Mailbag: Working poor need help, donations

Who are the working poor families? Most often, they are heads of families who work hard but receive only minimum wages, or ones who have lost their jobs in these challenging economic times.

The Laguna Resource Center is providing food for these families so that they allocate their non-existent or meager incomes to their rent and not add to our homeless population.

It’s time to restock the Laguna Resource Center with food, toiletries and other non-food items.

Through April, collection boxes will be outside the rear doors of the Laguna Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall on Sundays and in the church office during the week at 415 Forest Ave.

Please bring:

?Food: cereal, cooking oil, tuna, rice, beans, macaroni, soup, crackers, canned vegetables, pasta and sauce, oatmeal.

?Toiletries: shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, razors, lotion.

?Non-food: toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap, laundry detergent, scrubbing pads, cleaners, bleach, men’s socks.

Also, the center is collecting clothes. If you have clothing to deliver, call the center at (949) 497-7121 to arrange a time to drop off.

For more information, call Rick Shoemaker at (949) 497-9104.

DIANA CULLINGS

Laguna Beach

1970 concert was not as described

Here we go again regarding rock concerts, or as Yogi Berra said “It’s like deja vu all over again!”

My wife, Judy, and I drove down from Newport Beach to attend that 1970 Sycamore Hills concert you described as 25,000 hippies all fueled on Orange Sunshine acid. (“Drop in and turn on,” April 2.)

We came that day with two of my male friends in their VW bus, our bicycles on top as we knew that you had to use something other than a motorized vehicle to transport yourselves those four uphill miles or so, and then the ride back downhill. There weren’t any parking meters downtown then, so we parked near Laguna Beach City Hall and rode slowly up the canyon not sure what to expect.

Then, too, we had heard on the radio about the police roadblocks around El Toro Road and Laguna Canyon Road. Yes, we did have some great oil-based Afghani “Primo” hashish, but no, we did not ingest any psychedelics. I think that the number of attendees has been exaggerated as has the percentage of people on psychedelics.

Something I’ve never seen mentioned were the dynamics of those roadblocks. There were several local cops plus Sheriff’s Department men and women. Also, several people in suits described to us as ACLU attorneys.

We were told that if we had drugs we could throw them into the open field on the right side as you turn up El Toro, and we would not be arrested and/or prosecuted.

They explicitly said that even if we had heroin, the ACLU attorneys were there as witnesses to ensure no one would be rousted.

If you decided to risk it, you could proceed but once past the barricades you were subject to being searched and would be arrested if in possession of anything illegal, including alcohol.

We were relatively straight-looking, took a common deep breath and walked our bikes right on past them. No one stopped or searched us.

As a nascent guitar player and lead singer myself, I was amused by how funky the whole concert setup was, kind of “Mickey-Mouse” really. And plopping down upon hard rocky dirt in rough steep terrain, this natural amphitheater with basically coastal sage scrub and cactus everywhere, even sitting was risky business so we stood most of the time.

It was basically pretty uncomfortable, and poorly organized at that.

I came because I wanted to see drummer Buddy Miles, who had joined my personal god Jimi Hendrix’s newly formed Band of Gypsies shortly before Hendrix’s death in September of that same year.

I have no recollection of acid being dropped in bulk from the sky, something I think I’d remember.

It was a pretty crappy sound system, too, so we left after about four hours, many of the promised bands obviously bailing out or perhaps they never intended to be there. That “guess who’s playing” rumor mill was some of the fun, the mystery of not knowing who would show up.

Last, I would like to provide my perception of Orange Sunshine acid. For me and my crowd, that stuff was totally bogus.

Frankly, I’m not sure why so many are nostalgic or write about Orange Sunshine as if it was the No. 1 substance of choice for psychedelic warriors. Like everything else nostalgic, maybe time has fogged up or erased their memories.

ROGER VON BÃœTOW

Laguna Beach