Weird Coincidence: Colin
Powell, Bill Clinton & Kenneth Lay
All in Aspen, CO at the same time.
Colin Powell Gets sick while eating with Bill Clinton. Colen Powell goes to same hospital that Kenneth Lay died in
Kenneth Lay died the morning of 7/5/06 Wednesday
Colin Powell was taken to the same Hospital on Friday 7/07/06Kenneth Lay was to be cremated & have a closed casket
Something Stinks in Aspen
Building the Big Red Machine
The Aspen Institute, we hope you will not be surprised to learn, is funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
http://www.mega.nu/ampp/gary_allen_rocker/ch9-11.htmlAspen Institute
ORGANIZATION
Nonprofit business leadership organization, founded in 1950.
Official Website:
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/
http://www.nndb.com/org/760/000051607/Aspen Institute: Walter Isaacson is now the 10th president of The Aspen Institute and succeeds Elmer W. Johnson, who resigned in August 2002. Walter Isaacson, the former chairman and CEO of CNN and the former editorial director of Time Inc., started his new job as president and CEO of The Aspen Institute on March 31.
And a week later, the Institute named nine new members to its heavyweight board of trustees, including top Disney executive Michael Eisner, publisher of the New York Daily News Mortimer Zuckerman and former Congressman Vin Weber.Founded in 1950 in Aspen, the institute runs seminars, policy studies and fellowship programs and keeps its headquarters in Washington, D.C., where Isaacson will work most of the year. He plans to spend summers in Aspen. In July 2001, he was named the chairman and CEO of CNN, which like Time magazine, is part of the AOL Time Warner conglomerate.
http://www.aspentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=AT&Date=20030414&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=304130021&Ref=AR
Kenneth Lay dies of heart disease at 64 By KRISTEN HAYS, AP Business Writer
Wed Jul 5, 6:26 PM ET
HOUSTON - Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay, who faced decades in prison for one of the most sprawling business frauds in U.S. history, died Wednesday while vacationing in Aspen, Colo. He was 64.
ADVERTISEMENT
Dr. Robert Kurtzman, Mesa County Coroner in Grand Junction, Colo., said his autopsy showed Lay died of heart disease.
Lay ascended from near-poverty as a minister's son in Missouri to the pinnacle of corporate America. He was considered a visionary who had President Bush's ear during Enron's halcyon days, but his reputation and monumental wealth shattered with that of his company. He spent his last years optimistically insisting he was no criminal, even after he became a felon.
"I guess when you're facing the rest of your life in jail and in your heart you know you're an innocent man, I guess it's too much to bear," said close friend Willie Alexander.
Lay had stayed out of the public eye since a federal jury on May 25 convicted him and former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling of fraud and conspiracy for lying to employees and investors about Enron's financial health.
Lay, who described himself as naturally optimistic, displayed no signs of ill health throughout the grueling four-month trial that started Jan. 30. His lead lawyer, Michael Ramsey, was sidelined for several weeks during the trial because of heart problems.
Kurtzman said the autopsy revealed that Lay had a heart attack in the past.
"It's a very sad ending for the whole Lay family saga. There are very few people of his age and abilities who flew as high or who fell so low," said John Olson, an analyst who angered Lay with his skeptical takes on Enron's often indecipherable financial reports.
Along with fraud and conspiracy charges, Lay also was convicted in a separate federal trial of bank fraud and making false statements to banks. Those charges related to his personal finances.
Lay was scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23, along with Skilling, who also faces a long prison term.
Skilling, reached by telephone at his home in Houston, told The Associated Press that he was aware of Lay's death.
"No, I don't have any comment," he said quietly. But his lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, described Skilling as "devastated."
"Jeff and Ken worked closely over the years, and Jeff will miss him dearly," Petrocelli said.
Lay led Enron's meteoric rise from a staid natural gas pipeline company formed by a 1985 merger to an energy and trading conglomerate that reached No. 7 on the Fortune 500 in 2000 and claimed $101 billion in annual revenues. Lay traveled in the highest business and political circles, lived an extravagant lifestyle and gave generously as much as $6.1 million in 2001.
Lay's clout evaporated when Enron spiraled into bankruptcy protection in December 2001. The crash obliterated Enron's more than $60 billion in market value and thousands of jobs, and Lay was pushed out as chairman and CEO in January 2002.
The government launched a widespread fraud investigation that enveloped Enron's finance, trading, broadband and retail energy units. The probe amassed 16 guilty pleas from ex-executives, eight of whom testified against Skilling and Lay during their trial.
Lay and Skilling insisted no fraud occurred at Enron except from a few employees who skimmed money behind their backs. Jurors were unconvinced.
"I loved Enron very much. And I loved Enron's employees very much. I spent half my professional life running Enron. I think we built a great company. We changed energy markets around the world," Lay testified during the trial.
Prosecutors in Lay's trial declined comment Wednesday, both on his death and what may become of their effort to seek $43.5 million from Lay that they say he pocketed as part of the conspiracy. The government is seeking $139.3 million from Skilling.
Lay's death will not affect the government's case against Skilling, who will appeal his convictions, Petrocelli said.
The Pitkin, Colo., Sheriff's Department said officers were called to Lay's house in Old Snowmass, Colo., shortly after 1 a.m. MDT (3 a.m. EDT). He was taken to Aspen Valley Hospital, where he died at 3:11 a.m., said Pat Worcester, executive assistant to the Aspen hospital's chief executive.
Lay's bond allowed him to travel only to Colorado and in the Houston area.
Pastor Steve Wende of Houston's First United Methodist Church, said Lay seemed healthy when he attended services in Houston on Sunday, and even believed God may have had a purpose for him in prison.
"He was very much at peace with his future, he had a perspective on what had happened, he even bore no ill will for the jury or all of the people who might want to say terrible things about him," Wende said.
"Apparently, his heart simply gave out," Wende said.
Before Enron became a scandal-tainted punchline, the company was the single largest contributor to President Bush, who nicknamed Lay "Kenny Boy." Lay said he was closer to the president's father, former President George H.W. Bush. He kept a framed photo of himself with a smiling elder Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush.
"It was sad to hear the news of the death of someone I considered a friend," the elder Bush said in a statement Wednesday.
But White House press secretary Tony Snow said Wednesday he hadn't discussed Lay's death with the president.
"The president has described Ken Lay as an acquaintance. And many of the president's acquaintances have passed on during his time in office," Snow said.
During the trial Lay had been expected to charm jurors, but instead came across as irritable and combative.
Lay defended his personal spending, including a $200,000 yacht for Linda Lay's birthday party in early 2001, despite $100 million in personal debt. He told jurors it was "difficult to turn off that lifestyle like a spigot."
Lay also defended how he borrowed more than $70 million from Enron in 2001 even as the company was spiraling and repaid most of those loans with company stock.
"I wanted very badly to believe what they were saying," juror Wendy Vaughan said after the verdicts were announced. "There were places in the testimony I felt their character was questionable."
Lay was born in Tyrone, Mo. and spent his childhood helping his family make ends meet. His father ran a general store and sold stoves until he became a minister, and Lay delivered newspapers and mowed lawns. He attended the University of Missouri, found his calling in economics, and went to work at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s predecessor, Humble Oil & Refining.
He joined the Navy, served his time at the Pentagon, and then served as undersecretary for the Department of the Interior before he returned to business. He became an executive at Florida Gas, then Transco Energy in Houston, and later became CEO of Houston Natural Gas. In 1985, HNG merged with InterNorth in Omaha, Neb. to form Enron, and Lay became chairman and CEO of the combined company the next year.
Lay is survived by his wife, five children and stepchildren and 12 grandchildren.
---------
Associated Press Writers Kim Nguyen in Denver, David Koenig in Dallas and Rich Matthews in Houston contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060705/ap_on_bi_ge/obit_lay-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clinton addresses nation's newest problems
Troy Hooper - Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Fri 07/07/2006 10:01PM MST
Back in Aspen, former President Bill Clinton sounded off on a multitude of problems confronting the nation Friday that included disease, destruction and Karl Rove.
As for Rove, who is scheduled to speak at the Aspen Institute on Sunday, Clinton didn't hold back when Atlantic Monthly national correspondent James Fallows asked him what one question he would ask President Bush's highly controversial political operative.
Always the overachiever, Clinton didn't invent just one question he would ask Rove, he came up with three. The 42nd president said he most wanted to know what Rove would do had Clinton's senior advisor blown the cover of a CIA agent who happened to be married to the man who refused to falsify findings about nuclear transactions taking place between Niger and Iraq (see Valerie Plame). And he openly wondered whether Rove would instruct Republican congressmen to call a White House official who would do such a thing a traitor. Lastly, Clinton wanted to know why it is that, if the Bush administration is as concerned with national security as it claims, why it would spend 20 times the amount of money it would take to shore up gaps in port security to repeal the estate tax for the nation's elite, which consists of less than one percent of the population.
Speaking to the first question he'd ask Rove, Clinton said; "I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he'd say that's exactly what I'd ask (Congress) to do, and I don't know why they didn't. I mean this guy is good. You don't understand this strip of the Republican party that controls everything basically," Clinton said. "These people are all white Protestant males. They don't do anything that surprises me. I've seen this my whole life."
Clinton, who routinely makes trips to Aspen for a blend of business and pleasure, also offered up ideas on the potential threats posed by North Korea and Iran. The former, he described as "a perplexing country because they can't make rice but they can make missiles and bombs and things. When they do these things, they want someone to notice them. They don't get noticed unless they disobey (authority like children)," he said. "I don't want to minimize this. It's a bad thing they have reached this level of technology. But I don't think we should reward their misconduct. I think we ought to not overreact to this. I don't think we need to freak out." Iran is harder. "If they develop nuclear capacity and whether or not by accident or by design some of the material is given to terrorists groups, (they could make) smaller explosives that could kill lots and lots of people. There is no option but to negotiate."
He added: "This whole thing that there are some people we shouldn't talk to because they're bad is nuts. I don't think Americans should put too many preconditions on talks with the Iranians. We shouldn't try to cook it too much in advance. I also think it would be a matter of serious consequence to think we can attack them militarily."
Clinton also said there should be no set date on when to withdraw troops from Iraq, and he cautioned Democrats from fighting with each other over the topic. "We ought to be whipped if we allow our differences over what to do now over Iraq divide us," he said, saying that the Republicans, via Rove's advice, are trying to win offices with stale but emotionally driven issues such as flag burning and gay marriage.
The former president also said that the problems of AIDS and global warming have, in his view, changed since he left office. He credited the Bush administration for financing efforts to stomp out AIDS, saying his nonprofit organization, the Clinton Foundation, has worked hand-in-hand with some of the president's program.
Clinton also saw his former Vice President Al Gore's new film about global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth," and "thought it was terrific. I loved it. But I don't think it would be nearly as compelling if we didn't have $70 (barrels) of oil, do you?" He went on to say that global warming is "a lot worse than I thought it was when I was in office" and that there are many opportunities, which Britain has embraced, to use environmental sustainability to drive up wages, lower unemployment and increase the nation's quality of life.
"They (Britain) took climate change seriously and because of that they created hundreds of thousands of jobs by creating new clean energy in the future. This decade's new jobs are in clean energy and we haven't seized them," he said.
hoop@aspendailynews.com
http://www.aspendailynews.com/article_14848
------------------------------------------------------
Clinton relaxed in Aspen style
Christine Benedetti - Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Print This Page | Send As Email
Fri 07/07/2006 10:01PM MST
Former President Bill Clinton -- "the most popular man in the world" as introduced by moderator James Fallows -- was greeted by many of the world's most prominent leaders and luminaries for an Aspen Ideas Festival discussion on Friday evening.
"There's slim pickings," joked Clinton in response to Fallows' introduction as a venerated world figure.
Stepping onto the stage in true Aspen summer attire -- a pale yellow golf shirt with khakis topped by a navy blue blazer and a pair of hybrid street-hiking shoes -- Clinton immediately made himself comfortable onstage. Starting off the one-hour conversation laughing with a crowd that included former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and CNN news anchor Wolf Blitzer.
Later, when Fallows (The Atlantic Monthly's national correspondent) repeated a statement of Clinton's worldwide adoration, Clinton replied, "You say that to me one more time and I'm going to get sick; half of them are already sick," in reference to front-row attendee Powell who made a trip to Aspen Valley Hospital for altitude sickness the previous evening.
The discussion, which consisted of some light-hearted moments but many that focused on current and past foreign affairs, made Clinton most heated when he leaned toward the crowd with a shaking finger and decried the Bush administration for an unwillingness to provide port security funding, but a willingness to cut what he said was 20 times the same amount from estate taxes.
Using aphorisms such as "once you break the egg, you have the responsibility to make an omelet," Clinton connected with the crowd in a way that allowed him to explore pressing political situations, but break them down into a conversational tone rather than a prepared speech.
At one point, he uttered some advice -- "you take it, you own it" - that he had been given in terms of foreign policy, but then consulted the audience on the correct phrase, which is "you break it, you own it."
A more poignant moment of the evening, during a question and answer session, came in a letter from a 10-year-old boy having undergone five years of chemotherapy. He asked the former commander-in-chief what he had to look forward to in the future.
"Most honestly, what you decide to look forward to," said Clinton. "You rekindle your dreams and think that you are going to live to be 80."
The end of the discussion, cut short by time, was followed by 10 to 15 minutes of Clinton greeting attendees, signing autographs and posing for photos.
Many of the dignitaries in attendance could be seen on the Aspen Institute grounds post-discussion. Aspen Institute Director of Communications Jim Spiegelman said that security had not been bolstered for Clinton's appearance. While Clinton travels with his own Secret Service detachment, the Institute's security for the event stayed the same.
"Whenever you are preparing for a large group like this you need to take all the precautions," said Spiegelman. "That way you don't have regrets."
christine@aspendailynews.com
http://www.aspendailynews.com/article_14849
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Powell Hospitalized Briefly In Aspen Hospital Where Ken Lay Was Admitted
July 7, 2006 9:30 a.m. EST
Jacob Cherian - All Headline News Staff Writer
Aspen, CO (AHN) - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was briefly hospitalized when he got ill at a restaurant dining with former President Clinton among others. Aspen police Sgt. Bill Linn said that the four-star general told him that it was a combination of altitude sickness and something he ate.
Linn told Wired magazine, "He is conscious and in very good spirits." Linn said that Powell had asked him to speak to reporters.
Powell was released from the hospital at 1:45 a.m. Linn.
A nursing supervisor at the Aspen Valley Hospital, where Enron CEO, Ken Lay was brought to and pronounced dead on Wednesday, refused to comment on the issue.
The former Secretary of State was attending the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado. The conference is a gathering bringing together some of the world's leading thinkers.
The colonel was former Joints Chiefs of Staff and a major advisor in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. He was also President Bush's Secretary of State from 2001 to January, 2005 during which time he was replaced by Condoleezza Rice.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004144534
-----------------------------------------------------------
Powell Falls Ill While Dining With Clinton
UPDATED: 1:05 pm CDT July 7, 2006
ASPEN, Colo. -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was briefly hospitalized Friday after he fell ill at a restaurant where he was dining with former President Bill Clinton and others.
Powell, 69, appeared in good health and spirits Friday morning while speaking at an "Order, Law and Governance in the 21st Century" seminar at the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Aspen Daily News reported.
The newspaper's Web site said he arrived to the seminar on time and did not show any signs that he had been sick the night before.
"I started hyperventilating a little and was feeling a little altitude sickness I think," he told the newspaper.
Aspen is located at more than 7,000 feet above sea level in the Elk Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
Powell fell ill while having dinner at Campo de Fiori restaurant with Clinton and several other friends.
He was seen inside an ambulance parked outside the restaurant with his wife, Alma Vivian Johnson, at his side. Later, he was taken to Aspen Valley Hospital, the same hospital where former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay was pronounced dead on Wednesday.
The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and chief strategist of the 1991 Persian Gulf War against Iraq served as President George W. Bush's secretary of state from 2001 until January 2005, when he was replaced by Condoleezza Rice.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.kcci.com/politics/9484123/detail.html
GOOGLE:
ASPEN "Bill Clinton" "Ken Lay " "Colin Powell"
WHAT>
Clinton relaxed in Aspen style
Christine Benedetti - Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Print This Page | Send As Email
Fri 07/07/2006 10:01PM MST
Former President Bill Clinton -- "the most popular man in the world" as introduced by moderator James Fallows -- was greeted by many of the world's most prominent leaders and luminaries for an Aspen Ideas Festival discussion on Friday evening.
"There's slim pickings," joked Clinton in response to Fallows' introduction as a venerated world figure.
Stepping onto the stage in true Aspen summer attire -- a pale yellow golf shirt with khakis topped by a navy blue blazer and a pair of hybrid street-hiking shoes -- Clinton immediately made himself comfortable onstage. Starting off the one-hour conversation laughing with a crowd that included former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and CNN news anchor Wolf Blitzer.
Later, when Fallows (The Atlantic Monthly's national correspondent) repeated a statement of Clinton's worldwide adoration, Clinton replied, "You say that to me one more time and I'm going to get sick; half of them are already sick," in reference to front-row attendee Powell who made a trip to Aspen Valley Hospital for altitude sickness the previous evening.
The discussion, which consisted of some light-hearted moments but many that focused on current and past foreign affairs, made Clinton most heated when he leaned toward the crowd with a shaking finger and decried the Bush administration for an unwillingness to provide port security funding, but a willingness to cut what he said was 20 times the same amount from estate taxes.
Using aphorisms such as "once you break the egg, you have the responsibility to make an omelet," Clinton connected with the crowd in a way that allowed him to explore pressing political situations, but break them down into a conversational tone rather than a prepared speech.
At one point, he uttered some advice -- "you take it, you own it" - that he had been given in terms of foreign policy, but then consulted the audience on the correct phrase, which is "you break it, you own it."
A more poignant moment of the evening, during a question and answer session, came in a letter from a 10-year-old boy having undergone five years of chemotherapy. He asked the former commander-in-chief what he had to look forward to in the future.
"Most honestly, what you decide to look forward to," said Clinton. "You rekindle your dreams and think that you are going to live to be 80."
The end of the discussion, cut short by time, was followed by 10 to 15 minutes of Clinton greeting attendees, signing autographs and posing for photos.
Many of the dignitaries in attendance could be seen on the Aspen Institute grounds post-discussion. Aspen Institute Director of Communications Jim Spiegelman said that security had not been bolstered for Clinton's appearance. While Clinton travels with his own Secret Service detachment, the Institute's security for the event stayed the same.
"Whenever you are preparing for a large group like this you need to take all the precautions," said Spiegelman. "That way you don't have regrets."
christine@aspendailynews.com
Newsweek Powell Falls Ill While Dining With Clinton
KCCI.com, IA - 12 hours ago
ASPEN, Colo. -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was briefly ... he fell ill at a restaurant where he was dining with former President Bill Clinton and others ...
BREAKING NEWS: Powell says he's fine following hospital visit Aspen Daily News
Colin Powell hospitalised News24
Colin Powell briefly hospitalized in Aspen, Colo.; blames the high ... Canada.com
all 169 related »
Clinton relaxed in Aspen style
Aspen Daily News, CO - 1 hour ago
Former President Bill Clinton -- "the most popular man in the ... onto the stage in true Aspen summer attire ... former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Madeleine ...
Silver buckshot: The Ideas Fest's silver bullet Aspen Times
all 3 related »
Powell fine following hospital visit
Aspen Daily News, CO - 2 hours ago
... Former Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared in good ... 21st Century" seminar at the Aspen Ideas Festival. ... Fiori with former President Bill Clinton and several ...
Colin Powell falls ill during dinner Aspen Daily News
all 2 related »
Gothamist News Roundup
Monsters and Critics.com, UK - 17 hours ago
... UPI) -- Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell became ill ... in an ambulance but the Aspen Daily News ... group that included former President Bill Clinton when he ...
Powell Becomes Ill at Dinner Party CBS 47
all 45 related »
Demand for ideas strong and rising in Aspen
Aspen Daily News, CO - Jul 2, 2006
... "Bill Clinton and Karl Rove are both speaking so it shows we can ... Colin Powell and Queen Noor. The Aspen Ideas Festival comes just days after Fortune magazine's ...
A time for reflection
Hindu, India - Jul 1, 2006
... Bill Clinton saying that politicians in America need to speak ... Colin Powell talking of the need to curb the hubris ... Not everybody in Aspen was a genius, or even ...
Dr. Kenneth Lee Lay - Staff compilation -Sat Jul 8, 2006 05:04
The 2006 Aspen Ideas Festival: July 3 through July 9. All week long, the Atlantic writers will file dispatches, so
stay in touch with the happenings in Aspen. News reports of the events will also keep you informed.
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/
Searched for Dr. Kenneth Lee Lay. Results 1 - 1 of about 1. Search took 0.27 seconds.
[PDF] Toward Sustainable Competition in Global Telecommunications: From ...
Page 1. Communications and Society Program Charles M. Firestone Executive
Director Washington, DC 1999 Toward Sustainable Competition
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/atf/cf/%7BDEB6F227-659B-4EC8-8F84-8DF23CA704F5%7D/SUSTAIN.PDF
...
Dr. Kenneth Lee Lay
Staff compilation -
Fri 07/07/2006 08:01PM MST
http://www.aspendailynews.com/article_14841
Ken Lay was born April 15, 1942 in Tyrone, Mo., to a loving father and mother -- Omer and Ruth Lay. Ken spent 64 years on earth doing God's work helping others with great compassion. We know that Ruth and Omer have embraced their precious son once again.
Ken's life exemplified Galatians 5:22: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."
Despite his meager upbringing, Ken was always generous with his time, money, love, talents and leadership. To know Ken was to love him. Many benefited from Ken's generosity -- the American Heart Association, Aspen Camp School for the Deaf,Aspen Institute
, Assistance League of Houston, Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, Brookwood Community, Child Advocates Inc., The Counsel for Alcohol and Drugs Houston, DIFFA, Episcopal High School, First United Methodist Church, Holocaust Museum Houston, Horatio Alger Scholarship Fund, Houston Area Women's Center, Houston Food Bank, Houston SPCA, NAACP, Open Door Church, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Rice University, Salvation Army, Star of Hope, University of Houston, United Negro College Fund, United Way of Texas Gulf Coast, YMCA of Greater Houston.
Ken's door was always open, whether it was to help with college funds for a child, to help a former Enron employee pay their mortgage; to help young entrepreneurs make their dreams a reality; or to give a second chance when he believed in a person. Ken could not say "no" to anyone needing help. When asked why he always looked for the best in everyone, Ken would simply reply that it was much better than the alternative.
Ken gave his time and energy to lead huge Houston events like the Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations, the Welcome Home Desert Storm/Desert Shield Troops parade, referendum campaigns to finance the new Houston baseball park and football/rodeo stadium, as well as the new Houston basketball arena, and the Republican National Convention. Ken did everything possible to make his much-loved city a better place to live.
Ken's love of Linda was unsurpassed -- they were to celebrate their 24th anniversary on July 10 -- they were truly best friends, soul mates and partners. They were always holding hands and demonstrating their incredible adoration for each other. Their relationship was truly unique and Linda considers herself the luckiest woman in the world to have had those precious years with Ken.
"He who fears the LORD has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge." Proverbs 14:26.
Ken leaves behind five children: Robyn, Mark, David, Elizabeth and Beau, who all love him very much. He was their role model for life, business and Christian faith. They are blessed with strong memories of a father who respected each of them for their uniqueness and took the time to foster in them the desire to achieve their best. They enjoyed lively dinner conversations, festive holidays and particularly their quiet times with him.
"Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children." Proverbs 17:6.
Twelve grandchildren: Nicholas, Hannah, Hailey, Sasha, Zach, Pate, Alex, Gage, Preston, Katie, Lucas and Tessa, remember their beloved "Papi/Papia" (depending on which of the 12 you ask) who was never afraid to be silly to entertain one of his treasured grandchildren. He loved teaching them how to whistle, cluck, ride ponies, build snowmen in Colorado and spent precious time with them, watching college football and attending many recitals.
Ken was loved and admired by his sisters, Bonnie and Sharon. They share memories of family, Ruth's fried chicken and lots of conversation and humor. While the Lay family did not have much money, they were always close and supportive of each other. Ken always had the time to listen and support his family in the best and worst of times. He made many trips to Missouri for holiday celebrations and to visit his sick and dying parents in the last of their lives. He was the Rock of Gibraltar for his parents and his sisters.
Ken's first wife, Judie, continued to love and support Ken through the greatest challenges of his life and never questioned his integrity. Ken's faith supported him throughout his life and gave him the confidence to believe in people. Above all, he trusted God that He had a plan, even if it was never perfectly clear.
While Ken was the son of parents who did not have the opportunity to go to college, Ken graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1964 from the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and a Master in economics in 1965. At the University of Missouri, Ken was a member of and served as president of Beta Theta Pi. Ken was proud of his fraternity and maintained strong contacts with his fraternity brothers through the years -- he found great strength in their support.
Ken completed his formal education at the University of Houston, where he obtained a Ph.D. in economics in 1970. While there, Ken achieved the additional honors of Omicron Delta Kappa, Omicron Delta Epsilon and was listed in Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities.
Ken led a long and distinguished career in the public and private sector. Ken worked with Humble Oil (now Exxon Corp.) from 1965-1968 as an economist in the corporate planning department.
In 1968, Ken enlisted in Officer Candidate School for the United States Navy where, from 1968 to 1971 he served as an Ensign; Lieutenant Junior Grade; Lieutenant; Special Assistant to the Navy Comptroller and Financial Analyst; Office of Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Department of the Navy, at the Pentagon. While serving with the Navy, Ken received the Navy Commendation Medal and National Defense Service Medal.
Ken's legacy as a leader in energy regulation was rooted in his service with the Federal Power Commission from 1971 to 1972 where he served as a technical assistant to Commissioner and Vice Chairman of the Federal Power Commission. Ken left the FPC to serve as the Energy Deputy Under Secretary for the United States Department of Interior.
In 1974, Ken left the public sector in Washington, D.C., to begin his career in the natural gas industry. Ken joined Florida Gas Company, in Winter Park, Florida as Vice President of Corporate Development, later holding the office of Senior Vice President of the transmission company and president of its successor company, Continental Resources Co.
Ken left Continental Resources Company in 1981 to join Transco Energy Company in Houston, where he held the positions of president, chief operating officer and director. In 1984, Ken accepted the position as chairman and CEO of Houston Natural Gas Co., which merged with InterNorth in 1985, and which would later be renamed Enron Corp.
Ken loved Enron, and saw the company as one of limitless possibilities. He often talked of the incredible talent at Enron and believed that the Enron employees were unsurpassed in any industry. Ken believed the real value of Enron was in its people.
From the most junior employee to his top executives, Ken treated all with the same dignity and respect they deserved as children of God. Employees often remarked on how he recalled their names, family, and other personal details they shared with him.
"I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." Jeremiah 12:10.
For those who know and love Ken, we take comfort in the knowledge that he is in the loving presence of the one true Judge.
Celebrations of Ken's life for family and friends will take place at the Aspen Chapel in Aspen, Colorado at 2 p.m. on Sunday and also on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 at 11 a.m. at First United Methodist Church-Downtown in Houston.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made on Ken's behalf to First United Methodist Church, Houston; Lifeline Ministries for the Poor; United Way of Texas Gulf Coast; YMCA of Greater Houston; Aspen Center for Environmental Studies; Aspen Camp School for the Deaf; or the church or synagogue of your choice.
http://www.aspendailynews.com/article_14841
The Aspen Institute
The mission of the Aspen Institute is to foster enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue.
Through seminars, policy programs, conferences and ...
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/
Aspen Institute
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Aspen Institute is a U.S. nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1950 dedicated to "fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue." The institute is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and has campuses in Aspen, Colorado (its original home), New York City, Santa Barbara, California, and Queenstown, Maryland. The institute holds regular seminars, policy programs, conferences and leadership development initiatives, with the goal of promoting nonpartisan inquiry and "an appreciation for timeless values."
The Aspen Institute is largely funded by foundations such as the Carnegie Corporation, The Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Ford Foundation, by seminar fees, and by individual donations. Its board of trustees include many wealthy and powerful individuals who also contribute generously to its support; Walter Isaacson is currently President and CEO.
MORE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspen_Institute
Aspen Institute / Aspen Strategy Group - SourceWatch
The Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies (AIHS) describes itself as an ... The Aspen Institute owns the 1100-acre Wye River Conference Center in Maryland, ...
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Aspen_
The Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies (AIHS) describes itself as an "international non-profit organization dedicated to informed dialogue and inquiry on issues of global concern."
Founded in 1950 by Walter Paepeke, chair of the Container Corporation, AIHS seeks to bring together leading citizens from private and public sectors of the U. S. and abroad to consider interrelated issues of the human mind and spirit in contemporary society. The group believes that immersion in the Humanist tradition can make participants in its program better decision makers. It Institute holds seminars primarily for business executives "for reflection, rediscovery of personal values, and examination of contemporary issues in the company of some of the best minds in the world" and gives cross-cultural training "to go beyond immediate business issues to the underlying questions faced in all cultures."
AIHS also sponsors the Aspen Strategy Group, a policy program concentrating on strategic relations and arms control issues. The Aspen Strategy Group is currently co-chaired by Joseph Samuel Nye, Jr. and Brent Scowcroft.
The Aspen Institute owns the 1100-acre Wye River Conference Center in Maryland, a park-like retreat that has served as host to a number of historically significant events, including Middle East peace negotiations. It also served as a temporary home to 5-year-old Eliαn Gonzalez in 2000 during the political controversy in the United States during the custody battle between his Cuban father and his Miami relatives. This in turn made AIHS a target for right-wing conspiracy theorists, who labeled it a "training center for a global army of psycho-social change agents."[1]
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Aspen_Institute
The Aspen Idea: Summer 2006
The Aspen Idea, the magazine of the Aspen Institute, covers the people, ideas, and diverse goings-on of the
organization. For more information, contact Alexandra Klaren.
CLICK:
Clinton addresses nation's newest problems
Troy Hooper - Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Fri 07/07/2006 10:01PM MST
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20060707/AE/60707005
IT'S NOT WHAT WE KNOW, IT'S WHAT WE DON'T KNOW !!!!
Enron's founder dies in disgrace?
http://www.apfn.org/enron/Lay_dies.htm
July 7, 2006, 7:22PM
Lay wished to be cremated, ashes buried in Aspen, Colo.
Local service also is planned to allow friends to say goodbye
By TOM FOWLER, TERRI LANGFORD and JOHN C. ROPER
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
ASPEN, COLO. - Family and friends will begin paying their last respects to former Enron Chairman Ken Lay at a private service here Sunday, followed by another gathering in Houston next Wednesday.
Lay, who died early Wednesday in Colorado after a heart attack, wished to be cremated and have his ashes buried in Aspen, a source close to the family said.
About a dozen years ago, Lay, an avid skier, began buying up property in the Aspen area, which the source said he considered his favorite place in the world. He later sold properties to help pay his legal bills.
Lay's legal case remains in limbo as his family makes final arrangements and prosecutors and defense attorneys quietly contemplate their next moves.
Defense attorneys are expected to petition successfully to vacate the criminal charges against Lay, and prosecutors may try different avenues to go after the late executive's assets, but the legal wranglings are not expected to happen anytime soon.
"There's no urgency whatsoever to get anything on file," said Michael Wynne, a former federal prosecutor who has followed the case. "I would expect all parties would allow the various services to take place and then file the motions later down the road."
Lay was slated to be sentenced with his co-defendant and former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling on Oct. 23. The former Enron executives were convicted in May of a combined 29 counts.
Open investigation
Lay and his wife, Linda, were staying in a rental home in Old Snowmass near Aspen when he was taken by ambulance to the hospital early Wednesday morning.
A preliminary autopsy was performed Wednesday in Grand Junction by Dr. Robert Kurtzman, who determined the initial cause of death was coronary disease.
Deputy Joe DiSalvo, the chief detective for the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office, said Thursday that Lay's death will remain an open investigation a routine procedure until final autopsy results are in, about three weeks from now.
A final report will then be written and filed, DiSalvo said.
Lay's body was transported to Glenwood Springs, just north of Aspen, to Farnum Holt Funeral Home & Crematory.
A small, private memorial service will be held at the Aspen Chapel at 2 p.m. Sunday, according to a statement from a family spokeswoman.
"A celebration of Ken's life for family and friends" will be held at Houston's First United Methodist Church at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
"The Lay Family asks that their privacy be respected as they mourn the loss of their husband, father, grandfather and brother," the statement said.
Legal limbo
Lay's defense team is not expected to file a motion to vacate the indictment for several days, and could wait more than a week, to give the family time to grieve.
Though it's likely all actions will need the approval of an executor of Lay's estate, the first filings could include a request for the judge to remove a lien the government has on his $5 million home.
Members of the legal team either could not be reached Thursday or declined to comment.
If the criminal case is vacated, it will be as if Lay was never charged.
That means the government's efforts to seize assets from Lay and search for others through a criminal proceeding also will end.
Prosecutors, who declined to comment, have two paths they can follow to continue efforts to seize assets from the Lay estate, however, legal observers said.
They can file new civil cases against individual assets, such as his condominium in the Huntingdon tower on Kirby or a $6.3 million Goldman Sachs private equity fund that recently matured.
To seize them, the government would have to prove those assets were purchased with ill-gotten gains or that they should be used to substitute for illegal monies that can't be located.
They also could use the Securities and Exchange Commission's existing civil case against Lay as the vehicle to get at the assets. That case, filed at the same time as his indictment, had been stayed pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings.
It's not clear which path using the existing SEC case or filing new cases would be easier for the government.
Lay's criminal conviction could not be used in either situation to support a forfeiture claim if the criminal case is vacated. It's possible his testimony from the trial could be used as evidence. Much of his time on the stand, however, was spent denying government claims.
The burden of proof in civil cases is much lower than in criminal cases.
The government just has to show that a preponderance of the evidence supports its assertions and not the higher standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
But a civil forfeiture action is a difficult process that could take a long time to reach resolution.
"With no conviction, they'd be back to square one and have to build a civil case from scratch," said Richard Barnett, a San Diego-based forfeiture expert.
Shareholders' case to go on
Prosecutors' familiarity with the case, having just spent nearly four months in trial, may make them better suited to lead the charge in a civil proceeding, said Kent Schaffer, a Houston lawyer with a federal practice. But the SEC suit may be able to reach a trial date more quickly since it's been filed.
"With the SEC case, they wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel," Schaffer said.
The Justice Department could even lend one of the criminal prosecutors from the trial to the SEC in an "of counsel" role to share recent case knowledge to help the suit move more quickly, Schaffer said.
Though Texas homestead law protects people's homes from seizure in bankruptcy and most civil lawsuits, those laws aren't impervious to a civil action by the federal government, Schaffer said.
Lay's assets also are being targeted by two lawsuits filed on behalf of shareholders and former employees.
Lawyers representing Enron shareholders said Thursday that Lay's death "will not impact" their legal action. They noted, however, that the focus of the case always has been the deepest pockets in the case, namely a half-dozen banks that have not settled and the Houston law firm Vinson & Elkins.
"To date, $7.3 billion has already been recovered on behalf of the defrauded shareholders," a statement from law firm Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins said.
After Northern Trust settled in the former employee lawsuit, Lay and Skilling are the only defendants left in that case. A lawyer for the former employees said before Lay died it was hoped settlement discussions could begin later this year. Now it's not clear how the case will be resolved, the lawyer said.
Chronicle staffers Tom Fowler and John C. Roper reported from Houston while Terri Langford reported from Aspen.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4030008.html
ENRON-BUSH-HARVARD-WTC-OIL-CONNECTION
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/enron_bush.htm
American Patriot Friends Network
"...a network of net workers..."
Email: apfn@apfn.org
