lives, and many things that concerned the Spirits. Many times, his lodge was seen to sway with the Ghost Wind, and the voices of those long gone on to the Sand Hills spoke to him.

Mo'ki-ya came to where the Snake lay in the chief's lodge, and sending all the others away, asked the Snake what his trouble was.

"It is beyond even your magic," said the Snake, but he told Mo'ki-ya about his love for the maiden, and his desire to become a man so that he could marry her.

Mo'ki-ya sat quietly thinking for a while. Then he said, "I shall go on a journey, brother. Perhaps my magic can help, perhaps not. We shall see when I return." And he gathered his medicine bundles and disappeared.

It was a long and fearsome journey that Mo'ki-ya made. He went to the shores of a great lake. He climbed a high mountain, and he took the matter to Nato'se, the Sun himself.

And Nato'se listened, for this man stood high in the regard of the spirits, and his medicine was good. He did not ask, and never had asked, for anything for himself, and to transform the Snake into a brave of the tribe was not a difficult task for the High Gods. The third day after the arrival of Mo'ki-ya at the Sun's abode, Nato'se said to him, "Return to your own lodge Mo'ki-ya, and build a fire of small sticks. Put many handfuls of sweet-grass on the fire, and when the smoke rises thickly, lay the body of the Snake in the middle of it."

And Mo'ki-ya came back to his own land.

The fire was built in the centre of the Medicine lodge, as the Sun had directed, and when the sweetgrass smouldered among the embers, sending the smoke rolling in great billows through the tepee, Mo'ki-ya gently lifted the Snake, now very nearly dead, and placed him in the fire so that he was hidden by the smoke.

The Medicine-drum whispered softly in the dusk of the lodge: the chant of the old men grew a little louder, and then the smoke obscuring the fire parted like a curtain, and a young man stepped out.

Great were the rejoicings in the camp that night. The Snake, now a handsome young brave, was welcomed into the tribe with the ceremonies befitting the reception of one shown to be high in the favour of the spirits. The chief gladly gave him his daughter, happy to have a son law of such distinction.

Many brave sons and beautiful daughters blessed the lodge of the Snake and at last, so the Old ones say, his family became a new tribe-the Pe-sik-na-ta-pe, or Snake Indians.