WESTERN SKIES - February 26, 2005

*** HUNTER S. THOMPSON REMEMBERED ***

ERIC WHITNEY: The town of Woody Creek, just north of Aspen, was in the news this week. The town's most famous resident, author Hunter S. Thompson, killed himself on Sunday the twentieth. Stephen Raher has our report, compiled with the help of Andrea Lee and Mitzi Rapkin at Aspen Public Radio.

RAHER: Fans of Thompson's writing and reckless, drug-fueled life, were shocked to learn that the sixty-seven year old author died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Sunday evening.

Although the Sheriff has launched a standard investigation, Pitkin County Coroner, Doctor Steve Ayers has said the death was clearly a suicide.

STEVE AYERS: Basically, the nature of the wound and the circumstances. You know, with a gunshot wound it's usually pretty obvious if the person held the gun themselves and in this case it was very obvious.

RAHER: Thompson's son Juan, told the Associated Press that his father had long planned to take his life before he became too ill or too old to live as he pleased. Although Thompson had undergone several surgeries lately, Coroner Steve Ayers says he was not suffering from any terminal condition.

AYERS: His medical history's well known to me, so I knew he did have anything like cancer or anything like that.

RAHER: Friends and colleagues of Thompson reacted to the news with a wide range of emotions.

ALLAN RINSLER: It's just awful. I wish I could have saved him, I wish I could have helped him.

RAHER: Allan Rinsler was associate publisher and editor at Rolling Stone when the magazine published Thompson's seminal work, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," in 1971.

RINSLER: You know, when you have worked with some very great artists, and you don't have to be crazy, I mean, you can go up to the edge but you don't have to jump over. I wish I could have helped him to sober up, but he kept people at a distance. You know, he was a very private person, as close as we were, you know I don't think anybody was really that close to him.

RAHER: But son Juan Thompson reiterated that his father had lived a full life and did not decide to end it out of desperation. He says he is saddened by his father's death, but also is proud of his decision.

Thompson was one of many figures who put Aspen on the map during the 1960s and 70s. He brought attention to local politics in 1970 when he ran for Pitkin County Sheriff, on the "Freak Power" ticket, promising, among other things, to replace the streets of downtown Aspen with bike paths.

Speaking at the Woody Creek Tavern, friend and local resident Gaylord Gennon (ph) explained Thompson was a complex figure.

GAYLORD GENNON: He was a little bit of everything. You could love him one minute and hate him the next. He could be irritable and cranky and he could be outgoing and giving. And at the same time he was brilliant.

RAHER: Thompson was a leader of the writing movement known as New Journalism. Specifically, he pioneered the hyper-subjective genre of Gonzo Journalism. He was also well known for traveling and cavorting with some of the mid-twentieth century's literary giants, including Ken Kesey, Tom Wolfe, and Alan Ginsburg. Thompson eulogized William S. Burroughs when he died in 1997.

John Walsh was managing editor at Rolling Stone in the 1970s and is the executive editor at ESPN.com, where Thompson was a columnist in recent years.

JOHN WALSH: He demanded a certain amount of intelligence and respect. But he gave you intelligence and respect back for your point of view.

RAHER: Former editor Allan Rinsler says Thompson deserves his place in literary history.

RINSLER: At his best, in these years that I had worked with him, if I may say, he was at the top of his game. He was a brilliant writer his prose was like poetry, really. It was like the greatest novelists that he admired, Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner. He was kind of a journalist, but not really. He was more or less a novelist.

RAHER: According to ESPN.com editor John Walsh, Thompson's writing is popular and important for several reasons.

WALSH: That it was dangerous. That it challenged. That it had a point of view and that it had a sense of humor when it had to. And it was very serious when it had to. And it was very different from everybody else. There was a great understanding and a love of the language.

RAHER: A memorial service for friends and family will be held on March fifth, and a public event is planned for spring or summer.

For Western Skies, I'm Stephen Raher.