18 Fall 2012 Applegater
Tall Tales from the Editor
Jan’s flyer
or
I can’t thank you enough
I never know what I might find in the
mailbox besides bills. It was no different
20 years ago when I walked out to our
mailbox thinking, “Will there be a court
summons, hate mail from one of the many
jilted fiancées (before my bride Sioux), or a
political announcement from yet another
politician informing me that if I vote for
them my life will be perfect?”
What I found that day was a flyer
announcing that there was to be a 7 pm
meeting in a couple of days at the Ruch
Library (at that time, it was located in the
basement of the Sunshine Plaza) about
some Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
timber sales. I remember one of them was
called Misty Rocks—such a pretty name
for a clear-cut.
Now don’t get your panties all knotted
up. I’m not antilogging. Why, we live in
a 95-year-old log house and burn wood
for heat. My guitars are made of wood.
My shop teacher from the rumored
unaccredited Avon High School, Mr.
Moore, had a wooden left leg.
Indiana’s greatest rock ’n’ roll
drummer, Marty “Chickslayer” Wilson,
practiced his short-lived craft of wood-
lathe art on Mr. Moore’s wooden leg when
he found it in the shop room closet. For
some unknown reason, Mr. Moore was
rather ticked off when he saw the lathe
work on his leg. Luckily for Chickslayer,
Mr. Moore never discovered the identity of
our Leonardo da Vinci of the wood lathe,
but hey, a drummer needs drumsticks.
Like Chickslayer, I like wood
products, but not these large clear-cuts
that were being proposed. So I went to
the meeting.
The library was standing room only.
Leading this meeting was Jan Perttu, who
had distributed the flyer. She presented
everyone with an overview of the proposed
timber sales, which sounded to me like
eventually most everything would become
a clear-cut here in the Applegate.
Jan asked for volunteers to help her
write a response to the BLM environmental
assessment. I was among five or six folks
who volunteered to meet with Jan after
that meeting.
Right off the bat, I knew that Jan was
going to be fun to work with. She had an
infectious sense of humor, and over the
years we shared some great laughs.
After a short while, we decided columns from the Applegater have been
to form an official group called The published in a book, but, best of all, I’ve
Applegate Watershed Conservancy to met so many wonderful folks from here
advocate watershed restoration and a much in the Applegate that I probably wouldn’t
lighter touch in logging. We put Jan at have otherwise. That would have been a
the helm—she was the
huge loss for me.
perfect skipper with a
As you can see,
Jan’s flyer altered my life
questionable crew on
in a very positive way,
deck.
and I can never thank
A year or so later
Jan’s flyer took
her enough.
when the Applegate
this unknown
Sadly, Jan Perttu
Par tnership was
died
this past June at
formed, Jan was one
rock star down
the young age of 62.
of its organizers. It
a road he never
After an almost decade-
was also Jan who led
long struggle with
the development of
would have
Alzheimer’s, her positive
the Applegate River
traveled.
can-do spirit will be
Watershed Council
greatly missed.
( A RW C ) f o r t h e
Sh e w a s a re a l
Applegate Partnership.
p e rs o n w h o a l w a y s
One of the
o f f e re d a h a n d . I
many projects to
never heard her say a
come out of ARWC
was a newspaper—you know it as the disparaging word about another individual,
Applegater—and I became its editor. Now and it made no difference to her if she or
you know that you can blame it all on someone else was recognized for the work
Jan’s flyer. (Jan discovered that anything done by the ARWC.
Jan, thank you for putting that flyer
over four letters was a challenge for me,
so she edited my responses to the BLM in my mailbox and opening the door
that has taken me on countless great
environmental assessments.)
Jan’s flyer took this unknown rock star adventures.
Until our trails cross again…
down a road he never would have traveled.
Besides being editor of the Applegater for
18 years now, I served on the Jackson
County Natural Resource Committee for
seven or eight years. I’ve met governors,
congressmen and senators. I was involved
for awhile with the talk radio program,
Southern Oregon Forestry Forum. My
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