Randy Weaver & The St.Maries
 

The Prologue was written by my son:
-----------------------------------------------


Dad has never been inclined to discuss Randy Weaver's interaction with the St.Marie Family, and I'm guessing I was maybe 16 or 17 when all of this happened. I do remember doing the piece in .the studio and dating Rachel.

I'm assuming that you all remember Randy Weaver, Ruby Ridge and the death of his wife and 14 year child. They never talk about the baby that was in her mother's arms when she was shot, but her name is Elisheba, and she's a beautiful little girl in the custody of her older sister, Sarah. Dad still talks to Sarah once in a while. She's a very cool Lady
This is a copy of a letter response he sent to some big deal writer who just wouldn't go away.

Dad is usually not this short and harsh with anyone, but I think the entire affair left him a bit angry with all concerned, particularly when it seemed to have no satisfactory end for Weaver's Daughters.
If there is a way to post the original, never released song I'll do it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This short narrative concerns the St.Marie Family's interlude with one Randy Weaver, the supposed folk hero of the Ruby Ridge incident.
I'll not discuss nor respond to anything as concerns the incident itself. My personal feelings are that he was entrapped with the shotgun idiocy in that the illegality of the weapon could be measured in no more than the width of the hacksaw blade he used to shorten it.

Horiuchi was and is a murderer. The BATF were and are thugs. Weaver's idiotic intentional failure to appear at a couple of court hearings did not remotely justify the actions of the BATF and the subsequent events, and though he bore a portion of the blame himself, the ATF thugs bear the brunt of it. Any one of these Government paid anti-Constitutional ATF hacks could have arrested him on any one of his frequent trips into town. They didn't. They opted to create the siege of the family home and the carnage that ended with the blatant, intentional murder of his wife and son. A 14 year old running away from the shooters and gunned down from behind by multiple fusillades in the back? Congratulations to the brave men of the ATF. Enough of that.

Sometime in the spring of 1996 I received a phone call in Lost Prairie. It was Randy Weaver asking if I knew who he was. "of course", I responded, and the following ensued.

He called because he'd heard of our Family owned recording studio and he was living in Lost Prairie not far from our home. He had recently moved into a ranch house just down the road from us. With him were his three daughters, Sarah, Rachel and the little known or discussed, Elisheba, the baby.

He was interested in having a ballad written, a ballad we eventually named "Far From Ruby Ridge". I agreed to persue the topic and began a search for any songwriters interested in such a venture. Long story short, after adverstising our intent in a number of industry journals for musicians, we received dozens of tapes and lyric submittals in the mail. Virtually all of them witten in a blood & gore, anti-goverment killers vein, completely unsuitable for any sort of a memorial type ballad and most all of them written in the dreaded 3/4 time. We were discouraged. After weeks of enquiries and responses we were no further ahead than on day one, and I was about to tell Weaver exactly that, then...........

One morning at the Graphics Studio, an elderly lady walked in and asked if we were the ones who knew Randy Weaver. She didn't have a song, but she had written a poem. A poem that was exceedingly well written with the abilty to rip, not tug, at your heartstrings. A true lump-in-the-throat poem. She asked if we would give it to Mr. Weaver. She had followed the story since day one and had developed a certain empathy for the plight of Weaver's wife and son. I agreed to pass the poem on to Weaver and she left, but.......

My son Latigo took the poem, read it and stated the not so obvious to me..... "This is our song." He was right! Perfect, and it metered out into 4/4 time! We had it. Now all we needed was a music composition, and of course I had the Latigo Band right here at home so......
Latigo wrote the music compostition, performed both rythm and lead guitar overdubs, Rosemary did the bass tracks and her ex-boyfriend did both the lead and harmony vocals. Within a week we had it. It couldn't have been written or performed any better.

The finished piece was never released. I have the final master. Weaver monetarily scammed us along with a number of other businesses in Kalispell and he shuffled off down the road, broke and self consumed. My son Latigo dated his daughter Rachel for a while and Sarah married within another couple of years. Elisheba stayed with Weaver until Sarah finally took her from him. I'll not explain why, but being with her father at that point in time was the worst possible place for Elisheba. Sarah recognized this and took her.

Many think that Weaver was well off. Not so. Only the three girls received the million apiece awarded by the court, not Weaver himself. He didn't get a dime. There was a lot of deception and subterfuge involved, but I'll not discuss it. For us it was enough to know that where we and a few local businesses were concerned, Weaver was a scammer and a liar. We ended up not believeing a word he ever told us, and sitting in our control room numerous times, he told us a lot, none of which I will divulge to you. I care not a whit for Weaver himself, but I do value the privacy of his Daughters.

I've seen him at gunshows every once in a while, peddling his book. After our experiences with him I never bothered to buy or read it. His word meant nothing to us and I had no reason to believe anything he ever said or wrote. Rachel and Latigo did not date again and she lived in town for some time. We've lost track of her but I saw Sarah a few times and spoke with her. She still lives here in town and is a great and perceptive young woman for whom I have a lot of respect.

I will not discuss or divulge anything I know about Weaver or his family beyond that in this narrative, so don't bother asking. This is intended as background on how the "Far From Ruby Ridge" ballad came to be and nothing more. Your curiosity doesn't interest me and I'm assuming that I'll not hear from you again on this matter.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
　
If this works, this is the original ballad "Far From Ruby Ridge"



http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=7383462&q=hi&newref=1

Makin' Tracks Sound Studio, St.Marie family owned

The control room.
Attachment 3945 The Drum isolation room
Attachment 3946
Attachment 3947
Attachment 3948
Attachment 3949
Attachment 3950
Attachment 3951

A very interesting story. I am very impressed that you know these people and I commend you on standing up for what is right with these kids.

Unfortunately, the fox is guarding the hen house and the media follows along lock step. As such people only restate what they have read or heard without their own investigation.

Was it Mark Twain that stated "don't believe anything your hear and only half of what you read"?