situ a tio n to the regulars yarning and
jaw ing over lunch on Osburn s porch--the
usual assemblage, once referred to by the
Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce as
'those ja y b ird s " A dog had fallen Sunday
from the sheer b lu ff north of Indian Beach
Its owners had returned to Portland
Storm conditions prevailed for four days
Now on Friday the 14th, five days later, it
was hoped a party could be assembled to
re trie ve the animal Hikers claimed to
have seen the young Boxer dog scuttle into
d r ift logs at the c liff's base
Dean Bonde agreed to join us He would
bring his son, Gabe, and meet us at Indian
Beach Steve McLeod rode by on his bicycle
accompanied by the venerable dog George,
veteran of many forays over beach and
woodlot in Steve s company Steve and I
had saved a dog in sim ila r s tra its back in
the early Seventies He and George agreed
to sign on too Gary Moon's tow truck
pulled up across the street Gary spoke to
us on the bench
‘ Steve has the day o ff He'll rappel
down to the beach w ith the fire
department's ropes Can you help him pack
the clim bing gear to the c liff'? He II be
getting ready at the fire hall *
I found Steve Moon at the fire hal,
packing ropes, safety harnesses, and signal
flares Mike Johnson dropped by to let us
know he'd also fo llo w us to the site and
lend a hand
At I 30 pm we converged at the Indian
Beach parking lot Mike Covert hailed us as
we approached the beach s north trailhead
He agreed to paddle his surfboard around
the headland north of Indian Beach and
reconnoiter the beach and driftw ood
Steve McLeod, Dean, Gabe, and I shouldered
the rope gear and humped briskly north on
the Tillamook Head Trail
We scrabbled up the afternoon tra il,
sw itching back and fo rth through old
growth columns of hemlock and spruce, an
odd motley w ith tim e available for a lost
dog an a rtis t, a jew eler, a student, a
mechanic, and a carpenter We would be
joined anon by a surfer, a gardener, and the
Cannon Beach Chief of Police
At the f ir s t overlook, some 500 or 600
feet above the beach. Dean and Steve Moon
scrutinized the small shingle of beach
below No dog Dean tested the a ir w ith
several w histles and "w oofs' muted by
surf chattering against rocks
A fte r consultation, we decided to
follow the tra il an additional m ile north,
then drop down through a ravine and
watercourse to a rock outcropping 300
feet above the beach
Steve McLeod lent his considerable
local tra il and beach savvy based on
numerous combing sorties of the beach and
headland terrain At his direction, we
dropped down a long muddy defile of
bracken, salal. and rotten stumpage
George the dog growled an occasional note
of encouragement and hope Steve Moon
and I shared some misgivings Perhaps our
Boxer dog had not survived the 600 foot
fa ll or had succumbed to exposure
Far below us a fleck appeared in the sea
- - Mike Covert rounding the tip of Indian
Beach s north point on his surfboard The
radio I earned in my pack crackled to te ll
us Police Chief Dave Rouse approached our
location He checked to confirm our
position Mike Covert beached his
surfboard below us and scoured the beach
Wttutntb&t R O M
north and south No dog
‘ Check the driftw ood piles'" Dean yelled
down to him
Fifteen minutes later Covert appeared
cradling the young dog in his arms far
below He scaled the scree below us to
w ith in a few hundred feet of our position
clutching the dog In 1989 his dog had
vanished on Tillamook Head forever i
reflected on the irony of circumstance
Dave Rouse and Steve unfurled the
clim bing ropes to meet him Dean and
Steve McLeod helped transfer the dog to a
place of safe purchase
Bernice, female Boxer, age 18 months,
returned w ith the rest of us to the parking
lot at Indian Beach on her own feet,
bruised and scratched, but indefatigable
For five days she had huddled in d r ift logs
w ith no food or water, follow ing a 600
foot tumble to the beach Three days of
north coast storms preceded her rescue
Our group approached the road home as
the light waned AH of us saluted Bernice
and her strength George barked approval
I took quiet pleasure in knowing I lived in
a place where eight people devoted a
Friday afternoon to saving a dog s life
I commend them
in a world fraught w ith heartlessness
and disdain, I am often proud of my town
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breoss of stuffed chicken. baked and
tapped with orange cream sauce
$9 75
0 round Sirloin
Tender steak. ground and cooled to perfection
Served with mushroom Madiera sauce
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Fresh Oregon sole itearned and lopped with
Hay shrimp A lob iter Hollandaise uutce
$10 25
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Tenderloin of beef sauteed with mushrooms,
garltc. and red wine Toned with pasta
and served with garlic toast
$9 50
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Fresh seafood sauteed with garlic in a
sherned mushroom cream sauce
$11 75
lf)tn n m tndud« soup or udad. choice oj ttarrh,
i>J the day. and coffee, lea. or decaf.
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1
V illa g e A liv e
The demise of r u r a l com m unities and the
degradat ion of the environm ent are beginning
to galvanize concerned citize n s a ll over the
w o rld In 1993 thousands of fa rm e rs in India
and in France demonstrated against the new
internation al trade pact known as QATT.
because it elim inates a g ric u ltu ra l subsidies to
sm all farm ers adversely affecting th e ir
healthy r u r a l com m unities In the post few
weeks, peasants in Mexico have organized in
Chiapas against the government over th e ir
sm all farm s w hich they fear w ill be taken over
by internation al agribusiness interests
Peasants and fa rm e rs tn the T h ird w o r ld are
11 ter el ly fig h tin g for th e ir v e ry s u rv iv a l - the
rig h t to grow their own food
Although the issues we are concerned w ith
along the Oregon Coast are not immediate life
and death issues as they are in the T hird
W orld, they are a microcosm of the c u rre n t
paradigm of greed and exp lo ita tio n of our
natural resources throughout the w orld
P riv a te p ro p e rty interests, coupled w ith
unsustainable development, at the expense of
nature and com m unities, are the root cause of
environm ental degr adat ion and poverty
P riv a te p ro p e rty rig h ts advocates, such as
O v e rb o rn fo re s t In d u s trie s , ore against ihe
F o rt Clatsop expansion The company fears
that if the government is succesful in
purchasing land from p r ivate owners, even if
it is fo r the good of the com m unity, the
purchase may set a precedent The rental issue
in Manzanita is the same th o rn y problem The
a b ility of p ro p e rty owners to re n t th e ir
p ro p e rty s h o rt-te rm is being challenged by
those who believe that th is erodes the ve ry
nature of the com m unity and prevents local
residents fro m finding affordable housing
Short term re n ta l advocates believe that th e ir
p riv a te p ro p e rty rig h ts should be held
sacrosanct
If we look at the re v ita liz a tio n of r u r a l
com m unities in Finland it may serve as a model
fo r those of us liv in g in r u r a l Oregon This
success s to ry w ill not sway the Cavenham
C orporation, but may 9erve to inform and
educate those who may be conflicted about the
rig h ts of the individual versus the in te g rity of
our land and natural resources - our common
heritage
D u rin g the 196 O'sand the e a rly 7 0 's,
Finland experienced r u r a l depopulation
19 7 6 a U n iv e rs ity p ro fe sso r, la u r i
In
Hautamak i , started to w ork w ith m unicipal
ll<>0‘ P a d f k q > .
C annon
a u th o ritie s and fiv e other U n iv e rs itie s to
evaluate the potential fo r re v ita liz a tio n of
r u r a l com m unities Professor Hautamak i
w rote a book called "A L iv in g Village which
was a guide to villa g e action w hich sold
thousands of copies He then started a series of
tra in in g radio broadcasts w hich had 2 0 0 ,0 0 0
liste n e rs By 1 9 9 2 , three thousand Village
Committees bad been tor med covering more
than tw o -th ird s of Finland's villa g e rs The
villa g e * in itia te d projects m a in ly in the areas
of c u ltu re , to u rism , com m unications,
services, housing and economic development
Because of th e ir intim ate k nowledge of local
resources, the Committees became im portant
new channels fo r pu b lic investm ent, p o sitive ly
affecting the lives of over 5 0 0 ,0 0 0 people
These Village Committees are an expression
of smal I - scale col lec, t ve act ions over
individualism Communal fa c ilitie s are
emphasized or restored, such as ’ The School as
the Center of Village L ife
Public and social
services such as health and transportation
services were also in itia te d A Finnish
professor w rote in 19 8 6 th a t, "Although
villa g e a c tiv ity has achieved much that is of
po sitive value, its im portance lies much
daeper In the long ru n its greatest importance
Is in the change in people s attitudes Such a
change in attitude would never have come about
s im p ly by pro vid in g in form ation and tra in in g
or by increasing government aid"
The pressure for change in the r u r e l
com m unities of Finland came about because of
increasing in s e c u rity in a ll walks of life , and
because of the d im in is h in g fa ith in continued
economic grow th Planning was changed from
being dominated by the experts, to a new
approach w hich stresses the value of the
individual
456-1108
The Vi I lage Committees a c tiv itie s include
a rts and c ra fts F u rn itu re -m a k in g , herb
production, p rin tin g , photography and video
production are done locally using resources and
talents in the com m unity Farm ing extension
classes are also re v iv in g especially in the fie ld
of organic agr ic u ltu re Some villages are
introducing telecottages p roviding inform ation
technology to enhance villa g e communications
and strengthen the local economic base The
Committees p r inçipql strength is th e ir
H»gwigdge,Qi and loyg j y . t hg ir y i i i « e ang i t s
n fliy rflI,enY!,r.Qp,fpjQl.
Each year a National Village Action Festival
brings about 1 ,0 0 0 a c tiv is ts together around a
chosen theme ana chooses a villa g e of the rear
The ,9 9 2 theme for villa g e a c tiv itie s was "The
Village and International Relations"
In 19 9 2 a National Council of Village
Committees was established to provide a
national base for the increased determ ination
among r u r a l people to preserve the q u a lity and
var lety of th e ir lives agamsl the continuing
trends of urbanization and loss of r u r a l local
control and s e lf-re lia n c e
This movement is of immense significance
because it shows how people in r u r a l areas can
reverse r u r a l decline and regain control over
th e ir lives The im plications are enormous fo r
other in d u s tria l countries as w e ll as the T hird
W orld I, m ight even in s p ire us in Oregon to
re v ita liz e our own r u r a l com m unities I don't
th in k we can oount on our government to help
us in any significant way I, we are going to
successfully protect and im prove our
com m unities we must begin to take charge of
our own destiny
M ichelle Syver son Execultve D ire cto r
Environm ental News Network
Manzanita. Oregon
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