Greenwood/Elk columns

January 13 ~ February 24, 1994

January 13, 1994

Home again, home again, jiggity jig. 3984.5 miles traveled since leaving Mendocino December 18th. Lolli, the dog and I were on vacation. Lolli's friend in Taos New Mexico died just before we started out so we headed straight for the hot springs of Canyon Guadeloupe in Baja.

The first evening on the road found us camped overlooking the town of Mojave. The second evening on the east side of the Salton Sea. The third day we were soaking in the hot springs and stayed for three days. Christmas eve found us camped just south of Why, Arizona. By then Lolli had read five books! She was working her way through A is for Alibi, B is for Bandit, C is for Corpse, D is for Deadbeat, etc., written by Sue Grafton, while I headed for Bisbee.

Bisbee, Arizona is an interesting place, a former mining town that almost died when Phelps-Dodge Mining closed down. Many stately buildings and miner shacks. The hippies and the artists discovered it in the 70's and eventually, the tourists. Sort of the Mendocino story all over again.

While there, I bought a book called "Going back to Bisbee" by Richard Shelton and read it various evenings as we traveled along. By the time we got to Demming, New Mexico, I decided I wanted to return and take another look at Bisbee.

Southern New Mexico prices were quite depressed. Gas at 87.9 cents a gallon (a gas war was going on). Land for $150.00 per acre. Breakfast for $3.50. Hard times in that area and the prices reflected that fact.

We swung back through Arizona and visited Skeleton Canyon where Geronimo finally surrendered. The Apaches had fought off the Spanish and then the Americans settlers for over two hundred years. This little canyon marked the end of that long battle. Then back to Bisbee.

This time I visited with Walter Swan, owner of the "One Book Bookstore". Walter wrote a book called "me 'n Henry" but couldn't get anyone to publish it, so he published it himself. Then he ended up with all these books that the book stores didn't want. He decided to open up his own book store and sell his book. That's it. One book. "me 'n Henry."

There he was in downtown Bisbee, in his one book book-store, sitting there in his coveralls and black cowboy hat, visiting with whoever came in and selling his book. He is on his twelfth reprinting now and has sold over 35,000 copies at $20.00 a pop! I had to have one, of course.

We headed off towards Tucson, then Phoenix, Baghdad and Needles. We zipped through Nothing, Arizona. It didn't take long!

Every evening towards sundown we would start looking for some dirt side road heading over the hill. We always found a great spot to spend the night. Far enough off the highway to get rid of the traffic noise and be surrounded by cactus and coyote calls.

We hit Tecopa hot springs at the south end of Death Valley, had a soak and the next day tried out a road we had discovered last spring called Crankshaft Crossing, at the north end of Death Valley. At first it didn't look like it would work. Pretty rough and confusing with side roads leading off here and there to abandoned mines, but in time, with stopping and consulting our DeLorme map, we sort of figured it out and finally ended up on route 166 in Nevada.

Then back into California, up to Reno and over the hill, through snow at Truckee, to home.

Lolli read fourteen books, the dog wore her toenails down chasing the ball and ROADCOW never missed a beat. Of course I wanted to keep going.

But Greenwood/Elk isn't a bad place to come home to. I stopped in at Bridget Dolan's Wednesday evening for a pint and pizza. Had to prepare myself for the monthly Water Board meeting. Thursday morning I discovered breakfast at the Roadhouse was on hold while Paulo finished painting the walls and refinishing the floors. Breakfast will resume Friday, I'm told.

I noticed the sorriest looking Christmas tree I have ever seen perched atop the Huckaby house, blowing in the wind. There were some nasty looking wrecks out behind the Elk Garage. Some folks had a rough holiday season.

The new Post Office is still vacant. The new Steve Acker and Kay Curtis place is still vacant and the under grounding of the phone and power lines won't happen until 1995. Three predictions I was wrong about in one of my columns just a few weeks ago.

Ben and Tanny MacMillan at the Elk Market wished me happy new year and welcome back and wanted me to tell everyone how happy they are to be here in Greenwood/Elk.

My post office box and my answering machine informed me that I am too late to announce the annual town meeting, January 11th, but that there is plenty of time to start thinking about the Rummage Sale coming March 5 - 6.

I got a feeler from one person interested in my mention about the fact that there are twenty-five Fairviews in Tennessee and that their Post Office bureaucracy doesn't have a problem delivering mail, why can't we be called Greenwood again, like we used to be in the good old days? There is the Greenwood/Philo road between Philo and...?/Elk? There is the Greenwood Pier, Greenwood School, Greenwood Community Center, Greenwood Ridge Winery, Greenwood Country Store. Come on folks, let's get our town name back. What else have we got to do this year?

January 20

The Annual Town Meeting was well attended by about fifty folks and started within ten minutes of the 7 o'clock appointed time. Joan Gates led the meeting and invited the various committee heads to give their report.

The Community Center Board reported the purchase of four new tables and one gray chair. The financial year end budget is in reasonable shape. Newly elected board members are; Del Wilcox, Kris Curl, Carole Raye, Kevin Joe, Skip McLaughlin, Kay Curtis and Cynthia Courtney.

Much applause as we urge them on into the new year.

The Elk Volunteer Fire and Ambulance reports responding to three fire calls and twenty three ambulance calls. Fire Chief Bob Matson was out of town on a much needed vacation.

Skip McLaughlin reported the results of last year's town survey concerning possible uses of the Community Center. He took the time to combine the results and graph them out on the bottom of two cardboard box bottoms with felt markers. The first box bottom showed the results of typical surveys taken "everywhere else". It showed the standard bell shaped curve, typical of human response to general questions; some folks for, some against, with the majority agreeing in the middle.

The second box bottom chart indicated a flat straight line, curled up only a little at the starting and ending points. Skip suggested that the little upward curve on each end indicated the "Fringe Factor" where wild ideas are located. The flat straight line across the middle indicate the vast majority of folks where nobody could agree on anything. "Very typical of Greenwood/Elk" he said. We thanked Skip for his profound work.

The Community Services District reported on the progress towards the new two truck garage fire station to be built up Greenwood/Philo road.

Elk County Water District reported on the proposed under grounding of the power and phone lines at which time some of the town water mains may also be upgraded and increased in size. This project should happen in 1995.

The Church of the Blessed Sacrament Altar Guild reported the upcoming 101st Annual Saint Patrick's Corned Beef and Cabbage Feed and Dance and, in 1996, the Church will have it's Centennial. Plans are being made for a book about the history of the Church.

The new Greenwood Community Church wished to thank everyone for the wonderful response in helping buy back the church for the use of the community. A variety of services are upcoming and plans for restoration are on the horizon.

The Greenwood Watershed Association reports that they turned in a proposal for Option Nine grant money towards watershed survey and restoration. Also the lawsuit from "Breakfast First!" should come to trial this February.

The evening was wrapped up with Bill Edison's second annual "Points of Light" awards. This year the recipients were:

1. Vince Carleton for heading up the Cow S--t and Clay oven.

2. Bob Matson for hosting the Greenwood Talent Show.

3. Rosie Acker for overseeing Great Day in Elk.

4. Dorothy Neilsen for her work on the Greenwood Community Church.

5. Charlie Acker for his work on our town water system.

6. Mary Pjerrou for her vigilance concerning our watershed.

7. Ed Bird for all the money his blender has brought in for various community functions.

That's it for 1993 in our town.

The new Elk Post Office in Greenwood will open it's doors January 18, the day after Martin Luther King's Birthday observance. An open house is planned in the near future. The old Post Office will remain just as Mistress of the Post, Erna Smith, leaves it. "As if she had just stepped out for lunch". It will become part of the State Park Visitor Center.

The exterior paint on the Kay Curtis/Steve Acker house was almost completed when controversy reared it's ugly head.

It seems the plans for the house had to meet the Local Coastal Plan guide lines which require "Earth Tones" for exterior finish.

To me, the colors seemed okay. Fog gray for the house paint with Hummingbird green trim and Petunia pink doors.

Not!

Asking around town I find that the same four folks that don't like anything, didn't like the house colors either, but that's to be expected. Everyone else I talked to either hadn't noticed or thought the colors were great, exciting, fun. "Looks just like the house an artist like Kay would live in." If you know her work, you know the house.

But no. At this point in time they are being required to repaint the trim and doors if they want the plans signed off and the bank loan approved.

That evening, as I pondered this controversy, I happened to notice the most outrageous sunset happening right before my eyes. Flaming reds, Fluorescent pinks, Screaming yellows, Purple, Mauve, Puce. Totally beyond my Politically Correct sensibilities. I tried to call the Coastal Commission to get them to shut the damn thing off and send back the basic gray fog, but there was no answer.

January 27

The New Kay Curtis/Steve Acker house got it's okay and go ahead concerning exterior colors. It seems the Coastal Planning Commission was a bit jumpy after the new Elk Post Office slipped through with it's peach sherbet color. Once those folks were assured that the exterior paint was indeed "earth color" i.e. Gray, the house was finaled. Fine by me. Even the Post Office colors I have either gotten use to, or maybe, it is starting to fade.

Now the interior of the new Post Office is something else. One: The acoustics are awful. Two: I can't see if there is anything in my PO box until after I get out my key and look. The old post office had windows in the boxes and I could pull up in front of the building, glance in through the door, and see if there was anything in my box without even getting out of my car. Three: The old post office has a sign on the door announcing that it is closed and that the new post office is located at 5995 South Highway One. Now, folks are driving up and down through town trying to figure out where in the heck is 5995. Why couldn't the sign just say the new post office is behind you? Well, the Official Post Office Sign Maker is located in Santa Rosa or Sacramento or somewhere, how would they know where our new post office is! Oh well.

At least the place is clean and Erna, Mistress of the Post and Denice, Assistant Mistress of the Post look happier.

Bob and Sue Matson are back from their two week trip to Hawaii. They stayed at Bev and Jeff Molfino's place on the "big island". They saw Hap Talman and his great woodworking shop. They visited with Billy Matson. The first week the weather was beautiful and the second week was continuous hard rain. They finally left a day early and brought some of the rain back with them. Now Sue is at the grill in the Roadhouse and Bob in his tow truck. Things are back to normal.

Ben MacMillian, owner of the Elk Store turns out to be a computer whiz. Most of the folks around here are Apple types and any problems I have had with my IBM type computer fell on deaf ears, but now I have Doctor Ben. I have had about three years to screw up my computer and things were getting slow and error messages showing up more often. I had "upgraded" from DOS 5 to DOS 6 and "inserted" "double space". Plus from Works for Windows, I had added Word for Windows. Well, anyway. Things were hosed up.

Ben wrestled with my Autoexe, Smartdrv, Devicehigh, I don't know what all and finally decided on the clean slate approach. We saved the various documents I wanted and then "F-disk-ed", wiped out the hard drive addresses, and started over. We reloaded my programs and finally my documents. He fine tuned the system and now I'm a happy camper.

You know how some folks drive a car but have no idea how it works under the hood? Well, that's me with my computer. I just want to turn the key and go. Now, thanks to Ben the computer mechanic, once again, I can.

I heared an interesting comment on the radio the other day. They said the earthquake, down in Los Angeles didn't cause much damage. It only lifted the mountains a few inches and shrunk the valley a bit. If it had been out in Nevada someplace we probably wouldn't even have noticed. It's because us humans build all our stuff in bad locations that we come to so much grief.

Don't get me wrong. I live only twenty feet from the edge and I know that in the long run, where I live, will fall into the ocean. (Those sea stacks, just out there, use to be coast line.) I guess I am just betting that it won't happen while I'm around; but then, I've been wrong before.

Here's another thought that popped into my mind at 5 o'clock in the morning last week: How is it that the California Department of Forestry can keep claiming that all the various harvest plans they approve in the Greenwood Watershed cause no cumulative effect on the water (and the various land owners involved agree) and yet, somehow, we all seem to acknowledge that if we use hair spray that contains CFC's we damage the Ozone hole over Antarctica?

Why do we ignore one concept and accept the other?

Well, let's see... The Rummage sale is coming up in March. Saint Paddies Day is on the horizon. The grass is starting to need mowing. Galletti got the field plowed across from the Harbor House. The rain is coming down. It must be spring.

February 3

Beautiful weather lately. I have noticed an influx of folks from the mid-west and the east. Skip Mclaughlin's brother is visiting from Maine and I pumped some gas into a rental car for some folks from York, Nebraska.

I talked to the folks from York a bit because I remembered when I lived back in Nebraska, years ago, we used to travel to York at Christmas-time to see the lights on their Courthouse. It was always spectacular and people from miles around would come and see it. The couple from York informed me that the Courthouse was torn down about twenty years ago and a modern concrete slab building now stands in place of that old ornate building. We all agreed it was a shame.

Bruce Wolfe was in town last weekend, and while his wife Linda caught up on the flower beds around their house, Bruce was out and about with his easel and camera taking photos and doing sketches of the various scenic views around town. The strange thing was he evidently thought my ROADCOW and "yours truly" was a scenic view. He talked us into "mooving" over into the late afternoon sun, then shot a bunch of photos. It makes me happy to know that I now reside in his "morgue". At least that is what we called that pile of clippings and photos we filed away back in the days when I went to commercial art school.

For more about Bruce Wolfe and his art, grab the February issue of A&E, and also check out his show at the Ruth Carlson Gallery in Mendocino.

More and more I discover various local folks who are able to do work at home on projects far afield. With a computer, telephone, Fax/Modem, and UPS, they are able to make a better than standard $5.00 wage around here and still enjoy the coastal lifestyle, sort of. Facing a computer screen hour after hour isn't really enjoyable work on a beautiful day but at least there isn't the one hour commute facing you when you're done.

One guy is doing voice-over audio tracks for documentaries, another local can do his office work at home and cut his trips to the city to only one or two days a week. Another is doing interactive video editing for a company down in L.A.

He happened to UPS off a package of disks at 3:00 in the afternoon the eve of the L.A. earthquake and the package arrived at the office in L.A. at 10:00 the next morning, six hours after the quake! He told me that when he found out it was possible to get "the goods" from Greenwood/Elk to L.A., in spite of a major earthquake, he knew he had a chance to compete with those folks who actually live in that area and couldn't even get across town to work.

Things are changing here on the coast and in the hills as the "information highway" opens up.

The new Post office will have its open house February 25th.

Also, if you want to write a letter to yourself, maybe about your life or current events around here, and have that envelope put in your old PO Box at the old post office, Erna, Mistress of the Post, will see to it. State Parks would like to have bits of mail in the old boxes so it looks like a working Post Office and it would be a good opportunity to make a "time capsule". The thinking being to open up those boxes in 20 or 25 years and seeing what was going on, all those many years ago.

I've been wrestling with my old Greenwood/Elk columns, the ones I did on my old computer. I'm trying to get them into DOS, so I can edit them on my new computer. Richard Melrose of the Sandpiper gave it a shot with his "full page scanner". We soon discovered that a "graphic image" is a "graphic image" and we couldn't convert it into "text" so I could edit it.

Next, off to see Computer Doctor John Freemont in Fort Bragg. He has a scanner and a program that will convert graphics to text. Great, except my "hard copy" was printed on a nine pin dot matrix and his converter program had a hard time figuring out various letters. Here is an example from my column dated January 21, 1988:

While 1 was rattling thru the Baia desert during Christmas 1 was thinking about development. Looking out over the cactus and scrub brush 1 realized the place was as developed . as it could get. It was perfect for its location The plants and animals that live there, and there are4quite a few, had developed ways, over millions of years, to live Lhru the long haul, to survive and bloom th-u loan years and foL,Lo live wilh-in their means. just a few days befova 1 had driven the approach to L.A. and saN one Qf..he Acuoducts and some of the power lines that support 1 n-;rcheni and realized how temporary it all is. All that e v

Well, you get the idea.

Next we tried to convert my old CPM disks to DOS disks. The outcome of that attempt looked like this:

May 14

. \\ . A couple of weekends ago a group of us gathered at (E..e.X...(ETaylor Lockwoods for pot luck and, later in the evening, his (E..E.H..(Emushroom slide show. Taylor has taken an extraoradinary (E.. .P...(Ebunch of close-up photos of mushrooms, and put them to (E..O......music....e.p..(E So, I'm sitting there listening to this great music and (E..A.H...(Ewatching one fantastic photo after another and begin to (E.. .H...(Ewonder why mushroos have so many different colors and (E..e.o.

Can you imagine editing two hundred pages of that stuff?

So now I'm back to retyping it all, one page at a time. At least I can edit it as I go and at twenty minutes per page it will only take me sixty seven hours. I guess I'm not ready for the information highway.

See you at the upcoming Rummage Sale

February 10th

It's a lovely rainy Monday evening and perfect to sit inside, listen to the drops hit the roof while I write this column on my computer, except it has rained all day and I have been sitting inside, all day, listening to the drops hit the roof, all day, while I have been rewriting my columns, all day, from the year 1988. I'm still enjoying the rain but I'm pretty well "columned out".

Oh well, maybe just one more.

Monday Night Movie Madness will happen this coming Wednesday at Bridget Dolan's.

What?

Yep. Wednesday, February 9th at 6:30 PM, about twelve hours before this paper hits the streets, Bridget Dolan's is going to plug a movie into the VCR, have Eduardo Smissen announce the title, director and pertinent information, then we can all settle back and enjoy the movie while having "TV Dinner" which consists of the " Special Plate", something in line with the movie... Italian film? Italian fare, French film? French fare, etc. served on a TV tray, or, for the less venturesome, Pizza,. All this with popcorn, of course.

I tried to find out what the film would be but Leslie said the movie guru, Eduardo, hadn't decided yet. Sounds like fun for a rainy Wednesday evening.

Jamie Roberts received an Honorable Mention Award from the National Federation of Community Broadcasting recently when that group met in Florida and reviewed the entries. Jamie had sent a half hour tape he had produced last year for KZYX. It was called "Song about the Moon" and consisted of music and spoken words appropriate for and inspired by the full moon. Congratulations Jamie.

You may have noticed some of the new signs around town. The Elk Store puts out their deli sign on weekends and Kendrick at the Greenwood Pier has had some of his signs redone and soon there will be a freshening up of the Roadhouse Cafe sign. All this work is being done by a very talented local woman, Gemma Barsby. In real life she does stage background painting for big productions, out there in the cities, but if pressed, will do a sign for us locals. She does beautiful work.

Some of the local young guys, mostly woods workers, have been giving me flack about the Water District, of which I'm a member and the Greenwood Watershed Association, which I support.

"What the 'heck' you trying to do down there in town. Can't anybody cut any trees around here with out getting sued?"

Well, it's true, almost every timber harvest plan, THP, large or small, filed in the last year or so, in Greenwood Creek, has been tied up with a lawsuit. The reason is because the California Department of Forestry, CDF, does not take into account the cumulative effect on the whole watershed and acknowledge the fact that there is a public water works at the mouth of the creek. Oh, they may mention it, but they just check it off, no problem. Each and every plan... no problem.

And possibly each plan isn't a problem, but they do add up and that is the question no one seems to be able to address. Meanwhile the State of California keeps tightening the laws about the quality of water, which the water board is required to protect.

In cities, where the drinking water is trashed, there is all kinds of concern about safe drinking water. Here, where we have good water and a chance to keep it that way, no one seems to want to except you "damned environmentalists".

I've invited the local woods workers to come to our water board meetings, first Wednesday of every month, and hear what our concerns are and we will be happy to hear from them. After all, they actually know more about what is really going on in the watershed than we do, but so far, no one has shown up.

I find it interesting that in L.A., water law was what was used to ruin the land (Owens Valley). Around here they use timber law. It comes down to who has the money.

Greenwood Civic Club Annual Rummage Sale. Saturday, March 5th and 6th. 10:00 'til 4:00.

Bob Matson said to Lee McKnight, who installed new ceiling fixtures in the front office of the Elk Gas Station while I cowered in the corner, "You'll probably read all about the new lights in Ron's column".

And you did.

February 17

There was a small error in last week's column. I said that Monday Movie Madness was going to happen at Bridget Dolan's, Wednesday, February 9th. WRONG.

Monday Movie Madness happens February 23rd.

I must have been out of whack. Anybody out there got some spare whack?

The Christmas tree came down from the top of the Huckaby House February 12th at 11:00 AM. I had a side bet going that it would hang in there until the Fourth of July but no, they took it down. The needles had dried up and blown off but the lights were still in place. If you need a Christmas Tree fix, now and then, you can contemplate the one in front of the New Post Office. As it grows up it will become our town tree..

This just in from Mary Berry:

"Coming, coming just around the corner. Mark it on your Calendar. March 19th.

It's time to Celebrate Saint Patrick's Day. The Elk Altar Society has been busy making plans for its 101st year of Celebrating the event.

The traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage will be served and come and dance to the music of 'The Good Medicine Show'. The party will be held at the Elk Community Center.

Don't forget. Mark it on your Calendar."

I stopped by the new Navarro State Park Monday morning to take a look around. The usual new signs explaining what you can't do. Dogs on six foot leash. Limit of fire wood taking to 50 pounds, no chain saws or equipment allowed. No driving of any type of vehicle beyond the parking area.

There are twelve camp sites all lined up in a row at the base of the bluff, each with its picnic table, supply storage box and fire ring. Large driftwood logs have been lined up as a parking barrier along the ocean side and across the south end. Two portable toilets, a couple of dumpsters. Everything had been cleaned up and the brush trimmed back along the base of the bluff. I was surprised the large pond at the entrance, which you have to drive around, was not filled in.

$5.00 overnight camping fee. Seven day limit. No one was there, except for one scruffy looking kitten, perched on a dumpster.

A man stopped in at the Elk Garage last Saturday and wanted the oil changed in his car. He had Nebraska license plates.

While changing the oil I asked him where in Nebraska he was from.

He said I wouldn't know the place, it was a very small town west of Omaha called North Bend.

"North Bend! I grew up there!"

Well, we had quite a conversation, interspersed with the ringing of the gas pump island bell and the telephone.

I discovered the town's population has steadily grown from 910, when we left, back in 1957, to its current 1400 or so. Some of my high school friends are still living in the area, farmers and what not.

His best friend, Alex Legge Jr., is the son of the man my dad worked for. Old Highway 30 still has the 'S' curve between Ames and North Bend, the curve that took the life of Alex Legge Sr., my dad's boss, his friend's father, and changed the course of our lives. When Alex Senior died, my father decided to move our family out to Washington State; give up on "Pop Corn" and go to work for Boeing. It's all been downhill since, and here I sit, writing a column about Greenwood/Elk. Just think. I could still be shucking corn in Nebraska.

Rummage Sale. Rummage Sale, next month.

Retired, Impeached, ex-Baseball Commissioner, "Baby Doc" Bill Edison is starting to make rumbling sounds about Pepper Martin, a sure sign of spring around these parts.

I have spotted Bill driving his air-conditioned limo around the "Field of Dreams", out behind the Elk Gas Station, gleefully squashing mole hills, his idea of "preparing the field". It is also rumored Bill is trying to get some T-shirts printed with the image of Pepper Martin, to foist off on unsuspecting locals and random tourists. Anything to make a buck for the "Chill-drun", says Bill.

Brace yourself.

February 24

You are cordially invited to attend the "Ribbon Cutting Ceremony" for the NEW ELK POST OFFICE, here in Greenwood/Elk, Friday, February 25th, 1994 at 11:00 a.m. 5995 South Highway One (across the street from the Old Post office).

Refreshments provided by the Greenwood Civic Club.

The Old Post Office/Museum is open for tours.

From Anne Daniels:

"The Greenwood Creek Visitor Center will open the Post Office area ONLY on the day of the formal Post Office dedication.

The Elk Docent Council will be there to greet visitors.

Anne Daniels, Coordinator."

Also from Anne Daniels:

"Here is the short review of the latest history book (booklet) on the harbor in Elk during the steam schooner days.

Written by David H. Hendrickson, retired professor of Fresno State University.

It is called "GREENWOOD COVE", a steam Schooner Saga.

The story, an all too true one of the drowning of three sailors in Greenwood Harbor while trying to unfasten the ship, The Whitesboro, from its mooring during a storm. This happened on May 3, 1897.

The saga is well written, and also detailing a bit of the history of the redwood lumber trade.

There are excellent pictures of various scenes of our village coastline.

The three sailors, one of whom was a Captain of the Schooner Greenwood (his ship was being repaired at the time), are buried in a plot in the Methodist Community Cemetery, Cuffey's Cove.

This booklet will be available during the Saint Patrick's Celebration. Mr. Henderson will be here to attend the festivities.

Anne Daniels."

Lorraine Toth informed me that the tennis shoes finally fell down.

I was saddened to hear this bit of news. The tennis shoes I'm talking about were the pair that had been tied together by their shoe laces and tossed over the power line stretching across Highway One, just North of town, up past the Cemetery.

Saint Louis has its arch, Seattle has its Space Needle, and San Francisco has its Transamerica Tower to greet it's visitors. I felt the tennis shoes performed the same service for our little village, plus they were always a surprise in that they tended to travel from one side of the highway to the other depending on whether we had been having north winds or winds from the south. I guess the shoe laces finally wore through and down they came.

Lorraine also informed me that she has been having Gray Jays show up at her bird feeder with broken or malformed legs. She thinks it is because some one has a suet type bird feeder with wire screen around it and the bird's legs are getting caught. If you have that type of feeder you might check and see if it is doing damage to the birds and make appropriate changes.

From Bill Edison:

"Dear Ron, February 19th, 1994

What's this bovine balderdash anout(sic) Baby Doc raising money via Pepper Martin T-shirts for the chill-drun"? Get Real! Don't you realize there is no children's program and hasn't been for sometime? We have the space- but our Community Center with new addition is not being used, especially by chill-drun. The basketballs have gone flat and a donated T.V. remains dysfunctional. Until the new board gets off its royal behinds and actually implements a children's program- Baby Doc will sit on his and DO NOTHING. Pepper Martin, who loved chill-drun, would turn over in his grave if he knew his good name was being besmirched to perpetrate this hoax.

Angrily yours, Bill Edison.

P.S. By the time you print this (if you have the guts)- I'll be in Mexico exploring the Copper Canyon and agitating the Tarahumara Indians who live there -to revolt. Fax me if there is any movement on an Elk Chill-drun's program and I'll return for Pepper Martin."

I called Kay Curtis, President of the Community Center Board for her response.

"The new Community Center Board has only had one meeting so far. Geez! There will be an amazing children's program, one of these days, soon."

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