6A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL NOVEMBER 22, 2017
of the
m e n
at our
n e w
church
imme-
diately
took it
upon
them-
selves
to in-
troduce our sons into the Oregon
way of life—everything from
deep sea fi shing to logging!
I recently was reminded of
one of those logging expeditions.
Longtime logger Bill Swift got
the boys up at 4 a.m. for that ad-
venture! The stories Jeff and John
told from that day parallel those
in the book, “Bounteous Bless-
ings,” by Francis A. Gillette, a
resident of Yacolt, WA. In it, her
daughter Cheri Mattson, pens a
tribute to her father Sonny. It’s
titled “An Honest Heritage— in
memory of the American logger.”
Here’s an excerpt:
My dad’s dad was a logger. And
like the miners, his sons followed.
My dad said, “it was a tough oc-
cupation. The old-time loggers
were a different breed. Nothin’
stopped ‘em, not rain, cold, heat,
wind. The only time we went
home early was when the yarder
or loader broke down. A lot of
people got hurt, too. My oldest
brother, George, died at 33…A
couple of times, dad was injured
and not expected to work again or
even survive.”
He neglects to talk much about
his own brushes with death, other
Betty Kaiser's
Chatterbox
A
lways be thankful and con-
tent with what you have
Thanksgiving. is one of my
favorite holidays. This wonder-
ful day has been set aside for
centuries to simply be thankful.
In our country, the Pilgrims set
the tone in 1621 in gratitude for
their survival and a bountiful har-
vest. They praised God and their
American Indian neighbors who
helped them survive. That tradi-
tion continues to be an inspiration
every November.
Today, unlike the Pilgrims,
most of us don’t worry about hav-
ing a roof over our heads or where
our next meal is coming from. We
are a blessed nation. Unfortunate-
ly, reading or watching the news
is enough to suck the life out us
and steal our joy. Sometimes we
need to look for reasons to be
grateful to counter-act the ugli-
ness that seems to prevail in this
day and age.
Living in Oregon for the past
three decades is one of my many
blessings. As Californians, we
were accepted whole-heartedly
by our new friends and neighbors
who couldn’t understand how we
had ever lived and thrived in a big
city with all that sunshine! Some
than to say, “Always be thankful
and try to be content with what
you have. Many men worry a
lifetime about retirement and
never live long enough to reach
it. Through life, I have found that
the mind plays a very big part in
making one able to survive.”
Memories as far back as I can
remember, revolve around a log-
ger’s life. Dad would begin the
day before dawn, meet his part-
ner, climb into the ‘crummy’ and
drive one way to work. At day-
light they’d hit it hard, put in an
honest day’s work and hope to
make it home for supper. He’s
come home covered with wood
chips, even his pockets would be
fi lled! We would run to see what
treasures dad would have for us
in his lunch pail…maybe a sog-
gy crust of bread, a pinecone or
an interesting rock. One time
he ripped up his blue and white
striped hickory shirt and wrapped
it around some baby squirrels he
had found…I’d sit next to him
and lean into his shoulder draw-
ing in the smell of his day…
trees, old coffee, sawdust, fresh
air, earth and sweat; greasy oil
and gas from the power saw. The
mundane cares of the world all
seemed so trivial to my dad.
He enjoyed being a cutter or
faller for many of his logging
year. “It’s very dangerous work
but it’s exhilarating and reward-
ing too,” he said. “We’d work
in ‘sets’ and had to fall the tim-
ber safely, yet in order. Each tree
had its own place to fall. The real
test was cutting on steep ground!
‘Timberrr! (A cry goes up by
law!) The tree starts to creak and
groan…. First in slow motion,
then picking up horrifi c speed.
WHOOSH! Down and with an
earth-trembling WUMP! All is
silent. The tree is down.”
Once on the ground the trees
would be ‘bucked’ (cut to size),
loaded, branded and sent down
the road to the mill—headed for
poles, pulp or lumber. Wheth-
er producing paper products or
homes, the tree truly serves count-
less benefi cial purpose. One large
tree can provide enough lumber
to frame a whole house!
Once an area is logged, the land
is then scarifi ed, where the brush
and debris are burned. Then, even
more quickly than it was harvest-
ed, the area is re=planted with
seedlings for the next generation.
Dad says, “I have planted thou-
sands of trees. Far more than I
could ever cut in my lifetime.”
Loggers! They’re driven by
their love of honest hard work,
their respect for God’s creation,
its gifts— and the thrill of helping
re-build a beautiful forest for the
next pioneer.”
I love this story. It’s another
reason to be grateful for the di-
versity of our hardworking com-
munities and the awareness that
“it takes a village to survive” just
as it did with the Pilgrims. Happy
Thanksgiving everyone!
Contact Betty Kaiser’s Chatter-
box at bchatty@bettykaiser.com
Thanksgiving
activites in CG
Looking for things to do over the four-day holiday
weekend or a Thanksgiving Day table to sit at? The Trin-
ity Lutheran Church on 6th and Quincy is hosting a free
Thanksgiving Day dinner on Thursday. The full course
meal is served on-site only except for local shut-ins; they
will be provided with a delivery service. Pre-orders can be
made through today (Wednesday) by calling (541) 942-
2373. The meal begins at 11 a.m. and runs until 2 p.m.
Thanksgiving Breakfast is being held from 7 a.m. to 10
a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 23 at the Church of Christ, 6th
and Gibbs.
The fall bird walk will be held on Saturday from 9 a.m.
to 11 a.m. Interested residents are asked to meet at S. R.
St. in the high school parking lot. Grace Fowler-Gore will
be leading the walk on both paved and unpaved surfaces.
To RSVP, call (541) 767-9717.
Saturday is also small business Saturday in response to
Black Friday. Local small business may have specials on
items for the holidays.
For residents who are ready to put up the Christmas tree
soon after the turkey is gone, Christmas at Village Green
is happening Friday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
South
Lane
Mental
Health
Continued from A1
Rolnick, community and relations de-
velopment director for South Lane Mental
Health says is unique.
Every patient is paired with a team of
mental health professionals, certifi ed coun-
selors and peer supporters who are compa-
rable to Alcoholics Anonymous sponsors.
“They’re just people who have lived that
experience and have gone through treat-
ment and understand the barriers to that.
They know what it’s like to face obstacles,”
Serrano said.
After a 90-minute intake session, individ-
uals in the program start to face those obsta-
cles but are guided through the program by
Serrano and staff.
At the rented building on 5th. St., there’s
a lobby with fresh coffee, breakfast foods
and a fi replace. In the summer, it acted as
a cooling station. This winter, it will most
likely serve as the opposite. People experi-
encing homelessness are welcome to come
in, Serrano said, but those seeking treatment
will fi nd more than a cup of coffee.
A donated pool table sits just beyond the
coffee corner. Bistro tables dot the room and
a foosball table is disguised as a coffee ta-
ble. The lobby gives way to a music room
that houses guitars bought with grant fund-
ing, drums that Serrano said are popular
for anger management, and amps brought
in my South Lane Mental Health staff. The
curtains in this room close, to give people
privacy as they hold jam sessions or quietly
strum through a rough patch.
It’s part of the program’s approach. There
are four other rooms, just like the “emotion-
al” room that houses the guitars, and they
revolve around the fi ve aspects of treatment.
The spiritual room has an alter made by pa-
tience and posters detailing the program’s
spiritual foundation: love, hope, peace, joy
and faith. A water fountain in the corner is
meant to add a sense of calm.
The physical room—or the gym—is just
that. People work out there. They get stron-
ger there.
“It’s good for chronic pain,” Serrano said.
“For people coming off opioids, there’s
strength training to get their bodies ready.”
A conference room just to the left of
the entrance has been made to look like a
professor’s offi ce.
There, groups go
through Ted Talks
and work through
the steps to recovery.
All in an effort to
provide a harm reduction-based treatment
plan to return substance users to their lives.
According to the Oregon Health Author-
ity’s 2014 study on substance use, 4,182
people died from unintentional overdoses
between 2000 and 2012. 15,230 were hos-
pitalized during the same timeframe.
The rooms and the team approach are the
foundation of the substance use program but
the essence of understanding and outreach
is the backbone. Serrano says team mem-
bers go out into the community and have
worked with enrolled treatment seekers in
their homes and out in the community. If
someone is going through detox and is deal-
ing with depression or exhaustion, the team
takes up housekeeping chores with them.
Trips to the grocery store, walks around
town, the team reaches its patients where
they are.
“For them to set down the drug and pick
up life,” Serrano said, “Life has to be bet-
ter.”
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From Our Family to Yours…
Happy Thanksgiving!
We’re thankful for a successful
year! We s ll have awesome
buyers that we
NEED LISTINGS for!
If you’re thinking of selling, please
call today for a
free market analysis.
Cottage Grove
Sentinel
S HERRY Y OSS
541-729-9797
T AWNY L OWREY
541-554-2044
GRI, Broker,
Multi-Million $ Producer
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"Call today for a free market analysis!"
914 9th (Hwy.99) • Cottage Grove, OR • 541-942-4040