Wild Tales of John and THE HIPPY YEARS

"Hey, you PIGS! Come n' GET US!"

(Marijuana-smoking hippies challenging the local police in the '70's in the Washington DC area..and watch OUT for their NASTY SURPRISE awaiting police just down the road...YECCHH!!!)

By Pamela Schuffert presenting investigative journalism from a Biblical Christian perspective-

My little brother John...what a fun-loving character he was in his wild youth(sigh.) My mother and I never ceased to be shocked or surprised by the crazy yet true tales that came out of the drug and original Hippy-era crowd that my brother hung out with.

I have never forgotten the day my brother came home laughing so hard he almost fell over. I begged him to tell me what happened. Grinning from ear to ear, he told me how the local hippies had finally gotten even with "the poh-leese" (the local police). He and his hippy friends would hang out at the local liberal Unitarian church up on a hill, which had opened it's grounds to pot- smoking rebels against society at that time.

John related the following true-life account with glee.

"Me and my friends were hanging out at the church smoking dope, when a Fairfax County police cruiser pulled up, like they do all the time up there. But THIS time, the hippies were WAITING FOR THEM! And so, one of the hippies shouted to the police, 'Hey, you pigs...come 'n get us!'"

"One hippy ran down the trail through the forest by the church. The police got real mad, and one of them followed the guy into the woods and down the trail. And the next thing we heard was a BIG CRASH and then a SPLASH, and the policeman was cussing as loud as he could! All my friends fell on the ground and were rolling, laughing so hard at what had happened..."

Puzzled, I asked John WHAT did happen???

"Well, the hippies got tired of the fuzz spying on their hangout, and so they decided to get even. And so they decided to bait the police to come and get them. They got a wild idea! Then the hippies dug a pit right on the trail through the woods, about 8 feet deep, and filled it with their ______."

Um, shall we state politely that they filled it with their urine and human excrement, etc?

John continued." They then covered the pit with branches and leaves so no one would know there was anything there. And when the police car pulled up, they couldn't wait to bait them and see how their trap worked!"

Well, the hippy trap and bait worked...and all too well. Down went the hapless officer, crashing through the thin layer of branches and leaves hiding the "poop-pit," and up went the hippy cries of insane laughter as they slapped one another on the back that day!

John continued, "...my friends and I were rolling on the ground laughing our heads off as the other officer grabbed a long rope in the trunk of the cruiser, and ran down the path to pull his friend out. The policeman who fell in the pit was covered! One hippy even said to him as he walked by, 'Excuse me, officer, but isn't there SOMETHING on your shoulder...?'" With relish my brother admitted what was on the officer's shoulder. I remember feeling faintly nauseated at this point.

It would not be polite to repeat exactly what words came out of that humiliated officer's mouth in response that day, as he glanced at his shoulder and brushed off the offending refuse quickly(yecch) as the hippies rolled on the ground all around him, as he angrily walked back to his cruiser. Unable to charge anyone with this action, they soon left.

After the police cruiser had left the scene of this outrageous prank, the hippies then went back to the pit and fished out the poor officer's sodden hat remaining in it.

And that very weekend, at their annual pig roast, the head of the roast pig was cut off, nailed to a nearby tree, and then police officer's hat was victoriously placed on the pig head.

And the laughing hippies then congratulated one another and celebrated their victory that day over the local police: hippies-ONE, and the local police-ZERO!

Shocking and outrageous? Yes. But then, this WAS the Washington DC area in the early 1970's. It was a time when youth were being constantly encouraged to challenge authority, to "do their own thing," and to become rebels against society.

And my beloved brother, at the tender age of fourteen, profoundly influenced by the hippy drug culture of that day, and without the word of God to guide him away from such behavior and rebellion, tragically fell into that trap. It would be many decades before he was to finally come out of this tragic world of darkness and lifestyle. But the power of God's love and prayer would finally prevail someday...

TO BE CONTINUED

-Pamela Schuffert reporting from North Carolina