Discussion:
OT: Boulder's Freak Years and the STP Family
(too old to reply)
Steve from Colorado
2012-10-26 04:35:16 UTC
Permalink
An interesting bit of Boulder history:

http://www.getboulder.com/features-fall-2012/tales-from-boulders-freak-year

When STPers terrorized the town

By Carol Turner

They took nicknames like Deputy Dawg, Goldfinger, Rancid Randy and Patty
Rotten Crotch. They lived in the woods west of Boulder, in tents made of
animal skins, in caves on Mount Sanitas, in dilapidated houses in
Nederland. They subsisted on drugs and booze. They wore rags and
decorated themselves with animal bones and STP oil stickers. They
eschewed bathing. They panhandled, stole things and peddled drugs. They
contributed daily to the job security of law-enforcement officers. They
called themselves the STP family.

Back in the late 1960s, Boulder rivaled San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury
as a destination for hippies. Most were college kids, runaway teenagers
and anti-war activists. On the fringe of that crowd, the STPers were
rougher, more aggressive and sometimes violent. One man who knew most of
the STP family well was Boulder police officer Roy Chastain. Now
retired, Chastain says he probably arrested every one of them at least
once—many multiple times.

Although some say that “STP” meant “Serenity, Tranquility and Peace” or
“Strongest Thing Possible,” or referred to the drug STP, none of it is
true, according to Chastain. He says the group was founded “during a
kegger one night” by three young men, John Kirkland (STP John), Gary
White (STP Bishop) and Bryan Spencer (Little Brother). Chastain
explains: “They put together their astrological signs, which were
Sagittarius, Taurus and Pisces. “

An intimate core membership grew quickly, and the “family” in Boulder
eventually counted up to 200 members. The leader was Kirkland, who came
to Boulder from New Jersey in 1967 at the age of 17. According to the
late author Joe Bageant, who lived and wrote in Boulder at the time,
Kirkland brought with him a group of boozers from New York City, having
convinced them life would be better in the mountains.

Unlike most other STPers, Kirkland was often described in favorable
terms—charismatic, nonviolent, handsome, mystic. He was involved in two
landmark court cases of the period: one related to vagrancy laws
(Goldman v. Knecht) and another involving flag-desecration laws (Fremed
v. Johnson). In both cases, local attorneys backed by the ACLU argued
successfully to overturn laws that were deemed unconstitutional.

From the late 1960s into the '70s, a grimy band of vagrants called the
STP family cut a swath of disorder between Boulder and Nederland.
Law-abiding citizens—whom they disdained as a “great jellyfish
blob”—were scared of them, and for good reason.

Boulder attorney Bob Miller, who represented Kirkland in the vagrancy
case, took on numerous cases on behalf of STP family members. Others who
perhaps appreciated the rebellious nature of STPers, or at least tried
to help them, were Dr. Bob McFarland of the People’s Free Clinic and
Father James McKeown of St. John’s Episcopal Church.

In an article in the Colorado Daily (March 31, 1976), Bageant quoted a
meandering “STP statement” in which STP Doberman John (borrowing a line
from Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test) expressed the STP family’s
view that the “great jellyfish blob of straight souls looked like
hopeless cases…”. In Boulder, those straight souls wanted the street
people gone. Hill merchants lost business; police were being spat on and
pelted with rocks. Folks were afraid. Extremists formed vigilante squads
and attacked at least one hippie camp near Nederland.
Mayhem at the P.I.

The most infamous event involving the STP family was the murder of
19-year-old Guy Goughner, aka Deputy Dawg. On a July night in 1971,
Goughner was raising the usual hell at the Pioneer Inn in Nederland.
Nederland marshal Renner Forbes arrived, stuffed Goughner into his
patrol car, and drove off into the night. Goughner was not seen alive
again. A month later, hunters found his body in a gulch. He’d been shot.
Investigators suspected Forbes but could not prove anything. In 1997,
after an officer discovered Forbes ailing in a Northglenn nursing home,
Forbes finally confessed that he shot Goughner.

Boulder police officer Roy Chastain, now retired, had numerous run-ins
with STPers over the years. Though police characterized the group as
"pukes," Chastain developed good relationships with a few of them.

Although Chastain and some fellow officers routinely referred to the
STPers as “pukes,” he developed a powerful bond with several members. He
recounts the story of John "Jack Walling, known as Smackwater Jack.
Walling, born in 1946, had apparently drifted away from a
family—possibly in Canada—and his two daughters tracked him down in
Boulder in the early 1980s. “He was so proud of them,” Chastain says. “A
few days later I found him dead and frozen to the ground in Central
Park. Jack was a personal favorite of mine, and he had even hand carved
a walking stick for me with my officer number on it which I still have
and will cherish forever.”

Kirkland died a violent death in 1970, aged 20, shot during an argument
by a local man named Robert Coleman. The other two founders died in
1972, both of overdoses. Some family members reportedly headed to New
Orleans a few years later, then on to Santa Fe, Berkeley and Texas.

Today, some survivors have reconnected with one another on the Internet.
Many attended reunions in Oklahoma in 1999 and 2000, and several
websites have appeared where members reminisce about the good and often
bad old days. In a final and perhaps fitting irony, more than one such
site has been harassed repeatedly by an Internet troll.
bates2012
2012-10-28 00:27:22 UTC
Permalink
On Oct 25, 11:35 pm, Steve from Colorado
http://www.getboulder.com/features-fall-2012/tales-from-boulders-frea...
When STPers terrorized the town
By Carol Turner
They took nicknames like Deputy Dawg, Goldfinger, Rancid Randy and Patty
Rotten Crotch. They lived in the woods west of Boulder, in tents made of
animal skins, in caves on Mount Sanitas, in dilapidated houses in
Nederland. They subsisted on drugs and booze. They wore rags and
decorated themselves with animal bones and STP oil stickers. They
eschewed bathing. They panhandled, stole things and peddled drugs. They
contributed daily to the job security of law-enforcement officers. They
called themselves the STP family.
Back in the late 1960s, Boulder rivaled San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury
as a destination for hippies. Most were college kids, runaway teenagers
and anti-war activists. On the fringe of that crowd, the STPers were
rougher, more aggressive and sometimes violent. One man who knew most of
the STP family well was Boulder police officer Roy Chastain. Now
retired, Chastain says he probably arrested every one of them at least
once—many multiple times.
Although some say that “STP” meant “Serenity, Tranquility and Peace” or
“Strongest Thing Possible,” or referred to the drug STP, none of it is
true, according to Chastain. He says the group was founded “during a
kegger one night” by three young men, John Kirkland (STP John), Gary
White (STP Bishop) and Bryan Spencer (Little Brother).  Chastain
explains: “They put together their astrological signs, which were
Sagittarius, Taurus and Pisces. “
An intimate core membership grew quickly, and the “family” in Boulder
eventually counted up to 200 members. The leader was Kirkland, who came
to Boulder from New Jersey in 1967 at the age of 17. According to the
late author Joe Bageant, who lived and wrote in Boulder at the time,
Kirkland brought with him a group of boozers from New York City, having
convinced them life would be better in the mountains.
Unlike most other STPers, Kirkland was often described in favorable
terms—charismatic, nonviolent, handsome, mystic. He was involved in two
landmark court cases of the period: one related to vagrancy laws
(Goldman v. Knecht) and another involving flag-desecration laws (Fremed
v. Johnson). In both cases, local attorneys backed by the ACLU argued
successfully to overturn laws that were deemed unconstitutional.
 From the late 1960s into the '70s, a grimy band of vagrants called the
STP family cut a swath of disorder between Boulder and Nederland.
Law-abiding citizens—whom they disdained as a “great jellyfish
blob”—were scared of them, and for good reason.
Boulder attorney Bob Miller, who represented Kirkland in the vagrancy
case, took on numerous cases on behalf of STP family members. Others who
perhaps appreciated the rebellious nature of STPers, or at least tried
to help them, were Dr. Bob McFarland of the People’s Free Clinic and
Father James McKeown of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
In an article in the Colorado Daily (March 31, 1976), Bageant quoted a
meandering “STP statement” in which STP Doberman John (borrowing a line
from Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test) expressed the STP family’s
view that the “great jellyfish blob of straight souls looked like
hopeless cases…”. In Boulder, those straight souls wanted the street
people gone. Hill merchants lost business; police were being spat on and
pelted with rocks. Folks were afraid. Extremists formed vigilante squads
and attacked at least one hippie camp near Nederland.
Mayhem at the P.I.
The most infamous event involving the STP family was the murder of
19-year-old Guy Goughner, aka Deputy Dawg. On a July night in 1971,
Goughner was raising the usual hell at the Pioneer Inn in Nederland.
Nederland marshal Renner Forbes arrived, stuffed Goughner into his
patrol car, and drove off into the night. Goughner was not seen alive
again. A month later, hunters found his body in a gulch. He’d been shot.
Investigators suspected Forbes but could not prove anything. In 1997,
after an officer discovered Forbes ailing in a Northglenn nursing home,
Forbes finally confessed that he shot Goughner.
Boulder police officer Roy Chastain, now retired, had numerous run-ins
with STPers over the years. Though police characterized the group as
"pukes," Chastain developed good relationships with a few of them.
Although Chastain and some fellow officers routinely referred to the
STPers as “pukes,” he developed a powerful bond with several members. He
recounts the story of John "Jack Walling, known as Smackwater Jack.
Walling, born in 1946, had apparently drifted away from a
family—possibly in Canada—and his two daughters tracked him down in
Boulder in the early 1980s. “He was so proud of them,” Chastain says. “A
few days later I found him dead and frozen to the ground in Central
Park. Jack was a personal favorite of mine, and he had even hand carved
a walking stick for me with my officer number on it which I still have
and will cherish forever.”
Kirkland died a violent death in 1970, aged 20, shot during an argument
by a local man named Robert Coleman. The other two founders died in
1972, both of overdoses. Some family members reportedly headed to New
Orleans a few years later, then on to Santa Fe, Berkeley and Texas.
Today, some survivors have reconnected with one another on the Internet.
Many attended reunions in Oklahoma in 1999 and 2000, and several
websites have appeared where members reminisce about the good and often
bad old days. In a final and perhaps fitting irony, more than one such
site has been harassed repeatedly by an Internet troll.
Interesting story, thanks for posting.
NB
r***@gmail.com
2015-05-23 05:40:16 UTC
Permalink
Post by Steve from Colorado
http://www.getboulder.com/features-fall-2012/tales-from-boulders-freak-year
When STPers terrorized the town
By Carol Turner
They took nicknames like Deputy Dawg, Goldfinger, Rancid Randy and Patty
Rotten Crotch. They lived in the woods west of Boulder, in tents made of
animal skins, in caves on Mount Sanitas, in dilapidated houses in
Nederland. They subsisted on drugs and booze. They wore rags and
decorated themselves with animal bones and STP oil stickers. They
eschewed bathing. They panhandled, stole things and peddled drugs. They
contributed daily to the job security of law-enforcement officers. They
called themselves the STP family.
Back in the late 1960s, Boulder rivaled San Francisco�s Haight-Ashbury
as a destination for hippies. Most were college kids, runaway teenagers
and anti-war activists. On the fringe of that crowd, the STPers were
rougher, more aggressive and sometimes violent. One man who knew most of
the STP family well was Boulder police officer Roy Chastain. Now
retired, Chastain says he probably arrested every one of them at least
once�many multiple times.
Although some say that �STP� meant �Serenity, Tranquility and Peace� or
�Strongest Thing Possible,� or referred to the drug STP, none of it is
true, according to Chastain. He says the group was founded �during a
kegger one night� by three young men, John Kirkland (STP John), Gary
White (STP Bishop) and Bryan Spencer (Little Brother). Chastain
explains: �They put together their astrological signs, which were
Sagittarius, Taurus and Pisces. �
An intimate core membership grew quickly, and the �family� in Boulder
eventually counted up to 200 members. The leader was Kirkland, who came
to Boulder from New Jersey in 1967 at the age of 17. According to the
late author Joe Bageant, who lived and wrote in Boulder at the time,
Kirkland brought with him a group of boozers from New York City, having
convinced them life would be better in the mountains.
Unlike most other STPers, Kirkland was often described in favorable
terms�charismatic, nonviolent, handsome, mystic. He was involved in two
landmark court cases of the period: one related to vagrancy laws
(Goldman v. Knecht) and another involving flag-desecration laws (Fremed
v. Johnson). In both cases, local attorneys backed by the ACLU argued
successfully to overturn laws that were deemed unconstitutional.
From the late 1960s into the '70s, a grimy band of vagrants called the
STP family cut a swath of disorder between Boulder and Nederland.
Law-abiding citizens�whom they disdained as a �great jellyfish
blob��were scared of them, and for good reason.
Boulder attorney Bob Miller, who represented Kirkland in the vagrancy
case, took on numerous cases on behalf of STP family members. Others who
perhaps appreciated the rebellious nature of STPers, or at least tried
to help them, were Dr. Bob McFarland of the People�s Free Clinic and
Father James McKeown of St. John�s Episcopal Church.
In an article in the Colorado Daily (March 31, 1976), Bageant quoted a
meandering �STP statement� in which STP Doberman John (borrowing a line
from Tom Wolfe�s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test) expressed the STP family�s
view that the �great jellyfish blob of straight souls looked like
hopeless cases��. In Boulder, those straight souls wanted the street
people gone. Hill merchants lost business; police were being spat on and
pelted with rocks. Folks were afraid. Extremists formed vigilante squads
and attacked at least one hippie camp near Nederland.
Mayhem at the P.I.
The most infamous event involving the STP family was the murder of
19-year-old Guy Goughner, aka Deputy Dawg. On a July night in 1971,
Goughner was raising the usual hell at the Pioneer Inn in Nederland.
Nederland marshal Renner Forbes arrived, stuffed Goughner into his
patrol car, and drove off into the night. Goughner was not seen alive
again. A month later, hunters found his body in a gulch. He�d been shot.
Investigators suspected Forbes but could not prove anything. In 1997,
after an officer discovered Forbes ailing in a Northglenn nursing home,
Forbes finally confessed that he shot Goughner.
Boulder police officer Roy Chastain, now retired, had numerous run-ins
with STPers over the years. Though police characterized the group as
"pukes," Chastain developed good relationships with a few of them.
Although Chastain and some fellow officers routinely referred to the
STPers as �pukes,� he developed a powerful bond with several members. He
recounts the story of John "Jack Walling, known as Smackwater Jack.
Walling, born in 1946, had apparently drifted away from a
family�possibly in Canada�and his two daughters tracked him down in
Boulder in the early 1980s. �He was so proud of them,� Chastain says. �A
few days later I found him dead and frozen to the ground in Central
Park. Jack was a personal favorite of mine, and he had even hand carved
a walking stick for me with my officer number on it which I still have
and will cherish forever.�
Kirkland died a violent death in 1970, aged 20, shot during an argument
by a local man named Robert Coleman. The other two founders died in
1972, both of overdoses. Some family members reportedly headed to New
Orleans a few years later, then on to Santa Fe, Berkeley and Texas.
Today, some survivors have reconnected with one another on the Internet.
Many attended reunions in Oklahoma in 1999 and 2000, and several
websites have appeared where members reminisce about the good and often
bad old days. In a final and perhaps fitting irony, more than one such
site has been harassed repeatedly by an Internet troll.
It seems as though whoever wrote this really never knew the real STP originals. Yes STP John and Little Brother were two of the originals. Little Brother really died from a broken heart from STP dying. Also this is real nonsense about what the letters STP stand for. Again somebody who does not know trying to act as if they are privy to some information others might not know. The STP comes from a psychedelic named STP. Thus STP family... I won't go into more because only the people who were there know...Also I am so angry about Deputy Dawg.!!!!
D-FENS
2015-05-23 06:06:06 UTC
Permalink
Post by r***@gmail.com
Post by Steve from Colorado
http://www.getboulder.com/features-fall-2012/tales-from-boulders-freak-year
When STPers terrorized the town
By Carol Turner
They took nicknames like Deputy Dawg, Goldfinger, Rancid Randy and Patty
Rotten Crotch. They lived in the woods west of Boulder, in tents made of
animal skins, in caves on Mount Sanitas, in dilapidated houses in
Nederland. They subsisted on drugs and booze. They wore rags and
decorated themselves with animal bones and STP oil stickers. They
eschewed bathing. They panhandled, stole things and peddled drugs. They
contributed daily to the job security of law-enforcement officers. They
called themselves the STP family.
Back in the late 1960s, Boulder rivaled San Francisco�s Haight-Ashbury
as a destination for hippies. Most were college kids, runaway teenagers
and anti-war activists. On the fringe of that crowd, the STPers were
rougher, more aggressive and sometimes violent. One man who knew most of
the STP family well was Boulder police officer Roy Chastain. Now
retired, Chastain says he probably arrested every one of them at least
once�many multiple times.
Although some say that �STP� meant �Serenity, Tranquility and Peace� or
�Strongest Thing Possible,� or referred to the drug STP, none of it is
true, according to Chastain. He says the group was founded �during a
kegger one night� by three young men, John Kirkland (STP John), Gary
White (STP Bishop) and Bryan Spencer (Little Brother). Chastain
explains: �They put together their astrological signs, which were
Sagittarius, Taurus and Pisces. �
An intimate core membership grew quickly, and the �family� in Boulder
eventually counted up to 200 members. The leader was Kirkland, who came
to Boulder from New Jersey in 1967 at the age of 17. According to the
late author Joe Bageant, who lived and wrote in Boulder at the time,
Kirkland brought with him a group of boozers from New York City, having
convinced them life would be better in the mountains.
Unlike most other STPers, Kirkland was often described in favorable
terms�charismatic, nonviolent, handsome, mystic. He was involved in two
landmark court cases of the period: one related to vagrancy laws
(Goldman v. Knecht) and another involving flag-desecration laws (Fremed
v. Johnson). In both cases, local attorneys backed by the ACLU argued
successfully to overturn laws that were deemed unconstitutional.
From the late 1960s into the '70s, a grimy band of vagrants called the
STP family cut a swath of disorder between Boulder and Nederland.
Law-abiding citizens�whom they disdained as a �great jellyfish
blob��were scared of them, and for good reason.
Boulder attorney Bob Miller, who represented Kirkland in the vagrancy
case, took on numerous cases on behalf of STP family members. Others who
perhaps appreciated the rebellious nature of STPers, or at least tried
to help them, were Dr. Bob McFarland of the People�s Free Clinic and
Father James McKeown of St. John�s Episcopal Church.
In an article in the Colorado Daily (March 31, 1976), Bageant quoted a
meandering �STP statement� in which STP Doberman John (borrowing a line
from Tom Wolfe�s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test) expressed the STP family�s
view that the �great jellyfish blob of straight souls looked like
hopeless cases��. In Boulder, those straight souls wanted the street
people gone. Hill merchants lost business; police were being spat on and
pelted with rocks. Folks were afraid. Extremists formed vigilante squads
and attacked at least one hippie camp near Nederland.
Mayhem at the P.I.
The most infamous event involving the STP family was the murder of
19-year-old Guy Goughner, aka Deputy Dawg. On a July night in 1971,
Goughner was raising the usual hell at the Pioneer Inn in Nederland.
Nederland marshal Renner Forbes arrived, stuffed Goughner into his
patrol car, and drove off into the night. Goughner was not seen alive
again. A month later, hunters found his body in a gulch. He�d been shot.
Investigators suspected Forbes but could not prove anything. In 1997,
after an officer discovered Forbes ailing in a Northglenn nursing home,
Forbes finally confessed that he shot Goughner.
Boulder police officer Roy Chastain, now retired, had numerous run-ins
with STPers over the years. Though police characterized the group as
"pukes," Chastain developed good relationships with a few of them.
Although Chastain and some fellow officers routinely referred to the
STPers as �pukes,� he developed a powerful bond with several members. He
recounts the story of John "Jack Walling, known as Smackwater Jack.
Walling, born in 1946, had apparently drifted away from a
family�possibly in Canada�and his two daughters tracked him down in
Boulder in the early 1980s. �He was so proud of them,� Chastain says. �A
few days later I found him dead and frozen to the ground in Central
Park. Jack was a personal favorite of mine, and he had even hand carved
a walking stick for me with my officer number on it which I still have
and will cherish forever.�
Kirkland died a violent death in 1970, aged 20, shot during an argument
by a local man named Robert Coleman. The other two founders died in
1972, both of overdoses. Some family members reportedly headed to New
Orleans a few years later, then on to Santa Fe, Berkeley and Texas.
Today, some survivors have reconnected with one another on the Internet.
Many attended reunions in Oklahoma in 1999 and 2000, and several
websites have appeared where members reminisce about the good and often
bad old days. In a final and perhaps fitting irony, more than one such
site has been harassed repeatedly by an Internet troll.
It seems as though whoever wrote this really never knew the real STP originals. Yes STP John and Little Brother were two of the originals. Little Brother really died from a broken heart from STP dying. Also this is real nonsense about what the letters STP stand for. Again somebody who does not know trying to act as if they are privy to some information others might not know. The STP comes from a psychedelic named STP. Thus STP family... I won't go into more because only the people who were there know...Also I am so angry about Deputy Dawg.!!!!
Thank you for your comments. You come across as someone who was in
Boulder at the time. I remember the STP gang members as being almost
incoherent and selling bad drugs to kids on "The Hill."
--
If you want to offend a conservative tell them a lie.
If you want to offend a liberal tell them the truth.

www.globalgulag.us
b***@gmail.com
2016-05-17 06:19:03 UTC
Permalink
Post by r***@gmail.com
Post by Steve from Colorado
http://www.getboulder.com/features-fall-2012/tales-from-boulders-freak-year
When STPers terrorized the town
By Carol Turner
They took nicknames like Deputy Dawg, Goldfinger, Rancid Randy and Patty
Rotten Crotch. They lived in the woods west of Boulder, in tents made of
animal skins, in caves on Mount Sanitas, in dilapidated houses in
Nederland. They subsisted on drugs and booze. They wore rags and
decorated themselves with animal bones and STP oil stickers. They
eschewed bathing. They panhandled, stole things and peddled drugs. They
contributed daily to the job security of law-enforcement officers. They
called themselves the STP family.
Back in the late 1960s, Boulder rivaled San Francisco�s Haight-Ashbury
as a destination for hippies. Most were college kids, runaway teenagers
and anti-war activists. On the fringe of that crowd, the STPers were
rougher, more aggressive and sometimes violent. One man who knew most of
the STP family well was Boulder police officer Roy Chastain. Now
retired, Chastain says he probably arrested every one of them at least
once�many multiple times.
Although some say that �STP� meant �Serenity, Tranquility and Peace� or
�Strongest Thing Possible,� or referred to the drug STP, none of it is
true, according to Chastain. He says the group was founded �during a
kegger one night� by three young men, John Kirkland (STP John), Gary
White (STP Bishop) and Bryan Spencer (Little Brother). Chastain
explains: �They put together their astrological signs, which were
Sagittarius, Taurus and Pisces. �
An intimate core membership grew quickly, and the �family� in Boulder
eventually counted up to 200 members. The leader was Kirkland, who came
to Boulder from New Jersey in 1967 at the age of 17. According to the
late author Joe Bageant, who lived and wrote in Boulder at the time,
Kirkland brought with him a group of boozers from New York City, having
convinced them life would be better in the mountains.
Unlike most other STPers, Kirkland was often described in favorable
terms�charismatic, nonviolent, handsome, mystic. He was involved in two
landmark court cases of the period: one related to vagrancy laws
(Goldman v. Knecht) and another involving flag-desecration laws (Fremed
v. Johnson). In both cases, local attorneys backed by the ACLU argued
successfully to overturn laws that were deemed unconstitutional.
From the late 1960s into the '70s, a grimy band of vagrants called the
STP family cut a swath of disorder between Boulder and Nederland.
Law-abiding citizens�whom they disdained as a �great jellyfish
blob��were scared of them, and for good reason.
Boulder attorney Bob Miller, who represented Kirkland in the vagrancy
case, took on numerous cases on behalf of STP family members. Others who
perhaps appreciated the rebellious nature of STPers, or at least tried
to help them, were Dr. Bob McFarland of the People�s Free Clinic and
Father James McKeown of St. John�s Episcopal Church.
In an article in the Colorado Daily (March 31, 1976), Bageant quoted a
meandering �STP statement� in which STP Doberman John (borrowing a line
from Tom Wolfe�s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test) expressed the STP family�s
view that the �great jellyfish blob of straight souls looked like
hopeless cases��. In Boulder, those straight souls wanted the street
people gone. Hill merchants lost business; police were being spat on and
pelted with rocks. Folks were afraid. Extremists formed vigilante squads
and attacked at least one hippie camp near Nederland.
Mayhem at the P.I.
The most infamous event involving the STP family was the murder of
19-year-old Guy Goughner, aka Deputy Dawg. On a July night in 1971,
Goughner was raising the usual hell at the Pioneer Inn in Nederland.
Nederland marshal Renner Forbes arrived, stuffed Goughner into his
patrol car, and drove off into the night. Goughner was not seen alive
again. A month later, hunters found his body in a gulch. He�d been shot.
Investigators suspected Forbes but could not prove anything. In 1997,
after an officer discovered Forbes ailing in a Northglenn nursing home,
Forbes finally confessed that he shot Goughner.
Boulder police officer Roy Chastain, now retired, had numerous run-ins
with STPers over the years. Though police characterized the group as
"pukes," Chastain developed good relationships with a few of them.
Although Chastain and some fellow officers routinely referred to the
STPers as �pukes,� he developed a powerful bond with several members. He
recounts the story of John "Jack Walling, known as Smackwater Jack.
Walling, born in 1946, had apparently drifted away from a
family�possibly in Canada�and his two daughters tracked him down in
Boulder in the early 1980s. �He was so proud of them,� Chastain says. �A
few days later I found him dead and frozen to the ground in Central
Park. Jack was a personal favorite of mine, and he had even hand carved
a walking stick for me with my officer number on it which I still have
and will cherish forever.�
Kirkland died a violent death in 1970, aged 20, shot during an argument
by a local man named Robert Coleman. The other two founders died in
1972, both of overdoses. Some family members reportedly headed to New
Orleans a few years later, then on to Santa Fe, Berkeley and Texas.
Today, some survivors have reconnected with one another on the Internet.
Many attended reunions in Oklahoma in 1999 and 2000, and several
websites have appeared where members reminisce about the good and often
bad old days. In a final and perhaps fitting irony, more than one such
site has been harassed repeatedly by an Internet troll.
It seems as though whoever wrote this really never knew the real STP originals. Yes STP John and Little Brother were two of the originals. Little Brother really died from a broken heart from STP dying. Also this is real nonsense about what the letters STP stand for. Again somebody who does not know trying to act as if they are privy to some information others might not know. The STP comes from a psychedelic named STP. Thus STP family... I won't go into more because only the people who were there know...Also I am so angry about Deputy Dawg.!!!!
I knew both...STP was a 3 day trip not for the feeble minded. Run with them
in NY then to Boulder when I got busted first day I arrived...
D-FENS
2016-05-17 22:03:38 UTC
Permalink
Post by b***@gmail.com
Post by r***@gmail.com
Post by Steve from Colorado
http://www.getboulder.com/features-fall-2012/tales-from-boulders-freak-year
When STPers terrorized the town
By Carol Turner
They took nicknames like Deputy Dawg, Goldfinger, Rancid Randy and Patty
Rotten Crotch. They lived in the woods west of Boulder, in tents made of
animal skins, in caves on Mount Sanitas, in dilapidated houses in
Nederland. They subsisted on drugs and booze. They wore rags and
decorated themselves with animal bones and STP oil stickers. They
eschewed bathing. They panhandled, stole things and peddled drugs. They
contributed daily to the job security of law-enforcement officers. They
called themselves the STP family.
Back in the late 1960s, Boulder rivaled San Francisco�s Haight-Ashbury
as a destination for hippies. Most were college kids, runaway teenagers
and anti-war activists. On the fringe of that crowd, the STPers were
rougher, more aggressive and sometimes violent. One man who knew most of
the STP family well was Boulder police officer Roy Chastain. Now
retired, Chastain says he probably arrested every one of them at least
once�many multiple times.
Although some say that �STP� meant �Serenity, Tranquility and Peace� or
�Strongest Thing Possible,� or referred to the drug STP, none of it is
true, according to Chastain. He says the group was founded �during a
kegger one night� by three young men, John Kirkland (STP John), Gary
White (STP Bishop) and Bryan Spencer (Little Brother). Chastain
explains: �They put together their astrological signs, which were
Sagittarius, Taurus and Pisces. �
An intimate core membership grew quickly, and the �family� in Boulder
eventually counted up to 200 members. The leader was Kirkland, who came
to Boulder from New Jersey in 1967 at the age of 17. According to the
late author Joe Bageant, who lived and wrote in Boulder at the time,
Kirkland brought with him a group of boozers from New York City, having
convinced them life would be better in the mountains.
Unlike most other STPers, Kirkland was often described in favorable
terms�charismatic, nonviolent, handsome, mystic. He was involved in two
landmark court cases of the period: one related to vagrancy laws
(Goldman v. Knecht) and another involving flag-desecration laws (Fremed
v. Johnson). In both cases, local attorneys backed by the ACLU argued
successfully to overturn laws that were deemed unconstitutional.
From the late 1960s into the '70s, a grimy band of vagrants called the
STP family cut a swath of disorder between Boulder and Nederland.
Law-abiding citizens�whom they disdained as a �great jellyfish
blob��were scared of them, and for good reason.
Boulder attorney Bob Miller, who represented Kirkland in the vagrancy
case, took on numerous cases on behalf of STP family members. Others who
perhaps appreciated the rebellious nature of STPers, or at least tried
to help them, were Dr. Bob McFarland of the People�s Free Clinic and
Father James McKeown of St. John�s Episcopal Church.
In an article in the Colorado Daily (March 31, 1976), Bageant quoted a
meandering �STP statement� in which STP Doberman John (borrowing a line
from Tom Wolfe�s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test) expressed the STP family�s
view that the �great jellyfish blob of straight souls looked like
hopeless cases��. In Boulder, those straight souls wanted the street
people gone. Hill merchants lost business; police were being spat on and
pelted with rocks. Folks were afraid. Extremists formed vigilante squads
and attacked at least one hippie camp near Nederland.
Mayhem at the P.I.
The most infamous event involving the STP family was the murder of
19-year-old Guy Goughner, aka Deputy Dawg. On a July night in 1971,
Goughner was raising the usual hell at the Pioneer Inn in Nederland.
Nederland marshal Renner Forbes arrived, stuffed Goughner into his
patrol car, and drove off into the night. Goughner was not seen alive
again. A month later, hunters found his body in a gulch. He�d been shot.
Investigators suspected Forbes but could not prove anything. In 1997,
after an officer discovered Forbes ailing in a Northglenn nursing home,
Forbes finally confessed that he shot Goughner.
Boulder police officer Roy Chastain, now retired, had numerous run-ins
with STPers over the years. Though police characterized the group as
"pukes," Chastain developed good relationships with a few of them.
Although Chastain and some fellow officers routinely referred to the
STPers as �pukes,� he developed a powerful bond with several members. He
recounts the story of John "Jack Walling, known as Smackwater Jack.
Walling, born in 1946, had apparently drifted away from a
family�possibly in Canada�and his two daughters tracked him down in
Boulder in the early 1980s. �He was so proud of them,� Chastain says. �A
few days later I found him dead and frozen to the ground in Central
Park. Jack was a personal favorite of mine, and he had even hand carved
a walking stick for me with my officer number on it which I still have
and will cherish forever.�
Kirkland died a violent death in 1970, aged 20, shot during an argument
by a local man named Robert Coleman. The other two founders died in
1972, both of overdoses. Some family members reportedly headed to New
Orleans a few years later, then on to Santa Fe, Berkeley and Texas.
Today, some survivors have reconnected with one another on the Internet.
Many attended reunions in Oklahoma in 1999 and 2000, and several
websites have appeared where members reminisce about the good and often
bad old days. In a final and perhaps fitting irony, more than one such
site has been harassed repeatedly by an Internet troll.
It seems as though whoever wrote this really never knew the real STP originals. Yes STP John and Little Brother were two of the originals. Little Brother really died from a broken heart from STP dying. Also this is real nonsense about what the letters STP stand for. Again somebody who does not know trying to act as if they are privy to some information others might not know. The STP comes from a psychedelic named STP. Thus STP family... I won't go into more because only the people who were there know...Also I am so angry about Deputy Dawg.!!!!
I knew both...STP was a 3 day trip not for the feeble minded. Run with them
in NY then to Boulder when I got busted first day I arrived...
My recollection was that they sniffed paint from putting a sock over
their nose and breathed the fumes to get zoned out. They seemed quite
brain damaged, at least Gold Finger was. They sold bad acid on The
Hill. That's when the Boulder Police Department put a police substation
on The Hill. What did you get busted for?
--
That which men capable of independent thought understood intellectually
decades ago, men less so well endowed, finally, understand viscerally.

They have woken up and smelled the agenda: the ship has an iceberg
embedded in the hull; and it was Political Correctness – or Cultural
Marxism – which put it there.


www.globalgulag.us
s***@ironwareinternational.com
2016-06-18 03:30:31 UTC
Permalink
Anyone remember who it was who, in '69, took all the lugs off the tires of the Boulder cop cars and threw fireworks in front of the police station? I think it was STPJohn.
Stormin Mormon
2016-06-18 11:06:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by s***@ironwareinternational.com
Anyone remember who it was who, in '69, took all the lugs off the tires of the Boulder cop cars and threw fireworks in front of the police station? I think it was STPJohn.
Probably Gunner Asch, starting early on
the Great Cull?
--
.
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
. www.lds.org
.
.
m***@gmail.com
2016-12-30 14:55:01 UTC
Permalink
I knew Goldfinger. He was about the only one who huffed paint at the time. He also loved White Port wine if someone would share it with him. They were all, mostly living at Peaceful Valley, between Ward and Nederland at the time. It mentions them going to New Orleans. The last time I saw T (the little Chicana ) she was in New Orleans. She was getting into Latin American groups kinda thinking, and I heard she joined something like La Raza. I wish them well, those that survived. It's a miracle if Goldfinger is still living. Peace.
m***@gmail.com
2017-01-03 21:11:13 UTC
Permalink
You must've really done something to get busted in those days. Everybody walked about the Hill yelling, "Lids, Acid, Pounds!"
Roy Chatain evicted us from a house some young guy let us crash in. His mom came home early and found us. I had a full ounce of Acapulco Gold. He took it. I asked him about a week later where my weed was. He said, " I flushed it in front of the lady of the house." I wanted it back. 🤣
Steve from Colorado
2017-01-04 00:17:32 UTC
Permalink
Post by m***@gmail.com
You must've really done something to get busted in those days. Everybody walked about the Hill yelling, "Lids, Acid, Pounds!"
Roy Chatain evicted us from a house some young guy let us crash in. His mom came home early and found us. I had a full ounce of Acapulco Gold. He took it. I asked him about a week later where my weed was. He said, " I flushed it in front of the lady of the house." I wanted it back. 🤣
Clancy Sheehy of the Brillig Bookworks bookstore commented to me once
how he despised Timothy Leary for turning on all these teenagers to LSD;
saying the kids needed to discover who they were before taking mind
altering psychedelics. A lot of drug dealers must have earned some very
bad karma for their role in destroying people's lives for profit. In
some sense, they helped create this fucked up "Homeland" that now passes
for America.
--
www.globalgulag.us
c***@gmail.com
2018-01-14 23:03:15 UTC
Permalink
This is Lucky. I was with family in Boulder,S.F. and N.M. Kat was my old lady. Let me just say that some you who have been posting don't know shit from shinola!
n***@gmail.com
2019-10-29 00:33:49 UTC
Permalink
I was in NY with Crystal and Frank. They went west, I went south to Louisiana delta, then NO, then SF. Kokomo joe, weezer, and a few others in Berkeley. Haven't seen or heard of them in decades.
Cat Daddy
2021-05-07 21:33:17 UTC
Permalink
Post by Steve from Colorado
Post by m***@gmail.com
You must've really done something to get busted in those days. Everybody walked about the Hill yelling, "Lids, Acid, Pounds!"
Roy Chatain evicted us from a house some young guy let us crash in. His mom came home early and found us. I had a full ounce of Acapulco Gold. He took it. I asked him about a week later where my weed was. He said, " I flushed it in front of the lady of the house." I wanted it back. 🤣
Clancy Sheehy of the Brillig Bookworks bookstore commented to me once
how he despised Timothy Leary for turning on all these teenagers to LSD;
saying the kids needed to discover who they were before taking mind
altering psychedelics. A lot of drug dealers must have earned some very
bad karma for their role in destroying people's lives for profit. In
some sense, they helped create this fucked up "Homeland" that now passes
for America.
--
www.globalgulag.us
Duque
2021-05-07 22:49:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by Steve from Colorado
Post by m***@gmail.com
You must've really done something to get busted in those days. Everybody walked about the Hill yelling, "Lids, Acid, Pounds!"
Roy Chatain evicted us from a house some young guy let us crash in. His mom came home early and found us. I had a full ounce of Acapulco Gold. He took it. I asked him about a week later where my weed was. He said, " I flushed it in front of the lady of the house." I wanted it back. 🤣
Clancy Sheehy of the Brillig Bookworks bookstore commented to me once
how he despised Timothy Leary for turning on all these teenagers to LSD;
saying the kids needed to discover who they were before taking mind
altering psychedelics. A lot of drug dealers must have earned some very
bad karma for their role in destroying people's lives for profit. In
some sense, they helped create this fucked up "Homeland" that now passes
for America.
--
www.globalgulag.us
Here's a trip down memory lane:

https://www.dailycamera.com/2019/06/16/asteroid-icarus-triggered-1968-boulder-hippie-invasion/
--
Build Back Better Means Destroy More Quickly

https://www.globalgulag.us
m***@gmail.com
2016-12-30 15:03:30 UTC
Permalink
I knew most of them. I knew Deputy Dawg, STP John, and Bishop. Bishop died in our house at 5th and Canyon. And of course, Goldfinger. He never was far from a paint shop. We let him crash in our old condemned house at times. He was a deep guy. He came in one night and told us the cops had jacked him up and he ate a gram of MDA. We were like, 'ok, we can do a gram of MDA.' But he didn't tell us he'd eaten 7 grams of MDA! He went into convulsions in the people upstairs apartment and died. His mom and brother came to his funeral and visited us a while at the house. His mom seemed to be a very enlightened lady. She told me Bishop and I had the same birthday, May 1, a year a part. I broke down and cried with her. My first (legal) name is also Gary. We went to his funeral but left before the cops raided it. The cops came to the cemetery and gassed and beat the shit out of everybody they could. I went back to his grave years later and poured some Platte Valley whiskey on his grave. RIP Bro.
Steve from Colorado
2016-12-30 23:48:04 UTC
Permalink
Post by m***@gmail.com
I knew most of them. I knew Deputy Dawg, STP John, and Bishop. Bishop died in our house at 5th and Canyon. And of course, Goldfinger. He never was far from a paint shop. We let him crash in our old condemned house at times. He was a deep guy. He came in one night and told us the cops had jacked him up and he ate a gram of MDA. We were like, 'ok, we can do a gram of MDA.' But he didn't tell us he'd eaten 7 grams of MDA! He went into convulsions in the people upstairs apartment and died. His mom and brother came to his funeral and visited us a while at the house. His mom seemed to be a very enlightened lady. She told me Bishop and I had the same birthday, May 1, a year a part. I broke down and cried with her. My first (legal) name is also Gary. We went to his funeral but left before the cops raided it. The cops came to the cemetery and gassed and beat the shit out of everybody they could. I went back to his grave years later and poured some Platte Valley whiskey on his grave. RIP Bro.
I've worked on recording the history of Boulder in that time frame,
parts of which are in the Carnegie Library as audio tapes. I'd be very
interested in communicating with you off line. You sound like a wealth
of information about the STP gang. I'd like to add your comments to my
written manuscript about Boulder in the '60s and early '70s. I will
eventually publish it through Amazon. Please try reaching me at
***@nym.hush.com. [remove periods after hisler, but not after
m***@gmail.com
2016-12-31 03:13:31 UTC
Permalink
What's your email again? It all didn't post.
Cat Daddy
2021-05-07 21:27:18 UTC
Permalink
Post by m***@gmail.com
What's your email again? It all didn't post.
m***@gmail.com
2016-12-31 03:20:30 UTC
Permalink
After mcwilliam ya put ***@gmail.com
Don
2016-12-30 23:55:40 UTC
Permalink
On Fri, 30 Dec 2016 07:03:30 -0800 (PST),
Post by m***@gmail.com
I knew most of them. I knew Deputy Dawg, STP John, and Bishop. Bishop died in our house at 5th and Canyon. And of course, Goldfinger. He never was far from a paint shop. We let him crash in our old condemned house at times. He was a deep guy. He came in one night and told us the cops had jacked him up and he ate a gram of MDA. We were like, 'ok, we can do a gram of MDA.' But he didn't tell us he'd eaten 7 grams of MDA! He went into convulsions in the people upstairs apartment and died. His mom and brother came to his funeral and visited us a while at the house. His mom seemed to be a very enlightened lady. She told me Bishop and I had the same birthday, May 1, a year a part. I broke down and cried with her. My first (legal) name is also Gary. We went to his funeral but left before the cops raided it. The cops came to the cemetery and gassed and beat the shit out of everybody they could. I went back to his grave years later and poured some Platte Valley whiskey on his grave. RIP Bro.
Guessing that the above-type survivors would appreciate the novel I
stumbled upon, The Magicians Tale, by David Hunt.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/626156.The_Magician_s_Tale

About a straight female photographer, who sees only in black and
white, who lives alone in San Francisco, particularly attracted by
lifestyles of gays on the streets and in police work. Marvenously
written by someone who has received book awards, yet remains
anonymous, it seems (probably he's gay?). Novel reveals unusual
abilities of the photographer to capture insights on film. And follow
clue that are not obvious.
CanopyCo
2016-12-31 16:23:51 UTC
Permalink
Post by m***@gmail.com
I knew most of them. I knew Deputy Dawg, STP John, and Bishop. Bishop died in our house at 5th and Canyon. And of course, Goldfinger. He never was far from a paint shop. We let him crash in our old condemned house at times. He was a deep guy. He came in one night and told us the cops had jacked him up and he ate a gram of MDA. We were like, 'ok, we can do a gram of MDA.' But he didn't tell us he'd eaten 7 grams of MDA! He went into convulsions in the people upstairs apartment and died. His mom and brother came to his funeral and visited us a while at the house. His mom seemed to be a very enlightened lady. She told me Bishop and I had the same birthday, May 1, a year a part. I broke down and cried with her. My first (legal) name is also Gary. We went to his funeral but left before the cops raided it. The cops came to the cemetery and gassed and beat the shit out of everybody they could. I went back to his grave years later and poured some Platte Valley whiskey on his grave. RIP Bro.
And then the cops wonder why they are not more popular.

:-/
b***@gmail.com
2016-10-26 02:45:07 UTC
Permalink
Post by Steve from Colorado
http://www.getboulder.com/features-fall-2012/tales-from-boulders-freak-year
When STPers terrorized the town
By Carol Turner
They took nicknames like Deputy Dawg, Goldfinger, Rancid Randy and Patty
Rotten Crotch. They lived in the woods west of Boulder, in tents made of
animal skins, in caves on Mount Sanitas, in dilapidated houses in
Nederland. They subsisted on drugs and booze. They wore rags and
decorated themselves with animal bones and STP oil stickers. They
eschewed bathing. They panhandled, stole things and peddled drugs. They
contributed daily to the job security of law-enforcement officers. They
called themselves the STP family.
Back in the late 1960s, Boulder rivaled San Francisco�s Haight-Ashbury
as a destination for hippies. Most were college kids, runaway teenagers
and anti-war activists. On the fringe of that crowd, the STPers were
rougher, more aggressive and sometimes violent. One man who knew most of
the STP family well was Boulder police officer Roy Chastain. Now
retired, Chastain says he probably arrested every one of them at least
once�many multiple times.
Although some say that �STP� meant �Serenity, Tranquility and Peace� or
�Strongest Thing Possible,� or referred to the drug STP, none of it is
true, according to Chastain. He says the group was founded �during a
kegger one night� by three young men, John Kirkland (STP John), Gary
White (STP Bishop) and Bryan Spencer (Little Brother). Chastain
explains: �They put together their astrological signs, which were
Sagittarius, Taurus and Pisces. �
An intimate core membership grew quickly, and the �family� in Boulder
eventually counted up to 200 members. The leader was Kirkland, who came
to Boulder from New Jersey in 1967 at the age of 17. According to the
late author Joe Bageant, who lived and wrote in Boulder at the time,
Kirkland brought with him a group of boozers from New York City, having
convinced them life would be better in the mountains.
Unlike most other STPers, Kirkland was often described in favorable
terms�charismatic, nonviolent, handsome, mystic. He was involved in two
landmark court cases of the period: one related to vagrancy laws
(Goldman v. Knecht) and another involving flag-desecration laws (Fremed
v. Johnson). In both cases, local attorneys backed by the ACLU argued
successfully to overturn laws that were deemed unconstitutional.
From the late 1960s into the '70s, a grimy band of vagrants called the
STP family cut a swath of disorder between Boulder and Nederland.
Law-abiding citizens�whom they disdained as a �great jellyfish
blob��were scared of them, and for good reason.
Boulder attorney Bob Miller, who represented Kirkland in the vagrancy
case, took on numerous cases on behalf of STP family members. Others who
perhaps appreciated the rebellious nature of STPers, or at least tried
to help them, were Dr. Bob McFarland of the People�s Free Clinic and
Father James McKeown of St. John�s Episcopal Church.
In an article in the Colorado Daily (March 31, 1976), Bageant quoted a
meandering �STP statement� in which STP Doberman John (borrowing a line
from Tom Wolfe�s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test) expressed the STP family�s
view that the �great jellyfish blob of straight souls looked like
hopeless cases��. In Boulder, those straight souls wanted the street
people gone. Hill merchants lost business; police were being spat on and
pelted with rocks. Folks were afraid. Extremists formed vigilante squads
and attacked at least one hippie camp near Nederland.
Mayhem at the P.I.
The most infamous event involving the STP family was the murder of
19-year-old Guy Goughner, aka Deputy Dawg. On a July night in 1971,
Goughner was raising the usual hell at the Pioneer Inn in Nederland.
Nederland marshal Renner Forbes arrived, stuffed Goughner into his
patrol car, and drove off into the night. Goughner was not seen alive
again. A month later, hunters found his body in a gulch. He�d been shot.
Investigators suspected Forbes but could not prove anything. In 1997,
after an officer discovered Forbes ailing in a Northglenn nursing home,
Forbes finally confessed that he shot Goughner.
Boulder police officer Roy Chastain, now retired, had numerous run-ins
with STPers over the years. Though police characterized the group as
"pukes," Chastain developed good relationships with a few of them.
Although Chastain and some fellow officers routinely referred to the
STPers as �pukes,� he developed a powerful bond with several members. He
recounts the story of John "Jack Walling, known as Smackwater Jack.
Walling, born in 1946, had apparently drifted away from a
family�possibly in Canada�and his two daughters tracked him down in
Boulder in the early 1980s. �He was so proud of them,� Chastain says. �A
few days later I found him dead and frozen to the ground in Central
Park. Jack was a personal favorite of mine, and he had even hand carved
a walking stick for me with my officer number on it which I still have
and will cherish forever.�
Kirkland died a violent death in 1970, aged 20, shot during an argument
by a local man named Robert Coleman. The other two founders died in
1972, both of overdoses. Some family members reportedly headed to New
Orleans a few years later, then on to Santa Fe, Berkeley and Texas.
Today, some survivors have reconnected with one another on the Internet.
Many attended reunions in Oklahoma in 1999 and 2000, and several
websites have appeared where members reminisce about the good and often
bad old days. In a final and perhaps fitting irony, more than one such
site has been harassed repeatedly by an Internet troll.
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