SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015
Poetry Contest
at FRAA Friday
On Friday, Oct. 9, the
FRAA sponsored quarterly
Spoken Word Poetry Contest
takes place at the FRAA Art
Center, 120 Maple St., with
poet registration is 5 p.m. The
performance starts at 6 p.m.
Anyone can register to read
or perform their original poem
within the three-minute time
limit.
Fee to register is $10 with
all registration money going to
the winner. In the past, win-
ners have received up to $250,
but it depends on how many
poets register. This event has
provided the largest prize of
any poetry event in Oregon.
The poetry committee feels
this is an important part of this
event.
“After all,” said chair-
woman Bettie Egerton, “if you
can pay hundreds of dollars for
a painting, isn’t a poem worth
the same?”
Sponsors are helping with
this event and are still needed
for future Quarterly Spoken
Word Poetry contests. Past
winners of the poetry contest
include Eric Sprado with
“Wait ‘till You Become a
Man,” and Peter Coyne with
“Good Woman Jazz Blue
Pianist.”
Audience members pay $5
to listen to poems that elicit
laughter, as well as tears,
inspiration and thoughtful
reflection.
Sponsors for the Quarterly
Spoken Word Poetry Contest
include: Organic Pest Control,
Bettie Egerton, and Northwest
Inspection Services.
For more information, visit
FRAAOregon.org, or call
Egerton at 503-910-3625.
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Shakti and Brillo provided
comfort, distraction and hope
to those who couldn’t leave an
area filled with vivid
reminders of the tragedy.
“They looked so official in
their little uniforms walking
around the large room of the
fairground,” Wallace-
Blanchard said. “But what was
wonderful is ... the kids played
with Shakti, and ran with her
back and forth. Brillo just
wanted everybody to hold her
and rub her tummy.”
These skills are essential in
the aftermath of a crisis, but
also important in the pair’s
work with Wallace-Blanchard
at the schools.
“The dogs were that incredi-
ble little bit of reality, of nor-
mal, of not damaged,” she
said.
At one point, all eyes were
on Shakti.
“We were waiting for the
buses, and Shakti discovered
the box of food that the Red
Cross had left,” Wallace-
Blanchard said. “Here comes
Shakti, prancing across the
front of the room, and she had
this full bag of bagels in her
mouth. And her tail was wag-
ging. For that moment, every-
body laughed.”
Wallace-Blanchard is a
leader with Lane ESD Tragedy
Response Team and has 30
years of experience in
responding to day-to-day
counseling needs as well as
large-scale crises.
“I was at Thurston,” she
said, about the May 1998
shooting at Thurston High
School. “I’ve done several of
these responses, but Thurston
and this one were the biggest
events.”
The day of the UCC shoot-
ing, Wallace-Blanchard began
making phone calls at 11 a.m.,
less than 30 minutes after the
incident began.
“My job has been to gather
resources,” she said.
Her team consisted of
CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS
Brillo and Shakti sit with Siuslaw School District students and Siuslaw Elementary School
Principal Mike Harklerode. The therapy dogs provide comfort to those who need it.
trained members from Junction
City and Cottage Grove
schools, as well as a group
from Options Counseling
Services of Oregon.
The four people from
Junction City made it to
Roseburg in an hour. The rest
of the team was there within
another hour and a half.
By then, the UCC adminis-
tration, Douglas County
Sheriff’s Office and other
organizers had created a gath-
ering area at the Douglas
County Fairgrounds.
“I met with the liaison from
UCC admin, Lynn Johnson,
who heads up their HR depart-
ment,” Wallace-Blanchard
said. “We sat down, planned
what the needs were and
assessed where they were right
then, which was totally in
shock.”
One of Wallace-Blanchard’s
roles was to coordinate with
the community mental health
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“It’s all about customer service,” Rich said. “We
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‘Million Dollar View’
supports that were already in
place.
Those local responders
arrived as soon as law enforce-
ment let them in, and stayed
even though Wallace-
Blanchard’s team and others
were there.
“The following day, all the
teams were there and we took
the care room. There were
people from the community
mental health again. We said,
‘You had a devastating day
yesterday,’ and they said, ‘But
we still want to be here.’ We
had amazing people there,”
Wallace-Blanchard said.
She was impressed by the
law enforcement agencies,
UCC administration and the
support teams.
“It was the perfect crisis
team, in that the river is going
this way, and then the river
goes whoosh that way, and
there’s no judgment, we’re not
anxious — well, there’s stress
— but it was OK. We were
swimming this way, but now
we’re swimming that way,”
Wallace-Blanchard said.
As for Shakti and Brillo, she
said, “They never judge you.
They have those amazing deep
eyes. When people came into
the rooms at the fairgrounds,
there was so much anxiety and
stress. The dogs were there. It
was very respectful.”
When Shakti and Brillo
interact with students at
school, they give students a
chance to calm down during
counseling, or offer a friendly
ear so students can read out
loud.
One fourth-grader said, “I
really like how they listen.
These aren’t regular dogs.”
Siuslaw Elementary School
Principal Mike Harklerode
said, “These dogs are awe-
some, aren’t they? It’s a big
reward for some of our kids to
hang out with Dr. Robyn’s
dogs.”
Some students have grown
up with Shakti, who is 5 years
old, and have helped with
Brillo’s training. Brillo will be
2 in December.
Trinity, an eighth-grader at
Siuslaw Middle School,
spends time with both dogs
and is teaching them com-
mands using sign language.
One motion is “walk with
me,” which keeps the dogs in
line with the person holding
the leash.
“They seem to be like
another soul in a dog’s body,
because they listen so intelli-
gently,” Trinity said.
Siuslaw School District
Superintendent Ethel Angal
encouraged Wallace-Blanchard
and her team to go to
Roseburg.
“Ethel didn’t bat an eyelash
about me going,” Wallace-
Blanchard said. “She just has
always been right there and
wonderful. I have never found
a school district that’s as won-
derful as this. I love this dis-
trict.”
Moving forward, Wallace-
Blanchard will continue to
connect with UCC liaison
Lynn Johnson.
“Now that the event is over,
we can plan things. We can
really access the people with
the resources,” Wallace-
Blanchard said.
In the meantime, she will
continue to work with Shakti,
Brillo, students and district
staff to impart the message,
“Walk with me.”
__________
Follow Chantelle on Twitter
@SNews_Chantelle. Email her
a
t
cmeyer@thesiuslawnews.com.
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