WHERE TO OET AN BOOB
N o w & J T h e n
FROM THE LOWER LEU CORNER
Continued -fcom p y e
We’ve got some 'real news' for our readers this
month, 'real' meaning stuf f you won't read
anywhere else. The subject in this case is Leonard
Peltier. Our regular readers know him well, but new
folks might be reminded. Leonard is a Sioux
prisoner of war in the ongoing fight against the first
folks. Those folks who owned the land we now live
on. He was convicted of killing an FBI agent while
trying to defend his people. He is, of course, in
prison. He has been in prison for over twenty-five
years. The news is that every once in a while they
go through a ritual at the prison where he has been
held and talk about whether he has paid his 'debt to
society'. We were informed that the folks who
denied him his freedom, once again, told him that the
widow of the FBI agent who was killed said that she
wanted him to die in prison. They also said that
though there was no actual proof that he committed
the enme, someone had to pay. No, his lawyer,
Ramsey Clark, former Attorney General, was not
permitted to be there, and no, he wasn't really
surprised at the decision. Some are people, some are
not. If the people of Indonesia can change things,
and the people of South Africa, Ireland, and Bosnia,
and hopefully Israel, can find ways to peace,
understanding, and forgiveness, why can't America?
Just a thought.
)
: OREGON
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Newport, Oregon 97365
541-574-6004 * 800-668-6105
Events • Authors • D eli
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on
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X*
I have made mistakes but I have never made the mistake
of claiming that I never made one.
- James Gordon Bennett
Bitter Struggle, Sweet Harvest
Victoria Stoppiello
Straw berry picking was my first paid employment
when I was a kid growing up in western Oregon.
Sometimes we were wet and muddy, sometimes sun
drenched and warm, but always (here was the least at hand,
the big one that I couldn't resist. As a l()-ycar-old, deferred
gratification wasn’ t my forte. Besides, I wasn’ t desperate
for money M y family provided all my basic needs.
The one straw berry patch near our tow n on the lower
Columbia was the only place we kids could get work, so
we rose early, caught the stake-sided flatbed truck at daw n
and rode to the fields, clutching our lunches in brow n
paper bags. We received 27 cents a carrier for our w ork,
six one-pint boxes. Wc would have accepted this with
good grace except that the field bosses were always
grouchy and the farm cheated us. At least that’s what we
thought.
Wc weren’t paid by weight, but by the earner and their
policy w as no credit for our boxes unless they w ere
overflowing. Then they’d punch our ticket, but as wc
walked away, the lady in the booth would scrape ihc lops
o ff our boxes into empty flats. It made sense, o f course,
because when the flats were stacked for transport, the
overflow would have been smashed Wc saw this,
commented to each other, and resentment grew. It just
didn’t seem lair. Even as kids wc were astute enough to
figure out the farmer would be paid by weight and the
only reason for this behavior was to pay us less, 20 or 25
percent less.
Then another farmer opened a new field, farther away,
but w ith sev eral enticements: 30 cents a carrier, a bonus
for pickers w ho stayed throughout the harvest, and an end-
ol-the-season parly. The people were nice, itx>. It was a
pleasure to w ork for them, and poetic justice to leav e the
other farmer in the lurch.
In fact, soon no one went to work at the old place.
Rumors moved through the grapev ine that they were
scraping bottom to get pickers, calling in all their
relatives, even matching the new farmer's pay . But still
nobody went. The following year, they tried again, but
soon they were out o f business. We pickers, mostly kids
and a few deft old ladies, had laid them in the weeds.
Now kiifc aren’t allowed to pick bemes The law
purports to protect kick from child labor, but I believe i t ’s
because the authorities don’t want kick exposed to the
pesticides that arc pul on crops novvadiys. Others, far
more desperate than we were, older and much harder
working, arc bnnging in the strawberries. Mostly
Mexican immigiants, they, like immigrant groups before,
attempt to pry open the d x ir o f Amcncan opportunity
w ith back-breaking labor.
In the Pacific Northwest, berry pickers have been
try ing to organize to improve pay and working conditions,
including things like toilet facilities in the fields. (When I
was a kid at least there were outhouses.) Last year, one o f
the growers tixvk an extreme measure in response to
organizing efforts. Police were brought in to remove a
union organizer unless a written inv nation could be
produced. The intention was to lire the picker who had
sent the inv nation; instead the pickers as a group look
responsibility. In retaliation, the growci plowed under the
field of ripe berries and turned the workers out o f their
temporary homes.
The strawberry industry is being polarized into big
farms in California and small, select berry farms in the
Northwest. The Northwest berries arc supenor in flavor,
but the California berries have been bred to travel and hold
up better in the stores. Soon the only really tasty berries
you’ll be able to gel w ill be front your ovv n yard or from a
few specialty growers. It isn’ t easy for a small farmer Io
operate in this context. But, it alsodiKsn’ l seem right to
take it out on the pickers. Maybe it’ s easier because they
look different and speak a foreign language. There is a ray
o f hope, however. This March 31, Scott Frost, the owner
o f Nature's Fountain Farm, a transitional organic berry
farm in the Willamette Valley, signed a contract with the
Oregon farmvv orkcr union, PCUN. Frost was quoted as
hoping to create a working mcxicl o f labor and ownership
working together for change and grow th. One more reason
to buy organically grown berries.
When we kids harvested the crops, our work touched
every part o f the community. A ll the kids in town, well
o ff or not, picked bemes. When w c w ere disgruntled w ith
our working conditions, our families knew it. The justice
o f our cause seeped like w ater through every inch o f the
community . Boycotting a grower was easy because the
community as a whole understood and supported us.
My grandmother was also a berry picker. She
immigrated here at the age o f five and was bilingual in
English and Finnish. I have photos o f her and other
women out in the bogs with old-fashioned cranberry
scoops. My dad mentioned once that she used to “ talk for
the cranberry ladies.” I wonder, what would she say now?
Cannon Beach Jupiter's Rare and Used Books. Osburn's
Grocery. The Cookie Co.. Coffee Cabana. Bill's Tavern. Cannon
Beach Book Co.. Hanes Bakerie. The Bistro. Midtown Cafe.
Once Upon a Breeze Copies & Fax. Heather's. The Homegrown
Café. Haystack Video. Mariner Market. Espresso Bean. Exo la
Square A Cleanline Surf
Manzanita Mother Natures Juice Bar. Bavside Gardens.
Cassandra's. Manzanita News A Espresso. A Nehalem Bay
Video
Nehalem Mermaid Cale
Rockaway Sharkey's
Tillamook. Rainy Day Books
Bay C ity
Art Space
Yachats By-the Sea Books
Pacific C ity The River House. Far Country Books. A Village
Merchants
Ooeanslde Ocean Side Espresso
Lincoln C ity Trillium Natural Foods. Driftwood Library. A
Lighthouse Brewpub
Depoe Bay Oregon Books
Newport Oceana Natural Foods. Café DIVA. Cosmo Café.
Bookmark Café. Newport Bay Coffee Co.. Cuppatunes. Bay
Latté. Ocean Pulse Surf Shop. Coastal Coffee Co.. Sylvia Beach
Hotel. Green Gables Bookstore/ BAB. A Canyon Way
Eugene: Book Mark. Café Navarra. Eugene Public Library.
Friendly St. Market. Happy Trails. Keystone Café. Kiva Foods.
Lane C.C.. Light For Music. New Frontier Market. Nineteenth
Street Brew Pub. Oasis Market. Perry's. Red Barn Grocery.
Sundance Natural Foods. U of O. A WOW Hall
Corvallis. The Environmental Center. OSU
Salem Heliotrope. Salem Library. A The Peace Store
Astoria. KMUN. Columbian Cafe. The Community Store. The
Wet Dog Cafe. Astoria Coffee Company. Café Uniontown. A
Shark Rock Café
Seaside Buck's Book Barn. Universal Video. A Café Espresso
Portland: Artichoke Music. Laughing Horse Bookstore. Act III.
Barnes A Noble. Belmonts Inn. Bibelot Art Gallery. Bijou Café.
Borders. Bridgeport Brew Pub Capt'n Beans (two locations).
Center for the Healing Light Coffee People (three locational.
Common Grounds Coffee. East Avenue Tavern. Food Front.
Goose Hollow Inn. Hot Lipa Pizza. Java Bay Café. Key Largo. La
Pattlsaerle. Lewis A Clark College. Locals Only. Marco's Pizza.
Marylhurst College. Mt. Hood Cc. Music Millenium. Nature's
(two locational. NW Natural Gas. OHSU Medical School. Old
Wives Tales. Ozone Records. Papa Haydn. PCC (four locations!.
PSU (two locational. Reed College. Third Eye. TranaCentral
Library. A YWCA
Cornelius: The Weekend Garden Market
The Dalles Kllndts Bookseller
Hood R iver Purple Rocks Art Bar A Café
Ashland: Garo's Java House. The Black Sheep, Blue Mt. Café.
A Rogue River Brewery
Cave Junction. Coffee Heaven A Kerby Community Market
Grants Psss: The Book Shop
(Out o f Oregon)
Vancouver, WA: The Den
Longview. WA. The Broadway Gallery. A Carat Patch
Long Beach. WA: Pacific Picnics
Naselle, W A Rainy Day Artistry
Nahcotta. WA Moby Dick Hotel
Duvall. WA Duvall Books
Bainbridge Island, WA Eagle Harbor Book Co
Seattle, WA Elliot Bay B ook Co.. Honey Bear Bakery. New
Orleans Restaurant. Still Life In Fremont. Allegro Coffeehouse.
The Last Exit Coffee House. A Bulldog News
San Francisco, C A City Lights Bookstore
Denver, Co: Denver Folklore Center
New York, NY The Strand Book Company
I
Washington, D.C.: Hotel Tabard Inn_______________________
What this country needs is more
free speech worth listening to.
- Hansell B. Duckett
Edito r/P u blish er/Jan ito r: The
Beloved Reverend Billy Lloyd Hulls
Graphics Editor: The Humble Ms.
Sally Louise Lackaff
Copy Editor/Science E ditor/Volce
of Reason/Uncle Mike/etc.: Michael
Burgess
W ild life In fo rm an t/M u sic Reporter
at Large: Peter "Spud" Siegel
Education E d ito r Peter Lindsey
Im p ro visatio nal Engineer: Dr.
Karkeys
Paste/ProductionZProof Reader:
Myma Uhlig
Bass P lay er Bill Uhlig
Poetry Editor: John Buckley
Political Consultant: Kathleen
Krushas
History E d ito r Douglas Deur
Environm ental News: Kim BossC
Lower Left Beat: Victoria Stoppiello
M r. Baseball: Jeff Larson
Local C o lo u r Ron Logan
June's G arden: June Kroft
W E B Builder: L iz Lynch
W E B Ad Sales: Virginia Bruce
Essential Services: Ginni Callahan
Ad Sales: Katherine Mace
M a jo r Distribution: Ambling Bear
Distribution
Assistant W h ite Space
C oordinator: Karen Brown
And A Cast O f Thousands!!
Advertising rates:
Business Card Size Ad $30.
1/16th approx. 3 x 5
S35.
l/8th approx 4 x 7
$50.
1 A4th approx. 6 1/2 x 9 $100.
1/2 page
$L50.
Full page
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Back page
$400.
. .. per month. Payment is due
the 15th of the month prior to
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requested. We are usually on
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Nine-tenths of the people were created so you would want
to be with the other tenth.
- Horace Walpole
DUANt JOHNSOM
KLM ESTATE
„ ... U Í'
•- a F ",//i
F or A ll V our R eal E state N eeds
Victoria Stoppiello is a writer and thinker living in
Ilwaco, at the lower left corner o f Washington state.
J
M oby
H otel & Oi ter F arm
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Moby Dick will be cookin' this summer with a rising
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