OT The 60's peace, love, and the Ilavista riots - Page 4

Hank,
             I was in Visalia about 4 years after Kennedy was killed.
67-68.  Tulare, Porterville, Exeter, Goshen, Visalia.......American Graffiti.

I remember three well known bad boys......Sullivan, The Ducett brothers,
Kafka, there was on Portigee that was Numero uno....he dated my friends
sister. I can't remember his name. These guys were tough back then. Drove
muscle cars and had sawed off shotguns and pistols in the car. They
were in their early 20's. They would have been in your age group.

The drag strip was the big thing there, I remember, it was like in the movie.
Everyone would race each other in a drag race on a remote road out of town.

Did you ever know David Frietis? or Billy Estas.

The Portigee was Ronny Machato....just remembered

Hey Max,
How good is this. I knew the Doucett brothers, and Kafka. I knew Carl Doucett well. Kafka was originally from Woodlake. Was a bad dude till he met up with Paul Moore, who was and is still a good friend of mine. He now lives in Mejia,Texas. Carl had a bad black 57 chevy. In those days I ran with all these guys and also always had a gun under the seat. ( not real proud of that) but in those days in the valley there were so many rival towns, and cruising, a little booze, listening to Wolfman Jack on the radio sometimes led to those confrontations. You are right when I see American Graffiti It just make me think of home. I still have a sister and brother in law on the Visalia Police department. Do you ever make it to the Psd exibitions in Visalia. I live in Washington for the last 40 years, but do go home often. Best to you  Hank

Grapes is what takes me there...
I am French but have family here and did some time here during
those years. I hung around with the Portigee's

Worked very hard from 1976-2002 doing Schutzhund and French Ring.
And now my main focus is NVBK. There is a new American judge,
in Huston by the name of Carlos Ecabar, that I am hoping to get together
with to jump start a program over here. Also NATO out of Belgium has kept
me busy for the last 5 years. They are restructuring there canine program.
Most of the Police training I did in the 80''s with high crime areas in southern
California. It was like a mission impossible, but thats when you started to
see police across the country stop using a well known dog broker out of
South Carolina. And switching to dogs that I use. I stop doing the after 911
and got some really good giggs with NATO....less energy and alot more money.
If I do anything with the police departments these days I just go in with my dogs
and tell them to leave their dogs at home show them what I can and than
ask if there are any questions....

The Star wars guy did American Graffiti about that area of California.
When I saw it  was like a flash back but I was still young. My older
brother hung out the kids in high school who would talk about the bads
like Ronny Machado...And than one day my friend ran up to our house
and told me his sister had a date with him. About 15 kids along with
me, all sat a block away waiting to see the legend.....He was nervous
because my friends sister was a very nice look girl and her family was
old school Portigee.   My friends name was Jerry Mattis.

Felipe....

There was a big population of Portigee's around Visalia and Tulare. My oldest sister married one, Joe Matto. They are both dead now. In visalia they used to have Portigee dances on main street in Visalia man you talk about style. The girls would all wear those strapless dresses that looked like a bunch of movie stars. But always had about 10 brothers and cousins guarding them against us hooligans. but they sure looked good. I have heard of Ronny Machado and Jerry Mattis, but didn't know them personally. Where are you located now? I mostly have dogs for property and personal protection as well as police work.   Hank

I live in Nevada now....since global warming, the rain
patterns have changed. Its not being talk about much
but the high deserts here are getting alot more rain.
I may plant some grapes.

The Portigee's are dairy farmers. My uncle talked
a few into planting grapes in the 60's. The sad thing is the dairy farmers
loose money alot of years. But 50 acres of wine grapes can
make you a millionaire.

The big Portigee festival is in San Luis Obispo every year.

American Graffii .....Modesto.....I worked Sacramento and Stockton
in the 90's.  That's when I met Egon Vollrath, and the people at Coyote creek.
South County Club. I had a girl friend who lived in San Jose.

Yes you are right. My brother in law and sister had a dairy between Visalia and Cutler. Here in eastern washington is all wine grapes, and winerys . I live in the yakima valley. It is primarily desert but it rains here alot more than it did when I first moved here. If you ever get up this way, give me a holler and I'll take you on a wine tour.my e-mail address is hank.plumlee@gmail.com  We might talk about old times and dogs while were at it.

Hank

I will Hank,....We have done some work with the Saint Michele's winery
there.

Thats kinda funny St. Michele is at Paterson. It's 20 miles from here. My sons are piping contractors and they install all their piping for refrigeration, steam, and stainless piping. I know quite a few people there. Ron Paschki is the manager and he lives here in town. I know him well.  Hank

Raymond,
                  You mentioned the Weatherman, a very serious group.
So were the Black Panthers. I had just surfed off La Joya beach and
stopped at the University to get something to eat. Just in time to see the Panthers
come up to speak at a really. They were very serious people and scared
everyone there including the police. All them wore black leather jackets.
It was very exciting times back then. This was the late 60's.

Hank,
          We got them started with the Johannesburg grapes.