4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ JANUARY 9, 2016
Siuslaw News
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
Opinion
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
YESTERDAY’S NEWS
From the Editor’s Desk
A good neighbor
B Y R YAN C RONK
Siuslaw News Editor
I
t was hard to put into words
what I was feeling when I heard
that Bob Jackson passed away
Thursday. I was deeply saddened
by the loss of not only a long-
time, dedicated columnist, but
also one of the nicest and most genuine
people I’ve come to know since moving
to Florence seven years ago.
It was just last week that Bob stopped
by the Siuslaw News office on Maple
Street to renew his subscription to the
paper. He was a loyal reader, all the way
to the end.
I could hear his soft voice through the
door to my office and remember think-
ing, “There’s good ol’ Bob, back on his
feet,” but couldn’t break away from my
desk to say hello.
Hearing Bob but not seeing him was
a running occurrence for me over the
years that I’ve worked at the paper. In
fact, it was just a couple years ago that
I finally met him and put a face to his
voice.
I had often heard Bob talking at the
front counter while I was still a cub
reporter sequestered in the editorial
room, busily working on my next story.
He seemed to always have a story of his
own to tell, and most often it would end
up in his next column.
It’s a strange feeling to know that I
won’t be hearing his voice again.
Former Siuslaw News editor Robert
Serra shared a message reflecting his
time spent with Bob, whose first
“Neighbors” column appeared under
Serra’s watch on Dec. 28, 2002, in the
Siuslaw News.
Serra writes:
Sometime soon after the turn of the
century, we decided to create a new
weekly feature of the Siuslaw News that
would enlist local correspondents to
write something about their community.
The column would feature not so much
news, but “happenings” or recollections
that would sample the people and the
flavor of our town. We would call the
feature “Neighbors.” Bob Jackson was
an instant candidate for the project.
Bob was a longtime resident of the area.
He knew or knew about the fabled old-
timers and had strong colorful recollec-
tions of those people who settled here and
made their marks on Florence and the
Siuslaw Valley. His memories and stories
ran the gamut from the old days of steam
donkeys and whistle punks to river barges,
bridges, box factories, World War II and
sleek old cars and boats that ran fast and
ended up in bramble graveyards.
Some who have been here awhile and
who got to know the colorful denizens of
MOMENTS IN TIME
The History Channel
Florence and the Siuslaw Valley in the
1970s and ’80s affectionately refer to
those fond and not-so-fond characters as
the River Rats. Those were the people
like Bill Karnowsky, Indian Bob, Lloyd
Sell, Don Bowman and Phil Rosenweig
who left their own history and defined
the Florence of ago.
I don’t so much associate Bob Jackson
with Old Town Florence as I do with the
lake and the river and the woods and the
mills and the lore of the coastal Siuslaw
Valley. But if there were a sidewalk of
stars on Bay Street, Bob’s would stand
out, not as a shiny star, but as a pair of
well-worn and scuffed calk boots.
Bob’s weekly column was a long-
standing faithful feature that educated,
informed, entertained and inspired our
readers for many years, up till the day
before he died. Bob will be remembered
for many things, including a modern-day
storyteller and historian of the old River
Rats and the town they left behind.
But at the end, and always, Bob
Jackson will be remembered for being a
good, honest man. And, one of our
favorite neighbors.
***
Bob will be missed by not only all of
us here at the Siuslaw News, past and
present, but also our readers — many of
whom have told me how much they
enjoy his columns — and the communi-
ty that he loved dearly and wrote about
weekly on this page.
His final column appeared in
Wednesday’s issue. In his words, “And so
I wrap this up, in what may not at times
be a very neat package. Where and when
do I go from here? … As Yogi Berra once
said, ‘It ain’t over, till it’s over!’”
Until next time, Bob.
A different form of resolve
W ESLEY V OTH
For the Siuslaw News
––––––––––––
M
On Jan. 12, 1904, Henry Ford sets a land-
speed record of 91.37 mph on the frozen sur-
face of Michigan’s Lake St. Clair. His four-
wheel vehicle, dubbed the “999,” had a wood-
en chassis but no body or hood.
On Jan. 15, 1919, fiery hot molasses floods
the streets of Boston, killing 21 people and
injuring scores of others. Some 2.5 million gal-
lons of molasses burst from a huge tank when
bolts holding the bottom of the tank exploded,
shooting out like bullets.
On Jan. 11, 1949, in Washington, D.C., the
cornerstone is laid at the first mosque of note in
the United States. The Islamic Center was built
with a 160-foot minaret from which prayers
were to be announced.
On Jan. 17, 1950, in Boston, 11 men steal
more than $2 million from the Brinks Armored
Car depot. It was almost the perfect crime. The
culprits weren’t caught until January 1956, just
days before the statute of limitations for the
theft expired.
On Jan. 14, 1969, an explosion aboard the
aircraft carrier USS Enterprise kills 27 people
in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. A rocket accidentally
detonated, destroying 15 planes and injuring
more than 300 people.
On Jan. 16, 1979, faced with an army
mutiny, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, leader
of Iran since 1941, is forced to flee the country.
Fourteen days later, the Ayatollah Khomeini,
spiritual leader of the Islamic revolution,
returned after 15 years of exile and took control
of Iran. In November, Islamic militants stormed
the U.S. embassy and took 52 Americans
hostage, holding them for 444 days.
On Jan. 13, 1999, NBA superstar Michael
Jordan announces his retirement from profes-
sional basketball for the second time, saying he
had lost the drive and desire to continue play-
ing. Jordan originally had announced his retire-
ment in 1993.
VIEW FROM UPRIVER
y birthday comes this time of year,
so besides it being the beginning of
a new calendar year, it’s the begin-
ning of a personal year as well. For me, this is
always a time of reflection. During the years I
was a public school teacher, I had students
write a wish for the world, one for their com-
munity — in their case, the Hawaiian island
that was their home — one for their family and
one for themselves. Coming at it this way, I
found that the wish each had for themselves
tended to be unselfish as well.
Parker J. Palmer, a writer whose thoughts I
find compelling, wrote that this year when he
began a column on “resolutions” he mistyped
it as “revolutions,” which got him thinking
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
about the project in a completely differ-
ent way. I share his aversion to making
our country into a gated community
against the rest of the world. Or one
that views certain race and class privi-
lege as anything other than un-
American. His words got me to think-
ing again about what I would like to
see, for my world, my country.
So here are my wishes for a different kind of
world, my commandments as it were, if I was
in a position to make such things:
1. Stop all war and fighting of all kinds
immediately.
2. Repurpose every weapon, piece of mili-
tary equipment and all military personnel and
funding to address the true work of humanity,
such as below. These resources have been
stolen from humankind.
3. Protect, restore and ensure clean air,
water and soil in every place in such a way as
to endanger no species of life, and restore local
sustainable agriculture wherever it has been
lost.
4. Provide health care, dentistry and vision
services to all as basic rights.
5. Provide housing for all who do not have,
using first the empty and unused buildings and
homes every community seems to have in
such abundance.
6. Repair and adequately maintain roads,
bridges, public transportation and other public
infrastructure.
7. Adequately fund free and appropriate
public education from pre-school to grade 16.
8. Adequately staff and maintain all parks,
national forests and public spaces.
9. Repurpose all penal institutions into inten-
sive rehabilitation centers, where even people
confined for life can improve themselves, con-
tribute and experience safety and care.
10. Fund research into every aspect of
human inquiry, but especially health including
mental health, environmental restoration,
recycling and actually clean energy.
In my dreams? Yes, but where do we get if
we don’t dream? Shouting isn’t something I
do, neither do I spend time listening to it
unless it is from people in distress. But for me,
and as we head deeper into another political
season in this country, these are issues where I
take a stand.
(c) 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.
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E DITOR P OLICY
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900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
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U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (4th Dist.)
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Washington, DC 20515
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www.defazio.house.gov
State Sen. Arnie Roblan (Dist. 5)
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Salem, OR 97301
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Eugene, OR 97401
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