Background: Because candidates are now filing to run for office in the upcoming 2014 elections, I figured this was a good time to dig out one of my columns on political expressions.
In fact, I would consider this one of my "top ten" columns, based on feedback that I received from people when it was originally printed in the newspaper. During the next couple months, I'm going to try and dig out my other "top ten" columns and post them on this blog. They are columns that people took the time to stop me on the street afterwards, and tell me the column made them laugh or chuckle in some fashion.
Coming on the heels of the longest legislative session in Oregon history, many political candidates are now gearing up for next year's elections: the May 2004 primary and the November 2004 general election.
In order to help the public stay well-informed, I've compiled the following list of expressions that you're likely to hear coming from the mouths of political candidates during the next twelve months. Accompanying the quotes is an interpreation of what's actually being said.
It's always dangerous to put something in print, because one's critics may someday dig up something you've said and distort one's message out of context. So, let me just say this is done tongue in cheek. If you see a shred of truth in what's printed below, that's great. Otherwise, take it for what it's worth: one political pundit's observations.
INCUMBENTS---
* "It's important to vote for me because I work as a team player with the other elected officials."
What they're really saying: "I go along with what the other bureaucrats are doing and do what they tell me to do."
* "I'm the candidate with the most experience at working in government."
What they're really saying: "It's important to keep bureaucrats in office, because the average person isn't capable of understanding the complexities of running the government."
* "I've got some unfinished business that I would like to see completed."
What they're really saying: "I've been unable to accomplish my goals in the 24 years I've been in office, so you might as well keep re-electing me to see if I'm ever successful."
* "It's important to put families first families first, make sure we have adequate police protection, and a well-funded school system to prepare our children for our future."
What they're really saying: "I like to say things that sound nice and get me votes, without actually explaining how I'm going to accomplish those nice goals. I'll be happy to kiss your baby if there's a camera nearby."
NEW CANDIDATES---
* "It's important to vote for me becaue we need some new blood in office."
What they're really saying: "I think the incumbent stinks, but I'm afraid to say what I really feel because I don't want anybody to accuse me of negative campaigning."
* "It's time for a change."
What they're really saying: "The incumbent has had his/her turn getting rich from the taxpayer slopping trough. Now it's my turn to be slopped."
UNIQUE TO DOUGLAS COUNTY CANDIDATES---
(Note: Douglas County Commissioner elections have changed to non-partisan races since this column was originally printed.)
* "I'm the Republican candidate."
What they're really saying: "I'm the candidate who is going to win the race."
* "I'm the Democrat candidate."
What they're really saying: "I'm the token candidate who threw my name into the ring at the last moment, just ot make sure our party's name was on the ballot."
* "I'm the Independent candidate."
What they're really saying: "I'm the candidate who has a bone to pick with how Douglas County government is run, but I can't get nominated by either one of the major parties."
* "I'm the candidate who is for private property rights."
What they're really saying: "I'm the candidate who wants to see prime farm pastureland torn up and replaced with building developments. My goal is to make the I-5 corridor through Douglas County one brig strip mall."
* "I've turned campaigning into a full-time job meeting the local voters."
What they're really saying: "I'm independently wealthy, so I don't have to worry about working a regular job while I schmooze the local voters."
Cavemen
Grants Pass Cavemen at Oregon Caves, 2006.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Wally World Video Closes After 30 Years
Background: Until now, I've posted columns that were previously published in the newspaper. This column is my first "new" contribution to the Monte Muirhead blog.
Wally World Video in Sutherlin will close the day before Thanksgiving. Beginning December 1st, they're going to sell everything in the store. The owner told me that with more people using Netflix and Redbox, it's becoming impossible for "brick-and-mortar" movie stores to remain in business. How sad!
I cut short two months my year-long stay in Brazil so that I could return home early for my American high school graduation. In Brazil, they don't have yearbooks, proms, or other senior-type festivities associated with the United States, so I was yearning to return to Oakland and share some of those activities before it was too late. I actually got my photo in the Oakland High School yearbook, because I was asked to give the benediction (or was it the invocation?) at graduation! I admit that I threw the audience into somewhat of a state of confusion when I began giving the same benediction in Portuguese after I gave it in English. Some people didn't know whether to sit down or remain standing. I hope the crowd didn't think I was speaking in tongues. :)
Back to WALLY WORLD VIDEO: I was excited and felt privilged when I was invited to attend a sleep-over with some other senior guys...Paul Wallman, Brent Parker, James Bird and myself...at a "barn" loft on Paul's parents' property. Some of us went over to Sutherlin to pick up some pizzas. I remember that Brent was chagrined to find pineapple had been added to one-half of one of the Canadian Bacon pizzas. I guess this was before the "Hawaiian" style of pizza had caught on in popularity..??..
We also went to Sutherlin to pick up some videos at WALLY WORLD VIDEO, which had just opened the year before (1983) inside a cramped building at the NE corner of Central Avenue and North Comstock street in Sutherlin. I selected Friday the 13th, Part Two. I didn't necessarily enjoy horror movies. However, during the ten months that I spent in Brazil, I did see my first horror flicks: The Shining and The Exorcist (o Exorcista in Portuguese). I was desperate to hear something in English, so I was forced to watch whatever American movies were playing at the theaters in Ribeirao Preto. I still remember that when I went to see the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again with some Brazilian friends, they couldn't believe that I actually LISTENED to the movie in English, instead of reading the Portuguese sub-titles like everyone else in the theater.
While Friday the 13th, Part Two, was playing during our sleepover at Paul Wallman's house, we stopped the movie for some reason. Perhaps I was going for another piece of Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza, I don't know. Anyway, we happened to stop the movie at a climactic point: It was where a teen-age boy was walking on his hands, upside-down in the hallway, and he comes across Jason. The boy sees a pair of feet on the floor, and he looks up in time to see the hockey-masked evildoer holding an axe, ready to bring it down between the boy's upright legs.
At this point, the movie was paused (back in the days of VHS tape). Brent Parker let out a cry of exclamation, because he knew what was going to happen during the next few seconds of the movie. Or perhaps he cried out because he'd accidentally bitten into a piece of pineapple, I'm not sure. I don't remember much else about our sleep-over at Paul Wallman's barn loft, except that it was one of the last times I had to enjoy a recreational experience with my classmates. And WALLY WORLD VIDEO helped contribute to that fond memory. :)
REEL-TO-REEL VIDEO in Sutherlin closed its doors, and tanning bed, earlier this year after its owner passed away. Come Demember 1st, 2013, WALLY WORLD VIDEO will close its doors and tanning bed after a 30-year-run. This will leave only one video store left in Sutherlin, Galaxy Video. And NO public tanning beds. Another era is coming to a close.
Wally World Video in Sutherlin will close the day before Thanksgiving. Beginning December 1st, they're going to sell everything in the store. The owner told me that with more people using Netflix and Redbox, it's becoming impossible for "brick-and-mortar" movie stores to remain in business. How sad!
I cut short two months my year-long stay in Brazil so that I could return home early for my American high school graduation. In Brazil, they don't have yearbooks, proms, or other senior-type festivities associated with the United States, so I was yearning to return to Oakland and share some of those activities before it was too late. I actually got my photo in the Oakland High School yearbook, because I was asked to give the benediction (or was it the invocation?) at graduation! I admit that I threw the audience into somewhat of a state of confusion when I began giving the same benediction in Portuguese after I gave it in English. Some people didn't know whether to sit down or remain standing. I hope the crowd didn't think I was speaking in tongues. :)
Back to WALLY WORLD VIDEO: I was excited and felt privilged when I was invited to attend a sleep-over with some other senior guys...Paul Wallman, Brent Parker, James Bird and myself...at a "barn" loft on Paul's parents' property. Some of us went over to Sutherlin to pick up some pizzas. I remember that Brent was chagrined to find pineapple had been added to one-half of one of the Canadian Bacon pizzas. I guess this was before the "Hawaiian" style of pizza had caught on in popularity..??..
We also went to Sutherlin to pick up some videos at WALLY WORLD VIDEO, which had just opened the year before (1983) inside a cramped building at the NE corner of Central Avenue and North Comstock street in Sutherlin. I selected Friday the 13th, Part Two. I didn't necessarily enjoy horror movies. However, during the ten months that I spent in Brazil, I did see my first horror flicks: The Shining and The Exorcist (o Exorcista in Portuguese). I was desperate to hear something in English, so I was forced to watch whatever American movies were playing at the theaters in Ribeirao Preto. I still remember that when I went to see the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again with some Brazilian friends, they couldn't believe that I actually LISTENED to the movie in English, instead of reading the Portuguese sub-titles like everyone else in the theater.
While Friday the 13th, Part Two, was playing during our sleepover at Paul Wallman's house, we stopped the movie for some reason. Perhaps I was going for another piece of Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza, I don't know. Anyway, we happened to stop the movie at a climactic point: It was where a teen-age boy was walking on his hands, upside-down in the hallway, and he comes across Jason. The boy sees a pair of feet on the floor, and he looks up in time to see the hockey-masked evildoer holding an axe, ready to bring it down between the boy's upright legs.
At this point, the movie was paused (back in the days of VHS tape). Brent Parker let out a cry of exclamation, because he knew what was going to happen during the next few seconds of the movie. Or perhaps he cried out because he'd accidentally bitten into a piece of pineapple, I'm not sure. I don't remember much else about our sleep-over at Paul Wallman's barn loft, except that it was one of the last times I had to enjoy a recreational experience with my classmates. And WALLY WORLD VIDEO helped contribute to that fond memory. :)
REEL-TO-REEL VIDEO in Sutherlin closed its doors, and tanning bed, earlier this year after its owner passed away. Come Demember 1st, 2013, WALLY WORLD VIDEO will close its doors and tanning bed after a 30-year-run. This will leave only one video store left in Sutherlin, Galaxy Video. And NO public tanning beds. Another era is coming to a close.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Halloween 2003
Background: I don't know why Halloween has a fascination for me, expect for the fact that I "appreciate" having it as a holiday in the United States, when it's not observed elsewhere in the world. In Brazil, it's known as "Dia das bruches" (Day of the witches), but there are no activities held like there are in the U.S.
This isn't one of my better columns, but it seemed only approprate to post this as one of my first entries, considering it's the ten-year anniversary since this column initially appeared in Sutherlin's North County News.
Halloween marks the beginning of when an endless stream of holiday deocrations come out of storage, and take their places greeting the public through the winter months. A small bust of Darth Vader has guarded our front door each Halloween since 1981. His eyes and light saber flicker a variety of colors, as three Christmas lights inside blink one and off. Well, at least it seemed cool when I purchased it my freshman year during ana FFA trip to the PI convention in Portland. Not bad for a $5.00 investment that still works after twenty years!
But Halloween just isn't what it used to be. (Forgive the Andy Rooney sarcasm.) Christmas used to be the only time when people decorated their houses with lights. That was before the greeting card companies and other merchandisers created a demand for Halloween lights. (At least my Darth Vader was a handmade decoration, not a mass-produced item.)
In my Halloween heydey, we'd set aside a day to spread out newspapers on the floor, pull out the gushy insides of a pumpkin, and carve jack-o-lanterns. House decorations included one-dimensional store-bought cut-outs of skeletons, witches, black cats, and scarecrows. BORING!
Today, people no longer need get their hands dirty with pumpkin slime. We now have Halloween lights to string around the house. And an artificial lighted pumplin eliminates the muss-n-fuss of carving your own.
But don't let me sound critical of others. I perfectly understand why jack-o-lanterns are gradually becoming extinct. Our family lost plenty of pumpkins over the years. No matter how close we put the jack-o-lanterns next to the front door, they'd inevitably disappear. We'd discover their remains the following morning, strewn over several blocks in front of our house.
Usually, the pumpkin bandits escaped without punishment. But occasionally justice would prevail. Such as the year when some genius unleashed a large pumpkin down high school hill (Fifth Street). The unrestrained gourd gained momentum rolling down two blocks of street before crashing into a car. Fortunately, the Oakland City Police were nearby and cited the juvenile for destruction of property.
Yes indeed, Oakland used to be a happening place Halloween night. As many as six Oakland City Police officers and reserves would patrol the streets in three different vehicles. One year, my older brother and his friend grabbed two pillowcases and solicited candy from every house in town before returning with their stash. Sixty-five or seventy trick-or-treaters would come to our house begging for candy. This year, only fifteen came to our door.
A few years back, I thought Halloween in Oakland needed a gimmick to revitalize trick-or-treating interest among children. So one year I answered the door with a pet red-tail draped around my neck. But after waiting 30-45 minutes between visits by trick-or-treaters, even my snake got bored with the (in)action.
Perhaps a different kind of candy would bring trick-or-treaters on the run? No more of those boring snickers bars or cheap candy necklaces to hand out. After sorting through the Oriental Trading Company Halloween candy catalog, I found just the thing: bottle caps and candy corn! Who could resist those long-forgotten candies?
But a different kind of candy didn't bring them on the run either. This year in desperation, I found the perfect novelty item to hand out Halloween night: plastic glow-in-the-dark handcuffs! Future years will determine whether a novelty toy will increase the number of trick-or-treaters at our door. But I doubt it.
Going from sixty-five to fifteen trick-or-treaters during the past twenty years, people can read what they want to from statistics. Perhaps fewer children are soliciting candy from strangers, because they're having to do just that....go to the doors of strangers. I believe fewer people know their neighbors and "who's who" in their community than in years past.
Or, as an offshoot of that, perhaps children are finding safer things to do Halloween even? Numerous churches host harvest festivals that feature free treats without the tricks. And some local schools now host Halloween activities during the early evening. I'm still trying to figure out why some believe it's unconstitutional to have Halloween or Christmas parties during shcool schools, but it's perfectly legal to have school-sanctioned holiday acitivites on public property during the evening. But that's a topic for another column.
Or perhaps Darth Vader is just scaring too many youngsters away. But don't worry; Darth will always have a place on the windowsill!
This isn't one of my better columns, but it seemed only approprate to post this as one of my first entries, considering it's the ten-year anniversary since this column initially appeared in Sutherlin's North County News.
Halloween marks the beginning of when an endless stream of holiday deocrations come out of storage, and take their places greeting the public through the winter months. A small bust of Darth Vader has guarded our front door each Halloween since 1981. His eyes and light saber flicker a variety of colors, as three Christmas lights inside blink one and off. Well, at least it seemed cool when I purchased it my freshman year during ana FFA trip to the PI convention in Portland. Not bad for a $5.00 investment that still works after twenty years!
But Halloween just isn't what it used to be. (Forgive the Andy Rooney sarcasm.) Christmas used to be the only time when people decorated their houses with lights. That was before the greeting card companies and other merchandisers created a demand for Halloween lights. (At least my Darth Vader was a handmade decoration, not a mass-produced item.)
In my Halloween heydey, we'd set aside a day to spread out newspapers on the floor, pull out the gushy insides of a pumpkin, and carve jack-o-lanterns. House decorations included one-dimensional store-bought cut-outs of skeletons, witches, black cats, and scarecrows. BORING!
Today, people no longer need get their hands dirty with pumpkin slime. We now have Halloween lights to string around the house. And an artificial lighted pumplin eliminates the muss-n-fuss of carving your own.
But don't let me sound critical of others. I perfectly understand why jack-o-lanterns are gradually becoming extinct. Our family lost plenty of pumpkins over the years. No matter how close we put the jack-o-lanterns next to the front door, they'd inevitably disappear. We'd discover their remains the following morning, strewn over several blocks in front of our house.
Usually, the pumpkin bandits escaped without punishment. But occasionally justice would prevail. Such as the year when some genius unleashed a large pumpkin down high school hill (Fifth Street). The unrestrained gourd gained momentum rolling down two blocks of street before crashing into a car. Fortunately, the Oakland City Police were nearby and cited the juvenile for destruction of property.
Yes indeed, Oakland used to be a happening place Halloween night. As many as six Oakland City Police officers and reserves would patrol the streets in three different vehicles. One year, my older brother and his friend grabbed two pillowcases and solicited candy from every house in town before returning with their stash. Sixty-five or seventy trick-or-treaters would come to our house begging for candy. This year, only fifteen came to our door.
A few years back, I thought Halloween in Oakland needed a gimmick to revitalize trick-or-treating interest among children. So one year I answered the door with a pet red-tail draped around my neck. But after waiting 30-45 minutes between visits by trick-or-treaters, even my snake got bored with the (in)action.
Perhaps a different kind of candy would bring trick-or-treaters on the run? No more of those boring snickers bars or cheap candy necklaces to hand out. After sorting through the Oriental Trading Company Halloween candy catalog, I found just the thing: bottle caps and candy corn! Who could resist those long-forgotten candies?
But a different kind of candy didn't bring them on the run either. This year in desperation, I found the perfect novelty item to hand out Halloween night: plastic glow-in-the-dark handcuffs! Future years will determine whether a novelty toy will increase the number of trick-or-treaters at our door. But I doubt it.
Going from sixty-five to fifteen trick-or-treaters during the past twenty years, people can read what they want to from statistics. Perhaps fewer children are soliciting candy from strangers, because they're having to do just that....go to the doors of strangers. I believe fewer people know their neighbors and "who's who" in their community than in years past.
Or, as an offshoot of that, perhaps children are finding safer things to do Halloween even? Numerous churches host harvest festivals that feature free treats without the tricks. And some local schools now host Halloween activities during the early evening. I'm still trying to figure out why some believe it's unconstitutional to have Halloween or Christmas parties during shcool schools, but it's perfectly legal to have school-sanctioned holiday acitivites on public property during the evening. But that's a topic for another column.
Or perhaps Darth Vader is just scaring too many youngsters away. But don't worry; Darth will always have a place on the windowsill!
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Remembering Oakland School District Field Trips
Background: This isn't an "official" blog entry. However, I don't have time to transcribe a regular column entry this week (I'm still using public internet facilities for another couple weeks), and because I didn't want anyone to think I had forgotten about my blog, here is some mindless rambling.
My nostalgia about the 24-hour barn prompted one of my Facebook friends to reflect on a sixth grade field trip to the local bowling alley in Sutherlin (another building where my father had done some sign painting). MY sixth grade class never went to the bowling alley (that I remember), but I do proudly remember all but one of yearly field trips, while attending Washington Elementary School and Lincoln Junior High school in Oakland...
First Grade Field Trip: we did walking field trips in town down to the Oakland Fire Department and to visit postmaster Val Davis at the Oakland Post Office.
Second Grade Field Trip: we rode the "Blue Goose" steam engine passenger train at Cottage Grove out to Dorena Lake.
Third Grade Field Trip: (?) We visited the electrical power facilities up the North Umpqua River at Toketee.
Fourth Grade Field Trip: We traveled to Springfield to see the "Freedom Train" and an afternoon tour at Williams Bakery in Eugene. Perhaps the biggest highlight was visiting McDonalds' at 1417 Villard Street in Eugene (where I would later work as a swing manager while I was in college), because Roseburg/Douglas County didn't yet have a McDonalds' in 1976!
Fifth Grade Field Trip was a three-day jaunt to visit various Portland landmarks (remember the Organ Grinder Pizza Parlor on 82nd street?).
Sixth Grade: FORESTRY EXPO TOUR next to the Glide disposal site.
Seventh Grade: (?).
Eighth Grade: We visited the state capitol in Salem AND and a springtime field trip to visit the "new" Roseburg Valley Mall (we were desperate to get out of class!).
My nostalgia about the 24-hour barn prompted one of my Facebook friends to reflect on a sixth grade field trip to the local bowling alley in Sutherlin (another building where my father had done some sign painting). MY sixth grade class never went to the bowling alley (that I remember), but I do proudly remember all but one of yearly field trips, while attending Washington Elementary School and Lincoln Junior High school in Oakland...
First Grade Field Trip: we did walking field trips in town down to the Oakland Fire Department and to visit postmaster Val Davis at the Oakland Post Office.
Second Grade Field Trip: we rode the "Blue Goose" steam engine passenger train at Cottage Grove out to Dorena Lake.
Third Grade Field Trip: (?) We visited the electrical power facilities up the North Umpqua River at Toketee.
Fourth Grade Field Trip: We traveled to Springfield to see the "Freedom Train" and an afternoon tour at Williams Bakery in Eugene. Perhaps the biggest highlight was visiting McDonalds' at 1417 Villard Street in Eugene (where I would later work as a swing manager while I was in college), because Roseburg/Douglas County didn't yet have a McDonalds' in 1976!
Fifth Grade Field Trip was a three-day jaunt to visit various Portland landmarks (remember the Organ Grinder Pizza Parlor on 82nd street?).
Sixth Grade: FORESTRY EXPO TOUR next to the Glide disposal site.
Seventh Grade: (?).
Eighth Grade: We visited the state capitol in Salem AND and a springtime field trip to visit the "new" Roseburg Valley Mall (we were desperate to get out of class!).
Thursday, October 3, 2013
24-Hour Barn Shuts Its Doors
Background: Originally published in the North County News about 10 years ago, after the 24-hour barn was painted over.
In the summer, of 2002, Roseburg resident Pete Nightingale paid tribute to a Sutherlin landmark. Here is an excerpt from his comments that appeared in the News-Review's Public Forum:
"...I have driven tractor trailer rigs for the past 15 years and I've covered most of the continental United States. Sutherlin is the only town I have ever seen to be graced with the likes of a 24-hour barn....
...When I come through Sutherlin, it serves as a landmark that I am almost home. It makes me feel warm inside to be able to see that building...
...That barn could be a national treasure, yet we have all taken it for granted simply because we live here, see it every day and don't assume it to be anything much...
...Now a street has been cut into the hill behind the barn and houses are being built. The barn will probably be torn down because people don't want to live next to a barn. Hey, the barn was there first. If you don't want to live by a barn, don't have your houses built there, but leave my barn alone!...
...My 24-hour barn - the only one I'll ever see in my lifetime - will have been torn down for the sake of progress..."
Nightingales's fears came to pass a couple of months ago. The 24-hour barn wasn't torn down, but it was painted over.
Shortly after Nightingales's letter was printed last year, I gave him a call. Nightingale told me he had talked with the owner of the barn, who assured him there were no plans to remove the 24-hour barn.
I guess the owner didn't want to risk having any protesters chain themselves to the barn, if he announced his remodeling plans in advance. Paint brushes would be no match against the fervor of 24-hour barn groupies clamoring around the structure one last time.
The 24-hour barn's colorful history dates back to the early 1970s. I remember the date well. Because I was born in 1966, and I was old enough to remember when my father, Milo Muirhead, painted the lettering on the barn. And I remember my mother got some free fuirts and begetables out of the deal.
The original sign contained three lines: "Farmers Market - Next Exit - 24 Hours." Several years after the sign came up, a four-by-eight piece of plywood containing part of the sign came down, leaving "24 Hours" all by itself on the barn. The owner at that time never bothered to have the barn re-painted.
My father gold me the wind had blown down the board, because it disappeared after the area had an unusually strong windstorm. However, one former owner said Lady Bird Johnson's clean highway policies from the 1960s, forced the removal of the sign in the 1970s.
Regardless of how it happened, the "24-hour" barn stood alone more than twenty-five years. Every time I'd drive by the barn, I'd always chuckle to myself, wondering what passers-by who didn't remember Farmer Market would think of "the barn that never closes." (2011 side note: One of my cohorts in the graduate program at the University of Oregon School of Education shocked me one day when she told me she thought the barn was racist, because some of her friends believed 24 hours was a warning sign and a holdover from days when people of a certain color had so many hours to leave the town!)
Farmers Market was located next to the former 4-Winds diner (not West Winds restaurant) at the south Sutherlin exit. An espresso stand and mobile home sale lot now occupy the same space. (2013 side note: Those businesses are now gone, too.) The Martin family initially opened their "Sutherlin Farms" produce stand on their Bingo Lane property off Nonpariel Road east of Sutherlin. My father even drove their egg truck a couple time up to the Willamette Valley, delivering Sutherlin Farms' fresh eggs to other retailers.
After glowing success with that venture, the Martins opened Farmers, Market, a completely enclosed 24-hour grocery store. The main building contained common household items and a bulk grain room off to the side. The enclosed, open-air structure in front of the main building contained gravel-floor aisles of locally-grown produce.
Long before fountain drinks became popular, Farmers Market was a great place to visit when one got the midnight munchies. And, you didn't always feel like they were robbing you with over-priced items like most 24-hour convenience stores of today. Long after the Martin family left the area, the 24-hour barn somehow kept Farmers Market alive.
I am sad to see the 24-hour barn disappear. It was one of the last visible signs of my late father's sign-painting days in Douglas County (1960-1991). His only other remaining sign work still standing is the Mohr Well Drilling barn at Wilbur, and the treated three-dimensional "B-O-W-L" plywood leers attached to the former Westwood Lanes bowling alley in Sutherlin. (2013 side note: That bowling alley is gone now, too, replaced by a McDonald's and a shopping plaza with a Dutch Bros. coffee stand).
Those signs will probably soon disappear as well. Progress forces change upon all of us. But in case the Sutherlin Tourism Committee ever runs out of ideas on how to spend its money, may I suggest erecting another 24-hour barn? If a truck driver from Roseburg found solace from the structure, I wonder how many other I-5 travelers looked forward to visiting Sutherlin, because we were the only place in the United States with a barn that never closes?
In the summer, of 2002, Roseburg resident Pete Nightingale paid tribute to a Sutherlin landmark. Here is an excerpt from his comments that appeared in the News-Review's Public Forum:
"...I have driven tractor trailer rigs for the past 15 years and I've covered most of the continental United States. Sutherlin is the only town I have ever seen to be graced with the likes of a 24-hour barn....
...When I come through Sutherlin, it serves as a landmark that I am almost home. It makes me feel warm inside to be able to see that building...
...That barn could be a national treasure, yet we have all taken it for granted simply because we live here, see it every day and don't assume it to be anything much...
...Now a street has been cut into the hill behind the barn and houses are being built. The barn will probably be torn down because people don't want to live next to a barn. Hey, the barn was there first. If you don't want to live by a barn, don't have your houses built there, but leave my barn alone!...
...My 24-hour barn - the only one I'll ever see in my lifetime - will have been torn down for the sake of progress..."
Nightingales's fears came to pass a couple of months ago. The 24-hour barn wasn't torn down, but it was painted over.
Shortly after Nightingales's letter was printed last year, I gave him a call. Nightingale told me he had talked with the owner of the barn, who assured him there were no plans to remove the 24-hour barn.
I guess the owner didn't want to risk having any protesters chain themselves to the barn, if he announced his remodeling plans in advance. Paint brushes would be no match against the fervor of 24-hour barn groupies clamoring around the structure one last time.
The 24-hour barn's colorful history dates back to the early 1970s. I remember the date well. Because I was born in 1966, and I was old enough to remember when my father, Milo Muirhead, painted the lettering on the barn. And I remember my mother got some free fuirts and begetables out of the deal.
The original sign contained three lines: "Farmers Market - Next Exit - 24 Hours." Several years after the sign came up, a four-by-eight piece of plywood containing part of the sign came down, leaving "24 Hours" all by itself on the barn. The owner at that time never bothered to have the barn re-painted.
My father gold me the wind had blown down the board, because it disappeared after the area had an unusually strong windstorm. However, one former owner said Lady Bird Johnson's clean highway policies from the 1960s, forced the removal of the sign in the 1970s.
Regardless of how it happened, the "24-hour" barn stood alone more than twenty-five years. Every time I'd drive by the barn, I'd always chuckle to myself, wondering what passers-by who didn't remember Farmer Market would think of "the barn that never closes." (2011 side note: One of my cohorts in the graduate program at the University of Oregon School of Education shocked me one day when she told me she thought the barn was racist, because some of her friends believed 24 hours was a warning sign and a holdover from days when people of a certain color had so many hours to leave the town!)
Farmers Market was located next to the former 4-Winds diner (not West Winds restaurant) at the south Sutherlin exit. An espresso stand and mobile home sale lot now occupy the same space. (2013 side note: Those businesses are now gone, too.) The Martin family initially opened their "Sutherlin Farms" produce stand on their Bingo Lane property off Nonpariel Road east of Sutherlin. My father even drove their egg truck a couple time up to the Willamette Valley, delivering Sutherlin Farms' fresh eggs to other retailers.
After glowing success with that venture, the Martins opened Farmers, Market, a completely enclosed 24-hour grocery store. The main building contained common household items and a bulk grain room off to the side. The enclosed, open-air structure in front of the main building contained gravel-floor aisles of locally-grown produce.
Long before fountain drinks became popular, Farmers Market was a great place to visit when one got the midnight munchies. And, you didn't always feel like they were robbing you with over-priced items like most 24-hour convenience stores of today. Long after the Martin family left the area, the 24-hour barn somehow kept Farmers Market alive.
I am sad to see the 24-hour barn disappear. It was one of the last visible signs of my late father's sign-painting days in Douglas County (1960-1991). His only other remaining sign work still standing is the Mohr Well Drilling barn at Wilbur, and the treated three-dimensional "B-O-W-L" plywood leers attached to the former Westwood Lanes bowling alley in Sutherlin. (2013 side note: That bowling alley is gone now, too, replaced by a McDonald's and a shopping plaza with a Dutch Bros. coffee stand).
Those signs will probably soon disappear as well. Progress forces change upon all of us. But in case the Sutherlin Tourism Committee ever runs out of ideas on how to spend its money, may I suggest erecting another 24-hour barn? If a truck driver from Roseburg found solace from the structure, I wonder how many other I-5 travelers looked forward to visiting Sutherlin, because we were the only place in the United States with a barn that never closes?
WHY THIS BLOG IS HERE...
If someone ever hands me a winning Powerball ticket, after I pay twenty percent in tithes and donations to local charities and paying my bills, I would pursue one of the following five goals.
One, buy an apartment in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, or Ribeirao Preto, and retire to Brazil. Two, launch a weekly newspaper that provides local news coverage for the communities of Sutherlin and Oakland, like the former Sun-Tribune used to do. Three, open a pizza parlor in Roseburg that serves the best-tasting pizza, like the former Carls' Pizza did in Sutherlin (similar to what is served today at Stark Street Pizza in Portland). Four, build a local drive-in movie theater, so people in Southern Oregon would no longer have to travel to Northern California or Portland suburb to watch an outdoor movie. Five, become a self-taught ventriloquist and tour the country with my ventriloquist (vent) figures, the politically correct term for dummies. Or, some combination of the above five goals.
Until I receive that windfall, I will have to content myself in pursuing another one of my goals in life: publishing a book of short stories of my personal experience. I would never put myself in the same league as Eugene Register-Guard columnist Bob Welch, but it's those types of short stories that I write: personal, political, or geographical tales of life.
Thus, that is the reason for creating this blog. Not because I necessarily have anything profound to say, but because I need a place to be a repository for my written work. I wrote weekly newspaper columns between 2002 and 2007 for the now-defunct North County News (Sutherlin) and the Winston Reporter, where I served as editor. All I have are hard copies of my written work, so this blog will help provide a place for me to (hopefully) store my work for all posterity.
At the risk of sounding immodest, it would also be nice if some people who haven't previously read my columns in newsprint now enjoy reading them on the world wide web! Thank you very much! And for my friends in Brazil, Muito Obrigado!
Mailing Address:
Monte Muirhead
P.O. Box 3
Oakland,Oregon 97462
E-mail Address:
montemuirhead@juno.com
Cellular Phone:
(541) 378-7413
One, buy an apartment in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, or Ribeirao Preto, and retire to Brazil. Two, launch a weekly newspaper that provides local news coverage for the communities of Sutherlin and Oakland, like the former Sun-Tribune used to do. Three, open a pizza parlor in Roseburg that serves the best-tasting pizza, like the former Carls' Pizza did in Sutherlin (similar to what is served today at Stark Street Pizza in Portland). Four, build a local drive-in movie theater, so people in Southern Oregon would no longer have to travel to Northern California or Portland suburb to watch an outdoor movie. Five, become a self-taught ventriloquist and tour the country with my ventriloquist (vent) figures, the politically correct term for dummies. Or, some combination of the above five goals.
Until I receive that windfall, I will have to content myself in pursuing another one of my goals in life: publishing a book of short stories of my personal experience. I would never put myself in the same league as Eugene Register-Guard columnist Bob Welch, but it's those types of short stories that I write: personal, political, or geographical tales of life.
Thus, that is the reason for creating this blog. Not because I necessarily have anything profound to say, but because I need a place to be a repository for my written work. I wrote weekly newspaper columns between 2002 and 2007 for the now-defunct North County News (Sutherlin) and the Winston Reporter, where I served as editor. All I have are hard copies of my written work, so this blog will help provide a place for me to (hopefully) store my work for all posterity.
At the risk of sounding immodest, it would also be nice if some people who haven't previously read my columns in newsprint now enjoy reading them on the world wide web! Thank you very much! And for my friends in Brazil, Muito Obrigado!
Mailing Address:
Monte Muirhead
P.O. Box 3
Oakland,Oregon 97462
E-mail Address:
montemuirhead@juno.com
Cellular Phone:
(541) 378-7413
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