Kesey sign takes me back in time and up to the top of Mt. Pisgah
It was just a simple sign on a wooden pole, the kind a protester or picketer might carry. But the sight of it swept me back four decades to another time and place — and to the memory of the remarkable man who carried it.
I saw the sign a couple of weeks ago at a gathering of former Register-Guard reporters and editors who are planning a reunion later this month of what we wistfully call “The RG Golden Era,” when our workplace was one of the most creative, dynamic, cutting-edge, and all-around finest daily newspapers on the West Coast.
The sign, a vertical rectangle of cardboard on a varnished brown pole, was leaning against a lobby window of the former Register-Guard headquarters on Chad Drive, where the reunion will be held. On one side of the sign, in bold black letters, were the words: “The Eugene Register-Guard is a sleazy cheapshot rag…and I’m suing them for $4,000,000!” The other side read: “…Ditto the Eugene Police Department!” Under those words was a jaunty and unmistakable signature—as jaunty and unmistakable as the great Oregon author himself: “Ken Kesey.”
— Paul Neville
Read the complete post at Paul Neville’s blog.
The members of The Register-Guard Reunion Steering Committee are Ann Baker Mack, Donovan Mack, Paul Neville, Lloyd Paseman, Dean Rea, Mike Thoele and Sandy Thoele.
They can be reached at the email address [email protected].