The Applegater

2 Fall 2019 Applegater Jeanette grew up in Salem, Oregon, with a family who loved c a m p i n g , h i k i n g , d o w n h i l l s k i i n g , singing songs around the campfire (and any other opportunity), and reading anything a n d e v e r y t h i n g . S h e d e v e l o p e d a n e a r l y i n t e r e s t i n journalism, but after h e r s o n w a s b o r n with developmental disabilities (and eventually diagnosed with autism), she educated herself in these issues and, with encouragement and mentoring from her son's special education (SPED) teachers, became an SPED assistant with the Salem School District. She helped start the first Emotional Growth Center for emotionally disturbed (ED) adolescents in the school district. While working in the program for ten years, she earned her teaching degree at Western Oregon University in language arts with a handicapped learner certificate. She then joined a day treatment program that provided a therapeutic environment f o r E D a d o l e s c e n t s , a n d , f o r 2 0 years, was part of a treatment team w i t h f a m i l y t h e r a p i s t s , a c l i n i c a l psychologist, and a consulting psychiatrist. She was fortunate to be able to share her love of hiking, camping, a n d c r o s s - c o u n t r y skiing (along with the joy of reading literature aloud in groups and teaching language arts) with her students and earned her master's degree during that time. After retiring in 2 0 1 2 , s h e a n d h e r husband sold their property and traveled for three years before deciding to settle in southern Oregon. ey had camped on the Illinois River and other local areas over many years and loved the botanical diversity and wildness of the Siskiyous. They found their niche on Humbug Creek in November 2017, where they are finding that the people of the Applegate Valley are as fascinating and diverse as the botany! Jeanette received the Applegater the first month she moved here (it was love at first read, she said) and has depended on it to get to know the people, businesses, events, issues, and recreation in this area. Now, as an Applegater board member, Jeanette is thrilled to be a part of this vital resource! Jeanette LeTourneux Applegate Valley Neighborhood Festival to support community nonprofits What do Applegaters do better than anyone? ey come together to help each other. Volunteerism is the backbone of our community success and collaboration the helping hands that reach out to serve. With such a tapestry of talent in the Applegate Valley, it is no surprise our neighborhoods are turning community vision into tangible reality. On Saturday, September 7, from 4 - 9 pm, RiverCrest Ranch, at 8127 Upper Applegate, is hosting a western- themed fundraiser to benefit several local nonprofits, including the Applegater Newsmagazine, which is celebrating its 25 th year of sharing news with local residents and businesses; the Applegate Partnership & Watershed Council, as it expands its Outdoor Education Program; the McKee Bridge Historical Society; a new scholarship for one student wishing to attend Southern Oregon's Dental Assistant Education program; and FOTAS [Friends of the (Jackson County) Animal Shelter]. e Zombie Plowboys will be performing live, followed by an authentic western barbecue and then by the critically acclaimed, time-traveling documentary, "Romancing the West—How the West was Sung," featuring Christina and Butch Martin. e event will be intermingled with games of horseshoes, bocce, cornhole, yard chess, badminton, and a rubber ducky race. e Groundwater Protection Ninjas are offering attendees a free screening of well water from 4 - 6 pm only. (See below for more details.) For tickets and more information, contact Evelyn Winningham at 541-951-7055 or Cathy Rodgers at 541-702-2015. • • • Free well-water testing for nitrate Are you interested in the quality of your well water? Attend the September 7 Applegate Valley Neighborhood Festival to find out more about your well water by bringing in a water sample for testing. At this community event, the Groundwater Protection Ninjas will offer a free screening for nitrate. And if you can wait the few minutes it takes to process your test results, you can also learn more about caring for your private well and septic tank and how to protect your drinking water supply from nitrate contamination. "Nitrate is the main form of nitrogen used by plants, so it is important to have enough in the soil for crops, gardens, and landscaping. But nitrate from septic systems and animal waste can contaminate groundwater and become a health risk. Public water supplies are tested regularly for nitrate and must meet strict standards. If you get your drinking water from an individual household well, the only person who can decide to test the water to see if it is safe to drink is you," said Audrey Eldridge, an Upper Applegate neighbor and retired hydrogeologist. "It is especially important for households with pregnant or nursing women, newborns, or elderly persons to test for nitrate because of a rare condition called blue-baby syndrome and because of impacts increased by reduced immunity. However, all homeowners with private wells should be aware of their nitrate level." ree Groundwater Protection Ninjas—Susan Baker, Catherine Lutes, and Audrey Eldridge—will be at the Applegate Valley Neighborhood Festival from 4 - 6 pm to conduct the test and help answer questions about how you can protect your drinking water supply. Bring a cup of water in a clean jar. e nitrate screening result will be ready in about ten minutes. is test is completely anonymous. If you know of neighbors who would like to have their well water tested for nitrate, but cannot attend this event, bring their sample in as well. You can also learn how you can become a Groundwater Protection Ninja! ~ In Memoriam ~ Allan (Bud) Childers September 25, 1937 - June 6, 2019 Cantrall Buckley Park Ranger 1974 - 1985 Photo: Tom Carstens. A hearty welcome to the Applegater's new board members Paul Fattig H a v i n g b e e n d u l y elected to the Applegater board o f d i r e c t o r s , A p p l e g a t e Valley resident Paul Fattig says he will happily j o i n t h e m in October. F r e e l y acknowledging a peculiar sense o f h u m o r , h e d e s c r i b e s himself as a retired/recovering journalist who fell off the wagon and started writing books. Sadly, he now resembles a panicked deer caught in the headlights, being a wee behind on his third book, which has to be to the publisher by September 30. But he agreed to whip out this brief biography to acquaint Applegater readers with the new board member. Not one to take himself too seriously, he reports he is long of tooth yet has skillfully managed to live a life largely devoid of significance. Still, his life experiences are varied and include bucking hay in his youth, setting chokers in the logging woods, serving a hitch in the Marine Corps, eking out a degree in journalism at the University of Oregon, and writing for more than a dozen newspapers from Anchorage to California's Bay Area. Although he figures bucking hay in triple- digit summer afternoons was the real test of character, he hopes his nearly 40 years as a print journalist may at times be an asset to the Applegater, a publication he much appreciates. Pa u l t a k e s particular pride in having lived m o r e t h a n half his mortal e x i s t e n c e i n the Applegate V a l l e y , h i s f a v o r i t e d a l e on the planet. I n d e e d , h i s first two years o f f o r m a l education were in the Applegate, a l b e i t t h e f a r western end at Wilderville Elementary School, where the kindly Mrs. Bagwell presided over the first and second grades in one room more than 60 years ago. e youngster was half of a rowdy duo representing the youngest of two Fattig sets of twins born 14 months apart, resulting in all four siblings in the same classroom. Some insist the harried teacher never fully recovered. He notes his father, Paul R. Fattig Sr, spent his entire eight years of classroom education in the Union Town School near the mouth of the Little Applegate River. The writer's paternal grandparents homesteaded in the Applegate Valley more than 110 years ago. Following a decade living in the mid-Applegate Valley, he and his wife, Maureen, have resided in the Sterling Creek drainage for nearly two decades. After their offspring fledged, Maureen acquired a menagerie of rescued animals, including a small but boisterous herd of cats. e new board member and two large dogs are a mite jumpy.

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