January 2004     

"Cowboy Soul"...

Jay Zane Walley

By Diane Alden

I have known many modern-era cowboys. They weren't bull riders or rodeo stars or rhinestone cowboys. They weren't the turquoise-wearing, silver-buckle, big-hat variety either. Most were working ranchers, and cowboys, and their wives. Nearly all sacrificed for a way of life that is disappearing.

When I think of cowboy and independent soul, Teddy Blue Abbott, Goodnight and Loving, John Chisholm, Grant Kohrs, Granville Stewart, Bose Ikard, W.J. Wilson, Daniel Boone and Teddy Roosevelt come to mind.

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours. - Ayn Rand -

In the modern era, I can think of no one who represents that cowboy soul better than Jay Walley. I first discovered Jay's work when he was writing investigative pieces on land issues for the excellent Range Magazine.

Born in dirt-poor conditions in Alabama, Jay, a former U.S. Marine sergeant, lives in Lincoln, N.M., with his wife, Sara.

After years of struggle, Jay received a public education grant from the New Mexico-based Paragon Foundation. The grant allowed him to take his heart's desire to preserve the Western way of life, and allowed it to go national.

Appearing regularly on many national talk shows, Jay worked with Fox News on the "Vanishing Freedoms" series. His pieces have appeared on NewsMax as well.

Jay was instrumental in organizing freedom rallies in several states to aid the dispossessed rural people in the West, and across the nation. He did so tirelessly, from Elko and Jarbridge, NV, to the Darby in Ohio, and the Sawgrass Rebellion of the Everglades.

Jay had a stroke on Nov. 14. He is in good spirits but is completely paralyzed on his right side. Since he and his wife have no life or health insurance, the Paragon Foundation is acting as go-between for contributions for Jay and his family.

Apparently, they will be moving him to a veteran's facility in Albuquerque when a bed becomes available. They will have to insert a feeding tube in Jay because he can't swallow very well.

I am asking all those who benefited from Jay's work during the Klamath crisis, the Sawgrass Rebellion and the Jarbridge events of 2000, to please consider Jay and Sara as worthy of concern, prayers and contributions.

Jay has always has been a fighter for the West, for freedom, for what is best about this country. He rides for the brand, the outfit, this America.

It is sad that all his work and effort have not made it possible for him have the ability to pay the high cost of health insurance and private hospitals.

This is the reality for those who write for the love of it, or because they love freedom, this land and its people. Jay is one who sacrificed just about everything in order to tell as many people possible, as well as the powers that be, that freedom was on the ropes, and, along with it, the rural people of America.

In Jay's case, his efforts have moved the distracted and the unconcerned to pay attention to rural problems and the difficulty created for rural America by the environmental movement and the federal leviathan.

As far as I am concerned, he is one of the last true cowboys, possessed of a noble and generous spirit, wherein doing right means more than getting rich.

It is a sad fact that folks like Jay are often only repaid for their efforts at the Pearly Gates.

Nonetheless, I hope there are a few angels left in America who will help Jay and Sara Walley cope with this recent crisis.

Jay is in the hospital in Alamogordo. Cards are always welcome. For those who live in the area, a call, a visit, a little something for the effort, would be appreciated.

Contact Jay's friends through:

Paragon Foundation, Inc.
c/o Jay Walley Recovery Fund
1200 N. White Sands Blvd., Suite 110
Alamogordo, NM 88310

or call 877.847.3443 or fax 505.434.8992.

Please make a note that your input is for Jay Walley. If you would like to send cards or more, you can send them to the address above and he will get them.

Help a cowboy soul this Thanksgiving season. I can think of no better way to honor the good, and receive God's blessing than to aid one of His own.

Regards to all this Thanksgiving.

Diane Alden
NewsMax.com
Carrollton, Georgia
Chisholm, Minnesota

Taken from her article "Cowboy Soul," published by NewsMax, November 26, 2003.