Fess Parker, 85, off to happy hunting ground

Fess Parker, the genial buckskin fringed giant in the iconic coonskin cap who portrayed Disney's Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and the dad in Old Yeller, among others, died Thursday, March 18, 2010, aged 85. "Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter,"  aired on Disneyland on Dec. 15, 1954, and made Parker an overnight sensation. Ten million furry ringtailed chapeaus were sold.

Parker's inside take on the Disney real estate empire inspired a lifelong love of development, and Santa Barbara will remember him as well as a man who never met a project he didn't like. His decade-long scraps with the city planning department were as epic as any of his silver screen adventures. In slow growth Santa Ynez, his star was tarnished by a plan to develop 750 acres in the heart of the Valley as a resort in cooperation with the Chumash tribe. Like so many of his projects, it never happened.

Even The Wall Street Journal covered the proposed Parker/Chumash project, declaring in an opinion piece May 28, 2004, that developers will “start speed dialing Indian tribes” if Fess Parker’s “end run around local rule” succeeded. In “The Fuss About Fess,” the WSJ predicted a backlash would hurt the tribes if the “resort hotel, golf course and 500 luxury homes” end up on federalized land. A map of the project obtained by opponents showed homes, an equestrian center, and golf course, with a “55 ACRE RESORT HOTEL AND CASINO SITE” in the middle.

“Give the man credit for clever marksmanship,” wrote the WSJ. “The deal he’s proposed with the neighboring Chumash Indians is at once simple and audacious…If the feds approve the annexation of the land as tribal territory, it means this could all be built without regard to local and state regulations...The resentment this would breed--already palpable in Santa Barbara--would only make it more likely that disenfranchised Californians will respond by opening up casino gambling to others,” predicted the Journal. “If tribal casinos get too greedy, they stand a good chance of seeing their prized monopoly taken away from them.”

The big Texan was back at the Alamo in 2004, donating his rifle “Old Betsy” to posterity, and probably feeling very much at home. Cinematic struggle to the death at the hands of an enemy army was good preparation for dealing with planning commissions.