Happy Camp News

by Judy Bushy, printed in SDN Klamath Views July 24, 2018

It was great to see Patti Grantham, forest Supervisor Friday. Of course, from 8 AM the previous Sunday morning we’d heard the thunder roll. When you hear the thunder, lightning isn’t far off. When there’s lightning, it’s likely to cause the fires, no matter how much we wish it wouldn’t. There were probably 28 lightning strikes or could have been fifty, but a dry forest means a lightning strike is likely to spark a wildfire!

After days of smoke in the air, we met at the Grange. There were a lot of people at the Grange for that meeting and in an official capacity from Klamath National Forest as well as the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest since the biggest share of the local fires is over the hill in the Oregon sector. That is the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in Region 6, whereas we are in Region 5.

Siskiyou County Sheriff Office was represented by Deputy Tygart and I believe Deputy Garrison popped in part of the time. Our local Volunteer Fire Departments, Eric Haskell for Happy Camp and Tom Mopas for Seiad Valley Fire Fighters were there. Eric was handing out masks to wear when the air is smoky. Josh Veal came as Public Affairs officer with Patricia , Klamath Forest Supervisor. Our own District Ranger Jeff Marszal has moved on to Gasquet and our new District Ranger arrives in September.

Fire Fighters Spike Camp is up at the Page Mountain Snow Park, so that’s a busy place right now. Traffic can go over the hill to Oregon from Happy Camp, but check because Fire Situation is apt to change “with the wind” and public safety concerns. The Pacific Trail is closed, so if you wanted to hike that way, you’ll have to wait until it is deemed safe by the Rangers to open it up to hikers again.

When and if the Sheriff’s department calls the Red Alert List, it is imperative that if it’s a warning, you prepare to leave. If it is evacuation, leave right away. There were a number of questions as to when warnings versus evacuation would be announced, but the answer in most cases is “it all depends.” So many factors may be involved in the desire to keep people safe. In the meantime, keep your property clear of brush in an approved perimeter. That’s always important and we appreciate the work of the Fire Safe Council who helps in that regard.

Think ahead about what you will take, how you will move livestock and pets, and where you will go in case of evacuation. It is always wise to have a plan in place that all the family understands and can put into practice if needed.

Siskiyou County has a Red Code Emergency System. According to Siskiyou County, “This service can be used in case of fires, chemical spills, evacuations, lock downs, downed power lines, lost individuals, natural disasters, abductions, water system problems, bomb threats, or other emergencies. Calls can be geographically targeted for localized messaging. If widespread, the entire community could be called within 20 to 30 minutes. The system also reports who did not get a call so that they may be contacted by other means.

“Siskiyou County residents are welcome and encouraged to enter their contact information for home, business, and mobile phones so they may be contacted by the system in the event of an emergency. It is important for residents and businesses customers to register, especially if they use unlisted numbers, cell phones, or VOIP. Those who do not register their address and phone number may not be notified with CodeRED in the case of an emergency. Registration is confidential, free, and easy at www.co.siskiyou.ca.us/content/codered-emergency-alert-system.

In the meantime stay cool and take precautions about this smoky air. Drink plenty of liquids to keep hydrated and if you are a praying person, include the fire fighters in your intercession. Remember the Karuk Clinic and Senior Nutrition has hours for elders who need it to escape the heat and smoke.

by Judy Bushy
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
They concluded writing, “For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
When these men, 56 of them, signed their name, King George ordered his soldiers to find and execute them all. He felt this would put an end to the “foolish” rebellion.
They all suffered for their stand! Five who signed were tortured as traitors by the British after capture. Nine fought in the Revolutionary War and died of wounds or hardships. Their families suffered also, two lost sons in the Continental Army and two had sons captured. A dozen had their homes pillaged and burned.
We think of them as heroes, but they were working men, 25 were professional lawyers or jurists, 11 were business men, nine were farmers or had plantations, one taught school, one was a musician and ol’Ben was a printer. But despite their backgrounds, their diversity in occupations and parts of the country they came from, they discussed and debated, and, yes, they prayed for understanding and wisdom, and founded our Republic, not a democracy.
Today, it is sad we see so little cordial discussing with others of various viewpoints to know their views and the things that we have in common. We might be able to make decisions with more wisdom if we did. That’s what it takes to build a new nation together; perhaps that’s what it takes to keep it together as well.
Remember the days in Happy Camp when Hazel Joyner said everyone got together for a big picnic and games and fun, or start a new tradition. Whatever you do, rafting, boating, family picnics or ball game with friends, renew your commitment to making our country a better place by throwing out the hate, committing to care about others, so that we get the best wisdom from all sides.
Some of our neighbors have lost their home this week. Some of our neighbors have sorrows, and some of which we may not know anything about, but together we can set about to work together to make a better country for us allRoyal Blue shared this poem on Morning Inspiration
.
I know these things must always be
To keep a nation strong and free;
One is a hearth stone bright and dear
Where busy happy loved ones near.
One is a ready heart and hand
To love and serve and keep the land.
One is a firm and beaten way
To where the people go to pray.
So long as these are kept alive,
a Nation and people will survive,
Go keep them always everywhere
the home, the heart, the place of prayer.

Don’t forget the Happy Camp Farmer’s Market Thursday at Gail Zink Park from 5:30 – 7
Saturday is Karuk Reunion. Starting with the 5K Run, there are activities all day long.
August 10-14 is the Siskiyou Golden Fair and then it is time for getting ready for back to school. Seiad Day will be August 28th and August 30, September 1 & 2 is our Annual Bigfoot Jamboree.
Let’s work together and have a wonderful summer!! In the meantime, have a happy Fourth of July!

Have you ever hiked the Pacific Crest trail??
It is getting more popular in literature lately I think, ever since the movie made from Cheryl Strayed’s biographical adventure book, Wild. Cheryl Strayed, in a reaction of her mother’s death, fer family scattered and her marriage ended, with nothing more to lose, she made an impulsive decision, an inexperienced novice, she would hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California, Oregon and Washington and do it alone. A reviewer said the book is “Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.” I was disappointed by the details that she gave of most areas of the hike but after Castle Crags, after a brief mention of Seiad Valley, she mentions seeing California Oregon border. The part I was most interested, she just skipped over mostly.

Another book, Zero Days, where couple, Captain Bly and Nellie Bly took a 10 year old daughter on the same hike, from Mexico to Canadian border. They said that sometimes it seemed that it was easier for Scooter than it was for the adults. In fact the mother, I believe had to take some time off near the end of the hike due to physical difficulties. It is after all, a 2,659 mile hike

So this week I finished reading Grandma Gatewood’s Walk, by Ben Montgomery. It is the story of 67 year old Emma Gatewood, a farm lady, who walked the entire Appalachian Trail (AT). . I think that they may falsely advertise it as the longest continuously marked footpath in the world, but is about approximately 2,181 miles long, from Georgia to Maine. (Seems to me, that’s nearly 500 miles shorter than the PCT, but after you hike well over 2K miles, who’s to quibble.) She was mother of eleven children and more than twice as many great-grandchildren. Emma Gatewood was the first woman to hike the whole AT back in the fifty’s, and then she did it again, once as Thru-hiker and last time in sections and then she walked the Oregon Trail from Independence Missouri to Portland at 72. She was well-read, well-spoken and white glove proper lady, but didn’t have a comb with her on the first hike.

These accounts remind me of Indian Ned who lived down by Clear Creek until he was 115 years of age, and hearing of his walking trips, although the only invention of whites he really appreciated was the automobile!! Walking has many health benefits, as well. Even Hippocrates stated, “Walking is man’s best medicine.” Regular and longer walks not only increase your chances of living longer, but also help get more energy, lose weight, stay healthy and positive.
Charles Dickenson once said, “The sum of the whole is this, walk and be happy, walk and be healthy!”

by Judy Bushy
July has arrived. Next comes Fourth of July, when we celebrate signing the Declaration of Independence. This document, along with the Constitution and Bill of Rights which are amendments added, are collectively known as the Charters of Freedom, and have guaranteed the rights of the citizens of the United States of America.
Hostilities, raging battles between the Colonists and British had broken out in April of 1776, but there was no unity of view on separation from the “Mother Country”. That was too radical for many!
When the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia Richard Henry Lee wanted to make a resolution of independence. It wasn’t approved. The debate was very heated, but these men were accustomed to debate and talk out the various sides of an issue.
They didn’t make a vote on the resolution, but did appoint five men: Thomas Jefferson who was also of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert R. Livingston of New York and famous, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania. Although Ben, as far as I know, never became a Christian, he called for prayer for reconciliation of the sharp differences of opinion and stances of the meeting. At the same time, Ben was horrified by the thought of a world without religion. “If Men are so wicked as we now see them with Religion,” Franklin wrote, “what would they be if without it.”
If they had refused to talk out the issues, and just went off each to their own separate factions, we’d still be a British colony. But they did work out the differences and July 2nd the vote was nearly unanimous. New York delegates had abstained, but later affirmed the matter, and the resolution for independence was passed. Now we have advanced to the 242nd birthday of our country!
John Adams wrote to his wife that he believed that this independence (although he thought it would be the day of the vote on the 2nd not the signing on the 4th) would be “celebrated by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary festival” including “pomp, parade,…games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other.” It is a good time to remember how this all began.
They believed that God had endowed (or given them) certain unalienable Rights, and we know those rights better than the rest of the document; “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

Calendars, Calendars…Thank you to all who are putting your events and activities on the Calendar at marble Mountain Gift Co. It is greatly appreciated when we can look and see the coming activities scheduled !! Now you may also see a link to a Happy Camp Calendar on the right and www.HappyCampChamber.com as well. Remember, however, if you keep your event a secret, we won’t be able to read your mind and put it on any of the calendars. We plan to compare and add events and activities to both the paper calendar at MMGC and the WebCalendar, but can only do it if you keep us informed. Thank you for doing that!!

Happy Camp Chamber of Commerce mixer to get to know more of our neighboring Chambers will be this Friday. Business and Recreation participants are urged to get your brochures to the Chamber or give a call to 493-2900 to have them picked up in advance of Friday’s event. Thanks so much! It’s time for the visitors to come streaming down our beautiful scenic byways to visit us and we want to do all we can to make their visit full of outdoor family fun in our beautiful forest and on the river!

Judy Bushy, Happy Camp

Love the New Signs for the Happy Camp Neighborhood Watch Patrol and all the VOLUNTEERS who meet Monday, June 4th at 5:30 at Partners Deli & Arcade on Highway 96 next to the Forest Service District Office to work together to cure crime because we care about our neighbors!!

First Monday of May was the Happy Camp Neighborhood Watch meeting. My apology to any who may have thought it was at the Karuk Housing Authority Conference Room, no idea that they were changing it to the Partner’s Deli & Arcade. It appears that it will be there next month also, June 4th at 5:30. That would make it so convenient to have Dan Effman there, except he didn’t make it this time. Sheriff’s Deputy Gabe Garrison didn’t make it either, but he was taking a “guest” to the jail, and is excused for official business. There was still a good turnout for the meeting, and business was taken care of in an efficient and professional manner.

The patrols have been seen out much more as well. If your home or business needs special patrolling, be sure to contact one of the Happy Camp Neighborhood Watch volunteers (David Culbert, Lisa Bousfield) Do not put it on Facebook, please. If perchance a burglar sees your bragging that you are going on around the world tour for the next couple of weeks, he may think that it is an invitation to stop by and visit your home since you aren’t there.