Applegater Summer 2016
Applegate Valley Community Newspaper, Inc.
P.O. Box 14
Jacksonville, OR 97530
Photo by Sue Owen
www.applegater.org
Celebrating
Applegate Valley Community Newsmagazine
SUMMER 2016
Volume 9, No. 2
1
~23~
Serving Jackson and Josephine Counties — Circulation: 11,000
Years
Meet your new fire chief
BY SANDY SHAFFER
SCHMIDT FAMILY VINEYARDS
6 - 9 PM
•
FEATURING THE EVENING SHADES BAND
DINNER • WINE & BEER • SILENT AUCTION
•
TICKETS ON SALE JUNE 1
Applegate Store, Applegate Valley Realty-
Jacksonville, Hidden Valley Market
Ray’s-Jacksonville, Ruch Country Store
www.applegater.org
•
See NEW FIRE CHIEF, page 2
$50 PER PERSON
Includes dinner and 1 glass of wine
Must be over 21. No pets.
Tickets will not be sold after June 21 and will not be
available at the door. All proceeds benefit the Applegater
newsmagazine. No refunds; all sales final.
• SPONSORS •
BY PEGGY MARTIN, HERB JOHNSON AND SANDY SHAFFER
this nationwide organization. A flyer
[see page 14] was sent out to neighbors
to announce the workday. Some of the
work that was done during the week
included burning large slash piles from
thinning ladder fuels in woodland areas
next to the houses, raking leaves along
driveways and burning large piles of
leaves and fallen branches, cleaning
gutters, limbing trees up to 12 feet, and
cleaning the street along our property
line from debris. Derick brought a crew
of eight hardworking men to help with
some of the properties. They cut down
Local Postal Customer
See CHIEF FILLIS, page 11
Mike McLaughlin, newly appointed fire chief
for the Applegate Valley Fire District.
Want a thrill? Try these
outdoor recreations not
for the faint of heart
BY DIANA COOGLE
Is the Applegate going ‘Firewise’?
One neighborhood on the Jackson
County side of the Applegate recently got
together to talk about its wildfire risks
and how to tackle and mitigate them.
Says Peggy Martin, its new
Firewise Coordinator: “On April 13
seven households on the private road off
of Griffin Lane got together to work on
our defensible space around our homes—
100-foot radius around the houses. This
was part of the application process led by
Derick Price, the Oregon Department
of Forestry’s (ODF) fuels reduction
specialist. We wish to be accredited as
a Firewise Community to be part of
Our new fire chief, Mike
McLaughlin, had been on the job only
three weeks, but he agreed to have lunch
with me to talk about his background,
his family, and how and why they ended
up here in the Applegate.
Chief McLaughlin comes to our
Applegate Valley Fire District #9 with a
30-year résumé of firefighter experience
in southern California. He told me that
he didn’t aspire to be a firefighter as a
boy. However, when a friend’s father
who was a fire captain took him on a
full-day “ride-along,” he was hooked.
Mike calls himself an “adrenalin junkie,”
and he said that on that day-ride he fell
in love with the diversity of the calls
and experiences of the job, as well as the
“instant gratification” of helping those in
See FIREWISE, page 14
Nonprofit Org
US Postage
PAID
Permit #125
Medford OR
ECRWSSEDDM
Why on earth would a person leap
off a cliff “suspended by dental floss and
a bed sheet,” as paraglider Norm Young
puts it? Why would anyone disappear
into a cave, jump off a bridge on a
bungee cord, or hang by fingernails on
a rock cliff?
“Because it turns the movie from
black and white to Kodachrome,” says
Darryl Rasmussen, manager of Medford’s
Northwest Outdoor Store. “And some
people just yearn for adventure.”
You can up the ante with any
outdoor activity. What could be more
mild than a stand-up paddleboard (SUP)
on the Applegate Lake—but try going
down the Wild and Scenic Rogue on
a SUP! Conditions also matter. What
makes you faint of heart today might not
be the same tomorrow.
The key is safety. If you remember to
be safe and if you’re not faint of heart, you
might try some of these opportunities
within reach of the Applegate.
Rock-climbing. Darryl
Rasmussen loves to “chase the
good rock,” which can be found
in Castle Crags near Dunsmuir, at
Rattlesnake by Lost Creek, and in
the Greensprings. “You get halfway
up a cliff,” he says. “It’s 1,000 feet
below. You have to control your
mind as much as your muscles.
That’s a great satisfaction.”
Pa r a g l i d i ng ( or ha ng
The international Rat Race 2016 paragliding
gliding;
the difference is in the
competition at Woodrat Mountain will be held
on June 19 - 25 (http://mphsports.com).
See WANT A THRILL, page 12