Remembering James Garner

     I felt compelled to write something about James Garner, after seeing that our local daily newspaper completely ignored his passing. That is especially ironic, considering that James Garner filmed the movie "Fire In The Sky" in Oakland and other places around Douglas County in the 1990s. But ever since the Roseburg News-Review dropped its Monday afternoon newspaper last month, and added a "summer" Saturday morning edition in its place, I guess it's only natural that news that occurs on Sunday or Monday won't be reported anymore.
     I had the opportunity to briefly talk with James Garner twice while he was in Oakland shooting Fire In The Sky. I first bumped into actor Noble Willingham, Chuck Norris' sidekick on "Walker, Texas Ranger," while he was sitting on a fence partition along Highway 99 in Oakland. Willingham was as talkative and folksy as his character on Walker, Texas Ranger, so it wasn't difficult to strike up a conversation and do an interview with him.
     After I left Willingham, I started walking across the street toward the Thomas Hotel, when my best-possible dream happened. James Garner stepped out of a car that had stopped in the street (Highway 99 was closed to regular traffic) and he began looking around surveying the landscape. Unlike Willingham, Garner appeared somewhat distant and dare I say, stand-offish. He didn't make eye contact with people nearby. I was reluctant to rush him too closely, because I didn't want the public relations people escorting me away for "bothering" the talent.
      I could see KEZI reporter Penny Havlovich was also keeping her distance, so I surmised that my "cautious" approach was warranted. I was closer to Garner than was Havlovich, and because Garner didn't appear in a hurry to go somewhere, I gradually approached him and asked if he would mind answering a few questions. I asked him what was his impression of Douglas County.
     Garner wanted to know where Douglas County was, and I told him that it was the area where all of the filming sites for the movie were located. About that time, a bee began buzzing around Garner's face, and as he took a swat at the flying pest, Garner said in true Maverick/Rockford style, "I like everything but the bees."
     My second encounter with Garner occurred near the end of the filming. A group of Oakland residents wanted to give him a gift, so Garner returned to Oakland where a small crowd had gathered in front of the former Washington Elementary School. The gift was a brick: A local artist had painted the façade of one of the buildings where the filming had taken place in town, and used a brick from the building to display her artwork.
      During a question session after the presentation, I asked Garner if receiving a brick was better than receiving a "key to the city." Garner replied to the effect of, "Well, it is. You know, I have a lot of keys to carry around and I never can keep track of where they're all at. But this is a very nice gift. Thank you (name of artist) very much."
      That night during KOBI-TV's 11:00p.m. news, they used my brick story as their "kicker" story at the end of the newscast. The sound bite about the keys provided fodder for the anchors to talk about before signing off. Fill-in sports anchor Kerry Kirwan said he wanted to know what door "the
keys to the city are supposed to open." News anchor John Mercer said, among other things, that he didn't know how that worked.
     Those kind of anecdotes are the ones that make events memorable and personalize the lives of famous people. It's a shame that our local newspaper didn't search out some local anecdotes and write a story about Garner's passing.