Eating humble pie: a Gorge Ampitheatre mix-up

Dennis L. Clay

by Herald Columnist & DENNIS. L. CLAY
| June 27, 2014 6:00 AM

Eating humble pie; to apologize and face humiliation for a serious error.

I'm eating humble pie this week. Mistakes have been made before in this column, as happens in anyone's life, but last week's column is a special case.

The band opening for Kiss at The Gorge in July of 2000 was not Night Ranger, but Skid Row. The mistake is a big deal for me and others. I don't know how it happened. I have thought for 14 years the band was Night Ranger. I would have bet my estate on the fact; I would have even bet my life.

My upbringing is oriented toward the attitude of standing up straight and facing the music when making a mistake, then moving on with life. So here I stand facing the music and eating humble pie. The situation hurts right down to my toenails and there is a deep ache in the pit of my stomach.

I owe a huge apology to Night Ranger, which I hope to deliver in person this August.

On another side of the column, a reader questioned the value of having Ted Nugent as a friend. My friends are my friends. No one agrees 100 percent of the time with friends, any one of them. A person might say their mother is their friend, but if they say they agree with their mother 100 percent of the time, they are lying.

There are stories about Nugent's efforts to avoid being drafted during the Vietnam War. True or not, I don't know. There are several versions about this part of his life. Do I agree with everything Ted has done in his life? No. Does he agree with everything I have done in my life? No. We are friends and the give and take of being friends is a part of our lives.

Ted Nugent's atonement for past actions is evident in his current achievements. The man is working to benefit all who believe in the great outdoors and gun rights. He wants to make sure the youth of our nation are exposed to outdoor skills and our firearm rights are maintained.

I know men who ran to Canada to avoid serving in the military during the Vietnam War. Their actions were unpatriotic, but they are forgiven and are now friends.

There are actions in my past which I'm not proud to announce. My mother doesn't know, neither does my wife or sister or any other member of my family. I've moved on and contain those secrets from my combat past to nightmares.

I have other local friends who have made mistakes in the past, some spending time in county jail or state prison. They are still my friends.

Other people come to mind who have made mistakes and have returned to public life to benefit this country. Take Bill Clinton as an example. The 42nd president of the United States was impeached by the House of Representatives on two charges, one of perjury and one of obstruction of justice, those being the Lewinsky scandal and the Paula Jones lawsuit. Since then he has helped our nation in various ways. I'm not a fan of Clinton, but his contributions should be recognized.

Nugent's concert at the Clark County Fairgrounds on Aug. 5 was cancelled because of political reasons. If the fair manager didn't want Nugent to play at his venue, he shouldn't have signed the contract. The concert was cancelled because of a false technicality, the Radius Protection clause, while allowing another band to violate the same clause.

Plus when Nugent played the Clark County Fair in 2005, he was allowed to play another venue in Tacoma within days of the fair. The fair had given prior approval for the same happening this year, then reneged.

Why is Ted Nugent so important in the outdoor world? He has a special knack, skill and ability to explain the reasons our second amendment is significant.

In explaining his take on the second amendment Nugent gives several reasons why people should be able to defend themselves by carrying a firearm. One example: "I would rather the lady in Massachusetts last month who was taking her daughter to soccer practice who was carjacked by a recidivistic maggot who had been in the prison system all his life, but was let out again because 'we feel sorry for him, maybe he had a bad childhood,' instead of her being carjacked and murdered, I'd rather she just shot the #$@%&$# dead. But in Massachusetts someone decided she can't do that, so she's dead. I'd rather she was alive and the carjacker was dead."

Ted Nugent doesn't speak for all of us, but his central message is benefiting all defenders of the second amendment, like it or not.