Page A-8
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Dirty Hippies: by Robert Hirning
Well, if truth be known that derogatory
term was not too far off reality, when hundreds
of “back to the land” immigrants arrived in
Takilma after fleeing the suburbs, cities and
universities in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.
Without much thought as to how keep clean,
and some sort of cosmic suspension in the
germ theory of disease, the stage was set for
some big public health problems. Several
factors, such as a lack of affordable health
care, a hostile county government, and the
nearest public bathing facility being the coin-
op shower at Lake Selmac (or if you were
really desperate, a laundry tub at the Brown
Barn Laundromat) only added to the inevitable
spread of contagious diseases.
As the summer of 1971 wore on, various
hippy fairs and festivals sprang up around the
Pacific Northwest, probably as a response to
Woodstock in ’69 and the highly successful
“Vortex 1” State sponsored event held near
Sandy, Oregon, the previous summer. At that
time a fledgling Oregon Country Fair (called
“Renaissance Faire”) was held in early fall
and drew large boisterous crowds much as it
does today. That September, after several days
of reverie at the fair, I returned from Eugene
to Grants Pass on a freight train with a friend
(who we will call “Regina,” out of deference
to HIPPA protocols) who was obviously sick
with what appeared to my untrained eye, as
infectious hepatitis. With the incubation period
15 to 50 days, it was probable that she had
contracted the virus earlier in the summer at
another festival up in Washington State.
Regina had been living at my place
(along with many others) for many months
and I quickly realized that we all had been
exposed to this highly contagious disease.
Previous experience from working in Mexico,
demonstrated the effectiveness of some stuff
called Gamma Globulin, and for my body
weight it would take about 15 cc s to achieve
real protection. Within days of returning to
Takilma I went to the Josephine County Health
Department, a suite of rooms in the old hospital
on Dimmick Street, expecting to receive the
necessary injections. I explained that I had
had intimate contact with a person who was
infected, and needed to get the preventative
medication. Furthermore, there were probably
others who should come in too.
You’d think I had farted in church!
Immediately, the on-duty nurse glowered and
hissed out something like “We don’t have
anything like that for you,” quickly turning
on her heel and leaving me standing alone.
Probably the nurse didn’t realize it at the time
but this denial set the stage for the colossal
epidemic that was to unfold over the next 10
months.
Incidentally, other forms of Hepatitis, a
serious liver disease, come in types B and C
which can be extremely life threatening and
are often the result of sharing needles or blood
transfusions but this strain of “Hep A” is spread
by what public health officials refer to as the
“fecal-oral route.” Hippies were particularly
good at following this route by passing joints
with dirty fingers and sharing food, with a
shortage of utensils, at summer potlucks. These
potluck events were usually characterized by
lots of pot and lots of luck.
There was no question that we all had
been exposed; the next step was to find a
private physician who would administer the
necessary cc s if there was any hope of not
coming down with this nasty disease. At the
time there was only one physician in Cave
Junction and he would treat hippies, but was
really not too keen on it. He set the price for
Gamma Globulin at $15 per cc and none of us
had that kind of money. Personally, I bought
two cc s, as that was all I could scrape up, and
hoped against hope that it would do some good.
Evidently, receiving less than 14 percent
of the recommended dosage just didn’t cut
it and by Christmas I was sick as a dog and
bed ridden. The jaundice, fatigue and liver
pain hung on for the next three months and
no one, especially the County Public Health
Authorities, seemed to care or understand
the gravity of the situation. When the warm
weather of spring came on, so did the epidemic
with literally hundreds of cases. By summer
when the State Health Department got wind of
what was happening, with over two hundred
cases reported in Takilma alone, a team was
sent down to investigate. It wasn’t long before
they discovered the prejudice on the part of
Josephine County Health, which had plenty
of Gamma Globulin stockpiled but refused
to “waste it” on the hippies; as if the disease
would wipe out the dirty hippies and leave the
“good people” unscathed. Heads rolled at the
County Health Dept. as the State took over and
administered mass immunizations, although
by this time in the late summer the peak of the
epidemic may have already passed.
Meanwhile up in Portland, two guys
volunteering at a free medical clinic called
the “Outside Inn” learned about the evolving
events down there in Southern Oregon. One
was a young Doc who was about to do a
residency in Psychiatry at OHSU and the other
who had just come back from the war in Viet
Nam where he had served as a medic with the
Green Berets. Evidently a public health official
from Multnomah County, familiar with the
events of the epidemic and local prejudice, and
who also understood the youthful vigor and
sympathy with “counter culture” ways that
these two men expressed, suggested that they
go down to Takilma and see what could be
done.
Summer and fall of ’72 had passed,
along with the last cases of Hep A, when the
young doc and PA set off down I-5 to visit
some commune called the Magic Forest Farm
and find out, firsthand, the medical needs of
this rural hippy community. In the case of the
ex-Green Beret, who had seen enough of war
and wanted to find a place as far away from the
guns and bombs as possible, southwest Oregon
seemed a whole lot better than his home state
of Indiana. They arrived on his birthday, Nov.
13 and stayed up at “The Farm.”
After several days of intense discussions
it was agreed that they would form the core
of a socially responsible local medical facility
which would be called “The Takilma Peoples
Clinic.” And so, Dr. Jim Shames and Michael
Garnier went back to Portland, briefly, to
conclude their affairs and returned to Takilma
to begin work at The Clinic in February 1973.
Today Dr. Shames is the medical director/
Health Officer for Jackson County, a job he
has held since 2002. The Takilma Peoples
Clinic morphed into the Siskiyou Community
Health Center in the early 1990s and continues
to operate on a seven acre campus in Cave
Junction. And Michael Garnier is the owner/
operator of the world famous Out ‘n’ About
Tree House Resort on Page Creek Road in
Takilma.
Public Notice
SUMMONS BY PUBLICATION
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE STATE
OF OREGON
FOR THE COUNTY OF JOSEPHINE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ACTING
THROUGH THE RURAL HOUSING
SERVICE OR SUCCESSOR AGENCY,
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE,
PLAINTIFF,
vs.THE
UNKNOWN HEIRS AND DEVISEES OF
LLOYD K. HIPP;UNKNOWN HEIRS AND
DEVISEES OF MILDRED C. HIPP;et al.,
DEFENDANTS.
Case No.: 18CV17156
To: THE UNKNOWN HEIRS AND DEVISEES
OF LLOYD K. HIPP; UNKNOWN HEIRS
AND DEVISEES OF MILDRED C. HIPP; ALL
OTHER PERSONS OR PARTIES UNKNOWN
CLAIMING ANY RIGHT, TITLE, LIEN OR
INTEREST IN THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED
IN THE COMPLAINT HEREIN:
You are hereby required to appear and defend
the Complaint filed against you in the above
entitled cause within thirty (30) days from the
date of first publication of this summons, and
in case of your failure to do so, Plaintiff will
apply to the court for the relief demanded in the
Complaint.
NOTICE TO DEFENDANT:
READ THESE PAPERS CAREFULLY!
You must “appear” in this case or the other
side will win automatically. To “appear” you
must file with the court a legal paper called
a “motion” or “answer.” The “motion” or
“answer” (or “reply”) must be given to the
court clerk or administrator within 30 days of
the date of first publication specified herein
along with the required filing fee. It must be
in proper form and have proof of service on
the plaintiff’s attorney or, if the plaintiff does
not have an attorney, proof of service on the
plaintiff.If you have questions, you should see
an attorney immediately. If you need help in
finding an attorney, you may call the Oregon
State Bar’s Lawyer Referral Service at (503)
684-3763 or toll-free in Oregon at (800) 452-
7636.
The relief sought in the Complaint is the
foreclosure of the property located at 3390
Caves Highway, Cave Junction, OR 97523.
Date of First Publication: June 6, 2018.
Albertazzi Law Firm
s/ Anthony V. Albertazzi, OSB# 960036
296 SW Columbia St. Ste. B
Bend, OR 97702
Phone: (541) 317-0231
Of Attorneys for Plaintiff
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