Category: Newspaper Columns

Newspaper columns that I have written for the Fern Ridge Review in Veneta, Oregon and the Creswell Chronicle in Creswell, Oregon. I began writing them for the Fern Ridge Review on August 4, 2010; on December 6, 2012, the Creswell Chronicle began printing them, as well. I am still the Lorane columnist for both papers.

Sweet Lorane Community News – November 17, 2016

November 17, 2016Newspaper Columns, , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
November 17, 2016
By Pat Edwards

Aloha! As you’re reading this, Jim and I and 15 members of our family are in Hawaii. Most of us will be cruising the islands, but since our newest great-granddaughter, Hayden, is too young to join us on the ship, the Furlong branch of our family will be exploring Kauai until our ship docks there on our last two nights of the cruise. Our whole immediate family, except for our youngest daughter Kelly, who was not able to join us, will spend Thanksgiving Day together at a luau. Talk about blessings! We’ll have plenty to be thankful for this year.

While I’m gone, long time Lorane resident, Marissa McNutt-Cooper, will be providing you with the community news. Thank you, Marissa! With your help and our special friends and neighbors making sure that our house and store are taken care of while we are gone, we plan to have some fun and relax in the sunshine. I’ll give you an update when we return. ~ Pat Edwards

From Marissa McNutt Cooper:

Hey all! As Pat said, I am going to be filling in for her while her family is away on vacation. I will be honest, I have never written a newspaper column before, but I will try my very best to get you all the Sweet Lorane Community News for the next few weeks. That being said, let’s get to it…

I want to start first by saying a huge THANK YOU to all who live in the Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District that voted to pass the 20-264 Bond Measure for Safety and Facility upgrades for the elementary and high school campuses! Our District is in dire need of facility improvements and thanks to the voters in our district, that can now happen! As a parent of a first grader at Applegate Elementary, I want to personally say thank you and I am looking forward to seeing the district’s plans for the schools come to fruition.

The whole community of Lorane would like to express our deepest condolences to the family of long-time Lorane resident Jack Gleason, who passed away Monday, November 14th. We are so very sorry for your loss and your family is in all of our thoughts. I have not received information about his service, though I will make sure to include any information I get into next week’s column.

It is that time of year again, we are getting ready for our annual Angel Trees. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the trees, they are Christmas trees located at the Lorane Family Store and Crow High School gymnasium with felt angel ornaments that have a suggestion of a gift for a child in our community whose family is in need of assistance this holiday season. The Angel trees are for any family in need of assistance with children age birth to 18 who live in Lorane or Crow or attend a C-A-L school. Children do not have to be of school age or attend Crow-Applegate-Lorane, just live in our community and or attend school here. How you can help is by picking an Angel ornament off the tree, purchasing a new gift, then returning it unwrapped with the Angel ornament to the tree in Lorane or to the Crow High School office.

The holiday helper forms recently went out with the Weekly Buzz to all children attending C-A-L schools, so be on the lookout for them in your children’s backpacks. If you or someone you know is in need of assistance this year, please return the form to the school’s office if your children attend C-A-L or contact me, Marissa at 541-517-6608. Please know that all information received is completely confidential and that the angels on the trees do not include names.

Here are some upcoming dates to mark on your calendars:

Parents night out, hosted by the Lorane Theta Rho #94 will be December 9 from 4:30-10:00 p.m at the Lorane Rebekah Hall. They will be providing free childcare so that you can go Christmas shopping, have a night out or a quiet evening at home. Please contact Tara Wiggle at 541-935-5245 with any questions.

The Crow Booster Club will be holding their annual alumni basketball tournament December 9 and 10. If you or someone you know is interested in playing, please contact Booster Club President Linda Lay at 541-844-5840

The Lorane Grange Christmas Dinner will be held on December 11 at 1:30 p.m. The Grange will provide the turkey, dressing, ham, potatoes and drinks. Please feel free to bring a dessert or side dish.

The Lorane Food bank will be accepting non-perishable donations for the holiday food baskets until December 15. If you or someone you know that lives in our community is in need of food assistance, please contact Sande Maxwell at 541-942-5083

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sweet Lorane Community News – November 10, 2016

November 10, 2016Newspaper Columns Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
November 10, 2016
By Pat Edwards

As I write this, the “elephant in the room” has everyone talking… it’s certainly not being ignored. Like so many others, I don’t know what to think about the results of the Presidential election, but it came to me that I needed to release some of the thoughts I’ve had since then. I’m not a political person and I’m tired of all of the political rhetoric, but I’d like to share these words with you that I wrote today, Thursday, November 10:

God can be many things to different people… Lord, the Almighty, the Creator, the Maker, the Godhead, Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh; the Father, the Holy Ghost/Spirit, the Holy Trinity; the Great Spirit, Gitchi Manitou. Some who call themselves atheists have a kind of god, too… in the form of human intellect.

The President of the United States is not a god. No matter what your faith, color or other “label,” we must believe that our god, with the help of people who are willing to serve our country, can guide us towards a more unified nation.  The strength of our country is in the people who work to make it the best that it can be.

Let’s do away with these labels that divide us. Each of us have at least one. My most recent, seemingly trendy, label since the election, is “uneducated white” which appears to be taken  by some as a derogatory term equivalent to “illiterate.” I don’t have any big degrees after my name, yet I feel that I am educated. My life’s experiences and accomplishments have given me the best degree I could ever want. SOME of the “educated” (another label) – those who have completed college and have big initials after their names – seem to have set up an elite class that considers the “uneducated” as lesser than themselves.

What would our country be without the blue collar workers (there… see? I need to quit using labels, too) who manufacture our goods, raise our food, repair our cars, build our homes, pump our gas, clerk in our stores and run small businesses throughout our country? Why is it that farmers can no longer easily get help to pick their crops or stack their hay from local teenagers? Too many of them are told that, “No… you can do better than that.” It’s true, they can… eventually; but if our kids don’t start at the bottom and learn the importance of how things are produced and what physical labor is, they lose touch with the essence that truly drives our nation. If everyone was an executive or administrator, we would be lost because there would be no one to do the actual work. Education is very important, certainly, but it doesn’t always need to be a formal college education.

White, Black, Native American, Christian, Latino, Muslim, Male, Female, Jewish, LGBT, Educated, Uneducated, Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Liberal, etc., etc., etc. are all labels. Those of us who call this nation our home only need one label… we are all Americans.

We need to join together and quit putting each other and ourselves in little boxes. Let’s work as equals to resolve the differences that divide us. “God bless America, Land that I love; Stand beside her and guide her through the night from the light from above…” (~ Irving Berlin)

Sweet Lorane Community News – November 3, 2016

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Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
November 3, 2016
By Pat Edwards

On Thursday, November 17, the Lorane Hookery Group, sponsored by The Rural Art Center, will be on-site at the Camas Country Mill Schoolhouse (91949 Purkerson Road, between Alvadore and Junction City) hooking their rugs, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  A special guest, Tammy Pavich, writer from Rug Hooking Magazine, will be joining in. The group invites you to bring your project, ask questions and give rug hooking a try! Finished pieces will be on display.

A Meal Train has been set up by some local residents for the Bowman family who lost their little girl, Payge, to an automobile accident on Cottage Grove-Lorane Road a few weeks ago. The organizers are asking local people to help the family during this time with meals or “even with a simple prayer.” For those who want to provide a meal, go to https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/2g9z97 and enter the date and the dish that you would like to prepare for the family.

The recent barn dance-fundraiser for the Bowman family was a huge success according to the organizers, Roberta Miller and Pam Kersgaard. It was very well attended with an estimated 90 people there. Pam remembers counting 60 people on the dance floor during the Virginia Reel alone.

The dance featured the Hanson Family, an award-winning group from Veneta known for their “Western Swing, Cowboy Yodeling and Blazing Harmony.” They taught and played dances such as the Virginia Reel, Scottish Polka, the Butterfly, Cane dance, Polka, 2-Step and more. You can check them out at http://www.hansonfamilymusic.com/

Another dance is being planned in November, but they might have to find a bigger venue as the grange was absolutely packed. More later…

Here are some dates to put into your calendar… The Lorane Christian Church will host their annual Thanksgiving Dinner at the Lorane Grange on November 13 at 5:00 p.m. Everyone in the community is invited.

The Lorane Taco Dinner and Bingo Night, held at the Grange, will resume on Friday, November 18, beginning at 5:30 p.m.; bingo for the whole family begins at 6:30 p.m.

The Lorane Grange’s annual Christmas Dinner is December 11 at 1:30 p.m.  Lorane residents are invited. The Grange will provide the turkey, potatoes, gravy and dressing. Those attending are asked to bring a side dish or dessert.

The Crow Grange will hold it’s annual Thanksgiving Potluck and Open House on Thursday November 16th at 6:30 p.m. The Grange provides the turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy. They ask friends and neighbors to bring a side dish and/or dessert and join them for a fun evening. Contact Connie at 541-556-2609 or Ruth at 541-935-3119 for more information.

The 2016 Groundwaters anthologies are now in the Lorane Family Store if you’ve been waiting to get one.

Jen Chambers and I just delivered our last talk of the year to the Willamette Writers group at Tsunami Books in Eugene last Thursday night. We were asked to deliver a talk called, “So You Think You Want to Self-Publish?” We had a very interested and responsive group as an audience. It’s so much fun to do these informal, interactive talks about things that we can share. It takes away the “public speaking onus” from the event and allows it to be more of discussion among people with a similar interest. Thank you, Willamette Writers, for inviting us.