Applegater Spring 2019
applegater.org
Photo by Teya Jacobi
SPRING 2019
Volume 12, No. 1
1
Celebrating
Applegate Valley Community Newsmagazine
~25~
Serving Jackson and Josephine Counties — Circulation: 13,000
Years
Cantrall Buckley Park
Searching for a healthier lifestyle?
Example of community collaboration
Applegate businesses can help
BY CATHY RODGERS
BY DIANA COOGLE
The newly installed solar array at Cantrall Buckley Park. Photo: Cathy Rodgers.
Cantrall Buckley Park, which
celebrated its 50th anniversary last year,
has become a prime example of private
and public partnerships collaborating for
the common good of the community.
Much has been accomplished at
Cantrall Buckley Park in the last few
months, and many exciting projects
loom on the horizon.
Solar array
One of the most noteworthy
improvements is the installation of the
Solar Array. A Greater Applegate (AGA),
in collaboration with Jackson County
Parks, received an $89,000 grant from
Pacific Power’s Blue Sky program to
install a 23.4 kilowatt solar array. The
array is now generating electricity for
the park and sends any surplus electricity
back to the county power grid. This
array helps Jackson County Parks
become a more sustainably operated
county park system, while also providing
a welcome shade structure for park
users. Incorporated into the space is an
educational component, enabling guests
at the park to learn about the benefits of
sustainable solar energy. Park supporters
are grateful for the funds provided by the
Blue Sky program that helped to make
this project a reality! Steve Lambert,
Jackson County Parks program manager,
says, “My thanks to AGA for all the
assistance in the creation and installation
of the educational display kiosk.”
Sundial
Complementing the solar array is
the newly installed sundial. Modeled
after ancient sundials, it uses the same
scientific principles applied by the Greeks,
Babylonians, and Egyptians thousands
of years ago. The interactive sundial
engages park visitors as gnomons—
the projecting pieces of a sundial that
Mock Orange sculpture, first of 11 sculptures
by artist Cheryl Garcia to be installed along
the “Art in the Park” walk.
Photo: Cathy Rodgers.
show the time by the position of their
shadows—as they cast their own shadows
onto locally positioned numeric tiles.
The accompanying educational pedestal
and sign offer fun facts, information, and
instructions on how to use the sundial
to tell time.
The design, construction, and
installation of the sundial were made
possible by generous donations from
the Oregon Community Foundation,
the Carpenter Foundation, private
donors, and the time and talent of our
local artists and volunteers, including
Audrey Eldridge, Lydia Shockey, Jeremy
Criswell, Cathy Rodgers, and Bert
Bouler—all under the leadership of Janis
See CANTRALL BUCKLEY PARK, page 10.
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Are you depressed? Have you
experienced a recent death? Do you feel
fat, need exercise, suffer from tension
or anxiety, seek spiritual direction? Or
maybe you just want to become a calmer,
more empathetic person. Whatever your
mind or body needs, there is someone in
the Applegate to help.
Massage. Haley May of May Massage
Arts says massage is especially helpful
for someone undergoing a big life
event (losing a job, getting a divorce)
or stressful times (planning an event,
hosting a holiday). Massage lowers blood
pressure and increases circulation by
relieving stress. It also provides a needed
sense of touch and connection.
Yoga. Besides improving flexibility
and increasing muscle tone, energy
levels, and focus, “yoga helps calm
your mind and body and balance every
aspect of your life,” says yoga instructor
Teri Becker. “And when you feel better
mentally and physically, you have more
energy and patience.”
Cassidy Geppert says yoga “is
healing in that it helps me become fully
comfortable in my own skin,” but as
a yoga instructor she is interested in
“changes on the awareness level: How we
relate to the rest of the world.”
Meditation. Barrett Gifford, who
leads Zazen meditations, calls Zazen, “a
nonreligious philosophy” and meditation
“an opportunity to practice insight and
Yoga instructor Cassidy Geppert
believes yoga is healing.
contemplation into the workings of your
own mind. It actually rewires the neural
networking of the brain,” she says, “and
teaches us how to act from a place of
compassion,” addressing tendencies to
be anxious, depressed, or angry.
Nutrition. The Hawthorn Institute,
a school for herbal medicine and
Ayurveda (a traditional Hindu system
of medicine), has two guiding principles:
“The body and the mind are one,
and nothing has more power to heal
and transform the body than the
mind.” Their Foundations Program,
for instance, encompasses place-based
herbalism, lifestyle, yoga, Ayurveda,
sustainable farming, diet, and nutrition.
See HEALTHIER LIFEST YLE, page 12.
Merete’s Cove—an
Applegate legacy
BY TOM CARSTENS
“Keith, you’ve got to do something!”
In her Danish accent, Merete
(pronounced “Merita”) Wetlesen
encouraged her son, Keith, to purchase
and reopen the wayside park adjacent to
the Applegate Store. To her chagrin, the
park had been closed for several years
due to problems with vagrants.
Back in the day, Keith Wetlesen
spent his boyhood summers swimming
in the Applegate River. He enjoyed the
challenge of mastering those rapids just
upriver from the swimming hole. In
fact, Keith credits these experiences with
giving him the confidence to handle
himself in the water.
Keith Wetlesen, owner of Merete’s Cove.
Photo: Tom Carstens.
He had a chance to put that know-
how to the test when he was in the navy.
In 1978, Keith’s ship was hit with an off-
target bomb and began taking on water
See MERETE’S COVE, page 24.