Can it be so long ago? The Texas Ranger. It was the jokes that drew me to the ribald publication. Where oh where is Lieuen Adkins when we need him? Wasn't the Ranger temporarily off campus because the f--- word was not so successfully buried in a florid border? As an entering freshman, hanging around the chuck wagon, Roger Baker liked to say that word to me to watch my face turn red with embarassment (otherwise known as blushing). Anyway, I haven't had a chance to call someone a chauvinist pig in quite a long time. Thanks, Mike, for your sensitivity about this. Connie Clark

I suspect that the "f-word" didn't help the Ranger, but I think that the real reason it disappeared is that after the staff graduated or otherwise disapeared, NOBODY could follow that act. Bill Helmer, Gilbert Shelton, Tony Bell, Lieuen Adkins, et al were all champs. By the way, there was discussion not long ago about whether or not Gilbo lived in the Ghetto. Actually, he was a regular visitor to my pad 1960-1962. His picture appeared in "Love, Janis xxx" at my place along with Bill and Pat Helmer, Ray "Papa" Hansen and yours truly. He never lived there, although he occasionally crashed. I lived over the garage while single and then moved downstairs when I got married in 1961. Gilbert was in the wedding. Mary Margaret and I are still married! (A record?) I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the fact that 2812 1/2 was haunted.....really. You could set your watch by the manifestation at 1:00 A.M on Fridays. A curious thing started happening in the apartments at least as far back as the 1950's. People would find their way there, rent an apartment, and then their lives would change, usually in an esthetic direction. That's where John Clay learned to play the banjo and started composing. That's where I started painting and writing. That's where Jay Maxwell was living (around 1957-8) and quit engineering to become a mad Van Gogh type painter. John and Rosemary Davis lived there around 1960 and opened up in several directions in art and writing. Nobody ever came out the same. There was a direct trail during the "beat days" between the Ghetto (not then so named), San Francisco, Mexico City and New York.Many of us earlier inhabitants also spent time or worked in the Cliche, which was a coffee house a block and a half away. This was where quite a few folk musicans and jazz people were first seen publically, including Janis..yes, before Threadgills. There is now a Chinese restaurant there. Is it not time to put up a historical plaque on 2812 1/2, even though the old barracks building is gone? It wasn't so long ago...really! Ted Klein

Charlie, it might be interesting to see posted, an old Ranger joke if you have time. Last weekend, I was at an ANTIQUE store where there was a copy of a 1963 Cactus yearbook. I looked up the Ranger staff and saw photos of Lieuen, Gilbert and Tony in their goofiness. A caption of a group of staff included 3 unidentified females, or at least they were referred to as "sweet young things", with exception of Pat Brown who was identified by name. Was there a 'double standard' at the Ranger? were the sweet young things mere 'decorations' grabbed from the hallway to dress up the photos? I couldn't recognize them (small photo), maybe one of them was Stephanie C. I used to have the 1963 Cactus, but sold it in a garage sale for 50 cents. None of my Ranger issues survived. Connie Clark

I found a couple of old Rangers my own self in amidst the junk i have piled up. Charlie Loving

Don't you remember Hairy Ranger? Wasn't that his name? He was the hairy, mustachioed, bigbellied Texian depiction, seemed like he maybe looked like a Tennessee desperado come to Texas, an Anglo version of Pancho Villa. He looked like he probably had flies buzzing around his head. So far in the Hairy Ransom [sic?] discussion the names of those mentioned have been Gilbert Shelton, Tony Bell, Lieuen Adkins, Bill Helmer, and Pat Brown. Hugh Lowe was editor of the Ranger for at least one year, and other contributors were Joe Brown and Jack Jackson. Travis Rivers was in charge of distribution. The names Willie Morris and Dave Helton also popped into my "mind" as I was writing this. Whatever! As Ted said, there was a great dropping off of quality when the wild people left the building.. Wali Stopher

For the record; Harry Ransom was once the Pres. of UT and later was in charge of spending zillions on rare art and artifacts for what became the Harry Ransom Center, a handsome, cultured and charming fellow. He was coopted by Frank Erwin, the LBJ appointee who sought to cleanse the campus of protest and long hair. By 1966 the literature and humor of the campus was bent in the direction of political protest and The Rag had taken over as the irreverent voice of the crazies. It was the Class of '66 who put 50,000 protestors on the streets of Austin after the Cambodian affair in 1970, no small feat. No offense to the wizards of the Ranger but they didn't have almost certain death or worse in Nam staring them in the face while they were undergrads, puts an extra edge on one's humor... Eh what? Gerry Storm

Afterwards, Harry died making Hazel Ransom a widow. The invitations to the power cocktail parties ceased and the free subscriptions to the upscale magazines were withdrawn and she turned to drink for solace until she too died. Is that Hairy or what? Mike Eisenstadt

Hairy Ranger was indeed a creation of the Rangeroos and he lived on until the magazine folded. Robert Burns and Jack Moore tried to keep it going but there were a great many constraints. The Ranger died however. There were a few good pie fights between the Ranger and the Texan staff and the Ranger parties were always pretty good even in the sunset years. I recall making a deal with Lone Star for kegs and conning people out of any alcoholic substance that could be mixed drunk or what ever. Lab alcohol worked very well. There were some good houses too. Some fellow named Witherspoon drew a dandy bunch of armadillos for the magazine. And Helmer was on the cover cracking one with a hammer...some sort of half shell thingie. Charlie Loving