Bob's Corner
From our weekly issue dated September 09, 2009
My first day of official work in Oregon occurred on Labor Day 1979, and I thought that we’d made a mistake by moving from Southern California.
Sitting in the newsroom at the Curry Coastal Pilot in Brookings, I periodically stared at the rain slamming into the window overlooking the rear parking lot. I mean, it was raining so hard I thought the rain would break the glass. Being from San Diego County, the ferocity of an Oregon coastal storm was something new for me. And I was homesick.
That was 30 years ago this week, and much has happened to my family and me during that time. Hard to believe that three decades have passed. In ‘79 I had a full head of hair and a mustache. Wow. Our three children were so much younger, as they’re now 44, 41 and 42. Jan and I are older too. Funny how that works.
We had a 240Z that we had to sell to make ends meet, which left us with a very used ‘66 GMC “ambulance” van. It had about a million miles on its odometer, or nearly that. It finally gave out, and we tried to buy a vehicle in Brookings, but the dealer wouldn’t deal. So we went to Eugene and drove home in a brand-new ‘81 Ford pickup.
We were in Brookings until February ‘86, when we were able to move to Cave Junction and take over the Noose. Well, I could ramble on for hours here (probably take up two or three pages in this issue) about stories that stick in my mind, but that’s not going to happen.
I just want to say that covering the news and writing about people is a most-enjoyable endeavor for me. Also, I want to say that the Illinois Valley News staff is terrific and works extremely hard to produce a quality, enjoyable and informative newspaper.
Here’s a bit of a subject change, by the way. Not long before writing this, I had to bury our outside cat, Deckster. It appears that he was struck by a motor vehicle. Jan found him lying next to our little waterfall, one of his favorite hangouts next to the deck he liked to get under. (It’s why we named him Deckster.)
So one more statement I want to make is that if folks don’t stop speeding like maniacs on E. River Street and Shadowbrook Drive, I have a plan to slow them down. Nothing cruel, hazardous or dangerous, but E. River has become a speedway. This must stop.
Oh, did we make a mistake by moving from California to Oregon? Probably not, but the jury is still out.
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