Hamilton Reef
10-04-2004, 10:08 PM
Nugent visit attracts 2,200 to aid D.A.R.E.
Preaches a drug-free lifestyle and love of the outdoors
http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=24812
By STEVE BEGNOCHE, Daily News Managing Editor
sbegnoche@ludingtondailynews.com, 845-5182, ext. 326
BALDWIN — Some 2,200 Ted Nugent fans stood in line for 90 minutes or more to get a chance to greet the 56-year-old rock-n-roll guitarist who has become an animated and politically incorrect spokesman for clean living, hunting and the outdoors.
The fans who stood in a line that snaked around the parking lot and showroom of Peacock Ltd., to meet Nugent were there for as many reasons as the Motor City Madman had causes and quips. He can fire opinions and comments faster than an AK-47 can fire bullets and in the process he hits more than a few targets.
His visit Saturday to Lake County, where he has a hunting retreat, raised funds for the Lake County Sheriff’s Department Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program and for Nugent’s own Kamp for Kids. Fans started arriving as early as 7 a.m. and as of 3 p.m. more pouring in had to be turned away.
“It was pretty crazy,” Carol Hill of the motorcycle, snowmobile and off-road vehicle dealership said this morning.
Nugent, decked out in his trademark camouflage hat and sleeveless shirt, signed autographs, sold books, dispensed nuggets of Nugent wisdom. He maintained a manic pace that he credits to his drug-free, alcohol-free, tobacco-free lifestyle. He places a premium on hunting and living life to its fullest.
Nugent has the distinction of perhaps being the only rock-n-roller with a collection of hunting songs, including ballad that pays tribute to a whitetail deer and the legendary and now-deceased archery hunter Fred Bear. A dedicated hunter, it didn’t escape Nugent’s notice that Peacock appearance was taking place on the first Saturday of the Michigan bow hunting season.
“If I can give up the first Saturday of October to do this, I should get a humanitarian award,” Nugent announced with a laugh to no one in particular and everyone within earshot. Between pronouncements he signed bows ($100 a signature for bows and guitars), t-shirts, compact disc recordings, books, mouse pads, photographs and just about everything else imaginable.
“There’s Uncle Ted with a baby!” he exclaimed after posing for a picture with an infant.
He greeted hunters with a “Happy October to you” and fielded questions about topics both hunting and music related.
He told one guest who asked about a political position that rather than complain to Nugent, the hunter should talk to his senator, something Nugent says he does all the time, only to hear too often that he is the only hunter bending the politician’s ear on a matter.
“Tell your senator. Then you’re a meaningful American,” he advised the man.
And, he suggested, talk to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, too.
“Michigan needs to micromanage its deer herd,” he shouted out. Most of his conversation Saturday was done loud enough to be heard by anyone within five or six feet of him. “They’ve slaughtered the deer in Lake County.”
Nugent stated he doesn’t think Michigan’s deer zone management system is appropriate to manage the deer properly.
Then he got really hot over another topic — “slobs” who give hunters and sportsmen and sportswomen a bad name.
“There’s too many retarded sportsmen,” he said, a description he used frequently along with several other descriptions not often heard from public speakers in polite company. “They’ve done such damage, the good hunters are being ostracized.”
More than complain and comment, though, Nugent urged hunters to take action to resolve the worsening situation.
“Reconnect with the landowner,” he said of one solution to a problem of more private land being closed to hunters. “Give back more than you take.”
He suggested hunters help a landowner whose opened land to them fix fences or maintain a trail, for instance, as a means to reconnect. And, when a deer or other game is killed on private property, he said to give the landowner a prime cut of the meat.
“How retarded do you have to be not to figure that out?” he remarked.
Mason Nehm, 16, of Scottville asked “the Nuge,” as Nugent calls himself, advice about playing guitar.
Nugent was ready, and wanted to make sure the eavesdropping reporter was too, before launching into his advice — and a launch it was that had Nugent soaring with passion.
Did he talk about scales? fingerpicking? the perfect guitar? the best chords? the right sound?
Nope. He talked about lifestyle and personal decisions.
“There’s only one secret. Be the best you can be. No drugs. No cigarettes. No alcohol. No turds in the lips (chewing tobacco). No abusing substances … All of the sudden your fingers will start flying,” he said, playing a frenzied air guitar solo for the youth.
And then — Nugent, the seeming madman who has shot flaming arrows during his concerts, who at times wore loincloths for his costume, whose outdoors based reality show on MTV was outdoors was fairly gross — offered one more bit of advice that parents also will love: “Do chores.”
Sitting around watching TV is no good, he said.
“You need to let your spirit soar. That means no poisons.”
Then he launched into a Nugent rant about chewing tobacco saying there were guys coming to greet him Saturday while chewing tobacco, though he described the wad of chew as noted before.
“Guys are coming into a D.A.R.E. event abusing substances?” he asked increduly, looking over to Lake County Sheriff Bob Hiltz who was standing next to him.
Nugent said he told the chewers nicely what he thought, but nicely in Nugent language, which is quite colorful and maybe best not repeated in a family newspaper.
Nugent asked how old Nehm is. “Sixteen,” Nehm replied. (Nugent had guessed 15.)
“Don’t start with the poisons,” he went on. “If you do your spirit will turn into a crippled bird. I’m 56 years old. I’m no crippled bird.”
About then, and at several other opportunities during the appearance, Nugent mocked Ozzie Osbourne, the heavy metal singer whose reality show on MTV portrayed Ozzie to be a burned out druggie. Nugent’s description of Ozzie involved drool and a mimicking of Ozzie’s nearly unintelligible gibberish.
Nehm walked away smiling.
“That was awesome, the most inspiring thing I’ve heard,” he said when asked what he thought of the guitar lesson.
Jerry and Linda Duschond said they made the trip to Lake County from their Manistee home because they really like Ted Nugent.
“We’re a family of hunters,” Linda said, as the two held items Nugent autographed for them.
They also bought a raffle ticket for hunts with Nugent that were being given away to benefit D.A.R.E and Kamp for Kids.
Linda said she didn’t think Nugent heard him when the couple asked if he would do the hunt in Fallujah, Iraq if they won. They put their son and son-in-law’s names on the tickets. Their son-in-law is in Iraq and their son is in the military police and likely headed to Iraq.
Sheriff Hiltz and Lake County D.A.R.E. officer Chad Hurrle said the Nugent visit will mean a lot for the program, both in terms of the money it raises for D.A.R.E. and because of the anti-drug message Nugent espouses.
“He’s pretty boisterous about what he says,” Hurrle observed in a classic understatement, “and he’s for the kids. He’s an all-natural person who likes to go out and hunt and to help kids.”
Noting there have been funding cuts from the state, Hiltz said fundraising such as what Nugent was doing for the self-funded Lake County D.A.R.E. program, is essential for the program to continue.
“We chose not to let it (D.A.R.E.) go,” Hiltz said. “With the help of Ted and the folks of the car show (another D.A.R.E. fundraiser) we can do this.”
Hiltz said Nugent’s drug-free, tobacco free and outdoors-oriented message Nugent is important, too. It could turn a youth away from drugs and help them discover the outdoors instead.
Who said something about a humanitarian award?
Preaches a drug-free lifestyle and love of the outdoors
http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=24812
By STEVE BEGNOCHE, Daily News Managing Editor
sbegnoche@ludingtondailynews.com, 845-5182, ext. 326
BALDWIN — Some 2,200 Ted Nugent fans stood in line for 90 minutes or more to get a chance to greet the 56-year-old rock-n-roll guitarist who has become an animated and politically incorrect spokesman for clean living, hunting and the outdoors.
The fans who stood in a line that snaked around the parking lot and showroom of Peacock Ltd., to meet Nugent were there for as many reasons as the Motor City Madman had causes and quips. He can fire opinions and comments faster than an AK-47 can fire bullets and in the process he hits more than a few targets.
His visit Saturday to Lake County, where he has a hunting retreat, raised funds for the Lake County Sheriff’s Department Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program and for Nugent’s own Kamp for Kids. Fans started arriving as early as 7 a.m. and as of 3 p.m. more pouring in had to be turned away.
“It was pretty crazy,” Carol Hill of the motorcycle, snowmobile and off-road vehicle dealership said this morning.
Nugent, decked out in his trademark camouflage hat and sleeveless shirt, signed autographs, sold books, dispensed nuggets of Nugent wisdom. He maintained a manic pace that he credits to his drug-free, alcohol-free, tobacco-free lifestyle. He places a premium on hunting and living life to its fullest.
Nugent has the distinction of perhaps being the only rock-n-roller with a collection of hunting songs, including ballad that pays tribute to a whitetail deer and the legendary and now-deceased archery hunter Fred Bear. A dedicated hunter, it didn’t escape Nugent’s notice that Peacock appearance was taking place on the first Saturday of the Michigan bow hunting season.
“If I can give up the first Saturday of October to do this, I should get a humanitarian award,” Nugent announced with a laugh to no one in particular and everyone within earshot. Between pronouncements he signed bows ($100 a signature for bows and guitars), t-shirts, compact disc recordings, books, mouse pads, photographs and just about everything else imaginable.
“There’s Uncle Ted with a baby!” he exclaimed after posing for a picture with an infant.
He greeted hunters with a “Happy October to you” and fielded questions about topics both hunting and music related.
He told one guest who asked about a political position that rather than complain to Nugent, the hunter should talk to his senator, something Nugent says he does all the time, only to hear too often that he is the only hunter bending the politician’s ear on a matter.
“Tell your senator. Then you’re a meaningful American,” he advised the man.
And, he suggested, talk to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, too.
“Michigan needs to micromanage its deer herd,” he shouted out. Most of his conversation Saturday was done loud enough to be heard by anyone within five or six feet of him. “They’ve slaughtered the deer in Lake County.”
Nugent stated he doesn’t think Michigan’s deer zone management system is appropriate to manage the deer properly.
Then he got really hot over another topic — “slobs” who give hunters and sportsmen and sportswomen a bad name.
“There’s too many retarded sportsmen,” he said, a description he used frequently along with several other descriptions not often heard from public speakers in polite company. “They’ve done such damage, the good hunters are being ostracized.”
More than complain and comment, though, Nugent urged hunters to take action to resolve the worsening situation.
“Reconnect with the landowner,” he said of one solution to a problem of more private land being closed to hunters. “Give back more than you take.”
He suggested hunters help a landowner whose opened land to them fix fences or maintain a trail, for instance, as a means to reconnect. And, when a deer or other game is killed on private property, he said to give the landowner a prime cut of the meat.
“How retarded do you have to be not to figure that out?” he remarked.
Mason Nehm, 16, of Scottville asked “the Nuge,” as Nugent calls himself, advice about playing guitar.
Nugent was ready, and wanted to make sure the eavesdropping reporter was too, before launching into his advice — and a launch it was that had Nugent soaring with passion.
Did he talk about scales? fingerpicking? the perfect guitar? the best chords? the right sound?
Nope. He talked about lifestyle and personal decisions.
“There’s only one secret. Be the best you can be. No drugs. No cigarettes. No alcohol. No turds in the lips (chewing tobacco). No abusing substances … All of the sudden your fingers will start flying,” he said, playing a frenzied air guitar solo for the youth.
And then — Nugent, the seeming madman who has shot flaming arrows during his concerts, who at times wore loincloths for his costume, whose outdoors based reality show on MTV was outdoors was fairly gross — offered one more bit of advice that parents also will love: “Do chores.”
Sitting around watching TV is no good, he said.
“You need to let your spirit soar. That means no poisons.”
Then he launched into a Nugent rant about chewing tobacco saying there were guys coming to greet him Saturday while chewing tobacco, though he described the wad of chew as noted before.
“Guys are coming into a D.A.R.E. event abusing substances?” he asked increduly, looking over to Lake County Sheriff Bob Hiltz who was standing next to him.
Nugent said he told the chewers nicely what he thought, but nicely in Nugent language, which is quite colorful and maybe best not repeated in a family newspaper.
Nugent asked how old Nehm is. “Sixteen,” Nehm replied. (Nugent had guessed 15.)
“Don’t start with the poisons,” he went on. “If you do your spirit will turn into a crippled bird. I’m 56 years old. I’m no crippled bird.”
About then, and at several other opportunities during the appearance, Nugent mocked Ozzie Osbourne, the heavy metal singer whose reality show on MTV portrayed Ozzie to be a burned out druggie. Nugent’s description of Ozzie involved drool and a mimicking of Ozzie’s nearly unintelligible gibberish.
Nehm walked away smiling.
“That was awesome, the most inspiring thing I’ve heard,” he said when asked what he thought of the guitar lesson.
Jerry and Linda Duschond said they made the trip to Lake County from their Manistee home because they really like Ted Nugent.
“We’re a family of hunters,” Linda said, as the two held items Nugent autographed for them.
They also bought a raffle ticket for hunts with Nugent that were being given away to benefit D.A.R.E and Kamp for Kids.
Linda said she didn’t think Nugent heard him when the couple asked if he would do the hunt in Fallujah, Iraq if they won. They put their son and son-in-law’s names on the tickets. Their son-in-law is in Iraq and their son is in the military police and likely headed to Iraq.
Sheriff Hiltz and Lake County D.A.R.E. officer Chad Hurrle said the Nugent visit will mean a lot for the program, both in terms of the money it raises for D.A.R.E. and because of the anti-drug message Nugent espouses.
“He’s pretty boisterous about what he says,” Hurrle observed in a classic understatement, “and he’s for the kids. He’s an all-natural person who likes to go out and hunt and to help kids.”
Noting there have been funding cuts from the state, Hiltz said fundraising such as what Nugent was doing for the self-funded Lake County D.A.R.E. program, is essential for the program to continue.
“We chose not to let it (D.A.R.E.) go,” Hiltz said. “With the help of Ted and the folks of the car show (another D.A.R.E. fundraiser) we can do this.”
Hiltz said Nugent’s drug-free, tobacco free and outdoors-oriented message Nugent is important, too. It could turn a youth away from drugs and help them discover the outdoors instead.
Who said something about a humanitarian award?