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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2010)
Applegate Valley Community Newspaper, Inc. 7386 Highway 238, PMB 308 Jacksonville, OR 97530 U.S. Postage Applegater Winter Paid 2010 1 Non-Profit Permit No. 50 Grants Pass, OR 97526 Log on to our web site www.Applegater.org Photo by John Woods WINTER 2010 Volume 3, No. 1 Applegate Valley Community Newspaper Postal Patron Serving Jackson and Josephine Counties — Circulation: 9,000 To be or not to be... is that the question? BY PAULA RISSLER. A few weeks ago while visiting friends in San Francisco, I was reading an article in the Sunday New York Times. Seeing W that is something that I rarely do, I was enjoying myself immensely until I happened upon an article about the end of newspapers as we know them. Granted, the New York Times isn’t going out of business anytime soon (at least I don’t think so) but the article made me ponder the issue as it relates to our own little Applegater newspaper. Many big city papers are merging together; in markets where there may have once been three daily papers, now there is only one. As circulation drops everywhere, many papers are cutting issues and people to survive. Papers that previously published seven days a week are now printing six or only five issues. I love the Applegater. I have always loved it…but until I joined the Board of Directors, I had no idea how much work was involved in actually putting the paper together and getting it out to all the families in our watershed. It couldn’t be that hard - or could it? In early 2008, when the Applegate Partnership decided they no longer wanted to be in the newspaper business, a concerned group of locals (myself included) decided to pick up the reins and make the Applegater an independent publication. Once we started to delve into the cost of each issue, we started to realize that maybe our job wasn’t quite so easy after all. Previously, grants had helped publish the paper along with advertising revenues and donations from our readers. In the present economy however, grants have dried up. As 2008 progressed, we started seeing advertising revenues declining as well. Some fundraising events had low attendance and donations dropped off. In early 2009, the Board decided that to cut See QUESTION, page 2 Williams Branch Library Grand Re-Opening BY BONNIE JOHNSON We did it! On November 7, 2009 the Williams community was joined by library supporters from across the county (as far away as Cave Junction and Wolf Creek) in celebrating the re-opening of the branch library, after its having been closed for thirty months. It was grand. The morning’s events included exceptional guitar music from Bob Larsen, delicious refreshments provided by the Friends of the Library and Thompson Creek Organics, and a slide show commemorating the eventful years of service at the Williams library and at community fundraising events. A thank you also goes out to Forestfarm, Goodwin Creek Gardens and White Oak Farm for the handsome plants and flower arrangements to decorate the Williams Elementary School reception. Speakers included Sara Katz as moderator, Bonnie Johnson as Liaison for JCLI and the Williams Friends of the Library, Kristin Ginther who spoke for the Williams Friends about all their fundraising efforts and support for the reopening, and Doug Walker, President of the Josephine Community Libraries, Inc, about future directions for our libraries, which will include stable county funding and possibly funding brand new buildings. Susan Bondesen read supportive letters from our County Commissioners, See WILLIAMS LIBRARY, page 9 From right: Andrew Watson and sons, Aaron, Andrew Jr. and Alan. Autumn of the bees BY ANDREW WATSON, M.D. White smoke permeates an opened hive as my sons and I assess and feed the bees. Shards of unwanted burr comb add a rich aroma to pungent smoke of smoldering pine needles within the tin smoker can. Many hundreds of worker bees peer up at us from between the frames as they place themselves to protect the colony from invaders or to insulate their young from the cool fall air. The colonies are now almost devoid of drones as these worker bees, sensing the coming winter, have evicted the males to meet their fate outside the hive. Workers and their queen will continue to raise young in their brood nest, a small cluster of capped cells, incubated at a continuous 93 degrees through winter. This hive, weighing 140 lbs, is filled with an orderly mass of honeybees and stores to last until spring. Our mood is pensive as we move between pallets of hives. Many colonies are less populous or light on honey. These bees have been fed sugar syrup and supplemental pollen from mid-August through October to augment their stores. In Southern Oregon, the year has been tough for pollinators as heat and dry conditions wilted vetch and shortened the blackberry bloom. This year was also an off year for the springtime madrone nectar flow, and conditions were too dry for star thistle to produce its flavorful fall nectar. We are not alone in our sentiment, as beekeepers across the country have also experienced a hard year. Much of the east coast was overly wet; California continued a searing drought; and much of See BEES, page 4 Save this date: SUNDAY, APRIL 25, 2010 Annual Applegater BBQ and Silent Auction Fundraiser at the Applegate River Ranch Lodge & Restaurant If you would like to make a tax deductible donation of either money or item(s) for the upcoming Applegater’s fundraiser silent auction, please contact Sioux Rogers at 541-846-7736 or e-mail at mumearth@apbb.net. Donations can be any type of gift certificate from fishing trips, restaurant dining, car oil changes, beauty shops, massages, etc. Other great donations are: art work, collectibles, exceptional clothing, jewelry or anything YOU would bid on at a silent auction.