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
