Kesey letters flowed freely in early 1970s.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The Register-Guard has had many prolific and well-known letter-writers throughout the years, from the recently deceased former congressman - and perennial stirrer of the societal pot - Charlie Porter, to former governors Mark Hatfield, Tom McCall and Bob Straub.

But of all the letter-writers over the years, one stands out above the rest. His name was Ken Kesey, and these are some excerpts from his letter-writing heyday, between 1971 and 1973, when the famed Pleasant Hill author of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Sometimes a Great Notion" was in his late 30s and his word-flowing prime:

`I saw an incredible sight: The valley was on fire; I counted two, three, then eight or nine fields swishing into flame and smoke.

"But no distant fire engines could I hear; no warbling firehouse alarms. ... On the freeway, the train depot and the mills, business seemed to be continuing as usual in spite of the manifold holocausts. ...

"So this was what all that Stop the Field Burning Talk was about.' - From "A letter from the Coburg Hills," Aug. 15, 1971

`Whether their teetering over a needlehole in their elbow, or a bombshaft in Alaska, you can always tell - if you'll think about it folks - a junkie by his 'Just this one more hit and that'll be the last one.' ' - From "Just one more," Nov. 7, 1971

`Tonight I watched us suffer a double defeat. It was terrible and powerful and left me a little afraid; have we let our polls become a shooting gallery? Has the bullet at last replaced our ballot? Assassinations our elections? And - awfulest question of all - have we become a people so fog-headed that we don't recognize an assassination most of the time and don't even bother to cry 'foul' when we do?" - From "Double defeat, Aug. 10, 1972, reacting to the forced resignation of Sen. Tom Eagleton as George McGovern's running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket after Eagleton revealed he'd been hospitalized three times for depression and once undergone electroshock therapy.

"The Olympic Committee was quite correct in their reprimand of Matthews and Collett for their disrespectful stance before the American flag. ...

"For the American way has come to mean much more than simply standing at hypocritical attention before a dubious symbol. ... It means advertisements for Brut cologne superimposed over an already overexploited Cathy Rigby ... interrupting Frank Shorter's classic 26-mile run by shamelessly running five (five!) commercials just as he came back into the stadium ... Howard Cosell ... drooling like a vampire at the Arab-Israeli bout. ...

"It means lots of fat old men getting fatter by making sure lots of penniless warriors remain that way." - From "American way," Sept. 17, 1972, reacting to Olympic 400-meter runners Vincent Matthews and Wayne Collett being banned from the games for life after joking with each other on the medal stand during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

`I charge the highway division with negligent homi- cide ... with allowing a road to run wild regardless of the roadside safety ... with planning to widen a road already moving too fast through a residential area ... with the tragedies of the past as well as the holocaust inevitably forthcoming." - From "Running wild," June 9, 1973, reacting to yet another motorist death along Highway 58 through Pleasant Hill.