A sunrise memorial service had been held in honor of Chief Daniel Packer at the Ukonom Complex Incident Command Post in
Orleans in the morning. Over a thousand firefighters attended to honor the fallen firefighter who died in the line of duty. Many more attended services in Happy Camp that evening.
Chief Packer was from Washington, the East Pierce Fire & Rescue. He was preparing to take over duties of division supervision on the Panther Fire, 15 miles south of Happy Camp in rural
Siskiyou County, California.He was an experienced and able firefighter, but while Packer was scouting the fire, the wind shifted and the fire blew over him.
Each and every firefighter that comes to fight fires in our neck of the woods does so in peril of his life. We dare not take lightly the courage and valiant honor of these firefighters.
Tributes to Chief Packer mentioned his courage, service and commitment, as is true of many of our heroes fighting wildfires in the forest but some especially noted his faith, compassion and humility.
We pray that God will bless and comfort the Packer family and his friends and comrades on the fire line who have our deepest sympathy. Chief Packer is among those heroes who selfishly give of themselves for their fellowmen, and his sacrifice will not be forgotten.
It’s a great feeling when you tip the bottle back and let the liquid fly. The people that you couldn’t get are now having a staring contest with you from across the room. Even the people you could get with are looking even better. Time’s flying and you could care less about what’s going on with the world. Troubles are gone and every drink you take is another mile away from reality.
Almost all the teens today are drinking before they get into high school. They’re ruining their lives before they even begin. I almost got sucked into the world of alcoholism. Then, somehow, I clawed my way out of it. Now I hope I’m an example to the little kids to stay clean in high school instead of drinking and partying all the time. It may be fun while they’re doing it but not in the end. I have compared my life and grades to my freshman year and I like the outcome of who I am now, to what I was then. I realize how immature I was acting, and how much of a fool I made out of myself.
Various websites show that more than 40% of adolescents who drink are going to be alcoholics. They may have the choice now to drink, but in 5 years it will be a habit they can’t stop. Some students may be fortunate enough to snap out of this nasty cycle. Fortunately, I was one of the smarter ones and stopped drinking little by little.
My grades for the beginning of my freshman year were D, A-, D, A-, A-, A+ and B. then at the end of my freshman year, when I started drinking, my grades were D, C, F, F, B-, C+, and B. What an effect drinking made on my grades! These are not the grades I would like the college I am planning on going to see.
Most adolescents start drinking because of an older sibling that does it and they think it’s cool. So when you see someone under the age of 14 drinking, you can thank their household. In public, no one likes a drunken person. They just laugh at them because they’re making themselves seem stupider than they really are. Sooner or later they’re going to be known by everyone as a raging alcoholic who can’t handle their liquor and has abusive problems when they have been drinking. They will get into a car wreck and seriously injure themselves, or die, and either of those outcomes is not good.
Everyone thinks that drinking isn’t so bad when they’re young. They don’t look at their role models and see how much drinking has screwed up their lives. Most of the drinkers’ now a days have at least one parent that is an alcoholic so when they drink they don’t think there is anything wrong with it, till they don’t have a job, a life, and are not happy with what they’re doing in this world.
Drinking is a disease and you might be able to cure it, if you get help soon enough. So contact your local AA advisors and get in a class before the disease kills you!
As a Happy Camp High School student, I am here to tell you about Family. I haven’t’ really been into my family, until I reached the age of 14. I finally realized if I don’t talk to my family that I would regret it.
I was never into my family when I was in my childhood. I lived far away from my family at one point in time. In that time I felt like there was a big hole in me and I never could find out what it was. One day I was sitting on the front of the house. I received a phone call and it was my mom. She said that she was coming to get me and she missed me and couldn’t wait to see me. She finally got her act together and realized I was what she wanted to help her through what she was going through. She showed up and I got my stuff and came home. Ever since I have tried so hard to keep up with my family, but some times there are too much, emotionally and physically.
My family has so much to share with me if I sit down and just listen five minutes. I feel it changes my life. These are some things I learned from my family stories, pictures, baskets, dresses, regalia, recipes movies and many more. I drifted away and mom tried to get me to go here and there with her to see family and stuff like that, but I would just stay home. I felt like the only thinks I needed was me, myself and I, but I found out the hard way, losing family I never had a chance to sit down and talk to. I lost a lot of history, and things I will never be able to recover.
People don’t realize that our elders are the most important people to our communities. These precious people hold and know many things. When I look around I see how kids act toward their elders. They may have been born in the 50’s or the 60’s but if it wasn’t for them telling us to do thing or that, just think of what the world would be like today! If we can just sit down to hear our elders out, I bet that we would have a better understanding of one another. Our elders know how to help us or teach us. If we just gave them the respect they need they won’t be so hurt or torn. We need to give our elders more respect and more love.
Sometimes some people don’t have a mom or a dad, brother or sister, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have family. Maybe you live with your auntie or uncle or grandparents, but you still have family. We all need to sit down and talk more to the people that are close to us.
Volunteers! Donations of time, labor and materials! That is the kind of community spirit that built needed places for the local folks in the history of the Happy Camp area, and other towns of Siskiyou County.
Indian Creek School 1883 and 1890, log church, 1928, log high school 1933, Grange hall, (Red Cross) First Aid Station, town Fire Hall, Lion’s Boy Scout building, Library, and the volunteer firefighters, ambulance services and other community efforts. Donations of land, timber, plywood, equipment, and money, manpower and ambition…that is the kind of community spirit that built the Happy Camp Health Services.
I do not believe that local citizens will stand for seeing that Health Service taken over without a fight.
James A. Waddell
Roseville
Note: Jim is a Happy Camp citizen who moved away awhile. Five white generations of his family have been the pioneers who called this area “home” since gold prospecting and he is also a member of the Karuk Tribe of the Klamath River. He lived on the family homestead (of 1900′s) in the Happy Camp area for over fifty years and enjoyed hunting, hiking the mountains, appraising of timber, working as fishing guide and takes absolutely wonderful outdoor photographs. He helped us with technology at the Happy Camp Community Computer Center for awhile also. Lately he has been blessing us with the stories of the history of this area through tales of his family, for which we are grateful! A cd of beautiful photos of the area is available (see ad on frontpage of Happy Camp News for further information)~jbushy
What would happen if we didn’t have a football coach next year?
What would Happy Camp do without football? Happy Camp High has had football for at least fifty years. It is a community tradition. Everybody who has ever gone to high school here comes to watch the games. All of the elders come to watch the young kids play. Even people who don’t have kids in school come to root for the kids who are playing.
I don’t think most of the kids would even come to school if there wasn’t a football team. We would lose school funds, which support our school. We would lose out trips, our COS trip and other fieldtrips.
Then, what’s left for us kids to do? There would be nothing but trouble, and everybody would drink. At school, kids would be out of control. There would be a lot more fights and drug use because there would be no motivation to go to school.
What would Happy Camp do without football? I think this whole town would turn into a hell hole—nothing but druggies and alcoholics and need a lot more law enforcement.
How many kids in this community do you think would graduate if we didn’t have a football team? Perhaps as many as 35% pf high school students wouldn’t stay in school to graduate. Some of the kids I’ve talked to said it there wasn’t a football team they wouldn’t even show up for school. I think it would all go in a chain reaction, first football, and then basketball.
As we grow older, people say that the young look up to us. Well, how are they supposed to look up to us when we have nothing to do but drink and do drugs! There would be a big change, instead d of playing in a game on Friday night, we would be getting drunk and driving our cars around, and that’s how 50% of the teens die in this neck of the woods.
What are some of the benefits of playing football? One benefit of playing football is to release stress, and stay in shape. However, the best thing about playing football is a person gains discipline and self control.
Football is a very fun activity. Guys can get girls and they learn more about the game. Students also show the people in the crowd what they’re made of. When the team goes on an out of town game, they get to travel a long way sometimes. The most fun part about traveling is eating fast food. When the players travel to other towns they represent our school and Mr. Dyer. That is why everyone is on their best behavior.
Last, but not least, I would like to talk about Coach John Kufner. He has been coaching at Happy Camp for over thirty years. He has more wins than I’ve had girl friends, and that’s a lot. He is a legend in his own time, and now it’s time for him to sit at home and watch football on television like the legend that he is.
No matter what happens here in Happy Camp, football needs to keep going on!
Today I was just going back and re-reading some stories on Happy Camp News, and I happened on the Letters to the Editor page. I found the letter I wrote to the entire town two years ago and it is still as true as it was when I wrote it. My wife and I have run off to be with our other children and to be closer to family during our time of loss. However, we have not found any more support here than we had from our good neighbors and friends in Happy Camp. Happy Camp is a place that will stay in my heart always and I am still just as grateful to all the wonderful people who live there as I was when I wrote that letter in the first place.
Someday the world will know about Happy Camp and realize that despite it’s problems, it has a wonderful and pure heart. God bless all of you. My family and myself send our love.
Do you love music? I do. I feel that it is a statement in itself. It expresses culture and life through the words of a song. Music states an individual’s personality by what instrument they play. Someone who plays electric guitar may be a person who likes to play hard rock, or maybe a person who plays the trumpet likes classical music.
At Happy Camp High School it has been extremely difficult to explore musical talent. “Why is this happening?” you’re wondering. This is a question that must be answered. You may not know this, but when a student does not show up for classes, it cuts down the budget for that particular class. If one student or more ceases to show up, then the class is cut. Another reason the music program was cut in Happy Camp High was the fact that the federal government would not fund the program because they want the students to learn the basics, such as math, history and English. With the loss of the music program in our school, we must find a way to integrate these programs back into the school curriculum.
There is no music program at Happy Camp High School. The loss of this program upsets me for many reasons. First of all, there are many students that can play an instrument, but have difficulties trying to learn the instrument. Many students, myself included, have to teach themselves by using the Internet or buying music books from a music store. Even then, I don’t really know if I’m playing the notes right. There is no guidance. I love playing the electric guitar; however, it’s hard for me to teach myself how to play. I wish a high school music program was available to any student who wants to learn.
Music is not only an excellent activity to learn, it also helps with many of your brain functions. Scientists say that music works the part of the brain where math is processed. Math is a very important subject in life to learn. If you can play an instrument you are most likely able to do math with no hassle.
The thing that most people don’t understand is that music is not just an extra curricular activity just to do to get easy credits for high school. It is part of everyday life. All the music you hear on the radio everyday is because someone might have taken a music program in their school. If you are exposed to music in school now it could become your career later in life.
With the budget for schools going down hill, the music and arts programs are usually the first to be cut. The federal government believes that music is not important to the school curriculum, when in reality it is what students need. If students had an outlet to get away from stress, they may possibly stay away from drugs. It would keep students minds on something they enjoy doing.
This will be a problem for many years if we don’t act now. There are options to ending this outrage. Schools could appeal to our elected representatives in our state and federal governments to fund the music programs.
This could happen. but without the proper agreements from the community this program will never progress in our schools.
If music was back in our schools then people with gifted talents can grow. Please help me and other students bring the music program back to the school curriculum. Don’t let music disappear from existence forever.
Some things aren’t allowed to go away, no matter how much a person might want them to, and no matter how much sense it makes to do away with them. It was that way with Doc’s golf tournament.
Last fall, to raise money for coats for kids who needed them, Doc talked two farmers out of the use of their pastures and set up the only 18-hole golf course in history that was created in an hour and a half. Each of the 18 holes had a hole (personally dug by Doc with a shovel) and a flag by the hole (a steel t-post personally pounded in by Dud) and a tee-off spot (personally tee-off by Herb Collins). But that was all the course had. If there was grass on the fairway, it was because the cows missed a bite. The whole course was hazard. The tenth hole alone had two rock piles and a manure sump to negotiate. The second hole required people to clear a prairie dog town or lose the ball forever to the abode of confused and terrorized rodents.
Well, everyone had fun, and the whole thing was won by Delbert Chin, owner of the Gates of Heaven Chinese restaurant, who came in with the low score of 312.
Doc wasn’t really excited about doing it again, but first one, then another of our locals pestered him until he relented and set out a whole new course this year that included the elementary school playground and the town’s sewage treatment lagoons.
Twice as many people signed on to play this year, and Doc admits that next year’s course might have to take in the gravel quarry just east of town.
“The hardest part about this tournament,” he told the boys down at the Mule Barn truck stop, “is figuring out what par should be.”
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Brought to you by “Ol’ Slim’s Views from the Porch,” available at www. unmpress.com and wherever cowboys are celebrated.
Happy Camp is a small town and there’s no bad side of town. Every side is just about like any other. And this causes some people discomfort.
You see, if you’re used to being able to live on the good side of town in a larger community, it is a step down to come to a place like Happy Camp where we’re all together – the good, the imperfect, and whoever comes to live with us.
We’re deep inside the Klamath National Forest – a group of less than 1500 souls. Some were born here. Some have had family here for many centuries and others for more than one century. But many of us have no idea where our ancestors came from. We were born in this country which is not our ancestors’ native land, and we struggle to find a place we can call home. We’ve been drawn to this remote mountain community either by the hand of fate or the will of God, where we learn that Happy Campers are all like one big extended family. We’re together here, deep in the most remote part of the forest, trying to make the best of it.
So if you’re reading this website thinking you might want to move here as many have done before you, consider this. In Happy Camp we’re not just talking about the unity of mankind. We’re living it. There are no bad people here, but there are plenty of imperfect ones and if we’re going to be honest we’ll admit that everyone is imperfect. There are those who let it show and those who try to hide their imperfections, but in general we’re all pretty much alike.
Though there are no bad people here, there are bad drugs that cause some of our citizens to act in ways others consider to be irresponsible and immature. And in a larger town most of those people would be living on ‘the other side of town’ – forced by economic necessity to rent places that we can not see or be bothered by because we never go there.
Well in Happy Camp, we don’t have that type of luxury. There’s no bad neighborhood. All neighborhoods are pretty much alike with both good and troubled people in them. And though we may complain about our neighbors, they are still like our cousins, brothers and sisters, and they’re probably not going away any time soon. So like any big family there are sometimes petty arguments, then we usually get over them because that’s what people in families do.
So if you’re used to luxury living, it is possible Happy Camp isn’t the place for you. True, you could buy a home outside of town and only drive into town to get your mail and groceries, but then you’d miss the true beauty of Happy Camp. By true beauty I mean the friendships and comaraderie you find by associating with all classes of people here. Yet this apparently is not for everyone.
As editor of this news site I have met people who learned about the town from this site and came here to buy property. Please consider this your warning. Though Happy Camp is a beautiful and isolated community in the middle of a gorgeous national forest, we’re not all upscale and if you find that bothersome, you may want to look for other lodging.
However if you love humanity, care about people, and want to join together with all classes to help and find new kinds of friends, this is a great fishbowl to be in.
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Linda Martin is the editor and publisher of Happy Camp News. She writes novels in her spare time. Her writing website is at http://www.lindajomartin.com.
In my column in the “Pioneer Press” last week, I said that the present Happy Camp Health Services Board, considering comments from the majority of voting members, chose not to give the building to another organization and that“The Karuk Tribe has already put a new building for these services on their property between Second Avenue and the Highway.”
I was mistaken that the new modular was for the doctor’s offices and services that are presently in the Happy Camp Health Services Building. The modular moved unto the property will house program staff moved from the building next to the Administration Building; information technology and self-governance. The building next to the Administration Building was originally designed for a Medical and Dental Clinic and that is the area being remodeled, at considerable cost, for the medical services. The former Council Chambers will be the medical reception, medical records and nurses station. That wing is being remodeled for examination rooms.
That is why the Karuk Tribe of California notified the Happy Camp Health Services that they were NOT interested in buying or leasing the Happy Camp Health Services building and said they planned to be moved out by end of September.To hold a NEW board of VOLUNTEERS responsible for past years isn’t really fair since they coveyed their desire to listen and learn what needed to be improved.
Even though I usually ask readers to respond and share with me, I don’t get large volumes of mail in response! Last week was an exception; I received quite a few calls about the column. A caller might have given me information on corrections,. since she said I was ignorant, and was writing illegal slander, but never gave me a speck of information on what might need correcting. I did ask, but the phone slammed down! I’m still of the same mind, that Happy Camp needs mental health and similar services which are not adequately available, and that a community group, everyone working together, like the Happy Camp Health Services has always been, could help in this regard. I’m a good listener, but after calling names, no one gave me any specifics. We just don’t need more vacant unused buildings sitting around for years when there are nearly a dozen organizations that need places to meet. We can help each other when we can work together more effectively. I’m happy to listen to anyone’s views, but a few pertinent facts might be more effective than bluster and name calling.. I listened quietly to the name calling but got hung up on when I asked for help in understanding their point of view.
The speaker who rudely accused John Godwin of the Happy Camp Health Services of rudeness when he is the quietest, kindest and a hard working volunteer who called the meeting to hear all views, made me wince. That is why Leon Hillman’s comments to friends and neighbors that whatever the disagreement, we will go on being friends and neighbors was so moving. Sharing viewpoints helps us all learn, when it is done in that frame of reference.
We respect the fact that Tribal members families and also many other members of the community and their families were also active in building the clinic building. The land, milled lumber, and many hours of labor were donated by the mill and citizens of the community. Wasn’t it a wonderful accomplishment they achieved together! It reminds me of the Memorial Log Building which was built with community working together, to provide education for our children, also, (although that was before my time!)
We need more mental health services in Happy Camp and lease of the building to an organization working with Behavioral Health, is one way that it could be provided. Also, I see some value in some organization that could be the whole community working together, not exclusively for any particular group to the exclusion of others. Amazing things can be accomplished when we work together!
Give me a call, I’ll be happy to hear your views. If I’m busy at the moment, I’ll be happy to call you back. Also appreciate your telling me of any news and announcements that you have to share. That is why living along the wild beautiful Klamath River in the midst of the green forest, with blue skies above is so wonderful. We have great neighbors, mostly courteous and concerned about the community.
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