These soaps go on and on and on

I HAVE a confession. I'm hooked on The Soaps.
So bring on The Young and the Restless, General Hospital, Guiding Light, As The World Turns and even Days of Our Lives.
At one time I thought it wasn't the manly thing to do; that was until I heard a friend named Wayne Gretzky (that's right, The Great Gretzky) used to be glued to the TV set when the soaps were on. And what's more he even acted in TY&TR back in 1981 and 1983.
In addition, other Young & Restless alumni included Muhammad Ali (1999); baseball star David Justice (1992) and a (Dallas) Cowboy, Tony Dorsett.
So, suddenly, the guilt complex was swept away.
It's also the reason I can expand on the latest soaps, which you might not have heard of, namely, The Rocket and The Country Singer. It's now into Episode 2,468 and counting.
As in all soaps, characters slip in and out and even in recent months, it reached a peak as The Rocket (starring Roger Clemens) appeared before the Big Boys (the U.S. Congress).
Clemens turned on his accuser (played by The Trainer, Brian McNamee) in denying he (Clemens) had ever used steroids and human growth hormone.
The Rocket claimed The Trainer was trying to "save his own skin by making up lies."
Later on in one of the continuing episodes, Clemens spoke up and told the Congressional hearing that his best buddy and fellow Yankee pitcher (played by Andy Pettitte) had "misremembered" a conversation the two had about HGH.
Then there was a lull for a couple of months as the Other Big Boys (played by members of the FBI) started reviewing all the testimony and there were hints that The Rocket (Clemens) may have lied under oath.
A drum roll, please.
The next episode introduces us to The Country Singer (played by Mindy McCready), who apparently has known The Rocket since she was 15 years old and he was 28.
With Mindy's appearance, a little background certainly is needed; for there flashing on the soap opera screen is a picture of her with facial bruises and information about her past. In August 2004, she had been been arrested in Tennessee for using a fake prescription to buy the painkiller OxyContin and after pleading guilty, Mindy was fined $4,000 and sentenced to three years' probation.
Besides a number of charges hanging over her head in 2005, she also had boyfriend troubles. An ex named Billy McKnight allegedly broke into her house and beat and choked her.
Then in September 2007, Mindy landed in jail for violating probation. She was released in December.
During lulls in Mindy's legal wrangles she had managed to put together such super hits such as Guys Do It All The Time, Ten Thousand Angels and A Girl's Gotta Do (What a Girl's' Gotta Do).
So what about the latest connection between The Rocket and The Country Singer?
Well, after The Rocket (Clemens) filed a defamation suit against The Trainer (McNamee), "revelations" now have surfaced about a supposed long-time romance between Clemens and McCready.
What's the problem in that situation? Well, during court testimony, Clemens had adamantly claimed he was a devoted and married family man.
His wife's name happens to be Debbie Clemens. In the tangled web, it was also learned that The Trainer (McNamee) had injected Mrs. Clemens with HGH before she posed for a SI swimsuit issue.
Stay tuned for the next dramatic episode of The Rocket and The Country Singer.
***
BILLY RAY, MILEY & ANNIE: In 1994, ace reporter Joe Warmington wrote a paperback, The Cyrus Virus, which I had the privilege of publishing about the meteoric rise of Billy Ray Cyrus from Flatwoods, Kentucky to super stardom. After hits such as Achy, Breaky Heart, Cyrus went on to become a fine dramatic actor in a number of TV series. However to this generation, he's the father of Miley Cyrus, known around the world as Hannah Montana.
In the past few days, Miley Cyrus has made the headlines after posing for Vanity Fair's famed photog, Annie Leibovitz, with both father Billy Ray and mother, Tish, apparently on the same set.
The most disturbing aspect of it all was the parents didn't protest about their daughter's "provocative" poses at the time, according to newspaper reports. After all, Miley is only 15 years old.).

Yossi Harel: Now there was a true hero

IN AN AGE of instant celebrities and questionable hero worship, the name of Yossi Harel may mean little.
It's really a name from the past that has been largely forgotten by a generation populated by insignificant wannabees and shallow politicians.
However, Yossi Harel was once an authentic hero of the entire globe, but over time he has been marginalized. The few exceptions are when a reader explores the inside stories concerning Leon Uris' classic novel, 'Exodus' or a movie buff goes searching for insights into Otto Preminger's brilliant recollection of the same name, which starred Paul Newman.
When 90-year-old Yossi Harel died on the weekend in Tel Aviv, the obit writers went scrambling for the appropriate words. His daughter, Sharon, said it best in the Jerusalem Post when she noted: "He was one of a generation of giants. He fought for the State of Israel and to protect and strengthen it. His courageous spirit was marked by his modesty, generosity and passion."
Perhaps, this writer has had more than a passing interest in such a true hero, after living and working in Jerusalem, but Harel's heroics were, indeed, the stuff of legends.
While the legendary ship's journey has been detailed in 'Exodus' (the book and the movie) as well as others, including Aviva Halamish's The Exodus Affair (1998), there were certainly gaps in the history of its commander.
But brilliant Israeli writer, Yoram Kaniuk, was able to give Harel his just due in his 'Commander of the Exodus' from 1999, which was translated from Hebrew by Seymour Simckes.
In brief, Harel was truly a modern-day Moses as he commanded four broken-down ships, Pan York, Pan Crescent, Knesset Israel, and the most famous, Exodus, and packed with Holocaust survivors bound for their new "homeland." Those journeys, from 1945 to 1948, were overcrowded with 24,000 'illegal immigrants' and defied the British blockade while the world closed its doors.
Harel was a compassionate and sensitive man, as Kaniuk described in his book, and he certainly was the complete opposite of any Hollywood stereotype.
Kaniuk once described him this way: "There was something very hevreman (sociable) about him. He was not the kind of clap-you-on-the-back hero. He was a man of manners, the type who didn't raise his voice. He was a man of conscience and a daring fighter."
Then Kaniuk also added in the Haaretz story that Harel's Jewishness was important, "as someone who had grown up in Jerusalem and not in Tel Aviv or on a kibbutz."
In Kaniuk's book, there's detailed passages of how Harel joined the Haganah (the Jewish militia) at the age of 14 . Then he fought the Arabs during the anti-Jewish riots of the 1930s and then the Germans in the Second World War. When that war ended, Harel fought the British and, of course, was instrumental in the birth of Israel in 1948 against such long odds.
In the June 2, 2005 issue of the San Diego Jewish Times, Donald H. Harrison related the modest Harel talking about his experiences concerning such perilous times:
"Overall, we brought 100,000 people but this was the bloodiest war we ever had. In the War for Independence, we had 600,000 Jews, and we lost 6,000 -- one per cent." Running the blockade, he said, "we lost over 3,000 people drowned in the Black Sea -- three per cent ...
"With all these casualties, they kept coming, they didn't stop. A nation destroyed was coming back to life."
After those heroic and harrowing voyages, Harel left for the U.S. to study mechanical engineering. However, he was called back to command an Israeli intelligence operation, but left the army in 1954 and entered the business world.
Today, Harel was buried in Kibbutz Sdot Yam, the communal farm which was the headquarters of the naval force of the Palmach, Israel's pre-state military, near Caesarea.
He is survived by three children, eight grandchildren and eight great grandchildren as well as a heroic legacy.
***
SPEAKING OF ISRAEL: A significant news story, involving Israel, has been, seemingly, ignored by the world press and it involves the famous actors, Kirk and Michael Douglas, as well as Canadian tycoon Leslie Dan. The three are involved in erecting a "grandiose"museum tracing Jewish history from the days of Abraham to the present. However, the most startling announcement was concerning the massive replica of the original Temple. It's being built opposite of the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The museum, itself, is expected to cost about $20 million. One of those in charge, Ephraim Shor, in commenting about the structure, said: "This will be an audio-visual experience incorporating scents, so that the act of entering the Temple will be done with awe of God."

My mother's miracle

EVERY DAY I'm confronted by tough decisions.
Which side of the bed should I get up on?
And there's an even more pressing problem: How do I hide the ever-spreading bald spot on my bumpy head?
There are just no easy solutions in this life.
Another concern happens to be this space.
What should I write about to fill it?
Will it be about Oprah's "new/old religion"? That's always a page-turner.
No, I think I'll wait a few more days for that one.
Or how about my favorite phrase from the late Roberto Clemento of "baseball has been very good to me."
I'll pass on that one, too, since baseball now stretches until Christmas Eve so there's really plenty of time.
When The Missus walked into my office the other morning, I was still looking up at the ceiling, and asking, "What in the world am I going to write about?"
That's when the answer came when she sighed: "Stop your whining" and followed it up with, "Say, when's your mother arriving?"
The lightbulb suddenly went on, not about whining, but about my mother even though I've written about her a number of times before.
***
The tall, handsome mother, who had a very active life, including being on a national women's softball championship team, was suddenly struck down with the supposedly incurable disease, multiple sclerosis, in her early 30s.
It's a disease of the brain and spinal cord caused by an unknown agent that attacks the covering (myelin) sheath of nerve fibres, resulting in temporary interruption of nervous impulses, particularly in pathways concerned with vision, sensation, and the use of limbs. The hard (sclerotic) patches produced by the disease eventually result in permanent paralysis. And death.
She spent many hours in doctors' offices, attempting to alleviate the pain associated with M.S. She also spent hours and hours praying, along with her close friends, for she had great faith in her Creator.
Despite her affliction, the tall, handsome mother managed to smile and even tried to play games to alleviate the worries of her husband and young son. A daily ritual for the young boy and father was to play "choo-choo" in which the boy would stand in front of his mother and the father behind her and push her legs to move her around the small house.
However, after a year or more the disease started to take a great toll and she was forced to use a wheelchair. Her legs and then arms became, increasingly, dysfunctional. Her vision became severely impaired and her glasses resembled Coke bottles. The doctors didn't have any encouraging news. Multiple sclerosis would soon claim another victim.
The tall, handsome mother, nevertheless, still had her faith. Maybe, prayer would help. It seemed like the only answer left.
One day, as the woman wheeled into the bedroom, she heard a voice as she looked into her closet.
"Annona, put on your shoes," the voice said. The woman looked around to see who was in the room with her. "Annona, put on your shoes," the voice said again.
"You know I can't put on my shoes, Lord, I can't walk," she said. Immediately, when she said, Lord, she realized the voice wasn't human. She leaned over, put on her shoes, unused in more than a year, and shakily got to her feet.
Immediately, an unseen hand seemed to strike the top of her head and warm, yes, even a hot mercury-like ball streamed and penetrated to the very nerve endings of every part of her body.
She walked out into the kitchen of her home, where the young boy was playing.
Her mother-in-law was also standing there in awe. They all started crying. Her husband and father-in-law were just as dumfounded when they returned from work.
The tall, handsome woman abandoned her wheelchair, and within a year had a "miracle baby." The doctors had said it was impossible to have another child because of the effects of M.S.
She then returned to high school and would later obtain her teaching certificate and would teach for 22 years in the Calgary school system.
The "miracle baby" -- Garry -- grew up to be an excellent athlete, and now a noted Winnipeg psychologist.
She believes in miracles. So do I, for I was that young son, who was there when his mother walked again.
***
While you probably have read about this miracle before, it always brings tears to my eyes.
Yes, for a world filled with shattered dreams, there are also answered prayers.
Incidentally, my 92-year-old mother will walk in the door to the Ol' Homestead Monday afternoon.

Living with a new face

WHAT IF YOU woke up with a new face staring at you in the mirror?
Would you be able to adjust either medically or emotionally to such a reality?
Would your family and your friends be able to accept this new identity?
Of course, changing identities has been a familiar subject in both movies and books for decades.
I've read them and, probably, so have you.
When I brought up the subject a few years ago, it was shortly after Isabelle Dinoire had received the first partial face transplant.
When I wrote that Dec. 5, 2005 column, I pointed out changing identities had been featured in Desmond Bagley's 1973 novel, The Tightrope Men, and quoting from the book blurb: "Giles Denison's life is turned upside down when he awakes to find himself in a luxurious hotel in Oslo and, peering into the bathroom mirror, discovers the face of another man.
"He has been kidnapped from his flat in London and transformed into famous Finnish scientist, Dr. Harold Feltham Meyrick. Compelled to adjust to his new persona (including meeting his daughter) and to play out the role assigned to him by his captors, he embarks on a dangerous escapade from Norway to Finland and across the border into Soviet Russia."
So in real life, how would you adjust?
Would you accept your fate or would you be a basket case if such a thing happened?
In that earlier column I quoted newsman Matthew Campbell of the Sunday Times of Britain as saying the 38-year-old Dinoire had, in November, 2005, received facial features from another 38-year-old woman, who had committed suicide.
Apparently, Dinoire had been terribly disfigured six months earlier when her pet Labrador chewed her face after she had passed out from an overdose of sleeping pills.
Of course, the story has expanded in the intervening years and now it's known that Dinoire lost portions of her nose, lips, chin and even parts of her cheeks, according to an Associated Press story.
While the surgery received world-wide attention, both physicians and psychologists commented on the emotional scars, which could remain after such a transformation.
Also In the 2005 column, Dr. James Partridge of Changing Faces, which deals with facially disfigured people, claimed that another 10 years of research was needed to alleviate those emotional issues.
Even the slightest change in appearance can have a dramatic effect on a person.
A case in point are for those, who have had massive weight loss, from anywhere as little as 10 pounds to more than 100.
It could be so much more dramatic if one would lose their previous facial identity.
I remember that a former newspaper colleagueof mine losing at least 50 pounds of body weight and her personality changed from being a dour individual to an outgoing and personable writer.
However, the transition didn't remain; for inwardly she was still insecure and, eventually, she reverted to the "dour" personality despite the "new look."
In December. 2007, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that Dinoire's recovery had been "remarkable," however, there had been complications.
According to a CTV report, those included, "kidney failure and two episodes in which her body's immune system tried to reject the new skin."
It's expected, however, any complications that Dinoire has had to endure will not deter those anxiously awaiting facial transplants in the future.
SPEAKING OF FACES: Lali has two noses, two pairs of lips and two pairs of eyes and only two ears, according to Debra Killalea in a recent London Daily Mail report. The small Indian baby, from the village of Saini, north east of New Delhi, has been greeted with cheering and offerings, rather than being rejected. While medical experts claim Lali was born with a condition known as craniofacial duplication, villagers claim she's the "reincarnation" of the Indian god Ganesha.

Lookie, Lookie, Here Comes Cookie

THERE ARE ONLY a few names in sports, which stir the emotions, as Chester Carlton Gilchrist.
Utter the name, Cookie, in Toronto, Hamilton, Regina, Buffalo, Miami and even Denver and it's certain to draw either an expletive or, at least, a chuckle or a groan.
And, it's actually more than 40 years, that's right, more than 40 years since he retired from the pro football wars.
Once he was the most feared fullback, linebacker or kicker, take your pick on either side of the border.
His name came up in a conversation the other day; and, immediately, there were arguments about who was the greatest player ever -- the grouchy superstar turned dubious movie actor Jim Brown from the Cleveland Browns or Gilchrist, who was as much noted for his insolence off the field as he was for his straight-ahead style on the field.
There are some aging linebackers and defensive backs in both the ORFU, CFL and the now deceased AFL, who must still wake up from Cookie Monster nightmares.
When I tried to track Gilchrist down the other day, I really didn't expect him to answer my phone call and he didn't disappoint, for he's never been known for his public relations skills.
However, I wasn't about to give up and went looking through the Net for some answers and what I found was surprising as well as sad.
But first, a review of his journey, starting as an unstoppable 18-year-old high school fullback in western Pennsylvania where Cleveland Browns' czar, Paul Brown, put $5,000 on the table for him to turn pro. That meant he wouldn't be eligible for the 108 college scholarships that were offered him, according to the Hamilton Spectator's Ken Peters.
Because of his age, he was ineligible to be playing in the NFL and disillusioned Cookie disappeared into the ORFU (Ontario Rugby Football Union) and the $100 a week with Sarnia and then Kitchener-Waterloo and then he took his multi-talents as a fullback, linebacker, defensive end and even kicker to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1956.
In 1957, Gilchrist tore up the turf for some 2,363 yards along with Gerry McDougall and then stormed to two TDs as the Cats walked over Winnipeg 32-7 in the Grey Cup.
But then Cookie's personality caused his being shipped to Regina, which he considered in another galaxy. Cookie had outstayed his welcome in Hamilton; getting into near fisticuffs with then coach Jim Trimble and various business ventures, some which were doomed from the beginning for failure.
Then came his tenure with the Toronto Argonauts, but he overstayed his welcome. In Craig Wallace's brilliant 'A Slip In The Rain' concerning the 1962 Boatmen, Gilchrist deserved this mention about being a brilliant running back "and a never-ending disciplinary problem."
From those days in the CFL his greatest regret was turning down a place in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. It was part and parcel with his disagreements with former coaches Trimble and Lou Agase.
Then his prowess shfted to the AFL and the Buffalo Bills where this phenomen at 6-3 and 250 pounder barrelled through the opposition, but one who ran into management troubles, particularly, in the money department. Racial issues were also a sore point for this iconoclastic player.
Respected Buffalo sportswriter Larry Felser has written extensively about Gilchrist, calling him "the greatest all-round football player ever." And few could deny such praise.
However, life has not treated Gilchrist well as he's grown older. Felser reported Gilchrist had been battling throat cancer and his weight dropped down to a frail 179 pounds and he could barely speak.
And then came Cookie's letter to Felser, which read in part: "With humility and gratefulness to so many , I am happy to say that while I still have a long way to go, my doctors have told me my cancer is in remission and the long-term prognosis is for a full recovery. From death's door and that is not an exaggeration, I am now looking forward to a full, healthy and long life. My personal faith in Christ, the skilled doctors at Alle-Kiski Medical center and my guardian angel Gale Hazlett have all been major factors to this remarkable turnaround."
Even today, Gilchrist must also remember those cries from so long ago: "Lookie, lookie, here comes Cookie."

Lookie, Lookie Here Comes Cookie

THERE ARE ONLY only a few names in sports, which stir the emotions, as Chester Carlton Gilchrist.
Utter the name, Cookie, in Toronto, Hamilton, Regina, Buffalo, Miami and even Denver and it's certain to draw either an expletive or, at least, a chuckle or a groan.
And, it's actually more than 40 years, that's right, more than 40 years since he retired from the pro football wars.
Once he was the most feared fullback, linebacker or kicker, take your pick on either side of the border.
His name came up in a conversation the other day; and, immediately, there were arguments about who was the greatest player ever -- the grouchy superstar turned dubious movie actor Jim Brown from the Cleveland Browns or Gilchrist, who was as much noted for his insolence off the field as he was for his straight-ahead style on the field.
There are some aging linebackers and defensive backs in both the ORFU, CFL and the now deceased AFL, who must still wake up from Cookie Monster nightmares.
When I tried to track Gilchrist down the other day, I really didn't expect him to answer my phone call and he didn't disappoint, for he's never been known for his public relations skills.
However, I wasn't about to give up and went looking through the Net for some answers and what I found was surprising as well as sad.
But first, a review of his journey, starting as an unstoppable 18-year-old high school fullback in western Pennsylvania where Cleveland Browns' czar, Paul Brown, put $5,000 on the table for him to turn pro. That meant he wouldn't be eligible for the 108 college scholarships that were offered him, according to the Hamilton Spectator's Ken Peters.
Because of his age, he was ineligible to be playing in the NFL and disillusioned Cookie disappeared into the ORFU (Ontario Rugby Football Union) and the $100 a week with Sarnia and then Kitchener-Waterloo and then he took his multi-talents as a fullback, linebacker, defensive end and even kicker to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1956.
In 1957, Gilchrist tore up the turf for some 2,363 yards along with Gerry McDougall and then stormed to two TDs as the Cats walked over Winnipeg 32-7 in the Grey Cup.
But then Cookie's personality caused his being shipped to Regina, which he considered in another galaxy. Cookie had outstayed his welcome in Hamilton; getting into near fisticuffs with then coach Jim Trimble and various business ventures, some which were doomed from the beginning for failure.
Then came his tenure with the Toronto Argonauts, but he overstayed his welcome. In Craig Wallace's brilliant 'A Slip In The Rain' concerning the 1962 Boatmen, Gilchrist deserved this mention about being a brilliant running back "and a never-ending disciplinary problem."
From those days in the CFL his greatest regret was turning down a place in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. It was part and parcel with his disagreements with former coaches Trimble and Lou Agase.
Then his prowess shfted to the AFL and the Buffalo Bills where this phenomen at 6-3 and 250 pounder barrelled through the opposition, but one who ran into management troubles, particularly, in the money department. Racial issues were also a sore point for this iconoclastic player.
Respected Buffalo sportswriter Larry Felser has written extensively about Gilchrist, calling him "the greatest all-round football player ever." And few could deny such praise.
However, life has not treated Gilchrist well as he's grown older. Felser reported Gilchrist had been battling throat cancer and his weight dropped down to a frail 179 pounds and he could barely speak.
And then came Cookie's letter to Felser, which read in part: "With humility and gratefulness to so many , I am happy to say that while I still have a long way to go, my doctors have told me my cancer is in remission and the long-term prognosis is for a full recovery. From death's door and that is not an exaggeration, I am now looking forward to a full, healthy and long life. My personal faith in Christ, the skilled doctors at Alle-Kiski Medical center and my guardian angel Gale Hazlett have all been major factors to this remarkable turnaround."
Even today, Gilchrist must also remember those cries from so long ago: "Lookie, lookie, here comes Cookie."

Hayseed's dream now lying in Texas dust

TEN YEARS AGO,, I wrote about Harold (Hayseed) Stephens and his dream about finding a gusher in Israel. I then visited the area where the Texas oilman believed he would uncover the world's largest oil field atop a salt dome at the southwest end of the Dead Sea.
This was followed up by a number of Investigative Day reports, which were carried throughout the world, of his passion in finding 'black gold' in the supposedly oil-deprived region.
As I wrote in one article that "until now (1998), Israel's Islamic enemies have possessed 75 per cent of the world's oil reserves with Israel's supply only a fraction of that. It's reported that Islamic nations such as Saudi Arabia, all sworn enemies of the tiny Jewish state, have trillions of barrels while Israel has only enough oil to supply itself for about one and a half days and depends on other countries for the remainder."
Then I continued to explain that Stephens, a one-time "hell-raiser" and former pro football quarterback with the New York Titans (now Jets) turned part-time preacher, had received approval of his lease in early September (1998) and drilling equipment would likely arrive at the site in the Dead Sea early in the New Year (1999).
"God has it all orchestrated," he said at the time.
As I also wrote, on Friday, June 26, 1999, in a hotel at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, history may have been changed forever.
The Israeli delegation was led by Yossi Levy, director/president of the Israel Oil Company, Inc. from Petach Tikvah, Israel and Haim Tsuff, chairman of the board of the Israel Oil Company.
Astonishing geological evidence led to the signing of an historical agreement between Israel Oil Company, Inc. and Stephens' 'Christian-owned' company, Ness Energy, International.
It was believed that there were vast amounts of oil in the Dead Sea region of Israel sufficient to be free of foreign energy sources and from the economic "pressure" to give up the land for peace.
The Dead Sea, once known as the Valley of Siddim, was in ancient times, a beautiful, lush region filled with bubbly lakes of oil, according to Genesis 13:10-11 and 14:10 with Jericho being its major trading center.
Then came the dramatic destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the formation of the Dead Sea.
The Hebrew translation of Isaiah 45:3 reads: "I will shoot up to you deposits stored in valuable dungeon -type containers, so you will know that I Am the Lord your God ..."
Stephens took that to mean that there were massive oil deposits in the area and he and his partners were meant to find it.
Hayseed reiterated that a portion of the profits from such a massive oil find would be used to re-build the Third Temple in Jerusalem.
In 1993, according to Stephens, more than 100 earthquakes in seven days had rocked the area from Mount Carmel down to the Red Sea, redistributing the massive oil deposits buried from the days of Lot.
When Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, the southwest end of the Dead Sea turned into a mountain of salt, and that salt dome stretches nine miles long, 3/4 miles wide and 18,000 feet deep. The salt has acted as a preservative for the past 4,000 years. It doesn't allow oil to flow through it.
"This is the area where Sodom was located," explained Stephens. "In Genesis 19, God ignited all the oil and gas in that valley and it rained back down and blew a hole 40 miles long, eight miles wide and three miles across. Fire and brimstone fell into that hole and they eventually turned to salt. It made Sodom and Gomorrah oil boom towns."
Then, in May 2003 as Hayseed was preparing to return to Israel, he dropped dead on the front lawn of his Texas home.
The dream of finding oil in Israel didn't fade, however, as his son, Sha, took over as president and director of Ness Energy.
In the intervening years, despite optimistic and prophetic forecasts, stock in the company continued to decline dramatically into the penny range.
There was even talk about unsavoury stock manipulation, particularly, in an article entitled 'Let There Be Light Crude' in a recent issue of 'Mother Jones.'
In addition, Alan D. Stricklin, a veteran oilman headed a group of North Texas investors in taking over the company and Hayseed Stephens' dream. Besides shunting Sha Stephens to the sidelines, others let go were his mother, Mary Gene Stephens, and other family members.
Now, Hayseed's 'vision,' seemingly, has been left lying in the Texas dust, but then, again, it certainly could be resurrected. After all, Ness in Ness Energy means "miracle."

Legends and others from the passing parade

CHARLTON HESTON was Moses. No one else could have played the part in 'The Ten Commandments' with such commanding presence.
Then, of course, his movie classics also include 'Ben Hur' and 'El Cid', which are landmarks in cinematic history. And then his confrontational real-life role as the president of National Rifle Association (NRA), which still has ramifications on the American public even today.
However, besides Heston, who died on Saturday, there's another passing, which has shocked movie-goers in the past few weeks and that's Richard Widmark at age 93. He was Tommy Udo, the cackling killer, in the 1947 flick, 'Kiss of Death.' He will always be remembered as the dastardly villain, who shoved the elderly wheelchair-bound woman down a flight of stairs.
Few could believe that Widmark was a quiet and very shy man off-screen , who went on to become a TV favourite in the short-lived 'Madigan.'
So thousands of words have noted Heston's and Widmark's departure, but there are others, which certainly deserve being remembered.
One was my mentor and 'teacher', George Gross, fondly remembered as 'The Baron,' a sportswriting legend, who died at his Toronto home.
However, there are other names, which you might have forgotten, who left this plane in the past month or so.
* Jake DeShazer, 95. Perhaps, you have never heard of him, but he participated in the Doolittle Raid on Japan during the Second World War. An angry S. Sgt. DeShazer was the bombardier of the B-25, the 'Bat' (Out of Hell) on that famous bombing run. Later the B-25 ran out of fuel over Ningpo, China and he and others from the Doolittle crew were imprisoned. During his 40 months of captivity, DeShazer asked for a Bible and, in turn, he became a devout Christian. He returned to Japan as a missionary in 1948. Later, the now Rev. DeShazer would meet Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, who had led the attack on Pearl Harbor, and both became Christian missionaries to Japan, according to Wikipedia
* Art Aragon, 80: Before such flamboyant boxing figures such as Muhammad Ali and Oscar De La Hoya, there was the 'Golden Boy.' Although he was married at least four times, Aragon was linked to such Hollywood types as Marilyn Munroe, Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. While he never won a world title, he was a huge draw and loved playing the villain in his gold attire. In the ring, he fought against the likes of Carmen Basilio. Later, he would become a bail bondsman, according to an Associated Press (AP)report.
* George Switzer, 92: Of course, you've heard of the infamous Hope Diamond, but did you associate it with Switzer's name? This esteemed Smithsonian Institute scientist apparently took the diamond to Paris for a 1962 exhibition sewn inside his pants. The diamond, which carried a legacy of bad luck, is now one of the real treasures inside the Smithsonian.
There have been recent deaths certainly worth noting such as:
* Grace Thorpe, 86: A tribal judge and a Second World War vet in the Far East, she was the daughter of the great Olympian Jim Thorpe. She was also noted as a personnel interviewer for Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the Japanese occupation. Her father died in 1953.
* Billy Consolo, 73: This light-hitting but slick infielder, was a fixture for 10 years with the Boston Red Sox and other major-league teams. After Sparky Anderson became the Detroit Tigers' manager in 1979, he had his high-school pal join his staff in 1980. Consolo retired in 1992.
* Ivan Dixon, 76: Although an accomplished Broadway actor, Dixon was best remembered as POW Staff Sgt. James Kinchloe in 'Hogan's Heroes.' The Sarge was an electronic genius, who could mimic voices in the TV hit series.