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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2017)
Applegater Winter 2017 applegater.org Photo by Marilyn Terry WINTER 2017 Applegate Valley Community Newsmagazine Volume 10, No. 4 Serving Jackson and Josephine Counties — Circulation: 11,000 Heroes in the Applegate BY SHELLEY MANNING On Au g u s t 1 4 , 2017, a series of lightning storms moved through the Ap p l e g a t e re g i o n . Lightning strikes ignited 25 wildfires, 20 of which became known as the Miller Complex Fire, which burned almost 40,000 acres. As of November 9, the Miller Complex Fire was at last 100 Morning briefings at the fire camp were percent contained. held at 5:30 am. (Photo, above: To s up por t fire Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.) suppression efforts, a Located across from Cantrall Buckley Park, fire camp sprang up, the fire camp provided everything necessary seemingly overnight. to house firefighters and support personnel for the duration of the Miller Complex Fires. Across from Cantrall (Photo, right: Shelley Manning.) Buckley Park in a field on Hamilton Road, a bunch of heroes suddenly arrived to save us from the lived in tents under fires. (Fire camp is a co-ed experience— b a s i c c o n d i t i o n s . women currently make up seven percent Firefighters began of firefighters according to the national their day with a daily average.) Nine incident commanders briefing at 5:30 am directed this fire camp over the months. and fought fires until Three were from Oregon; others came from about 9 pm. At the end of the day, little California, South Dakota, Washington, energy was left for anything more than and Montana. food and sleep. At the height of the Miller Complex Fire camp in action is fascinating. Public Fire, the Incident Base housed over 1,000 Information Officer Meg Cicciarella gave individuals—firefighters, camp crew, me a tour, starting with the supply area. information officers, management, and Outside was everything needed to fight service providers—who came from all fires, from pumps to hoses. A large supply over the country, including Alaska and tent housed other items like the Nomex the East Coast. Approximately 10 to 15 fire-retardant clothes firefighters wear. percent were from southwest Oregon and Supplies were supervised and organized Northern California. As the fires roared by a nine-person crew, who told me they on, for more than two months, these folks were Apaches from Arizona. Signs directed us to the different areas and services of the camp. One important service was a mobile laundromat, cleverly set up in a semitruck trailer. Contracted by the US Forest Service, Granny’s Alliance Holdings cleans 10,000 pounds of laundry a day. They service other types of disasters, too, like Hurricane Harvey. Keeping everyone and everything clean is of utmost importance for health and safety. Camp crews are responsible for keeping the camp clean and organized, and See HEROES IN THE APPLEGATE, page 14 The Applegate is rich in nearby theatrical opportunities BY DIANA COOGLE Whether you want to be on stage or in the audience, whether your theatrical taste runs Drowsy Chaperone by Jenny Graham was produced to musicals or drama, by the Oregon Cabaret Theatre. whether you enjoy Local Postal Customer Nonprofit Org US Postage PAID Permit #125 Medford OR ECRWSSEDDM 1 an intimate theatrical experience or the excitement of a large crowd, whether you prefer community actors to out-of-town professionals, Rogue Valley theaters offer Applegaters great theatrical experiences. And that’s not counting the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The Applegater at the Literary Arts Festival Applegater board members Chris Bratt and Diana Coogle represented the Applegater at the Ashland Literary Arts Festival at the Hannon Library on the Southern Oregon University campus on October 28. Chris Bratt was featured in Maureen Battistella’s presentation of Stories of Southern Oregon, and Diana Coogle served on a panel titled “Literary Citizenship: Building Literary Community at the Local Level,” moderated by Phil Busse, publisher and editor of the Rogue Valley Messenger. Chris Bratt’s segment was titled, as is his column in the Applegater, “Behind the Green Door,” subtitled for this presentation, “Pioneering Environmentalist with a Carpenter’s Union Card.” He talked about the history of environmental activism in the Applegate and sang, “When I’m on my journey/Don’t you weep after me.” He passed out copies of the Applegater, which were received with praise for the quality of the publication, its educational capacity, and its wide distribution. Diana Coogle talked about From the Heart of the Applegate, the anthology of Applegate writers published by the Applegater, as representative of so many of the very good writers in the area, both professional writers and “citizen writers.” She also explained that the Applegater was a vehicle of expression for all voices in the Applegate, publishing all points of view. One member of the audience, Kim Neiswanger, a teacher at Ruch School, corroborated that point by talking about the columns in the Applegater dedicated to students’ school activities and voices. Theaters range from Medford’s Craterian, founded in 1924 and bringing in nationally known artists, to Signpost Theatre, founded in 2016 to “present plays that are less familiar to audiences and more challenging for actors to prepare and present,” as founder D. Eugene Bahn explains. Rogue Music Theatre (founded in the 1980s) specializes in See THEATRICAL OPPORTUNITIES, page 15 ISSUE HOLIDAY - ARTS
