4 Winter 2012 Applegater
Remembering Karen Salant
BY PRISCILLA WEAVER, mATT EPSTEIN, ALISON BAKER-RILLING, mARY FERRELL, PHIL LONG, DENISE mCCOLLUm, BRUCE ROBERTS,
JANIS SHADE, THALIA TRUESDELL, mARK WISNOVSKY AND mANY OTHERS
Ruch, the Applegate Valley, and all of
Jackson County have lost a no-nonsense,
fierce advocate for kids and schools with
the passing of our friend Karen Salant
in late December. Her keen insights,
dogged commitment, gravelly laugh and
willingness to work tirelessly for children
are the embodiment of community.
Karen and her husband Peter chose
to move to the Applegate Valley in part
because they believed it a good place
to raise their daughter Carly. From the
moment she arrived, Karen devoted herself
to two key components of that belief:
libraries and schools. A woman of few
words, Karen’s unique style was strikingly
effective: “Through all of these endeavors,
Karen exuded hope and enthusiasm
for the possibilities that success could
bring, thoughtfully looking out for the
best interests of our community. I will
fondly remember her persistently positive
advocacy for doing things better together.”
In 2000 Karen joined forces with
many others to gain voter approval
for new community-centered libraries
capable of providing essential educational,
economic development, and cultural
services to every city and hamlet in
Jackson County, including Ruch. “During
strategy meetings on the library levy issue,
Karen always looked vaguely amused
at the antics and machinations and
personalities in the room. At points of
high tension, her quiet voice and extremely
sensible solutions moved us forward.”
Karen’s special talent for finding
creative ways to maximize educational
resources is literally set in stone—the
handmade tile path she dreamed up to
link Ruch School with the new Ruch
Library. Once she got Lilli Ann and
Marvin Rosenberg involved, the project
became the artistic and functional
glue joining Ruch’s two singular
educational institutions. Dozens
of tile steps created by Ruch
students, teachers, and staff, as
well as Karen’s own tile, are silent
but powerful testimony to her
“footprint” on the community.
When the issue of safe school
structures came to the fore several
years later, Karen once again jumped
into the fray. “Her willingness to
voice support for safer school
buildings all across the Medford
School District encouraged many
others to step up and pass the
bond measure.” “She always moved
the discussion in a thoughtful,
progressive way. Karen taught me
that the quality of the group is
more important than the quantity.”
Karen’s influence on our
schools extended well beyond
bricks and mortar. She chaired the Ruch
PTO and the school site council, and
spearheaded the Artist in Residence
program in Ruch. She beat her own well-
worn path to South Medford High to
participate in its Aspire Program, working
closely with students whose parents did not
go to college, serving as their mentor in
traversing the college admissions process.
The story of the entire Ruch
community banding together in 2004 to
keep the Ruch School open is the stuff
of legend. Karen often expressed her
conviction that saving the school, and
taking it to new levels in the process, was
Karen Salant, 1941 - 2011
a defining community moment. “She was
a tireless, boots-on-the-ground, behind-
the-scenes researcher and campaigner,”
working ferociously to make it happen,
cajoling her neighbors for financial
analyses, looking for any data she could
identify as concrete evidence to bolster
the moral arguments. “Without hard
data, it was all going to be adjectives on
both sides. When you have strong facts,
as we did, use them!” As another observer
noted, “Throughout the potentially
divisive and traumatic experience, Karen
played a key role in keeping the focus
on building a stronger community.”
Most recently Karen became deeply
involved with the Maslow Project, the
capstone of her lifelong civic engagement.
She guided the Maslow leadership in
becoming an independent nonprofit
organization and then served as its
founding board president. “Karen
recognized the critical need to expand
offerings to homeless children in our
area. She had absolute resolve and faith
in Maslow and our mission. She believed
all children should have the possibility
for a better life. When she saw a young
person overcome adversity and go on to be
successful, she was the first to exclaim with
a passion, ‘Go get ‘em!’ She was Maslow’s
champion, cheerleader and friend.”
Vibrant libraries, artistic pathways,
safe schools, mentoring aspiring collegians,
practical help for homeless children—
Karen did it all. She had an uncanny
ability to cut through the unnecessary
drama and politics of teenagers and
adults alike. Her motto was, “People
are people and you can’t do anything
about that. But here’s what we can do.”
Karen touched so many lives in such a
special way. She helped advance the livability
of the Applegate Valley and southern
Oregon and has changed our lives forever.
For more information, please contact
Priscilla Weaver at 541-899-1672 or
priscilla@saltmarshranch.com.
Acupuncture for recovery from trauma
BY ELLEN LEONARD
Tim Franklin
1964 - 2011
Tim Franklin died in an automobile
accident on Upper Applegate Road on
October 30, 2011.
Manager of Yale Creek Ranch,
Tim was part of the Applegate
Watershed Council, was active in the
organic farming community, and was
a long-time contributing writer to the
Applegater newspaper.
Melissa Matthewson wrote an
essay in 2005 about Yale Creek Ranch
and Tim and Beth Franklin. You
can find it on our website at www.
applegater.org.
Advertisers ~ Contact:
Sally Buttshaw
541-646-8418
sallybuttshaw6984@
hotmail.com
Have you recently been through the
experience of caring for an ailing loved
one or the death of a family member or
friend? Have you had a car accident or
house fire or the loss of your job? Are you
fighting depression due to early retirement
or foreclosure on your home? Are your
children coming home with signs of stress
and anxiety due to difficulties at school?
Have you recently returned from a military
tour and are having trouble adjusting back
into your life and family or struggling
with an addiction of one kind or another?
Surprisingly, acupuncture can help.
Acupuncture is well-known as a
treatment for aches and pains, but did
you know that it is also extremely effective
for anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and
post-traumatic stress, among many other
conditions? It is currently being used all
over our country, as well as the rest of
the world, to treat both victims and first
responders in areas of natural disasters.
It’s gaining popularity and momentum
because it works, and the only “side effects”
are better overall health and emotional
well-being.
Every Friday morning for the last
three and a half years, I’ve held a Military
Stress Recovery Clinic for veterans who
are struggling with post-traumatic stress
difficulties such as flashbacks, anger issues,
insomnia, and nightmares.
Most are veterans of the Vietnam War,
which means they’ve been struggling with
their pain for over 40 years. These vets have
continued to show up every week for the
entire three and a half years because they
have seen marked improvements in their
emotional well-being and quality of life.
One vet says, “It has taken me to another
level of consciousness,” and another says,
“Acupuncture has demystified my own
mysteries and brought them into focus.
It’s remarkably comforting.”
I have several teenage patients who
are struggling with emotional issues.
These young people respond quickly
and very well. I have also seen several
W
ithout intervention it can be
a dangerous and unhealthy
downward spiral.
patients who were so depressed they
couldn’t get out of bed and were on one
or more antidepressants. After a series of
treatments, many have been able to get
off their meds and return to their normal
lives.
And what about the strain of caring
for an elderly parent? The relentlessness
of the constant care of a healthy parent,
let alone one with Alzheimer’s disease
or some other form of dementia or
physical ailment, is grinding, to say the
least. Without some form of support, the
caregivers soon become ill themselves.
And then there are the effects of the
recession. How many of us have had to
take things out of our shopping cart and
put them back on the shelf because we
didn’t have enough money in our wallets
to buy them? How many have lost jobs,
homes and cars and, as a result, the sense
of ourselves, our dignity, and our place
in the world? These are all on the hit list
of top stressors in life, and many in our
community are experiencing all of them at
the same time. As a result, we experience
trauma and post-traumatic symptoms—
insomnia, loss of appetite, weight gain,
fits of rage, excessive reliance on tobacco,
alcohol, prescribed and recreational drugs,
food—all in an effort to “self-medicate”
in order to make it through. Without
intervention it can be a dangerous and
unhealthy downward spiral. Acupuncture
can break the cycle and put you back on
your feet so you can cope with whatever
hand life is dealing you in a healthy and
productive way.
Acupuncture not only treats physical
and emotional pain and disease, but also
prevents it. One of its greatest strengths
may well be its ability to keep us healthy.
Most insurance policies cover at least
part of the cost of a visit because they are
realizing it’s a much less expensive way
to get and keep their clients healthy. But
as my vets are fond of saying, it’s hard to
explain the depths of the benefits if you
haven’t experienced them yourself.
So go ahead. Call an acupuncturist
near you and let them help you through
these hard times. Remember, you can’t help
the people who depend on you if you’re not
healthy yourself.
Ellen Leonard, L.Ac.
541-474-1974
Ellen Leonard is a nationally and
state-licensed acupuncturist in Grants Pass,
Oregon. She has a masters in acupuncture
and has been practicing for over ten years.