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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2003)
TRIBAL PROGRAM NEWS Time to Turn in Unfilled Tags by Frank Simmons If you have filled your deer, elk, or salmon tags, you need to report that to me as they are filled. If you have not filled your tags, please send them back to me. In some cases, your hunt tag may still be going on or at a later date. I need this information for my reports. Thank you. You can reach me at the Siletz Tribal administration building or by calling 1 -800-922-1399, ext. 288, or 541 -444-8288. Walt’s Words of Wit and Wisdom I was going to write about how we started the Run to the Rogue, but changed my mind this month. Maybe next month or some other time. Anyway, thought I would kind of talk about the “good of days” when it used to get cold and snow! Well, it used to do a lot of snowing most every winter, sometimes more than other winters. Sometimes the snow would get up to three feet deep in some of the fields. One time in particular, we had a pretty good snow. That was always a good excuse to skip school, of course. I think all of the Siletz High School skipped. The county superintendent came to Siletz to give our principal a bad While he was here, Toledo and Newport High skipped. The Speakmans were quite teen-age oriented, seeing as there were several in the family, I guess. Anyway, we would congregate there at nighttime and build a big fire by using tires for light and heat. It would get cold. The hillside was way up the Valsetz road a ways. We would have inner tubes, pans, sleds, and sheets of roofing to slide with. I don’t know why we didn’t get hurt. The hillside dropped off to the roadway maybe six feet or more. Then across the road, if we made it, was a steep incline and a barbed wire fence. Some would hit the road, go across and down the other side under the wire and not get scratched. I don’t remember how many people would be there. All of the kids from Rock Creek would be there and a whole slew from Siletz, sometimes some from Newport and Toledo. Mr. and Mrs. Speakman would make up a huge batch of hot chocolate and I don’t know what else. Vivian and Rod Rainbolt would contribute something. They were very supportive of everything that the young people were involved in, whether it was summer or winter. It would be freezing. When we would leave, our wet clothing would turn to ice - talk about teeth chatter. Those tires sure would feel good for a while. One year, the snow was about three feet deep in the field. One of my jobs was to feed the cattle. I would take the tractor and wagon with hay to the field and I would have to push the deer aside to get to the wagon. I have heard that hay isn’t good for deer, but apparently no one told the deer about it. I would complain about the cold, how miserable it was to work outside and all that good stuff, but it all fell on deaf ears. But when night came and work was over, it was time to play! The whole game would start over. We would do this maybe three times a week or more, depending on the snow. Every new snow called for a celebration. I had a ‘29 Model A with 21-inch wire wheels. I couldn’t afford chains, so one side would have a logging chain wrapped around the wheel and the other side would have cable wrapped around. That ol’ Ford did have traction, but don’t try to go over 10 miles per hour. It would really shake things up if one did. Again, at night that was our taxi, so to speak, for Rock Creek, but that is another story. It’s been a long time since we have had snows like those. Every year we had snow. The mailman would use a horse and sled to deliver the mail because the mail had to go through. 6 □ Siletz News □ January 2003 Another Year of Wisdom Happy Birthday! Delmer Butler Sr., 1/12 laleen Collins, 1/22 Duane DePoe, 1/30 Richard Dodds, 1/18 Emmet Douthit, 1/6 Constance James, 1/22 Vera Lafferty, 1 /7 Terry McCord Sr., 1/4 Diane Robertson, 1/4 Linda Sage, 1/17 Sharon Schneider, 1/10 Rosalie Sepulveda, 1/1 William Service, 1/18 Frances Severson, 1/13 Ilene Somes, 1/5 Wilma Strong, 1/17 Darlene Taylor, 1/21 George Thompson, 1/19 Ernestine Wooten, 1/7 More Scenes from Restoration Top: Jack McCord, III Right: Vickie Nelson Bottom: Cindy Jackson and Donna Woods (photos by Maria Westervelt)
