Volunteers needed in new year in many areas

WET--I hope you were able to stay in during all the wet weather we had recently. Of course, if you live or traveled just a little bit east of here, it was much drier at times, which always seems so strange to have such different weather within such a short distance. However, we had plenty of the wet stuff here in West Valley and the dampness it brings just makes it seem colder than it really is, so staying cozied up inside seemed like a great plan to me this past weekend.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Jan. 21-27 are Sharon Buennagel, Trinity Thompson, Sharon Schmitz, Laura Bennett, Kaylyn Kaattari, Shirley Mae Toney, Annelise Vik, Margie Moore, Sherry Ostling, Kyle Prestegard, Elizabeth Frink, Jolene Wright, Jody Kephart, Leslie Sullivan, Gary York, Bill Olsen, Bailey Danker, Brandon Burdick, Kasey Thomlinson, Linda Seaberg, Daniel Hoven, Frances Boldt, Wayne Cochran, Carol Cothren, LeeAnn Bonds, Ronda Rose, Deanna Simpkins and Cindi Pedersen. Those celebrating anniversaries this week are Kelly (Nettles) and Louis Recupero and Michael and Nikki Danker. May all of you have all your wishes come true on your special days!

THIS IS IT--The American Legion's Crab and Oyster Feed at the Rosburg Hall is happening this Saturday night, Jan. 23, so it is hoped that you've set aside this evening for a great dinner, along with some great prizes and not to mention, a wonderful organization to support. To top off the evening, "The King Brothers" will be playing music with their old time rock and roll, full band sound, which is made complete with some terrific saxophone playing, so they will definitely keep you dancing! With that great music, you can burn off all those calories you just consumed, so you won't even have to feel guilty about having that extra tray of oysters! Here's to a good crowd and a lot of fun down in Rosburg this Saturday night!

MULES--The Mules (boys) basketball team will host Winlock tomorrow night, Friday Jan. 22 and then they'll be away the very next night as they head to Mossyrock to play there. After that game, they'll be back at home on Wednesday, Jan. 27, so with games happening multiple times during the week and playing on several different nights of the week, it's often a little tricky to keep up with their schedule.

The Lady Mules will play their next three games away, starting with Winlock (tonight) varsity only, then Mossyrock on Jan. 23 and then Morton/White Pass on Jan. 26, so these teams are playing a lot of games one after another and doing a lot of traveling to boot. Good luck teams and safe travels as well!

SYMPATHIES--We were sad to hear of the death of WA-KI-HI alumni, Jack Burdick recently. While his full name was John Jackson, as far as I know, he was always known as Jack all throughout our school years. We send our deepest sympathies to his entire family, which included a son, Johnny (Kassy) and a daughter Jenifer, as well as his brother Bob (Karen) and three grandchildren. Jack's services were held this past Saturday in Cathlamet and beings he loved animals, you're asked to make donations in his name to the Humane Society of Cowlitz County in Longview.

HOME AGAIN--Speaking of WA-KI-HI alumni, Russ Durrah is back home again after a little "fix 'em up" surgery, so we hope he's feeling good as new before long. We take our good health for granted sometimes, so when we have to "be down for repairs," it's a real eye opener for our spouses as well as ourselves, as to how much we need all of our parts functioning to keep up with our daily living and chores! We'll definitely be sending some "speedy recovery wishes" to Russ!

FREE TIME?--With the start of this new year, comes a call out to anyone who has some free time and who wants to help maintain all the great things that happen in our county. So many things really depend on volunteers and unfortunately, a lot of those who have done so much for our community, are getting older and are no longer able to pitch in and help out, so a new generation of helpers is needed! Currently, you could help with the crab feed that will take place next month at the Norse hall, or you can contact Redmen Hall and be a docent there once in awhile, or get ahold of Lee Tischer and offer to help during the car show taking place on June 4th this year, or Susan Kuhn to help with the all school reunion in August, or there will be help needed for Bald Eagle's Day in July, or the Wahkiakum County Fair in August, not to mention just about every orgnaization, group, committee or club could stand more members or a willingness to help out or donate something to their fund raising events. Needless to say, the list of events is long and the helpers list seems to be shrinking, so won't you think about giving of yourself and volunteering today?

REDMEN HALL--It won't happen for another month or so, but I'm giving you a "heads up" about the first program of the year put on by the Friends of Skamokawa. The River Life Interpretive Center, which is located on the second floor of Redmen Hall, will be the place to be for this special event being held on Feb. 27, when two of our local men, Andrew Emlen and Keith Hoofnagle, will be there to talk about a couple of different things in which they are both passionate and knowledgeable. First of all, Andrew will speak about the birds of the Lower Columbia and their special stories connected with this area. You may already be aware of Andrew's involvement in the Wahkiakum Christmas Bird Count but if not, it is something he has done since 1998, and he is extremely knowledgeable in this field and can readily identify them by their various chirps, tweets, songs and calls. He is truly a bird enthusiast and would love to share some of his stories with you at Redmen Hall that day. If you'd like a first-hand glimpse into his world, you might want to join him sometime on one of his guided field trips, which he does for the Willapa Hills Audubon Society, the American Birding Association and the Washington Ornithological Society.

After Andrew gets done with his presentation, local artist and author, Keith Hoofnagle will introduce a book to us that he first had published back in the sixties. His work is entitled, "The Story of Linda Lookout," which is a story of the fire lookouts that were so widely used back then. Keith retired from the National Park Service, where he worked for many years as their chief artist and has published several works, which include some great coloring books as well. After doing a reading from this book, copies will be available to purchase and have signed by him, so there will a dual reason for coming to the RLIC at Redmen Hall soon.

There is not a charge for seeing these two presentations but donations are appreciated for the continuing upkeep of the historic Redmen Hall. Please note that this is just a special event for that day only.

Watch for the regular opening for the hall which will occur on March 12. At that time, there will be a special exhibit by the Arts and Science teachers from three schools showcasing the best projects done by their students. Due to unexpected circumstances, this is a later date than originally planned, so it is not going to be held on March 5 as noted in the community calendar; more on that at a later date.

OUT OF THE PAST--Speaking of Redmen Hall, I was looking back at my "Smoke Signals" from 1991, which are a quarter century old already, and I found some things listed that you may have forgotten all about! Back then, Steve McClain was the President of the Friends of Skamokawa and the Editor of the paper was Jessica Fletcher. Everyone was gearing up for the big, "Smokey Water U.S.O. 1943 Revue," the third big show they'd held. (Smokey was later changed to "Smoky") This show was written by Annie Gruel and Sunrise Fletcher and directed and produced by those two respectively. If you attended, you may remember the band, which was led by "Fats Fryberger" aka Al Fryberger, and his "Bilge Bailers Swing Band" consisting of: Dr. Wm. Christianson, Hadley Caliman, Loren Davis, Joel Fitts, Adam Fletcher, Luke Fletcher, Russell Johnston, Jacob Nelson, Joel Nelson, Rick Nelson and Dick Uthmann. They were awesome! And who could forget those Andrew Sisters: Jeanette Brusco, JoAnn Prestegard & Jessica Fletcher?! Of course, we all got a kick out of "Abbott and Costello" with one of the funniest routines of the night performed by Bob Churchill and Donna DiPasquale; a real classic of "Who's on First;" hilarious! Bill Schwarze made a perfect W.C. Fields that year and Cheryl Nelson as Carmen Miranda was a hit too. Well, everyone was great actually but unfortunately, beings there were over 70 people involved up on the stage, there's just too many to list. That year the show was held April 12-14 at the Lurline Auditorum at the Skamokawa Landing. The Redmen Hall was planning to have some expanded hours that summer as they were looking for more help in order to stay open six days a week and possibly even seven, according to Esther Gregg. "Smoke Signals" was printed on unbleached, recyled paper at that time. The brown paper was a gift from James River, and with the FOS policy of using environmentally friendly things, this product fit the bill. James River Commerical Papers was calling the product "Natural Copybond" and was making it available for purchase that year. The area behind the Redmen Hall parking lot was looking a bit more spruced up, after the planting of some rhododendrens back there. These were donated by the members of the Skamokawa United Methodist Church as they were expanding their church to the north and the "rhodies" had to be removed and needed a new home. What better place than practically right across the street?! All this and more was in the 1991 first quarter of "Smoke Signals," the Volume V edition of the FOS newsletter.