Yearly Archives: 2012

Due to requests for information regarding an upcoming skiing trip in New Mexico here’s the scoop:

The ski resorts at Angel Fire and Red River are both now making snow 7 days a week. December 14^th is the official opening day for both resorts and Red River is already open on weekends.

Rooms at the historic St. James Hotel in Cimarron are $79 per night for two including a full breakfast buffet every morning. For reservations call  (575) 376-2664. Angel Fire is 30 minutes from the hotel and Red River is 45 minutes away, driving through some of the most beautiful country you’ll ever see.

If you go, tell em the Original Buffalo Dale sent you.

   Something that’s been on my mind lately………..

Down The Road with the Original Buffalo Dale

Welcome back. This week’s story started two years ago in Taos, New Mexico. While visiting the area movie star Dennis Hopper died. People from all walks of life came to Taos which is where Hopper wanted to be buried. Although he was not originally from New Mexico he had fallen in love with the Taos community years before while filming the cult classic Easy Rider in the area. He eventually bought a home there and spent as much of his free time in Taos as possible. But this story is not about Dennis Hopper’s death, or Taos or the mountains. It is about timber; pine to be exact.

With all his success Dennis Hopper could have been buried like Michael Jackson whose casket cost an estimated $30,000 but Hopper chose a plain pine box.  His brother runs a jewelry shop on the Taos square and he and I became friendly several years ago. He told me Hopper could have been buried anywhere in the world and in any kind of casket but he wanted something simple.

His burial in a pine box interested me at the time and with the recent passing of several friends I decided to do some investigating and see what I could learn about this very basic approach to burial.

I learned that while some states require a more sophisticated casket in Oklahoma you can be buried in a pine box. All of our local cemeteries require a concrete liner to put the box in except for Ochelata Free Cemetery. After checking local casket prices I found they can range from $2,000 to $5,500 for standard caskets.  The cheapest caskets are made in China and look like wood even though they are actually a type of plastic?

Cloth caskets are also inexpensive. On the other end of the spectrum are custom made caskets covered in cowhide, alligator and just about everything else. These can run into the thousands.

If that’s not your style, there’s a “green” cemetery in Stillwater where they simply dig a hole and lay your body in it, wrapped only in a biodegradable sheet.

I also discovered that you if want to be buried in another state you can pre-arrange to have your body driven there in a friend’s truck or van. Another question you may ask is can you be buried on your own land? In Oklahoma the answer is “yes” but your surviving kin will be required to disclose this if the land is sold.

After checking further I found out that you don’t have to buy your casket from a funeral home. I spoke with several local contractors who all assured me that for $500 they could build anyone a nice pine box, with or without handles which is fine with the funeral homes. At Overlees Woods Lumber I estimated that a person could build their own box for less than $150 and that’s also OK in Oklahoma.

The bottom line is build your own box, buy a shovel to dig a really deep hole and leave instructions that you are to be buried with 24 hours to save embalming costs and that there should be no marker. The entire burial should be less than $300 if your friends fill in the hole.

I leave you this week with shovel in hand. Till next time I’ll see ya down the road…

 I am sorry that I have not been posting lately. I have been on the road but I’m home now and will posting something new for the next few days. Thanks for your support.

Welcome back. This week I’m taking you along on my travels to the port city of Baltimore, Maryland where I have just arrived as you read this. The city was named for the Englishman Lord Baltimore who was one of the founding fathers in 1729 and served as the first Proprietary Governor of Maryland. Baltimore played a key role in the American Revolution and also during the War of 1812 when the English called the city “a nest of pirates.”

After the British army burned Washington, D.C. they sailed and marched to Baltimore where they met strong resistance from both militia forces and residents who bombarded them with pots and pans after their ammunition ran out.

When he made land the British Commander General Ross told his men “I will win this battle or I eat dinner in hell tonight.” He was killed a few hours later.

Francis Scott Key was a witness to this battle inspiring him to write the poem which later became the lyrics of our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.”

In the following years the city grew as commerce increased with both Europe and the west. During the Civil War Maryland remained part of the union and slavery was outlawed in the state in 1864. Then in 1904 a tragic fire (The Great Baltimore Fire) destroyed over 1500 structures, in 30 hours. Remarkably the city was rebuilt within two years and was once again a prosperous shipping center.

Over the years the economic base in Baltimore has shifted from manufacturing to service oriented businesses. The redevelopment of the inner harbor created an important draw for tourists and the city is also home to Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital and Medical Center attracting students and patients from around the world. The University was founded in 1876 with a mission to advance research and scholarship. Today Johns Hopkins remains a world leader in teaching and research. Together, the University, Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Medical Center are Maryland’s largest employers and contribute over $10 billion annually to the state’s economy.

First up on my itinerary tomorrow is a visit to the Medical Center and then I plan to tour the harbor area. I have visited many seaports and I understand that Baltimore’s is second to none. After that I plan to check out some of their great museums.

I’ll be here a few days so next week be looking for more info from this historical town. If all goes well I hope to be reporting from the north shore of Long Island

Sound next week where the fall foliage is just starting to bring in “ tourists from all over. The colorful leaves, the smell of saltwater and the natural beauty of the Connecticut shore have made the historical town of Madison a destination for travelers, going back to the Revolutionary era when the British tried to take it too.

Till next time I’ll see ya down the road…..

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Sources:  www.bycitylight.com  and  www.jhu.edu

While I was making my travel plans for the film festival a car wreck let me without a vehicle to get there-fortunately Enterprise Rent-A-Car came to my rescue. Stay tuned for more information about the history of this great company.

          Down The Road with the Original Buffalo Dale

Welcome back. This week I’m introducing my own quality rating system which I will be using to score the films I saw at the 2012 Telluride Film Festival. The system uses a sliding scale of 1 to 5 buffalo with 5 being the best rating and  1 being the worst.

“At Any Price” tells the story of a fourth generation farmer who resorts to “scams, bribes and under-the-table deals” in order to hold onto the family farm. Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron star in a film that explores both a troubled family relationship and the impact of globalization and large corporations         on farming in America. I give it 3 buffalos.

Marilyn Monroe may be even more famous today than she was at the time of her death in 1964. “Love Marilyn” is a documentary featuring readings from her personal diaries which provide insight into the many dimensions of this complex person from her creative drive to her difficult relationships with men. The film includes never-before-seen footage from the estates of playwright Arthur Miller (Monroe’s third husband) and Truman Capote. In my opinion this is a must-see for die hard fans but it’s a 2 buffalos for your average viewer.

“Rust and Bone” is a love story about the romance between a single father(Matthias Schoenarts) struggling to care for his young son and a young woman (Marion Cotillard) who suffers a crippling injury.  The film is worth seeing for the setting on France’s Cote D’Azur alone. It is in French with English subtitles so it can be hard to follow at times but I still give it 3 buffalos.

“The Central Park Five” is the true story of a white female executive who was assaulted and raped by five teenage black boys in 1989 while jogging in Central Park. Written, directed and produced by Ken Burns with his daughter Sarah Burns and David McMahon. “The Central Park Five” reveals the details of a terrible crime, a highly biased investigation and tense race relations in New York City. 3 ½ buffalos.

Reviews were mixed for “A Royal Affair”. Set in 16^th century Denmark, the film is based on a novel by Bodil Steensenleth about an adulterous affair between the court physician and the Queen. Despite many plot twists and turns and the historical interest of the piece it rated 2 buffalos.

The title “No” was taken from the slogan developed by a Chilean advertising executive as part of a campaign to defeat the dictator Augusto Pinochet during the 1988 elections. “No” is in Spanish, again with English subtitles, but it is worth the price of admission just to see the guts it took for the Chilean people to defy Pinochet. Another 2 buffalos.

If you like murder and lots of it  I hear you will definitely enjoy “The Iceman”, a realistic depiction of a man leading a double life, on the one hand a devout Catholic and devoted family man and on the other, an assassin for the Mafia who is responsible for over 100 murders. The cast includes Michael Shannon, Ray Liotta and Wynona Ryder. It looks like it will do well at the box office but the folks I talked to you have it 2 buffalos.

Bill Murray is President Franklin Roosevelt in “Hyde Park on the Hudson” based on the diaries of Roosevelt’s cousin and mistress Margaret Stuckley. Laura Linney as Margaret outshone everyone else in this film which is both funny and touching. For the historical content alone its gets 3 ½ buffalos.

I did not have time to see all of the films at the festival but these are a few others that I heard were good: “The Gatekeepers”, “The Sapphires,” “Amour” and “Barbara”.  “The Attack” which is a new film directed by Ben Affleck, is also creating a lot of buzz and I heard it is definitely worth 4 buffalos.

If you love movies you won’t want to miss next year’s festival.  2013 will be the 40^th anniversary of the festival and they are adding an extra day of events. Hope you can make it.

From Telluride I went on to the UUBAR Ranch to lead a group that was touring the area. While I was there I saw Johnny Depp was in the area filming “The Lone Ranger”. From what I heard about his portrayal of the famous Indian Tonto it will be another interesting film.

Till next time I’ll see ya down the road….

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An interesting article appeared on the front page of  the Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise this past Sunday, August 26th. Chub’s old friend Kent Tibbetts and Chub’s brother Duane Anderson gave a lengthy interviewed in which they contradicted the version of events presented in Behind Mansion Walls.

You can check it out at www.examiner-enterprise.com

My research takes me to strange places….

                         Down The Road with the Original Buffalo Dale

Welcome back.   If you follow this column you know that I usually write about all the good in the world and despite current events I believe that the good really does outweigh the bad. This week’s story however is about the dark side and a man who many believe may have changed the world back in 1963.

Carlos Marcello was born in Tunis, North Africa in 1910 and immigrated to the United States in 1911. He began his criminal career as the mastermind of a crew of teenage gangsters who robbed banks in the New Orleans area before he was captured and did five years in prison for armed robbery and assault and battery. In 1938 he was arrested again for the sale of 23 pounds of narcotics and received another prison sentence along with a $76,830 fine. Marcello served just 10 months in prison and upon his release he became associated with Frank Costello, the leader of the Mafia in New York. By the late 1940s, Marcello had taken control of the Louisiana gambling industry and with his partner Meyer Lansky began buying up the big gambling casinos in the area. Marcello became the Godfather of the New Orleans mafia soon after, a position he would hold for thirty years.

On March 24, 1959 Marcello was ordered to appear before a Senate Committee investigating organized crime. Serving as Chief Counsel was Robert F. Kennedy, brother to then Senator John F. Kennedy. Marcello refused to answer any questions relating to his background, business activities and associates and during the hearings he developed a lifelong hatred of Robert Kennedy. After John Kennedy was elected President, Marcello stated that he planned to have the President murdered and that then his brother, who had become Attorney General, would no longer be a problem.

On April 4, 1961 Attorney General Robert Kennedy had Marcello arrested and extradited to Guatemala- the country he had falsely listed as his birthplace. Before long Marcello was back in the US where he told several under cover informants that President Kennedy would soon be dead and his brother would be out of a job.

G. Robert Blakely, Chief Counsel to the House Select Commission on the assassination, published a book in 1981 called “The Plot to Kill the President.” In the book he says that just before Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963, another mafia leader associated with Marcello, Santos Trafficante supposedly met Jack Ruby in New Orleans to visit about “a problem” that Marcello was having. This meeting was followed by another meeting with alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Blakely claims that there was in fact a conspiracy and that both Lee Harvey Oswald and another unidentified gunman killed the President following Marcello’s orders.

Soon after his appointment as Attorney General, Robert Kennedy had singled out Jimmy Hoffa, Sam Giancana and Carlos Marcello for prosecution. He planned to make an example of the three as part of his campaign to destroy organized crime. According to Blakely his three targets had laid out a plan for the President’s assassination.

Marcello was reputed to have called Bobby the “tail of the dog” and John the head, saying “if you cut the head off a dog the tail will die but if you cut the tail off the dog can still bite.” Their hatred toward the Kennedy brothers had gone far beyond business and become a matter of honor, a Sicilian vendetta against their enemies. In sworn testimony

Undercover agents said that Marcello had uttered a traditional Sicilian curse when talking about the Kennedy brother, “take the stone from my shoe” along with several other death threats.

After President Kennedy died the FBI investigated Marcello and he stuck to his story that he wasn’t an organized crime figure at all but just a plain old tomato salesman and real estate investor. However a story that appeared in the New York Ties on January 14, 1992 claimed that Marcello and Jimmy Hoffa had both been involved in Kennedy’s assassination.

In 1981 Marcello was indicted for racketeering and mail fraud in a scheme to bribe state officials and he was imprisoned in 1983. After suffering several strokes, he was released in 1989 and spent the rest of his life in his white marble two story home overlooking a golf course in Metairie, LA. He died on March 13, 1993.

The Warren Commission investigating President Kennedy’s death had long concluded that there was no direct link between Ruby and Marcello, or was there?

Till next week I’ll see ya down the road….

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