Ballarat

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Ballarat

Postby MojaveMike » Mon Dec 30, 2013 10:43 am

The Ballarat Bandit Documentary :cactus:
Some people probably recall the Ballarat Bandit. Here's a 45-minute long documentary about his activities in and around Death Valley.

BACK UP COPY: https://youtu.be/vV2dERriWDw
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Re: Ballarat

Postby panamint_patty » Mon Jan 06, 2014 10:32 am

I recall reading about the Ballarat Bandit a few years ago. I need to find 45 minutes to watch this video to refresh my memory of all the things he's supposed to have done. From what I recall it sounds like he was a pretty resourceful guy. Too bad he wound up dead.
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Re: Ballarat

Postby cactuspete » Thu May 08, 2014 9:16 am

I heard something about some kind of festival being held in Ballarat last month. Not sure if it was a concert or a rally or what. Anyone know about or at least hear about the event?
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Re: Ballarat Bandit

Postby dzrtdwg » Mon Sep 29, 2014 8:26 am

MojaveMike: Nice post. That's a really interesting documentary. That guy was a pretty tough and resourceful fella. Too bad it ended with him dying.
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Re: Ballarat

Postby CrustyOldFart » Sun Nov 09, 2014 8:09 am

WikiPedia Page :prof:
There's even a WikiPedia page about this guy:
George Robert Johnston (1954 – 2004), better known as the Ballarat Bandit or as John Doe #39-04, was a Canadian-born burglar who gained nationwide attention as he spent the last several years of his life hiding from police in Death Valley National Park. The nickname of Ballarat Bandit was given to Johnson in accordance to where his criminal career began, inside of the town of Ballarat, California.

LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballarat_Bandit
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Re: Ballarat

Postby BallaratBob » Mon Jan 05, 2015 7:29 am

There were lots of people taking advantage of the low cost of fuel the last couple of weeks. Tons of cars went through town and there were lots of RVs and trucks pulling trailers. While out riding around in Panamint and Searles Valleys I saw an awful lot of people and a surprisingly large number of horses on a couple occasions. The holidays are now over and so I suspect that the numbers will be down quite a bit for awhile!
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Re: Ballarat

Postby BallaratBob » Sun Feb 22, 2015 1:20 pm

Freedom Days Easter Gathering :thumb:
This was posted in the local news thread, but it fits here too. Hopefully more people will see it by posting it in two places.
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Re: Ballarat

Postby mrfish » Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:37 am

Freedom Days Easter Gathering: This Rock Novak fella sounds a little bit like he's a member of the tea party or something. I've talked to him before and he didn't seem like a wingnut to me at the time, but the way he wrote this flyer sounds like he's one of those libertarian nuts with their gun rights and freedom talk. Of course when you try to have a real conversation about politics they always turn out to be horribly uninformed and so I've grown tired of tea party types.
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Re: Ballarat

Postby surfsteve » Wed Feb 25, 2015 7:42 am

Seems like the days when a person could publicly advertise a social event without being accused of being a terrorist or something are long gone. That being said in today's political climate the event sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
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Re: Ballarat

Postby CactusHugger » Wed Feb 25, 2015 8:10 pm

Everybody's a critic nowadays! Ya gotta give Rock Novak credit for taking the initiative to organize a fun event. Who knows? Maybe it will grow into a big annual event that lots of people will enjoy. He's probably not prepared to handle the logistics of a big event, but I'm sure it won't catch on right away. Assuming that it catches on at all. Best of luck to him.
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