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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2013)
Applegater Summer 2013 3 Community Calendar AA Meeting There is an open meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous every Wednesday at 7 am at the Williams Community Church Fellowship Hall on East Fork Road in Williams. This meeting is open to those who have a drinking problem and have a desire to stop drinking, and also to anyone interested in the Alcoholics Anonymous program of recovery from drinking. American Association of University Women (AAUW) Grants Pass Branch meets monthly from September through June. Days, times, and locations vary. All those who hold an associate of arts, a baccalaureate or higher degree from an accredited college or university are welcome to join. Contact Connie Johnson at budcon@charter.net or 541-476-2567, or Angie Bifano-Sokol at angiebifano@hotmail.com or 541-862-8228. Visit our website at http://aauwgrantspass. org, and see us on Facebook. Applegate Christian Fellowship. For service times, call 541-899-8732 24 hours/day. Applegate Fire District Board of Directors meets on the third Wednesday of each month at Station 1, 18489 N. Applegate Road at 7:30 pm, except for the months of March, April and May, which are held at Headquarters, 1095 Upper Applegate Road. For more information, call 541-899-1050. Applegate 4-H Swine Club meets on Tuesdays following the third Wednesday of every month at 7 pm. For more information, contact Charles Elmore at 541-846-6528 or Barbara Niedermeyer at 541-846-7635. Applegate Friends of Fire District #9 meets on the third Tuesday of each month at the Fire Station at 1095 Upper Applegate Road at 6 pm. New members are welcome. For more information, call Bob Fischer 541-846-6218. Applegate Library Hours Sunday..........................................................closed Monday........................................................closed Tuesday..............................................2 pm - 6 pm Wednesday...................................................closed Thursday.......................................................closed Friday .................................................2 pm - 6 pm Saturday...........................................10 am - 2 pm (Storytime will be held Tuesdays at 2:30 pm.) Applegate Neighborhood Network (ANN) meets on the last Wednesday of every month at the Ruch Library. All interested persons are welcome to attend. ANN is a community organization dedicated to protecting, preserving, and restoring the Applegate watershed. For more information about ANN, call Duane Bowman, 541-899- 7264. Applegate Partnership and Watershed Council meets the 4th Thursday of the month at the Applegate Library. For more information call 541-899-9982. Applegate Valley Community Grange meets the second Sunday of each month at 6 pm for a potluck and at 7 pm for a business meeting. Call 541-846-7501. Applegate Valley Garden Club meets at 1:30 pm on the third Wednesday of the month from September through May. For meeting locations and programs, call Sandra King at 541-899-9027 or Betty Lou Smith at 541- 846-6817. Food & Friends Senior Nutrition Program invites local 60+ seniors to enjoy a nutritious, hot meal served at 11:30 am Monday through Friday at the Jacksonville IOOF Hall located at the corner of Main and Oregon Streets. A donation is suggested and appreciated. Volunteers help serve meals or deliver meals to homebound seniors. For information about volunteering (it takes 40 volunteers to keep the Jacksonville program going ) or receiving meals, call Food & Friends at 541-664-6674, x246 or x208. Friends of Ruch Library Board of Directors meets on the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm at Ruch Library. All are welcome. 541-899-7438. Grants Pass Nordic Ski Club meets on the first Thursday of the month, November through April, at the Newman Methodist Church at 7th and B Streets in Grants Pass at 7 pm. Ski outings are on Saturdays. Listings are on the snow phone at 541-592-4977. Greater Applegate Community Development Corporation meets the second Wednesday of January, April, July and October at 6 pm at Applegate Fire District Station 1, 18489 North Applegate Road. For more information, go to www.gacdc.org. Josephine County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) meets Thursdays at 6 pm. For meeting information, call 541-474-6840. Ruch Library Hours Sunday.........................................................closed Monday.......................................................closed Tuesday............................................11 am - 5 pm Wednesday..................................................closed Thursday...........................................1 pm - 7 pm Friday ...........................................................closed Saturday..........................................12 pm - 4 pm (Storytime will be held Tuesdays at 11 am.) Sanctuary One is open to the public for farm tours every Wednesday and Saturday, 10:30 am - noon. Recommended donation is $5. Reservations are required. Call 541-899- 8627 or email info@sanctuaryone.org. Southern Oregon Beekeepers Association meets the first Monday of each month at 7:30 pm at the OSU extension. For more information, please contact sobeekeepers@gmail.com. T.O.P.S. (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every Monday morning at Applegate Church, 18960 North Applegate Road (at the corner of Hwy. 238 and N. Applegate Road). Weigh-in starts at 8:30 am; the meeting starts at 9:00 am. Come join us! Williams Creek Watershed Council Meetings: fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 pm at the Williams Creek Fire Station. The Public is welcome. For more information, call 541- 846-9175. Williams Grange Pancake Breakfast, second Sunday of each month, 8:30 to 11 am, followed by the Bluegrass Jam, 11 am to 1 pm. Closed July and August. 20100 Williams Hwy. near Tetherow Rd. For more information, call 541-846-6844. Williams Grange #399 Business Meeting, second Tuesday of each month, 7 pm. 20100 Williams Hwy. near Tetherow Rd. For more information, call 541-846-6844. Williams Library Hours Sunday.........................................................closed Monday.......................................................closed Tuesday........................................1:30 pm - 4 pm Wednesday..................................1:30 pm - 4 pm Thursday......................................................closed Friday...........................................................closed Saturday..........................................12 pm - 4 pm Williams Rural Fire Protection District Meetings: fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 pm at the Williams Fire Department. Women Helping Other Women (WHOW) meets the second Tuesday of the month at 10036 Hwy 238 (Gyda Lane) at 6:30 pm for a potluck meeting to plan work parties at each other’s homes. New members are welcome. For more information, call Thalia Truesdell at 541-899-8741 or Sioux Rogers at 541-846-7736. Wonder Neighborhood Watch Meetings: second Tuesday of each month, 6:30 pm, Wonder Bible Chapel. BORED? Check out our online calendar jam-packed with events all over southwest Oregon. www.applegater.org NEW! MOVIE & BOOK REVIEWS — Movie — Title: 42 Reviewer rating: 5 Apples (1 Apple—Don’t bother, 5 Apples—Don’t miss) PG-13; Biographical sports drama; 2 hours, 8 minutes Opened: April 2013 Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Christopher Meloni, John C. McGinley, T.R. Knight, Lucas Black and Nicole Beharie. Writer-Director: Brian Helgeland A big HIT for opening weekend, 42 is a home run! This movie includes an excellent cast and tells not only of the first two years of Jackie Robinson’s career (Robinson is played by Chadwick Boseman), but also that of Brooklyn Dodgers’ General Manager Branch Rickey (played by Harrison Ford). The movie depicts the story of a real hero, Jackie Robinson, an African-American who broke through Major League Baseball’s race barrier in 1947 when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson did not just play baseball; he was actually better at football and basketball. He also excelled at track and field, particularly triple jump and long jump. And not only was he a phenomenal athlete, he was an integral part of the civil rights movement. I am rooting for this movie—it’s very emotional, uplifting and beautifully done! A must-see—take me out to the ball game! Sharon Thompson • thompsonsharon99@yahoo.com Ed. Note: The reviewer is an ardent moviegoer—often watching the same movie in the theater multiple times. — Books — The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo by Paula Huntley I got a new (used) book in the mail on Monday, and I finished reading it Tuesday morning. If you are someone who reads for pleasure, you probably sometimes find yourself with a stack of partially read books, none of which gives you that desired Wow! feeling. I’ve been waiting for a book that really grabbed me, and this was it: The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo by Paula Huntley (2003). Although I had never heard of her or it, and I have a half-dozen other books going, none have carried me away as this book did. In past years I’ve read Rebecca West’s eleven-hundred-plus-page supposedly definitive history of the Balkans, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, and I have loved the recent dreamlike Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obrecht, and a number of Josip Novakovich’s books. But nothing has made me feel as though I was happily holding hands with living Kosovars the way The Hemingway Book Club did. The book is available on Amazon for pennies. The author’s husband was doing volunteer work helping Kosovo set up a legal system, but Paula Huntley was one of the only accompanying spouses. She very quickly saw the need, overcame her fears, and plunged into teaching English and holding book club meetings in her home. She kept a journal and—when the sporadic electricity and Internet access was working—sent her writings to friends and family. Her missives were passed around, and she was approached by a publisher. Cry the beloved country! I want to go there (or somewhere) and teach English, have a book group! We were in Albania in 2008, briefly, and our group was carefully shuffled around. However, we saw much of what Huntley describes. I vividly remember their black and red flag (which she describes as the most militant flag she’s ever seen). I can’t say we interacted with many Albanians (we were there to see an ancient Roman ruin), but Huntley’s descriptions brought back memories: there was rebar everywhere sticking up from roofs of occupied homes and buildings, awaiting the next floor to be built—or not—some time in the future. Apparently, taxes are not levied until the home or building is completed, with obvious ramifications. This relatively short book, about 250 pages, will surely appeal to a wide range of readers. Educators will learn that the author had been a teacher in years past, but she states unequivocally that her “...background as a teacher didn’t help at all.” (I am not so sure I agree with that.) People who care about international law and politics and the work of nongovernmental organizations will recognize the frustrating complexity and occasional glimmers of hope in such work. Throughout the book is evidence of the author’s deep love for her students, and her admiration for their determination to move past—at least on the surface—the horror of their young lives, past a time when villages were razed, the women and girls were raped, and the men and boys were tortured and killed. She feels a humble inadequacy in the face of the Kosovar students’ profound gratitude, their astonishment that an American would be pleased to teach and assist them with no thought of reward. It’s rather nice to read of a people who don’t hate Americans, who really love Americans and who say so at every opportunity. Not to take away from these students’ genuine love of their teacher, but we readers realize that much of that gratitude is because of the US-led NATO precision bombing of Serbia. A marvelous story, a delight to those who love stories. A history lesson. A geography lesson. A thoughtful reflection for those who cogitate over why we humans hate and torture and kill and make war on each other. Maybe some remember that the whole mess of the ’90s in the Balkans was because Milosevic and his ilk stirred up Serbian emotion over their defeat by the Muslim Turks in the 1400s! Good grief! Author Paula Huntley is a southern gal who looks back on her college years and later California life with a wry eye on that earlier obliviousness, bigotry, and narrowness. And now to end with a quote from the book: “Like Jews and Palestinians in Israel/ Palestine, both Serbs and Albanians have historical claims to Kosovo. The issue is not who has the strongest or oldest claim, but how everyone can live together peacefully now. I don’t argue with the students, though, or say anything about Kosovo, the Illyrians, the Albanians, or the Serbs. But I do mention Native Americans and European immigrants in the US. There are some puzzled faces as they think about that one.” Julia Helm Hoskins • 541-899-8470 julmudgeon@aol.com
