Dear Friends and Family, You may have noticed my name (Janice Johnson) on this page recently. I am the original administrator that created this site to provide support to Jack Herer and his family shortly after he suffered a heart attack at Portland’s Hempstalk in 2009. Due to recent changes in Facebook’s privacy policies, my name is now shown but I will be appealing this decision so we can have Jack’s name front and center. I invite you all to continue using this page to celebrate Jack’s life and legacy by sharing stories, pictures and anecdotes. We all loved him dearly. What would he think of things now? And what about HEMP? Has the mission been lost in the recent victories for medical and recreational marijuana? What about saving the planet? There have been some monumental changes throughout the United States since he passed away but we never would have made it this far without the Emperor of Hemp, Jack Herer. Hemp! Hemp! Hooray! My children, Autumn (10) and Axis (19), and I live in Eugene, Oregon, where Jack passed away. Jack was a good friend, a mentor, and an inspiration to me, in addition to the legend we all know him as. We met in the 1980‘s during the “Hemp for Victory” tours and became better friends when I lived in L.A. and looked after our friend and brother, T.C. (a.k.a. Trash Captain, a.k.a. Doug) not long after Captain Ed passed away. He was a friend to my mother and both of my children, who carry on his wisdom, that HEMP can save the planet! Now for the not-so-good news and the reason why I returned to this site at this time: My children, Autumn (10) and Axis (19), and I desperately need some help right now. Not long ago, my partner, Mark Rickman, died on his motorcycle. The nut on the rear axle of his 1986 Harley Davidson Sport Glide (FXRT) unthreaded and he was thrown into a guard rail after running through a ditch on Hwy 126, east of Eugene, Oregon. This past year has been burdened with loss for us. We have lost my mother, Betty; lifelong friend, Aunt and Sister, Penny; our dearly loved dog, Chloe; and one of my oldest friends and brothers, Eddy. Then, literally the morning after returning from my brother, Ed’s funeral in S.F., my partner, Mark, crashed his motorcycle and my life began to literally fall apart. Since then I have found myself in places emotionally and physically that I had never been before. I have felt pain indescribable and fear and desperation that I can only now begin to face and talk about. Were it not for my children, I don’t know how I could survive. It has been very dark at times. In addition to being emotionally devastated, we were immediately displaced from our home in McKenzie Bridge and began living transiently between a few friend’s homes. Since then we have lost everything. Even my car was repossessed just before Christmas. My daughter, who is only 10, has attended 3 schools and is struggling with our unexpected situation. The family we are staying with right now can only accommodate my daughter and I so my son has had to find his own living situation with friends and we have not been able to be together to grieve. We were only able to see each other briefly during the holidays, which also happen to be when my son’s birthday falls. We have a place to stay through this month but then really have nowhere to go and no way to get there. Everything has turned upside down since he’s been gone. We have no immediate family left and Mark had no life insurance. When he died, I was taking care of his mother and was financially dependent on him. Unfortunately, his family has decided to put her in a home and has extended no love or concern to my children and I. We have nowhere to turn but to our extended family and friends in this world to shed a little hope on our lives right now. Please, if you can help in any way, we would be more than grateful. A little about us…. Mark was born and raised locally in Eugene, OR. He attended North Eugene High School and trade school in Phoenix, AZ. He was a mechanic for over 25 years and recently disabled. He belonged to a small club named the Willamette Valley Riders (no longer active). He had a great sense of humor and many hobbies throughout his life, including skiing, photography, drawing, amateur radio and broadcast, rebuilding muscle cars, and, of course, he loved his motorcycle, “Sweet Thing”. He also loved music and had an even larger vinyl collection than mine! I grew up in Cleveland, OH, attended Ohio State and finished school at Evergreen State in WA. I have worked as an environmental health professional for the past 18 years, living in Ohio, Washington, California, Tennessee, Virginia, Alaska and Oregon. An activist at heart, I joined NORML when I was 17 and eventually served as Secretary of Ohio NORML. I am also an advocate of biker’s rights and a die-hard Grateful Dead Tour head from ’84 on! “Mama, Mama many worlds I’ve come………”. My children love skateboarding, music, practical jokes and having fun. Autumn was finally old enough to join Junior Roller Derby this year and loves it! For the past five years, Mark and I cared for our mothers. First mine then his. Both suffered from advanced dementia and other health complications but wanted to be at home. For a short period I worked for Douglas County (Oregon) after my mom passed, but for the past year, Mark and I had been caring for his mother in Eugene. Mark had revived his bike after 6 years down (he bought it new in ’86) and we began attending rallies again. We loved each other and trusted each other and we never planned for such a tragic thing to happen. We were living life! So much has happened in the past year that it was impossible to keep up. We didn’t really think about it but, I became financially dependent on Mark when I left my job and began caring for his mother. In addition, all of our savings had been used towards my Brother Ed’s funeral and I had even taken a loan on my car to cover expenses. Mark’s accounts were frozen as soon as he died as we were not officially married. I have attempted to file contractual partnership which has been difficult. The system in Oregon does not recognize common law relationships despite that fact that most of our accounts and bills were tied together. My retirement was dissolved while I cared for my mother. I worked only a short amount of time between my mother’s death and Mark’s mom becoming unable to care for herself so I never rebuilt any of the savings or retirement funds that I depleted while caring for my mom just a short time before. When Mark died I had nothing. He and I had both supported each other. Now the funerals are over, our home is packed in a storage, and we are left to figure out what to do next. Despite my efforts in the last few months I have not been able to prevent the disaster that has unfolded since Mark passed. I am now facing bankruptcy. We need to raise money to get into a place to live, get a reliable vehicle and appease creditors to avoid bankruptcy. Mark and I were just looking at locations to begin our own business and had worked very hard to get our credit to excellent status in order to succeed. My credit has been severely damaged now but can be salvaged if I avoid this bankruptcy. Someday I may even be able to chase that dream again! This has been the most difficult year of my life and I know in my heart that the coming year will be better. With no family left, my children and I are thankful for our friends and those of you who choose to help us even though you may have never met us or are yet to meet us along our journey in this world. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for every penny, every kind thought and for your support. Believe it or not just $5.00 would make a big difference. Even a couple dollars! If you are able to help, you can make a quick and simple donation of any amount at gofundme/jfbmvk (I pay them a small fee for this service) or if you have a PayPal account or would like to open one just go to paypal and sign in or create an account. Our account is enviroconsultant@yahoo and the process is simple to send money. There are also links to both sites from the facebook page I recently created under Janice Johnson. Thank you so much for your time and attention. We are more than grateful to all of you who can help us. We love you and in no way mean any disrespect to Jack or his family by posting this on this site. Please share this with others. The Johnson Family.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 03:12:25 +0000