Chieftain  Columns

“Columnists . . . are jackals and no jackal has been known to live on grass once he had learned about meat — no matter who killed the meat for him.” ~Ernest Hemingway

From August 1996 to January 1998 I penned a biweekly column entitled "On the Trail" for the Wallowa County Chieftain (some columns were occasionally picked up by other publications).

I was abruptly (at least in my opinion) fired. The editor said it was due to financial constraints, but I was immediately replaced.

It was perhaps the cumulative effect of the columns (some subscriptions were lost and I'm sure the editor took lots of shit). If so, the final straw was likely column #40 ("Gender-bender chemical may make men less manly") which was submitted but never run. The column explored penis size, sperm counts, hermaphrodites and the feminization of males, and masculinization of females, due to chemicals in the environment (hey, I warned the readers up-front).