10A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL July 8, 2015
L ARSEN
Continued from page 1A
In addition to teaching jazz
and concert band and choir
classes at CGHS, Larsen has
also directed the annual Rhythm
and Blues Revue and the yearly
six-week summer band camp.
Bob Dill, who founded the
band camp and has worked
closely with Larsen in directing
it since 2010, knows that the lo-
cal music community is about to
lose quite an asset.
“David is a superior perform-
er,” said Dill. “He can play all
of the woodwind instruments,
and he’s very skilled at the sax-
ophone, clarinet and fl ute. He’s
also brought a great energy to
many students. I’ve seen him
put together fi ne programs at
the high school as well as at the
band camp.”
Dill, a retired music teacher,
said he has seen every edition
of the Rhythm and Blues Re-
vue, and that he has noticed an
increasing community support
for the show since Larsen began
took over.
Larsen has also directed many
award-winning music groups
during his tenure at CGHS. At
the Heritage Festival in Seattle
this past May, the jazz band and
jazz choir won silver medals.
Cottage Grove students also won
three out of six solo awards. But
as Larsen looks back on his ac-
complishments, he says it’s not
the hardware that stands out.
“I’m not the fi rst award-win-
ning musical director at Cottage
Grove,” he said. “It has always
been an active and interested
musical community that seeks
to learn and do better. I’d like
to think that I helped keep that
transition alive. The accomplish-
ments that I look back on are
helping students succeed. Some
of them have gone on to major
in music in college or even have
adult careers in music. For them
it wasn’t just a passing fancy,
and I was happy to help them
fi nd those opportunities.”
Devin Wright, class of ’07,
played guitar in Larsen’s jazz
band and the saxophone in the
concert band. He went on to
earn an undergraduate degree in
jazz studies from the University
of Oregon, and he is currently
working towards a Masters in
jazz studies with a focus on
composition and arrangement.
“When I fi rst met David, I
was already touring and recod-
ing music with a band, but he
introduced me to the academic
world of music. I remember I
took his class music history, and
he played a recording of Charlie
Parker; it really stuck my inter-
est,” Wright said.
Rust said that the school has
completed its interview pro-
cess and has made a job offer to
one of the candidates; however,
nothing will not be offi cial with-
out the school board’s approval.
“David really built the mu-
sic program up again. And he
raised the bar for the music de-
partment, especially for the jazz
band, and that I hope that con-
tinues,” Rust said.
A farewell concert for Lars-
en will be held on Aug. 8 at
the Brewstation beginning at 6
p.m. The event will feature past
and present students, as well as
community musicians.
W ILDWOOD
Continued from page 1A
attempting to rescue his younger brother, who
eventually resurfaced. The assistance of a tow
truck was eventually required to remove the
downed log from the falls that had trapped Smith,
who was honored with a Carnegie Hero Fund
Commission award for his lifesaving efforts last
week. Past drownings have reportedly occurred at
the falls in 1996 and 1999.
Last week, Lane County Parks Department
Mike Russell said the department is working in
tandem with the Lane County Sheriff’s Offi ce
Search and Rescue department to craft signage
that can “make people aware of the danger” at
Wildwood Falls, danger that can include rocks,
debris and cold, fast water.
“We can’t really put up specifi c signage saying,
‘Hey, be careful, this is a waterfall,’” Russell said.
“But we think it’s appropriate to let people know
that there have been incidents there in the past and
they should watch out for themselves.”
Russell said the parks department took the ini-
tiative to explore the possibility of signage on its
own, though several local residents have put forth
the notion of warning signs at Wildwood follow-
ing the most recent drowning, and some have sug-
gested a memorial sign there to commemorate the
loss of life over the years.
“It’s a publicly accessible park, so we’re not in
a position to enforce anything or kick people off
the falls in dangerous conditions,” Russell said.
“We’re likely going to put up a statement that
references ORS 105, the ‘Recreational Use Im-
munity Law,’ which states that the County is not
liable for injury or death resulting from recreation
in the area.”
Russell said that Director Tim Chase of Lane
County Search and Rescue is also currently work-
ing to compile a list of fatalities at Wildwood to
be placed on the sign as a memorial and a warn-
ing, but Chase said the effort to compile that list
has been more diffi cult than he envisioned.
“I expected a simple procedure to fi gure out
how many people have perished there, and we’re
working with the Medical Examiner’s offi ce to
look through its records, but it’s been more dif-
fi cult than I thought,” Chase said. He said that
Search and Rescue reports of the last 12 years are
geo-located, which means they should be easily
accessible by pinpointing the location of the falls,
though only the two most recent drownings are
currently listed.
Chase said that when he began his job with
Search and Rescue in January, outgoing director
John Miller drove him to Wildwood Falls, specifi -
cally stating that “this is where somebody is going
to drown shortly.” Miller’s warning would prove
prophetic a few months later.
“The patrol captains say it’s something that
happens every year, and there’s got to be some
validity to that, though I’m having a hard time
fi nding evidence of it,” Chase said.
There have been discussions about preventative
measures at Wildwood Falls in the past, Chase
said, though he’s unsure why the possibility of
signage didn’t come up sooner.
“None of the possibilities have been feasible,”
he said. “Fencing, rails, etc. have been talked
about, but they wouldn’t stop people anyway. I
don’t know why it hasn’t happened in the past,
but we’re hoping that basic signage can help.”
Chase said Search and Rescue welcomes infor-
mation about past drownings at Wildwood Falls
and encouraged those with such knowledge to
call 541-682-4369. Russell said the County would
like to have the sign in place by the “end of July,
for sure.”
O FFBEAT
Continued from page 8A
on the way to the rescue, and
then the engine throttle broke;
it would run at full throttle only.
Then, while they were trying to
persuade the men in the rigging
to jump, the boat got into a run
of heavy breakers that somer-
saulted the boat, pitching the
crew into the drink, stopping the
engine and tearing up the steer-
ing gear.
“After a few moments we all
managed by the greatest effort
to get on board again,” Rimer
said, “but found the boat and
engine room full of water. … As
we were in a seething cauldron
and unable to handle our boat
with oars, I wigwagged to the
Point Adams boat to tow us into
quieter water.”
Wicklund responded quickly
and towed the other lifeboat
out of the breakers, where the
tugboat Fearless just happened
— by a life-saving bit of luck
— to be standing by. Then he
returned to the men on the mast
for one more try at getting them
to jump.
Perhaps encouraged by the
relative ease with which the life-
boat crew had gathered up its
own castaways, or maybe fear-
ful that their lack of nerve could
cost these rescuers their lives,
the men on the mast hesitated
no more. Two of them leaped
into the drink and were hauled
triumphantly aboard; the third,
who was badly injured, dropped
lifelessly into the water, and
when they pulled him aboard
the boat they found him dead.
The ebb tide had started again,
and now Wicklund’s lifeboat
was having trouble too; they
were pretty sure it would not
survive an attempt to cross the
bar. So instead, Wicklund head-
ed out to sea, to the Columbia
River Lightship. There they all
climbed aboard — safe at last.
It wasn’t until two days later
that the seas moderated enough
for rescuers and rescued to be
brought back across the bar
to shore. In the meantime, the
gale had increased to hurricane
force and torn the damaged mo-
tor lifeboat loose from its tether.
Neither it, nor the body of the
dead sailor they’d picked up in
it, was ever seen again.
As for Rimer’s motor life-
boat, the tugboat Fearless was
heading toward the bar with it at
the end of a four-inch tow line
when the tug’s skipper, Captain
E.D. Parsons, suddenly started
worrying about its crew. Stop-
ping short of the bar, he ordered
every man off the lifeboat and
onto his tug. There was some
reluctance to comply — at least
one life station crewman asked
to be allowed to stay on the life-
boat; but Parsons was the cap-
tain, and Parsons’ answer was a
very fi rm “no.”
Then they set out to cross the
bar.
A few minutes later, as the
two boats were carefully thread-
ing their way between the break-
ers on each side of the channel,
the four-inch towing line to
the now-empty motor lifeboat
snapped. The lifeboat, wallow-
ing free, promptly drifted into
the breakers and was picked up
and tumbled — over and over
and over, like a piece of drift-
wood.
Had anyone remained aboard
the lifeboat, he would have been
a sure-fi re goner. But the Fear-
less would have had to turn
around and try to rescue him
anyway — which would have
involved letting the tugboat take
the mountainous incoming seas
full on the beam, at extreme
danger of a rollover.
Thanks to Parsons’ good deci-
sion, he never had to make that
call. All that lay behind him was
a heavily damaged empty boat.
So on chugged the tugboat,
crossing the bar without further
incident. The lifeboat was never
seen again; but every member of
its crew made it home.
Unfair though it is to make a
comparison like this, it’s hard
not to speculate on how things
might have turned out had Cap-
tain Parsons been the skipper of
the Rosecrans.
(Sources: U.S. Coast Guard
Historian’s offi ce; Gibbs, James
Jr. Pacifi c Graveyard. Portland:
Binford, 1950; Fore ‘n’ Aft
magazine, June 1906)
Finn J.D. John teaches at Or-
egon State University and writes
about odd tidbits of Oregon his-
tory. For details, see http://fi nn-
john.com. To contact him or
suggest a topic: fi nn2@offbe-
atoregon.com or 541-357-2222.
(541) 942-1301
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