S ERVING THE S ILVERTON A REA S INCE 1880
50 C ENTS
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A U NIQUE E DITION OF THE S TATESMAN J OURNAL
V OL . 136, N O . 6
W EDNESDAY , J ANUARY 25, 2017
SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
Playhouse offerings run gamut
New season at Brush Creek
plans something for everyone
CHRISTENA BROOKS
SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE
The 2017 season at Brush Creek Play-
house is presenting material ranging
from rollicking children’s fairytales to a
Deep South comedy about women of “a
certain age.”
First on the theater calendar is open
auditions at 2 p.m. on Feb. 4 and 5 for
“Hallelujah Girls,” a comedy written by
Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie
Wooten. Director Kimberly Strong is
seeking a cast of six women and two men
for the play, which will open April 14,
Easter weekend.
“It’s a Golden-Girls-meets-Steel-Mag-
nolias production,” Strong said. “I read
the script two years ago and absolutely
fell in love with it.”
The chemistry in “Hallelujah Girls”
may be familiar to audiences because
playwright Jamie Wooten produced and
wrote for the classic show TV “Golden
Girls.” Co-author Jessie Jones penned
the script for the movie “Kingdom
Come” starring Whoopi Goldberg and
the off-Broadway play that inspired it.
The play follows the story of five
close friends in a small town in Georgia.
The death of a comrade startles them out
of their ho-hum lives and convinces
them to chase their dreams – no simple
thing for ladies of a their age. A conniv-
LINDA ZELLNER/SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE
Izzy Nardin plays Henry in “The MISadventures of the Seven Dwarfs.”
See PLAYHOUSE, Page 2A
CREEKSIDE CHAT
School safety has
public’s attention
Trump
inauguration
draws folks
from Valley
Students among those
witnessing historic event
NATALIE PATE
STATESMAN JOURNAL
JUSTIN MUCH/APPEAL TRIBUNE
View from the loft: Silverton’s Silver Creek Coffee House has recently remodeled and equipped its versatile upstairs loft, which could
be used for group meetings or as individual work stations.
JUSTIN MUCH
When George Yo-
nekura read about
Stayton High School
undergoing a “lock-
out” on Tuesday, Jan.
17, it reinforced his
reasoning for working
on the project he’s developed over the
past four years.
George stopped into Silver Creek
Coffee House the next day to discuss
that project during the Creekside
Chat.
A Stayton resident who owns and
operates Research Machine Devel-
opment, Inc., in Silverton, George
shared his thoughts and exhibited an
example of his work, a supplemental
safety device aimed at fortifying stu-
dent safety during a threatening situ-
ation, such as the deplorably fre-
quent reports of school shootings.
His project is succinctly called
“Save Our Students” (S.O.S.) and it’s
designed to make it impossible for a
rifle wielding assailant to shoot out
locks and attack people in a class-
room.
A machinist who primarily works
in medical research and develop-
ment, George’s impetus for S.O.S. de-
rived closer to home.
“I have six grandkids, and with all
the shootings going on in schools, I
designed this and developed it,” said
George, who turns 60 next month.
“I’m looking at it as a grandparent.
“We need to do something because
the gun laws are not going to change.
(When school shootings erupt) We
need to keep the gunman from enter-
ing the classroom.”
That’s exactly what S.O.S. does.
George explained that the device
locks down the classroom from in-
side. It cannot be seen by an aggres-
sive gunman from the outside, and
tests show it holds pat even if a high-
powered rifle is fired directly upon it.
“I did a lot of research on this, and
See MUCH, Page 2A
There were plenty of people from
the Willamette Valley in Washington
D.C. for the inauguration of Donald
Trump as 45th President of the United
States of America.
Kirsten Barnes, a history and per-
sonal finance teacher at Silverton High
School, flew with 15 students and four
other chaperones to D.C. on Saturday to
give the students nearly a week of ex-
periences leading up to the inaugura-
tion.
“It’s important for the kids to see our
country and how it works, to see not
just ‘book life,’ but ‘real life,’ “ she said.
The adventure to D.C. began a year
ago when her class was learning about
the constitution and the class was given
the assignment to write letters to Ore-
gon Senator Ron Wyden.
Over the year, students saved and
raised enough money to pay for their
plane tickets and other travel ex-
penses; Wyden ended up giving them
tickets to the inauguration.
Barnes said while the nation is divid-
ed, it is still important for students to
witness a peaceful transition of power
and see how the American government
works.
Not only did the group tour all the
historic landmarks one could ask for in
a week, they also got the chance to meet
with Wyden while in America’s capital.
It’s all led to Friday, which started
early: In order to get through security
for the inauguration, Barnes said the
group had to get to the Capitol at 5:15
a.m. Once they are through and in their
seats, they waited until the ceremony
began at 11:30 a.m. (EST).
Barnes took another group of stu-
dents to D.C. for Barack Obama’s sec-
ond inauguration in 2013 and had a simi-
lar experience.
“It takes a lot of time to get that
many people in securely.” she said.
Contact
Natalie
Pate
at
npate@StatesmanJournal.com,
503-
399-6745, or follow her on Twitter
@Nataliempate and Facebook at
www.Facebook.com/nataliepate
journalist
Women’s march unites thousands
LAUREN E HERNANDEZ
STATESMAN JOURNAL
Thousands of people squeezed
onto the Capitol Mall as part of the
international Women’s March on
Washington on Saturday morning.
Marchers joined an estimated 2
million people at more than 600
demonstrations throughout the
world to demand women’s rights
and equality on the heels of Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s inauguration.
“I, like so many of you, woke two
months ago to a changed nation,”
said Cara Kaser, Salem City coun-
cilor for Ward 1. “A changed na-
tional narrative that talks of build-
ing walls instead of bridges, a nar-
rative that fears and reviles
refugees instead of offering com-
fort, a narrative that talks of deny-
ing women the right to control
their body, and a narrative that
doesn’t believe that love wins.”
Women, men and children
See MARCH, Page 3A
Online at SilvertonAppeal.com
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PHOTOS
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Oregon Gov. Kate Brown speaks during
the Salem Women’s March on
Saturday.
INSIDE
Life..........................................4A
Obituaries.............................3A
Sports......................................1B
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