From the "Squeaky Mesa" column
by Forrest deButts
I liked to died when Mama told me the editor said I could write a column for this paper. I feel like Macy's and Gimbels in that Christmas story called Miracle on 34th Street. Everybody is being very nice to each other. It seems like it all happened at once. Good will to men—so it must be the Christmas Spirit.
I told Mama this paper probably wouldn't let me write for it if they found out that I am a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. Because it seems like most Malibu and Topanga people are Republican. She said, "They will defend with their lives your right to be a Democrat."...
They say you outgrow the way you think. When you get to be the age of your father you think like he does. Papa says the age I am is the very worst age for thinking. So I guess it takes a lot of brave Christmas Spirit for an editor to let somebody in Junior High express opinions in his newspaper....
[2006-10-25 Los Angeles Times:]
"De Butts Stops Here, Malibu Decides"
by Martha Groves
Weary of crude comments and teasing, De Butts Terrace residents recently lobbied the city to change the name of their mansion-dotted, ridge-top road near Escondido Canyon. But Mayor Ken Kearsley and others resisted, saying that the moniker honored a colorful and pioneering mid-20th century Malibu family....
According to family and friends, Marianne and Edward Delaplane deButts migrated west after World War II from Delaplane, VA. Marianne deButts for many years wrote a popular folksy column for the Malibu Times called Squeaky Mesa. The column, started by their daughter, Forrest, when she was a schoolgirl, was named for the family dog....
