One World One Reason

Kennebec7 Spirit Archives

2010-03-19T04:47:00.013+07:00

Clare Laughing Wolf for Kennebec7

It didn’t surprise me when they told me someone was planning to make a TV series about my friends and me. “Spirit Archives,” they’re thinking of calling it. Might work.

My next-door neighbors here in Sedona where I’ve lived for over twenty years, Aggie and Steve Bushmiller, weren’t the least bit shocked about my “entertainment news.” If you haven’t spent time in Sedona, you might not understand. This is one of the UFO capitals of the world, plus a lot of other unusual phenomena happen around here. Some vortexes near here are entry points for extraterrestrials. The lady a block away from me claims her dad, a famous scientist who disappeared, was recruited by the government to work on the dark side of the moon.

Me? I’m just a Lakota Sioux grandmother, a medicine woman. I guess I look pretty normal compared to some folks around here. You come into my humble home and it looks like typical southwest Native American place. Except for my study. In my study where I meditate, large portraits of my favorite Ascended Masters hang on the walls—Saint Germain, Jesus, Mother Mary, Sanat Kumara and others.

I have a lot of stories. And I have friends with amazing stories, too. I guess Kennebec7 is pushing the story of Danny, who stopped the rain up in part of Utah for a couple years. Mr. Platt was going to lose his herd due to the drought until I came along. It was all due to Danny who killed himself not long after he stole ancient bones from the Anasazi burial site. Later, Danny became a spirit and he caused the drought.

But Kennebec7 asked me not to tell too much about that story because you’re supposed to watch it on TV whenever they get their deal done. However, they have put a little part of their script up on kennebecentertainment.com. It has part of the scene between Danny and me. It’s pretty near to the way it happened.

But my friend, Matt, also plays a big part in the story, which involves some Native Americans from Crazy Horse’s days and a famous psychic healer from Brazil. There’s quite a bit we have to share with you. Hopefully, it’ll be on TV before too long.

Clare Laughing Wolf

Sedona, Arizona

03/19/2010

COMING ATTRACTION

VALHALLA

From Kennebec Entertainment

Photo by Takura

Kennebec7 War of the Realms

2010-03-18T04:43:00.007+07:00

Jack Roberts Blog for Kennebec7

Greetings,

My name is Jack Roberts, reporting in from a secret location in Myanmar. For those of you who know my story, you might be wondering, ‘I thought Jack Roberts was killed in Myanmar (or Burma, as some of us still know it). Didn’t Sadinsky blow him to smithereens? ‘

Yes, that did happen. As you may recall, I dematerialized into millions of tiny living particles. Did you ever ask the question, ‘What would happen if all those living particles somehow reassembled?’

Actually it happens not infrequently, as it did to me. You, yourself, may have even undergone rematerialization, perhaps similar to my own experience. The benefit to my own evolutionary process was that by dematerializing I was better able to visit the myriad of places in the Universe that I was required to experience.

I imagine that those of you who have read “War of the Realms’” may be asking ‘What happened to Terry,’ or ‘Did Jack reunite with Jannelle in heaven,’ or some such place in the Upper World? My answers (as best I can explain such things in human terms) would be as follows:

1. My son Terry is now a teenager. He goes to an International School in Ghana. There he carries on the work in which our family became engaged—studying and preserving healing plants. He is also involved in trying to save threatened animal species, such as bonobos, a close relative of chimpanzees and humans, and far more lovable and peaceful than either. I will let Terry tell you more about his work with bonobos in a future Kennebec7 blog.

Otherwise Terry is a rather normal teenager, if such a creature actually exists. I visit him regularly in Ghana and am very proud of him. He has a Ghanaian girlfriend named Adika, who is exceptionally bright and personable.

2. My wife, Jannelle, who was murdered by Sadinsky two years before he turned his weapon on me, is very much alive in the Upper World. I’m sure that some of you who have read the book are already aware of Jannelle’s continuing existence. She is doing work that is not far removed from what she did when she was a scientist here on Earth. Only now, she engages herself in assignments provided by the angels.

It may not surprise you to hear that Piya (one of her many names) is like a sister angel to

Jannelle, and they are both very happy. It is difficult to put into human words what their happiness is like. Perhaps if you imagine being in heaven and then discovering that you can move up to other heavens, each one brighter and more fulfilling than the other. I was with Jannelle at the third level not long ago. I can guarantee that I did not ever want to leave.

However, we all have our soul journeys to take, and mine on Earth are not yet complete. Things here in Myanmar have not improved much since the day we destroyed the fortress. But if it is possible for a dead physical body to be restored and to travel the heavens, then those humans with the dark souls who reside here may yet be transformed. I have seen much stranger things.

We’ll see.

More later on Kennebec7

Jack Roberts (3/18/2010)

Myanmar, Earth

Kennebec7 The Earth Trembled

2010-03-16T13:33:00.009+07:00

I rescued an elephant mom in Thailand that was about to be killed for trying to protect her baby boy. Mimi is the mother and Bop is the adorable ‘little’boy who was horribly abused by employees of an animal show.

Shirley Francona for Kennebec 7 (#2)

The situation for elephants in Thailand is not so dissimilar from the plight of many wild animals across our planet today. Orangutans in Borneo, Bengal Tigers in India and elsewhere, pandas in China, gorillas in Rwanda. All endangered animals.

Man and beast compete for the ever-dwindling patches of land that have always sustained wild creatures. Land that humans fight over so they can grow food, cut down trees, dig up diamonds, and so forth.

From afar, however, people like me from countries like America, we have the impression that elephants are revered in Thailand. The country is shaped something like an elephant’s head. Elephants figure prominently in the art and history of the Kingdom. Elephants went to war on behalf of Thai kings.

Imagine my shock and disappointment when I arrived in Bangkok for the first time for the express purpose of trekking through Thai forests on the back of an elephant. The first elephant I saw was immersed in the middle of Bangkok’s infamous bumper-to-bumper traffic.

I was in a Toyota taxi, inching along amidst shiny black Mercedes, sleek BMWs, push carts selling food, and endless lines of motorcycles snaking in and out of traffic. Suddenly, ahead of me, looming above the sea of cars and motorcycles was a giant elephant, plodding slowly on the road like a mastodon among pigmies.

He was the first of many ‘begging’ elephants that I witnessed. They can be found in many Thai cities. Because logging was abolished in the Kingdom in the 1990s, owners of domestic elephants had to find a new line of work for their pachyderms. Begging. To quote Antoinette van de Water in her moving book, “The Great Elephant Escape,” ‘…She begs until all the bars and discos close. Drunks pull on her tail and try to make her drink beer. When (she) hungrily reaches out with her trunk to a restaurant table for leftovers, a customer throws hot coffee in her face….’

The scene I have described, where I saw my first begging elephant in Bangkok, appears in the screenplay, "The Earth Trembled". I do hope that you’ll have a chance to see the film after it’s made. You’ll see what noble, intelligent and sensitive animals elephants truly are.

For more information about Antoinette’s book, contact Silkworm Books at info@silkwormbooks.com

Hugs,

Shirley

For Kennebec7

(3/16/2010)

Santa Fe

Kennebec7 Mubu

2010-03-15T08:44:00.012+07:00

The profile drawing is of Mubu, the little animal doctor of northern Thailand, the heroine of a six-book series coming your way in July. To see who Mubu has become 43 years later, go to www.elephantnaturepark.org and read about Lek Chailert. You can also follow the exploits of the Kennebec7 at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=365353646768 or click the Kennebec7 widget.

Shirley Francona for Kennebec7

Hi,

I’m Shirley Francona.

Perhaps you remember me. I was on YouTube, CNN, the BBC and local TV here in New Mexico.

I rescued an elephant mom in Thailand that was about to be killed for trying to protect her baby boy. Mimi is the mother and Bop is the adorable ‘little’ boy who was horribly abused by employees of an animal show.

Anyway, I was just a tourist on an elephant trek in northern Thailand when all this started. They said I stole an elephant and the army was searching for us in the jungle. I’m an artist from Santa Fe, and was creating celadon elephants, which people liked a lot.

Being the adventurous type, I decided to go to Thailand to experience elephants first hand. I had no idea about the cruelty and abuse inflicted on elephants, which are misused by some trekking companies, illegal loggers and people making money by forcing elephants to beg from tourists on crowded and polluted city streets.

Luckily I got to meet Lek Chailert, a famous Thai elephant savior, who started the Elephant Nature Park north of Chiang Mai. www.elephantnaturepark.org and her staff have saved more than forty elephants from lives of suffering since her sanctuary opened a few years back. Today you can see the elephants yourselves, living natural peaceful lives without the stress of human demands.

In our movie, “The Earth Trembled,” the character based on Lek is called ‘Mint,’ short for the Thai name, Mintra.

My son Andrew came to Thailand, using his own meager savings, to help me rescue Bop from the Big Ears, Big Teeth animal show that bought the baby and almost killed him.

I’m back in Santa Fe these days, writing a book about my adventures. Andrew has returned to Long Island University, and we talk often. Finally, I am reunited with my son, just as Mimi is together again with Bop. They are both kicking up their heels, elephant style, at Lek’s Elephant Nature Park.

I hope you will see our amazing adventures, surviving snakes and scorpions in the jungle, when the movie “The Earth Trembled” comes out. Then I look forward to meeting you when I next visit Mimi and Bop at the Park.

Hugs,

Shirley

For Kennebec7

(3/11/2010)

Santa Fe

Elephants on the loose in Bangkok

2009-03-15T14:18:00.004+07:00

I have been to the Elephant sanctuary close to Lampang in Northern Thailand and that was a pleasure to see the Elephants in their natural habitat, now at the other end of the scale I have seen the Elephants in Bangkok totally out of their scene, they didn't look happy, they were quite nervous and if it was not for the rider then I am sure it would have bolted across the very busy road. So why are they allowed in the middle of Bangkok and why doesn't the authorities try and stop it well after receiving many complaints about elephants and their mahouts in the Rama IX area earlier this month, Prayote Promsuwan, a senior official for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's (BMA) law enforcement and inspection division, sometimes known as the thetsakit, mobilised his subordinates and Livestock Department officials to arrest the mahouts. Instead of running away like normal criminal suspects, the mahouts, who were taking a rest at an empty plot of land, just craned their necks and watched as the officials approached them. The two sides greeted awkwardly, with wry grins all around, until Mr Prayote broke the silence by saying: "Let's get together and talk."

HOME AWAY FROM HOME: The elephants find temporary shelter alongside Rama IX road.

Having dealt with mahouts in Bangkok for many years, Mr Prayote said he cannot remember how many times his men have arrested a particular mahout, only to see him on the street with his elephant a short time later after having paid a relatively small fine. It's an endless cycle, he said. Many mahouts have been arrested so often they become acquaintances of the officials.

Elephants roaming the streets have been a Bangkok fixture for decades, and a big part of the problem is that the city is simply not equipped to care for the elephants if their mahouts are jailed.

Mr Prayote said the BMA first addressed the issue in 1999 with a proposed solution to build a new park on the outskirts of the city to take care of the elephants. This proposal, Mr Prayote said, just disappeared over time, leaving officials at concerned agencies to try to find ways to cope with the problem on their own.

Four years later, the BMA issued an edict banning mahouts from bringing their elephants to the city. Under the ban, the BMA can fine the mahouts a minimum of 500 baht per arrest.

In 2006, a more comprehensive effort to deal with the problem was mobilised, led by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry. At least eight state agencies, including the Livestock Development, as well as agencies under the Interior Ministry, were invited to take part in tackling the problem. It was agreed to set up a cooperative operational unit with personnel from the eight agencies. It was also agreed to amend the relevant laws concerning elephants - at least nine - to clarify the unit's authority to deal with the problem.

Mr Prayote said that after only a few weeks there were no more elephants in Bangkok as the mahouts had fled the city with them in fear. The cooperative unit was inexplicably disbanded.

It was not too long before mahouts and their elephants were back in the city. The amendments of relevant laws to offer holistic solutions never took place, and thetsakit officials like Mr Prayote were left with limited authority to deal with the re-emerging problem.

Officials have asked Livestock Department officials to help in the arrests, because they have more power to directly arrest mahouts if they move elephants around without permission from the department, and to confine the elephants if they are diseased. The 1956 Animal Epidemic Act sets fines of up to 10,000 baht and/or a jail term of up to six months.

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK: Crossing Rama IX road, en route to Soi Nana.

In reality, officials cannot seize elephants if they cannot establish evidence that the animals carry diseases, or if they have animal identity certificates issued by the Interior Ministry.

"We track them, we arrest them [the mahouts] and then we have to release them - and it's just like that. It's like we paddle round and round in a pond," said Mr Prayote, who added that over the past few years he has seen an increase in the number of elephants roaming the city. According to the latest records, his team has arrested over 50 mahouts since January, or about one a day.

THE BANGKOK ALTERNATIVE

Officials say the root of the problem in Bangkok lies around 500km away, in Ta Klang village, Tambon Krapho in Surin province, where more than 90% of the elephants now found in the city come from. The villagers formerly used elephants for logging and, to a lesser extent, for ploughing rice fields. However, some 20 years ago the government declared a ban on logging. Meanwhile, the elephants' feeding ground, which was the young forest behind the village, had been turned into a big eucalyptus plantation, resulting in a scarcity of food.

The alternative for mahouts is coming to Bangkok and selling sugar cane to tourists to feed the elephants, or selling other small items to tourists using the elephants as a draw card. On some days the mahouts earn up to 2,000 baht, so it's not surprising that more and more mahout/elephant teams are arriving from Surin and neighbouring provinces.

Pui, a 28-year-old mahout from Ta Klang, claimed that the present generation is shouldering a heavy burden in raising elephants their ancestors brought home, and added that there are hardly any jobs to be found in the village. His family has one elephant left, so he decided to join his neighbours and take the elephant to the city.

"Elephants eat a lot, but there is less forest left to feed them. Once the rice harvest is finished, it's the time to come to Bangkok," said Pui.

According to Danchai Namai, a vet inspector for the Livestock Development Department who has been coordinating with Mr Prayote's team, the business has become lucrative to the point that there is rental and trade in domestic elephants among mahouts.

Mr Danchai added that elephants now being brought to Bangkok tend to be young.

He said that during the raid in the Rama IX area earlier this month, officials found one elephant that was from a Karen hill tribe rather than Surin, and noted there are reports that wild elephants are illegally captured in the wild and registered under forged identity certificates.

The Bangkok City Law Enforcement Office recently sent a letter to the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry asking it to reactivate its policy of cooperation among concerned agencies.

A source at the Interior Ministry conceded that at present there is a lack of integrated regulation, and each concerned agency has limited authority to deal with domestic elephants. There has been an attempt to formulate a new law to regulate elephants in the country, both wild and domesticated ones, during the past few years, but nothing has come of it.

His department conducted a nationwide survey on domesticated elephants, and found there were about 2,400 animals being raised in various locations. He said his department is enhancing the elephant registration process by putting the data online so that concerned authorities can check on their status and background.

This is partly to prevent forged registration of newly captured wild elephants, which could aggravate the problem of elephants in the city. Under the 1992 Wildlife Preservation and Protection Act, wild elephants cannot be registered.

Referring to the never-ending arrests, Mr Prayote said it was no good "tackling the problem at its end" as they have been doing.

"We cannot tackle the problem alone, but we cannot just sit and watch it happen either,"said Mr Prayote.

"The work has become such a dark joke for us. Various agencies trying to help come and go, and holistic solutions are proposed, but things stay the same. The fact is, elephants are our national pride, and we are now leaving them in desperate straits."