■ Several faculty members have spent the last two years
producing the story of Woody Guthrie’s time in Oregon
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
One month of work by Woody
Guthrie in May 1941 has turned
out to be a two-year project for
several faculty members at the
University who are documenting
the legendary folk musician’s ex
periences.
“Roll On Columbia: Woody
Guthrie and the Bonneville Pow
er Administration” made its pub
lic debut Sunday at the Bijou Art
Cinemas in front of “a nearly full
house,” said Lynette Boone, who
helped produce the film.
008244
BETHANIE HARTMAN, RECRUITER
1221 SW Yamhill, Suite 400
Portland, OR 97205
503/223-7335 (fax 503/223-9061)
bethanie.hartman@nml.com
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“There have been extremely
positive responses,” said journal
ism Professor Denise Matthews,
co-creator of the documentary.
“It’s a thrill to see when they
laugh at moments you thought
were funny.”
Matthews and media services
director Mike Majdic spent
countless hours and some of their
own money on production.
“It has been quite an invest
ment of time and emotions,” Ma
jdic said.
The documentary will be used
as part of the Smithsonian Institu
tion’s exhibit on Guthrie this
summer in Washington, D.C. as
well as the annual Guthrie Folk
Music Festival in Oklahoma,
Matthews said. Additionally, the
producers are in contact with sev
eral TV programs, including the
History Channel and Oregon Pub
lic Broadcasting. Matthews said it
is likely that the documentary
will be shown on at least one of
those stations this summer.
The relationship between
Guthrie and the Bonneville Dam
is the focus of the film, with an
emphasis on the month that
News briefs
35 Cuban migrants reach
Florida Keys
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. — A
group of 35 Cubans were taken
into custody after making it to
shore near a state park in the
Florida Keys on Sunday.
Nearly all the migrants were
detained by U.S. Border Patrol
agents early Sunday, according to
the U.S. Immigration and Natu
ralization Service.
The group told agents they left
Villa Clara, Cuba, in a 30-foot
wooden boat Thursday after each
paid a smuggler 2,000 pesos,
equivalent to about $215.
All were in good health, ac
cording to Assistant Chief Patrol
Agent Joseph Mellia. The 14
men, 10 women and 11 children
were taken to an INS detention
center west of Miami.
Under current U.S. immigra
tion policy, Cuban refugees who
reach land usually are allowed to
remain in the country. Those in
tercepted before setting foot on
U.S. soil usually are returned to
Cuba.
According to Border Patrol sta
tistics, 722 Cubans have come
ashore since Oct. 1.
Investigator: detectives tried
to get graveyard confession
DENVER — One of the former
lead investigators in the JonBenet
Ramsey case claims Boulder de
tectives staked out the child’s
Guthrie was hired by the Bon
neville Power Administration to
create a song each day. By the end
of the 1941 project, Guthrie had
assembled 26 songs in 30 days.
“There are a lot of lessons we
can learn from this,” Majdic said.
Folk musician Arlo Guthrie,
the son of Woody, and Pete
{ { There have been ex
tremely positive respons
es. It's a thrill to see when
they laugh at moments
you thought were funny.
Denise Matthews
co-creator
Seeger, also a folk artist, are two of
the 14 people interviewed for the
documentary.
“It was amazing for all of those
people to be in such solid condi
tion,” Matthews said of the inter
view subjects, most of whom are
in their 80s. “The timeliness was
superb.”
gravesite seven months after her
murder and planted a micro
phone and hidden camera, hop
ing to hear a confession.
Steve Thomas, who resigned
from the case in 1998 after accus
ing District Attorney Alex Hunter
of not being aggressive enough,
revealed the move in a Time
magazine story to be published
Monday.
Thomas said John and Patsy
Ramsey, who did not visit the
grave during the stakeout, were
the primary targets. They have
denied any involvement in their
daughter’s death.
Thomas said Boulder detec
tives flew to Atlanta, where the
Ramseys moved after JonBenet’s
slaying, in August 1997 on the
eve of what would have been her
seventh birthday.
Investigators broke into St.
James Episcopal Cemetery with
the help of a Georgia state troop
er who picked the lock, Thomas
told the magazine.
The detectives planted a mi
crophone and hidden camera a
few feet from JonBenet’s grave
and listened in vain for three
days from a nearby high school.
The only things they observed
were curiosity seekers and a
salesman selling a burial plot to
an elderly couple.
Thomas recounts the grave
yard stakeout in his new book
“JonBenet: Inside the Ramsey
Murder Investigation,” due out
Tuesday.
The Associated Press