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Old 08-29-2008, 10:19 PM  
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The Hippie Golf Course and Apts.

On the northeast corner of Sessoms and LBJ where a shopping center now stands there was once (late 60's to 75) an abandoned miniature golf course. Behind it was an old house that was the hospital during the Civil War (according to an historical plaque). There were three other buildings with apartments in them (all totaled I think there were ten). They were old and funky, perfect for hippies. The clubs and balls for the golf course were still there and it was in good condition for playing. A round stoned was lots of fun but on acid it was awesome and mystical. A metaphor for life and the hidden repository of the secret sound key to the universe. When the wind blew through the little windmill just right it made the sound ommmmm. This little community was off limits to the smpd and they knew it. Weed was sold and smoked openly and there was an occasional acid party, usually with a large illegal bonfire. Munchies could be had at the Sac-N-Pac across LBJ or at Jon Bones (now Grins). The little house next to the sacypac briefly became Lucky Daniel's Bar. I don't think it lasted over four months. It was later the location of the first Schlotzsky's in town and then a short lived boutique and Wet Dreams Dive Shop after that. Plans for the shopping center brought an end to this little paradise in early 75. It was another ten years before construction actually began.
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Old 08-30-2008, 09:31 AM  
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The Marijuana Mansion

Located on the little triangular block bordered by Hopkins, Moore and North streets was a large old house that in it's prime must have been a real treasure. Unfortunately it had been allowed to deteriorate, historic preservation had not yet become popular. By the late 60's it was Animal House material. There were rumors that it was haunted but that's always conjecture. It did look like a haunted house. The condition of the place meant cheap rent and naturally hippies took up residence. It was loud and smoke filled most of the time. I never hung out there because it seemed like a hot spot in a busy location. I went there with a friend once to buy a pound. As we drove up we could see the stacks of lbs through the windows from the street. I guess the tenants weren't as paranoid as I was. I was told that the place was damaged (on purpose - as a diversion?) during the filming of "The Getaway", and torn down soon after. It was replaced by a used car lot. Urban renewal.
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Old 08-31-2008, 08:42 AM  
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Botany 420 - Merry Pranksters

Your everyday mexican stash tends to be very seedy. True now and back in the 70s. It wasn't worth the trouble or risk of growing for use or profit when better seed was available. Since lots of this average seed was available something useful had to be done with it. It was decided that the campus needed greening. A favorite planting bed was under the SWTSU sign on the rock wall on LBJ below the old student union. At times up to five pounds of seeds were mixed in the soil. Early spring was the best time. We assumed the grounds crew knew what was going on because they appeared to maintain the plants. It's possible that the sheer number of plants and their rapid growth just impressed them and they didn't know. Marijuana doesn't look strange or illegal in the vegatative state. In any case they were usually pruned like a short hedge and most students didn't even notice. It wasn't until the Weather Report (local underground paper) ran a photo of them when they were in the more recognizable flowering state that they were removed. Seeding continued there for years. Another favorite location was the flower bed outside the window of the campus police office when it was in Old Main. This was usually done a handful at a time. A protest, a message and an embarassing photo. The hedge along the old gym (now the music bldg) on LBJ was pretty scraggly. It was filled in quite nicely with maryjane. Looked a hell of a lot better. There were numerous other locations on campus, and around town, that were seeded regularly. The best places were where they would be watered routinely. The stories of just throwing out seeds and coming back nine months later to harvest a crop have always been a lot of bull.
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Old 08-31-2008, 02:06 PM  
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redneck, beer drinking, dope smoker

i never was a hippie but looking back over the years i think they were the best people to have ever lived here. when yoda(?) said 'there is no try, do', i had a whoa! moment. i'd heard a hippie say about the same thing round 75. there were clogged up creekbeds and overgrown woods that something needed to be done about. he didn't go to the city council, try to get it listed, studied, funded, scheduled. he just started doing it. he did it for 20 years that i know of. might still be doing it. point is he did what needed to be done. a lot of hippies were like that. if you needed something and you connected with the 'grapevine' it got to you. if something needed to be undone, they could come up with embarassing conflict of interest or other info. they didn't win every battle but they never backed down. if half the people who put them down were half as good as the hippies this town would be twice as nice. pardon the high school yearbook rhetoric.
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Old 09-16-2008, 03:43 PM  
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Black Hole

Quote:
Originally Posted by blanket View Post
I have tried for weeks to get dates specific to the events of which you speak on this thread to fill in all the blanks. San Marcos in the 60s and 70s is a black hole on the net.
Neither the Daily Wreckord nor the University Star have seen fit to archive the 60s or 70s on the net. Microfilm at the library is full of holes, some pages/articles are blanked out.
Only individuals with old papers can provide what little and vague info was published on things like: the burning of the ROTC building, anti Viet Nam war protest marches, the removal of the dean of students, the war between blacks and Vietnamese at Camp Gary (the Vietnamese by all accounts won), the gang rape in the mud of the drained pond around the speech and drama building (late 70s), etc. It's been swept under the rug.

There is a thesis on file about the McCrocklin dissertation plagiarism:
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/cgi/view...ontext=histtad

And an article on the "San Marcos 10", 30 years later:
http://www.freedomforum.org/template...cumentID=15242

Other sites with some local history have disappeared recently, not necessarily in a suspicious manner. Just what happens to small sites with little or no traffic.
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Old 09-17-2008, 12:03 PM  
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pollution solution

Among the many swept under the rug items in SM is the infamous wide-lite solvent pollution at the closed dump by Camp Gary. An Austin news crew covering the closing of the dump accidentally discovered a truck dumping solvent (pcb) there and took a sample. What little local coverage there was amounted to damage control. As I recall they did not have permits to use and certainly not to dump pcb. The city water pumps were very close. I know a lot of people who started drinking bottled water then and still do. Apparently the illegal dumping had gone on for years.
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Old 09-17-2008, 01:18 PM  
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Gang rapes, riots, burning buildings, toxic dumping, yeah, those sound like the good ol' days.

How can we get back to that?
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Old 09-17-2008, 02:22 PM  
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Good Ol' Days

"Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it."
also cited as-
"Those who do not learn from the past, are condemned to repeat it."

"We" aren't trying to get back to the past, we want everyone to learn from the good and the bad to make a better future. Ignoring what was bad invites the repeating as warned by George Santayana.

It's unfortunate but true that much of the best change comes only in reaction to bad circumstances. In the long run bush the lesser may have done more for clean energy, clean air and a green economy than all the activists of the last forty years. Where could we be now had we gone down that road forty years ago. Even T. Boone Pickens has seen the light and probably a chance to make a lot of money in a bright green future. Nothing wrong with profit if it helps us all.
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Old 09-17-2008, 02:45 PM  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by toerontoe View Post
Even T. Boone Pickens has seen the light and probably a chance to make a lot of money in a bright green future. Nothing wrong with profit if it helps us all.
T. Boone Pickens has found a way to pump West Texas dry if he can get the right of way cleared through power lines for wind power. After Senator Duncan (State Senator Lubbock) fixes the loophole Pickens got put in the electricty bill let's see how much enthusiasim he keeps for wind power.
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Old 09-17-2008, 04:04 PM  
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War For Wind

Texas isn't the only place with wind.
Pickens is just an example of the fact that at long last alternative and clean energy are finally being encouraged, accepted and invested on a large scale.
His personal success or failure is of no interest to me.
Solar and wind power are as clean as we're going to get.
Specifics are for the specialists, investors and nitpickers.

Point is, this is another thing the damn hippies were right about so long ago.
(Just to tie this back into the thread.)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...DG1UPIHBB1.DTL
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