A posting on FB: memories of Stoneman Meadow from Gary Hathaway

[Pkr...@aol.com]

There's a new Facebook group called "You know you lived in Yosemite because you remember...."  Most entries are from those who worked for the YPCC during the past 20 years or so.  A few go back into earlier times. 

Today, I just noticed the following post from Sammy Zoeller who describes Gary Hathaway's experiences with Stoneman Meadow.  This is obviously taken from correspondence written some decades later.  I thought I would share this with our listserve, for the benefit of those who remember Stoneman Meadow, and for those who remember Gary Hathaway.  Gary and I had adjacent rooms in the Mather Ranger Club in late 1970-early 1971.  We were two of the three "seasonal" ranger-naturalists employed to give year-round interpretive programs.  Later in his career, he would tell me that people would plan their vacations to be sure to attend his programs at Lava Beds.

 

Owen

 

From a post by Sammy Zoeller:

 

<<Ranger Gary Hathaway served as a national park ranger for 32 years at Yosemite National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Saguaro National Monument, Death Valley National Park, Gateway Arch, and Lava Beds National Monument.

Ranger Gary Hathaway describes National Park Service's law enforcement in 1970's Yosemite. Some know the event as the Stoneman Meadow Riots.

On July 4, 1970, there was a riot in Yosemite Valley. We called it the First Annual Yosemite Rock (and Bottle) Festival. Rangers threw rocks and hippies threw bottles. People were crowding Stoneman Meadow in Yosemite Valley to death. We said you have to get out. They said this is a free country, this is our park, etc. We never bothered to explain that their impact was destroying the very thing they had come there to enjoy. We posted closure signs. They threw them into the Merced. We announced with loud speakers that the Meadow would be closed at a certain time. They ignored it. At the appointed time, we staged a cavalry charge across the meadow. We arrested hippies; they turned over police cars. One was burned. All because we couldn’t condescend to explain the reasons for our concern. Some park service employees, probably fewer than half, learned a valuable lesson that day. Most park service managers learned nothing. I knew from my experience in the army that "because we said so" is not reason enough for anyone to do something he doesn't understand. Hippies in 1970 were trying to say the same thing: "Why not?" If they had known why not, most of them wouldn't have done it. Hell, most of them had better conservation ethics than most of us.

For the rest of the summer our entrance stations stopped and turned back "Hippie vans" like you saw in Forrest Gump. There were a lot of violent confrontations because a lot of non-hippies owned VW vans. Some idiot finally realized we couldn't turn the public away from a public park, so they devised a vehicle safety inspection. Rangers were taught how to short out brake lights so they could turn a hippie van back out of the park. Finally interpreters were assigned to the gates to smile and make friends with visitors, while law enforcement rangers hassled hippies who they perceived were troublemakers.

Law enforcement rangers spent the rest of the summer learning to ride police-trained horses to be used in crowd control in case of another riot. They practiced in secret in another meadow hidden from the main roads in the Valley. For several years afterward from Glacier Point you could still see the "pony ring" they trampled in the meadow. That was OK, though. They stopped those hippies from trampling Stoneman Meadow!

Gary died a few years back. He was one of the good guys. He was the embodiment of the reasons we love our National Parks.

Gerald L. "Gary" Hathaway, 59, died Dec. 11, 2001, in Klamath Falls. Cause of death was not given.>>

48 minutes ago · Like

[Pkr...@aol.com]

John,

 

Memory sometimes plays funny tricks.  I don't remember the red VW van.  I do remember a 4 X 4 Ford Bronco.  I don't remember you having a beard at that time.  I do remember you being really upset at the stereotype profiling that was going on at the entrance stations, and you extolling what most certainly might happen if you were to appear at the entrance station wearing dark glasses and a turban.  Your modeling of that get-up was amazingly convincing.

 

Owen

 

In a message dated 8/7/2011 1:54:10 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, sie...@me.com writes:

Owen:

Thanks for sending this. The entry reminded me of my own experience at the Stoneman Meadow riot; darkly comedic, I suppose.

I had been called from Tuolumne Meadows where I was stationed to "help" out at Stoneman Meadow. Of course, I was a ranger–naturalist and not a law enforcement person, so what help could I possibly provide?

I remember standing around watching things. Actually, despite being in uniform I couldn't decide which side I was rooting for. As chance would have it, Russ Olson (Assistant Superintendent) and Dick Marks (Valley District Ranger) were standing not far from me. They got into their ranger car and, at the last minute, apparently decided they wanted another body with a uniform with them. So, they said, "hey you, get in the car with us."

We drove to a place in the meadow where Hells Angels, not hippies, were camped out They had a big bonfire and were–and I speak truthfully here–roasting hot dogs and marshmellows. Russ or Dick, I don't remember who, stopped the car and told me to go and get the Hells Angels to leave the meadow at once. "How am I supposed to do that," I asked myself as the two of them remained in the car. I tentatively approached the Hells Angels, and politely and in a very respectful voice explained the reasons they needed to leave the meadow. They gathered around me, not really being aggressive, and politely told me that they preferred to stay. "OK," I said, and walked back to the ranger car. What was I supposed to do, give them my interpretative talk on meadow ecology?

In the aftermath of the riot, one day I was returning into the park over Tioga Pass. You might remember that for a while US Federal Marshalls also were in the park. As I drove my 1970 red VW hippy looking van to the entrance station, a Federal Marshall walked around the van, thumping it with his billy club. He said I couldn't enter the park, but gave no reason. I told him I worked for the f-----g NPS. "Turn around," he said. Maybe it was the VW van combined with the beard I had (contrary to then–NPS regulations). I also was pretty dirty because I had just descended from a climb outside the park.

Those were the days....

Lemons

_____

On Aug 07, 2011, at 10:05 AM, Pkr...@aol.com wrote:

There's a new Facebook group called "You know you lived in Yosemite because you remember...."  Most entries are from those who worked for the YPCC during the past 20 years or so.  A few go back into earlier times. 

Today, I just noticed the following post from Sammy Zoeller who describes Gary Hathaway's experiences with Stoneman Meadow.  This is obviously taken from correspondence written some decades later.  I thought I would share this with our listserve, for the benefit of those who remember Stoneman Meadow, and for those who remember Gary Hathaway.  Gary and I had adjacent rooms in the Mather Ranger Club in late 1970-early 1971  We were two of the three "seasonal" ranger-naturalists employed to give year-round interpretive programs.  Later in his career, he would tell me that people would plan their vacations to be sure to attend his programs at Lava Beds.

Owen

From a post by Sammy Zoeller:

<<Ranger Gary Hathaway served as a national park ranger for 32 years at Yosemite National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Saguaro National Monument, Death Valley National Park, Gateway Arch, and Lava Beds National Monument.

Ranger Gary Hathaway describes National Park Service's law enforcement in 1970's Yosemite. Some know the event as the Stoneman Meadow Riots.

On July 4, 1970, there was a riot in Yosemite Valley. We called it the First Annual Yosemite Rock (and Bottle) Festival. Rangers threw rocks and hippies threw bottles. People were crowding Stoneman Meadow in Yosemite Valley to death. We said you have to get out. They said this is a free country, this is our park, etc. We never bothered to explain that their impact was destroying the very thing they had come there to enjoy. We posted closure signs. They threw them into the Merced. We announced with loud speakers that the Meadow would be closed at a certain time. They ignored it. At the appointed time, we staged a cavalry charge across the meadow. We arrested hippies; they turned over police cars. One was burned. All because we couldn’t condescend to explain the reasons for our concern. Some park service employees, probably fewer than half, learned a valuable lesson that day. Most park service managers learned nothing. I knew from my experience in the army that "because we said so" is not reason enough for anyone to do something he doesn't understand. Hippies in 1970 were trying to say the same thing: "Why not?" If they had known why not, most of them wouldn't have done it. Hell, most of them had better conservation ethics than most of us.

For the rest of the summer our entrance stations stopped and turned back "Hippie vans" like you saw in Forrest Gump. There were a lot of violent confrontations because a lot of non-hippies owned VW vans. Some idiot finally realized we couldn't turn the public away from a public park, so they devised a vehicle safety inspection. Rangers were taught how to short out brake lights so they could turn a hippie van back out of the park. Finally interpreters were assigned to the gates to smile and make friends with visitors, while law enforcement rangers hassled hippies who they perceived were troublemakers.

Law enforcement rangers spent the rest of the summer learning to ride police-trained horses to be used in crowd control in case of another riot. They practiced in secret in another meadow hidden from the main roads in the Valley. For several years afterward from Glacier Point you could still see the "pony ring" they trampled in the meadow. That was OK, though. They stopped those hippies from trampling Stoneman Meadow!

Gary died a few years back. He was one of the good guys. He was the embodiment of the reasons we love our National Parks.

Gerald L. "Gary" Hathaway, 59, died Dec. 11, 2001, in Klamath Falls. Cause of death was not given.>>

48 minutes ago · Like

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