The big news in the November 1966 Western World was the new Rural Fire truck (first picture) arriving in Bandon.
"Culmination of much hard work on the part of the Bandon Junior Chamber of Commerce and members of the Rural Fire Protection District was realized last week with the arrival of the RFPD's new fire truck which will serve the outlying homes in the district as well as City of Bandon customers.
"Bid price of the new piece of equipment was $19,594.24, according to City Manager of Utilities John Fasnacht.
"The cost of the truck was shared on a 50-50 ratio by the City and the RFPD with the City housing the vehicle in the fire hall (now the Bandon History Museum). In addition the city will service, insure and man the truck for the annual sum of $3,900 from the RFPD.
"The forming of the original Rural Fire District and the subsequent purchase of the truck was the result of much hard work by Gene Scott (standing left) and oth-er members of the Jaycees over the past several years. Standing beside Scott are Earl Robertson, Neil Jarvis and Mickey Hurley.
"Lyle Hall, member of the Bandon Volunteer Fire Department, gave the Jaycee members a first look at the shiny piece of equipment."
A long time member of the fire department, Lyle Hall was the grandfather of Nick Siewell, who is the newly appointed Rural Fire Department Fire Chief. Out-going fire chief Lanny Boston continues as a senior official with the fire depart-ment. He became chief in 1975. The City of Bandon no longer has a fire depart-ment, but rather contracts with the Rural Fire Department, who has spacious quar-ters, the best of fire equipment, great firefighters and superb service.
Although I don't know the date of the second photo of Bennett's Cottage Camp, at the intersection of Beach Loop and 11th Street, I know it was before the Fire of 1936. But what I love about this photo are the two rock pillars, at the entrance of the driveway just north of the cottage camp, which still stand today. That is about all that remains in west Bandon after the Fire.
Another very old photo, again undated but clearly before the Fire, is the Parkersburg Post Office. The family probably ran the post office. Not sure what "Tuxedo Day ... pin cushion" referred to.
There is a neat story about Parkersburg in the March 1925 Western World head-lined "Many Pioneer Families Claimed by Parkersburg."
"Parkersburg has been there a long time. So have many of the people who still believe that the sun does not shine on many spots that hold more of the honest, home-made, lovable kind of folks that make the Bear creek valley a good place to live in.
"Parkersburg people are partial to Parkersburg. They seldom move out volun-tarily and they never resign under pressure.
"One of the reasons for this loyalty is found in the restful beauty of the place, wearing the perennial cloak of green and the nestling hills.
"Bear creek was a cradle of pioneers. Half a century ago the first settlers came and began the work of clearing the land of the great trees that had held title to the soil for centuries. Ox teams were the nearest approach to a donkey engine that the farmer might hope to employ.
"If meat was needed there was plenty of elk and deer to be had for the killing; fish and fruit and vegetables came into the diet with little effort and the simple clothing needed was inexpensive and much of it was home-made. A single high school student from the Bear creek valley today (1925) probably spends more ac-tual money in the course of a year than was required for an entire family in the early days."
" A Century of Coos and Curry County," by Emil Peterson and Alfred Powers, told the story of Captain Judah Parker, who founded Parkersburg in 1876. He had earlier been a searcher for treasure sunk in the sea in the San Francisco area. He was the great-grandfather of Jean Kronenberg Ritenour, who was raised in Ban-don and still owns a home here.
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The rainfall for April was 3.65 inches, compared to 7.31 inches the previous year. The combined total for the first four months of 2024 was 48.48 inches of rainfall, the second highest amount in the last 20 years. In 2017, we recorded 54.74 inches of rain for the four-month period, including 21 inches for the month of February 2017.
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The corner of Baltimore and Second Street in Old Town is definitely looking great. The former Dave's TV building, which was purchased several years ago by Tom Stadelman, is now one of the most beautiful buildings in town. It has still not been leased, but Tom has plans for the north side of the building, next to the Pedway and Foley's, which promises to be a real enhancement.
Damon Weatherill, who purchased the former Lloyd's building and renamed it Sunnyside Cafe and Old Town Tap & Grill, is making big strides on the landscap-ing and patio area along Baltimore, as well as putting new siding on the building. It's been a long time coming, but it's so great to see so many improvements in that part of town.
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I was talking to an archaeologist recently and we were trying to figure out where the name Gravel Point came from ... for the new 110-room hotel resort complex on Beach Loop.
He mentioned that Grave Point is a historical site near Face Rock Viewpoint, so we wondered if the owners thought Gravel Point was a better name than Grave Point? Or did the reference on the map look like Gravel Point?
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The Meet and Greet at Bandon Fisheries Warehouse, set for Tuesday, May 14, starting at noon, was to be hosted by the Bandon Chamber of Commerce. Because of a change of plans, Reg Pullen will be the speaker with 40 tribal students of all ages that attend the Coquille School District. He will speak with them for approx-imately 15 to 20 minutes on Bandon Tribal history, and then walk them across the street to the Nasomah Memorial. Washed Ashore will then talk about trash and speak about the sculptures.
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I was sad to learn that the Lions Club Thrift Store on the corner of 11th and Bal-timore will be closing at the end of May, according to store manager Annette Whelan. Open Thursday through Saturday from 10 to 4 and on Sunday from 11-3, all items are now 50 percent off. "We want to thank the community for all their generous donations. The thrift store was successful but we didn't have the volun-teers we needed," said Whelan.
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Speaking of the Lions Club, the Bandon club will be hosting the regional con-ference, the weekend of the 15th, and I have been asked to talk about the history of the club, sharing a number of the 33,000 negatives which I saved from being hauled out to the dump when I worked at Western World. I shared the negatives with the museum, and they are now the backbone of the photos from the '50s, '60s and '70s which you see at the museum.
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It was such a treasure for those of us who witnessed the Aurora Borealis Friday night and saw so many beautiful photos on Facebook. I understand they were also visible in some areas of the state on Saturday, but the fog had moved in, so I don't think anyone saw them here.
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A woman, whose car was parked in Old Town overnight last week, warned peo-ple that someone tried to steal her catalytic converter. While they were able to cut it part way off, they weren't able to steal it, possibly because they were spooked.
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County Commissioner John Sweet shared some good news with me this week. "In the first 5 days after opening the second jail pod, we had 30 more prisoners that we had been able to accommodate with just a single pod. Thirty of the addi-tional 49 bed capacity created by the second pod were filled in just five days, he said.
That is just beginning of the jail beds that will be occupied if the public safety levy is approved, and additional assistant DAs can be hired to address the 1,400 backlog of cases.
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People are reminded that the annual meeting of the Bandon Pool Board will be held May 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the Sprague Room at the Bandon Library, according to Sally Weymouth, interim secretary of the Pool board. People interested in the pool project are urged to attend the meeting.
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On Saturday, May 18, Attorney Robin Miller will be presenting a program at Bandon's History Museum, titled "When Bandon became 'Bandon;' New Evidence From the Archives."
The program starts at 2 p.m., and admission is free.
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I've heard glowing praise about MarLo Dance Studio's presentation of "Cinderel-la," which continues at the Sprague Theater May 17-19, Friday and Saturday at 7, and Sunday at 2 p.m. This is a program you won't want to miss. It is possible that tickets might be available at the door, but for tickets ($20 in advance or $24 at the door) visit MarLoDance.com or 706-550-1416.
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The Bandon Police Department posted May 9 on Facebook notifying "the public that its come to our attention that there is grave concern about a subject in a white van. Social media reports regarding this van are gravely inaccurate. Bandon Police responded to one incident where the occupant showed a colorful rock to a child. The individual did not try to abduct, coerce or coax the child into the vehicle. No crime was committed and the occupant of the van has been contacted multiple times. Social media reports have confused this individual with other individuals who might have had nefarious intent.
"We continue to monitor any suspicious circumstances regarding our children citi-zens. Threats toward the individual in the van and other individuals living in vans are not appropriate and are highly discouraged. If you see something suspicious please contact us with questions," said the BPD report.
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