I was asked by local newspapers and magazines to write articles about the environment during those two years of activism, 1969-1970. The publisher of the underground newspaper in Miami, Strawberry Fields, Jerry (again, his last name is lost to my memory) approached me to do an entire issue on the environment. What an opportunity! I really do not remember the whole story, but I know I recruited friends, acquaintances, colleagues including people with graphic and print skills. You see, in those days, layout was NOT done on computers. You did it on layout boards. You printed the articles and pasted them and the photos onto a board. Actual size. I remember we used a kind of transparent red plastic sheet for borders (?). The printer then photographed it to make the printing plates.

So there we are at the final stages one night. A friend of mine, Jerry, a piano tuner, loaned us his house to do the work. The other Jerry, the publisher, apparently had a bad acid trip. He became paranoid I was stealing his paper! He showed up looking to kill me. Literally. Smashed through the door, came at me. I ran. I am not proud of running. I feared for my life. We had some very strong young folks who I heard later finally wrestled him to the ground and called the police. I am guessing he was Baker acted.

One of the young ladies next to me, Elizabeth, was in danger through proximity to me. I grabbed her hand and dragged her with me out the back door. She said let’s go to her place. We did and spent the night together. Oh, and there were no cell phones in those days to see what was going on. The next day I went back to Jerry’s to try to pick up the pieces. He informed me our friendship was over. He gave me an hour to gather up the pieces. I started calling people. Heard no one was injured. Found a place we could gather to talk.

There we were, pretty much everybody, with the damaged layout boards and the rest of our material. I said, “Are we going to let this stop what we have done here? Do we create our own newspaper and publish this?” The agreement was unanimous and enthusiastic. But that takes money. I went to my friend Sandy the psychologist (mother of the 13-year-old witch who wanted me to…) and her boyfriend Russ, and ER physician from Rockledge. They gave me $300. This was 1969. That was a lot. A lawyer friend created World Publishing Consultants, Inc. (There were no LLC’s back then).

And the PaPer was born.