Les Cotter:  

My Life has been an adventure. I was a hero Football Player, Military NCO, Drunk, Professor, Cab Driver, Mill Worker, Father, Husband, Doctor and Merchant Marine Medical Officer. I have won and lost. Winning is better. Life is Good. I was born and named Leslie Johnson and raised in Washington State. My biological father died when I was nine years old. He drank too much. But other than that was a very smart fellow. My real dad was Herry S. Cotter, he worked at the mill and at Homers Evens Service Station nights. He adopted me a few years after he married mom, Alice. She was a happy sole, laughed and smiled a lot. She also worked as a waitress, cleaned our home, made meals and shopped. They made my childhood home a very comfortable place. My life goals were to become a doctor and military officer. I played football at Raymond High School. I had a white 50" Ford, and hung out with Gray,Art, Hampton, Pin-kisser, "I got cold hands" Paul, Roger Dalbeck, Mike House and Flaming Orb,Olsen, big Al(RIP)to name a few. You guys know who you are. I drank a lot. My senior trip to Vietnam was two years long in the Navy. After a summer of camping out at the beach I started at Grays Harbor College. I met the beautful Anne Holmen in the student union building. We married and had our first son, Eric, he was born in Aberdeen. We moved to Ellensburg so I could continue my quest for Officership in AFROTC. I graduated with a BA /MA from Central Washington University. Jason and Jennifer were born at two year intervels. I dropped out of ROTC. (since I already served it was permitted). I joined the Army Reserve and trained and served as a Drill Instructor at Fort Lewis. I drank a lot of beer and put on about 100 lbs. I started a painting andconstruction company while I was a student. It employeed about seventeen other students for about four years. Anne died from cancer a few years after Jennifer was married. I designed the audiology laboratory while a faculty member at the University of Montana. I stopped drinking in 1976 and smoking in in 1983. I later worked at insurance claims. Moving to California clean and sober, I continued my medical career as a combat medic in the Army reserve. I served as the department chair of audiology at the Needles Community Hospital. I obtained my PhD in behavioral science from an alternative school, Pacific Western University. The dissertation was on denial and the hearing impaired. Publishing a Protocol for Tinnitus Evaluation in the Hearing Journal in 1987 felt good. I completed a couple of years of medicine in Mexico. Living on the beach and meeting the people was good. I dropped out and attended law school for a year, while I closed insurance claims for a San Diego firm. I even did a bit of acting. I played at the Playboy Mansion for "Sex in the City". I then transferred to a medical school that had rotations in English. I graduated in 2002 from Pacific Basin University School of Medicine with a Medical Doctor degree. My oldest son (The guy in the picture with me) Eric is a computer wizard and now lives in Oregon with his wife Diana son Brian and daughters, Eliane and Anne. Jason lives in Oregon and works with electricity. My daughter Jennifer is a soccer mom. She is married to a detective, and lives in Spokane Washington. In 2001 I was accepted into the Public Health Program at Harvard University Department of Continuing Education. Yes it is possible to come from Raymond and go to Harvard. The course work was challanging and made a little more complex because I was also attending clinicals to complete my MD. I reside with my charming wife Georgia in Ocean Shores, Washington. We have travelled the world but still there is no place like home. I like looking out at the Ocean and the Bay, watching the deer and birds, growing flowers and plants. Just green ones no dope. I have four adult sons, Eric, the computer wizard, Jason the electrician, Kip the detective and Mike the city planner, one teenage boy "Hoot", the artist, three beautiful adult daughters Jennifer, Diana and Julie and seven wonderful grandchildren. The good, the bad, and the ugly. First the good. I retired from the Army but I continued to work as a Merchant Marine Medical Officer Part-time. The Bad. I learned never take on city hall unless you have unlimited resources. I got a spanking by the California Medical Board. My private practice in Burbank was general medicine but included patients with hearing disorders. Trained as an allopathic military medic and medical doctor (MD). I took a course in homeopathy from the UK and am now a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in that country. I was introducing homeopathic diagnosis and treatment in California. It is painless, no shots, and no adverse side effects, sort of an old country doctor, with the latest in medical diagnostic equipment and excellent positive outcomes. It all was quit successful and very helpful to people with chronic disease. Medical boards have a thing against any competition. They also have a plan that they run on any doctor who uses homeopathy. I was a member of the California Homeopathic Society. The California Medical Boards own rules stated that I must tell people my educational background to work. They ran their game. Step one (1)"Discredit him on the news" Step two (2)Investigate and charge with something and drag it out in court to exhaust the doctors legal resources. A complete violation of my freedom of speech and the Constitution. But I am on record for fighting for my right of freedom of speech going to jail for Health Freedom. The right to hear that there are alternative health solutions available to the public. The French are rated number one in health care. They have homeopathic medicine like England and the rest of Europe as well as conventional medical treatments. We are rated 37th in the world. I believe that our mono, my way or the highway approach of the medical boards is a major cause of our low standing in the world for outcomes. The Ugly. I had to pay a Five thousand dollar fine to the medical board for their costs investigating me. They found nothing in a two year investigation. No patient issues, complications or problems. They used my time and money to get a No c I was also a bush doctor. I held an unrestricted licensed to practice medicine in Micronesia. Check it out on the map. Sort of north of New Zealand. The island people are warm, the beaches are inviting and the water is clear. It is very warm. We decided to retire in Ocean Shores, in Washington State. So far I have come very near to my childhood goals. I retired as a medical non-commissioned officer as a Merchant Marine Medical Officer I held the rank of Commander and earned my MD. I always try to do the right thing. I strive for excellence, I do the best I can, not perfection. Its not over yet. Being a Medical Officer is a good thing. I like it. The sea going life is good. I wish you well. May the wind be at your back, be in excellent health, and have the riches of a good life My education has given me a lot of options. I like being a doctor best. My only regret is that I wish I could have graduated a lot earlier in life. Say when I was about 12 years old like Duggy Houser. In the 60s after a couple of tours of the South China Sea. I was a solitary person, I kept to myself. I had picked up a stutter that after about a year resolved by itself. I bought a motorcycle equipped it with a sleeping bag and decided to live on the beach. I slept down by Long Beach on the sand. Riding my motorcycle a long summer, a vacation from life, a breather. Started my post high school education at Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen WA seemed like a good idea. I got a bigger kick out of getting accepted at GHC than I did from Harvard much later in life. Just before I completed that I learned that the Navy changed the rules again and I would have to complete four years to get a Commission. I later transferred to CWU. My Dad said that I could stay at home rent free if I wanted to go to college. I worked at Rhoads Paint and Wallpaper and commuted to Aberdeen. My first couple of years were spent thinking of something to do, I wanted to return to the military as an officer and that required a college degree. I married Anne Holman while I was working at Sears Roebuck and Co. in Aberdeen. College was hard, I worked nights in the EC Miller Saw mill in Montesano. The Cedar logs were as big as boxcars. After a couple of years I finishing GHC I transferred to Central Washington University in Ellensburg I was going to be an Air Force Officer. I graduated in 67’ in Political Science. The Vietnam War was still going strong. Life on campus for a young AF ROTC Cadet in Uniform was very uncool. After about a year of that,I dropped out of that program. I was hired by AllState Insurance Company. I decided to Go back to Central in 70 to learn instructional media and teach. Later I attended Pacific Western University in LA for a PhD in Behavioral Science. I became a case manager for disturbed individuals. I considered becomming a doctor once again, and started medical school in Mexico. I lived on the beach in Ensenada and attended CEUX school of medicine. After two years, we were assigned to the General Hospital, after six months I decided that I must transfer to an English speaking medical school. I took a break and studied law for a year at Western Sierra School of law, near San Diego. The thought of becoming an attorney was fun I liked reading the law, but I guess medicine is my thing. Having rejoined the military as a medic I decided to complete my studies to be a medical doctor. I graduated from Pacific Basin University School of Medicine with my MD. I have always liked school and I am currently a public health candidate at Harvard University....Expand for more