Vernonia Freedom — Page 5
Wednesday February 21,1979
Notes on Folks
Gene and Terri Baska are happy to
announce the arrival of their baby on
Feb. 2. Robert Grant, was 9 lbs. 4 oz.
and joins brothers Greg and Scott in
the home.
Grandparents are Myra Baska and
Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Heath, all of
Vernonia.
Ruth Steers received word February 4,
of the birth of her second great
grandchild. The baby was the first for
Patty and Allen Fetherston of El Cajon,
California. The baby girl weighed 8
pounds 10 ounces and was named Alina
Hope.
Sunday, February IT, was a very
special day for Mrs. Bill Horn, as she and
her husband met the rest of Mrs. Horn’s
family in Forest Grove to’celebrate her
mother’s 80th birthday.
As a surprise to Mrs. McRobert her six
children, their respective wives and
husbands, her only sister, brother and his
wife all joined her for church services at
the Methodist Church, 16 in all to worship
together.
Following the services, they all enjoyed
a no-host dinner in the banquet room of
the King’s Round Table in Beaverton and
a leisurely visit. Flowers that were on the
altar in Ethel’s name were taken along to
adorn the luncheon table, then to her
home.
Zona Tandy has been moved to Forest
View Care Center after falling and
breaking her hip and injuring her right leg
during the icy weather.
Jenelle Wiggins
Ernie Carter
Nehalem valley people
Those who came
Ernie Carter
by Jenelle Wiggins
“Back in 1946, when I was a carpenter
and worked out of ‘226 Local’ I used to come
out here and go fishing whenever I had time
off,” Ernie tells me. “In fact I liked the area
so much I started to buy a house when the
p.A. Mill shut down in ‘52 but I changed my
mind. In 1969 I bought 8 acres out Trehom
and we’ve been here ever since.”
Ernie rests in a recliner while we chat I
notice there is a hospital bed pushed against
the wall of the room.
“Ernie was an excellent carpenter,” Mrs.
Carter tells me. “You can hardly go two
blocks in any direction in Portland without
seeing some building that he has worked on.
Then.he was injured on the job and they
operated on him. That operation left him
paralysed.”
“I met a girl named Joy and that’s what
brought me to Oregon.” Ernie talks slowly
and calmly, giving me a chance to recover
from what his wife has said. “And she chased
me until I caught her!” We all laugh Ernie
proudly tells me that he personally designed
their new home.
“Did you notice there are no steps?” he
asks. “I designed it to adept to my wheel chair
but I didn’t want to be obvious so I just
sloped everything.” It is truly a beautiful
home and as he talks a warm fire crackles in
the hearth and the dock on the mantle chimes
out the hour.
“It seems the more handicapped I become
the less I can do,” Ernie continues. “But bee
keeping is my love. Actually it’s a lot like
gardening. You don’t garden here like you
would in Eastern Oregon and likewise you
don’t raise bees here like you would in Eastern
Oregon. Marion Siedehnan, who lived out
Pebble Creek kept bees for over 50 years and
we would get into some pretty heated
discussions.”
“This area used to be excellent bee
country 60 years ago after they first
logged. Fireweed was predominant and
that is how Apiary Road got its name.
But gradually the underbrush choked out
the fireweed and you have to be a pretty
fair beekeeper these days to get
production. Beekeeping goes back to
Cleopatra. I got interested in bees
through gardening. If properly pollinated 7
a garden will fluorish and crops will even
be moré frost resistant. ”
Because there has been such a demand to
learn about beekeeping in Vernonia, the
Community Center now offers a ‘Beekeeping’
class every Wednesday evening with Ernie
Carter as the instructor.
“We need mòre beekeepers,” Ernie
explains, “because so many of the bees in this
area have been killed off by poisonous sprays.
When we still had the railroad tracks they
would periodically spray the tracks to keep
the brush back and the bees would get into
the stuff and die. People make some awful
mistakes, one being spraying at the wrong
time of year. Naturally if you spray an orchard
while it is in bloom you are going to kill off all
the bees that try to pollinate.”
Mrs. Carter brings me a cup of clover tea
with lots of honey and I sip on that while
Ernie continues.
“A lot of people aré afraid of bees and if a
swarm comes into their yard they panic. Like
my wife Joy. She’s. scared to death' of bees,
but she got so interested in their habits that
one day I caught her spying on the hive with a
pair of binoculars. Actually anybody can raise
bees because now allergies can be overcome
through a series of shots.”.
“I’ve been very lucky. In 10 years of
working bees I have never been stung. I have
no fear and I never wear aftershave. I
remember once a swarm flew into the yard
and went up into the tree and we couldn’t get
it If you kill a queen bee then the swarm will
usually go back to the hive. So a bunch of
fellows got their guns and started shooting
into the swarm hoping to somehow kill the
queen. Eventually they knocked a branch out
of the tree and down comes the swarm. All the
while I’m sitting under the tree in my wheel
chair. Well those fellas took off running for the
house and there I sat. And I never got stung.”
“However it is important to know when to
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work a hive and when not to. You don’t want
to bother a hive when it’s windy or cold. And
never approach a hive from the front because
you are blocking the bees flight pattern and
risking getting stung.”
“Honey is a pure food. Bacteria cannot live
in it However bees can be carriers of a
bacteria commonly called ‘foulbrood’ for
which there is no cure. Spraying the hive with z
tetracycline is a good preventative measure.”
“Joy Carter interrupts, “A month ago,
when Ernie was in the hospital, the
inspector came to examine our hives and
because he found a few-contaminated cells he
stamped all the hives contaminated and took
those bees from us. There was Ernie in the
hospital terribly ill and I was crying over
those silly bees,” Joy tells.
“They used powdered cyanide to kill the
bees and then they burned the hives,” Ernie
explains. “Now I have to start all over again.
If I hadn’t been in the hospital I could have
cleaned up those hives in a matter of a few
days. It may seem strange but a bee keeper
gets attached to his bees.” '
Ernie will now' have to buy new hives and
have a nucleus of bees, which includes a
queen, shipped to him through the mail
Changing the subject, Ernie tells me that he
and Joy have been charter members of the
Frog Valley Breakers. “I’ve been laid up for
quite a few years and anytime I had trouble
on the road it was always a CB’er who
stopped to help. I was impressed because up
until then I’d had a false impression of CB’ers.
So I got a radio and have found it’s good
company for somebody who is laid up.”
“Before it got so popular, people could get a
lot of help with a CB. I was director of
Channel 9 for 3 years and it used to be that if
an emergency came through people would
dear the channel Once I got a call for help
from a fellow in Canada who was in a shooting
accident and another time a boat going down
the Columbia caught fire and I was the first to
turn in the call” Ernie takes pride in being
able to help others out, and rightly, so. Despite
his handicap Ernie Carter is living his life to
its fullest potential We can all learn from his
example.
You can meet him at Wednesday nights
‘Beekeeping’ class at the Community Center.
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