Fern Ridge Review
Sweet Lorane Community News
February 10, 2011
By Pat Edwards
I was asked to cover the Crow-Applegate-Lorane Open Forum budget meeting last Thursday night for this issue of the Fern Ridge Review, but I also want to express, in this column, how very proud I am to be a part of the Lorane community and the Crow-Applegate-Lorane school district.
Lorane is where my heart lives. It’s where Jim’s and my children were raised and where they and four of our grandchildren went to grade school. I’ve delved into its history, participated in its transition from a mill and logging town to an Oregon wine “hot-spot” and made long-lasting and “forever” friendships here. I love the people and the “rural-ness” and the tradition of home and family that it provides me. Because of this, I feel the pain that we are feeling as a community, too.
I’ve spent many hours at Lorane Elementary, going to teacher conferences, school picnics, PTC meetings, 4-H meetings, community school meetings, basketball games, 6th grade graduations, Christmas programs, birthday parties, carnivals and class presentations. I’ve stood over my daughter as she and her girlfriend, with scrub bucket in hand, washed off the naughty words they had written in chalk on the side of the building. I stood by while our son apologized to his teachers for accidentally breaking a window at the school. I cheered on all of the kids’ efforts in their first basketball and softball games and track meets. I’ve pushed the merry-go-round for my kids and rode the wooden teeter totters. I’ve watch as my little monkeys climbed the bars and hung by their knees. I’ve swung in the swings, too… in fact, the last time I did it was not more than four years ago while waiting for Hayley on Grandparent Visitation Day. It gave me a wonderful feeling of soaring with the eagles once again as I pumped my legs to make it go as high as I could, although, I admit, I didn’t quite feel up to baling out as I once did.
I love Lorane Elementary, but, I am also realistic enough to know that we are on the threshold of a major change. If the decision is made to close our school, then we must join together to figure out a way to make it a living, breathing center of our community once again in the form of perhaps a community center, library, adult education classrooms or youth activity center. For now, we must think of what is best for the children of not only our community, but our district, as well. They need our full attention and support to obtain the best education that we can offer them… and for this, we need our heads as well as our hearts.
All Things Lorane 