Wednesday, September 13, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Commentary...
When the smoke clears
By Katy Yoder
Columnist
It sure seems like things
are falling apart. Hurricanes,
fires and crushing snow
have left so many feeling
exhausted and overwhelmed.
Our brothers and sisters in
arms have been fighting wars
that never seem to end. Our
first-responders have been
stretched to breaking trying
to deal with it all. Firefighters
are getting pulled from disas-
ter to disaster as the emergen-
cies shift like the wind.
“Act of God,” has often
been used to describe the
mayhem. I’m sorry, but I
just don’t accept that. I know
there are religious lead-
ers who talk that way. But
in my lowly opinion, Love
doesn’t start fires or floods
or blizzards. God is in the
aftermath, and all the acts
of mercy and courage ordi-
nary people are compelled to
show. God is there to help us
find the strength to act on the
compassion we feel for oth-
ers… even when they look,
talk and feel differently than
we do.
Watching the firefighters
as I drive to and from work,
I am reminded there are so
many human beings who
choose to help even when
their lives are at risk. They
fight fires for the people who
are displaced and the animals
who could be killed. They
sleep next to the highway in
little tents with an army of
compatriots who work beside
each other slowly putting out
the flames. They labor in the
smoke we are all choking on.
And they don’t stop.
Sisters was hit hard this
year. Some people are still
not back in their homes
after ice dams built and
water crept quietly down
their walls and buckled their
floors. Businesses have been
devastated by the aftermath.
Others are overwhelmed with
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work that they can’t get to.
Through it all we’ve waited
for it to be over. But it isn’t.
The beautiful and truly
amazing eclipse seemed like
an economic solution to our
winter woes. Yes, it would be
inconvenient with the traffic
and all those extra eclipse-
chasers, but they’d stop to
eat in our town. They’d fill
up their gas tanks and maybe
stop to shop in our stores. But
the fire and smoke kept them
away. We all heard stories of
restaurants and stores that
stocked up for the throngs
that didn’t come. The loss
of income for our local busi-
nesses has slowly bled them
dry.
Now the fires that are
blazing across Oregon con-
tinue the devastation. Even
as the firefighters are taken
to bigger fires, we have been
left with the smoke that is
carried along on the wind. I
keep telling myself that the
smoke will clear, but it’s still
here. Even after a torrential
downpour left standing water
in the desert, it wasn’t enough
to bring the smoke down.
This is my final year with
Sisters Folk Festival and my
last festival as an employee. I
envisioned how it would go.
One more chance to talk to
all the people who come to
the festival and our patrons
and sponsors. But the smoke
changed that and now I know
my last festival was 2016.
It’s OK. When I think
about the challenges facing
so many around the globe,
I know my disappointment
doesn’t even register in
importance. I’ll be fine. It’s
my friends, the businesses
and the animals I’m worried
about.
It’s up to those of us who
haven’t been so severely
devastated to help where we
can. Sending money to orga-
nizations who are assisting
the victims is so important.
But so is helping keep our
local businesses alive. I’m
afraid that many won’t make
it through another winter. If
you’re able, please patron-
ize our stores in Sisters. Go
out to eat, buy groceries and
a little (or big!) gift for your
loved ones.
There’s something so
comforting about going into
a store where you know the
person behind the counter.
When they smile and say,
“Hello,” I know they’re truly
happy to see me. Anyone
who’s lived somewhere big-
ger knows that’s not some-
thing to be taken for granted.
We have a wonderful place to
call home — and when the
smoke clears, I am hopeful
it’ll all still be here.
Oregon man shares
blacksmith skills on YouTube
By Carisa Cegavske
The News-Review
ROSEBURG (AP) —
Scott Wadsworth has been
fascinated by blacksmiths
since he was 12 years old,
when he kept running across
descriptions of them in the
Western books he enjoyed.
He was camping the first
time he experienced the joy of
shaping metal. He put some
nails in a campfire, and once
they were hot he started ham-
mering them flat.
“I didn’t know what to do
with them, but I kept doing it
over and over,” he said.
Wa d s w o r t h w e n t t o
Oregon State University,
intending to study for an engi-
neering degree, but dropped
out to pursue a construction
career. He owned Wadco
Construction in Roseburg for
several decades, married his
childhood sweetheart, Kelly
(they met on a school bus in
Glide), and raised four kids.
Twelve years ago he
received a life-changing gift
from former Douglas County
Commissioner Bill Vian.
Vian gave Wadsworth all his
blacksmithing tools — tools
he himself had received from
Roseburg Forest Products
founder Kenneth Ford in 1978.
The equipment is worthy
of a museum, but Wadsworth
has no intention of leaving it
to collect dust.
“When Bill gave me these
tools it really altered the course
of my middle age,” he said.
Today, Wadsworth builds a
wide variety of metal objects,
from chandeliers to range
hoods to swords.
His favorite creation to
date is a set of gates patterned
to look like dogwood for a
design studio belonging to
Jennifer Jackson of Sutherlin.
It’s the type of creation
Wadsworth likes to call house
jewelry.
The next step in the jour-
ney he’s taken came when
his son Nathan Wadsworth of
Mesa, Arizona, a millennial
in his early 30s, suggested his
dad put up some videos on
YouTube. That seemed like a
horrible idea, Wadsworth said.
See BLACKSMITH on page 31
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