By Dixon Bledsoe
Wanted: New blood and young backs to help hawk sausages at Oktoberfest for the Silver Fox Foundation, teach kids and people with disabilities how to fish and take applications for low-income people seeking glasses or hearing aids from the Silverton Lions. Other duties may include collecting Christmas presents for needy children through the Zenith Women’s Club, playing bingo with a WWII vet, putting together Thanksgiving food baskets for those struggling with food insecurity through SACA or being a mentor to adults who want to improve their reading and language skills. Volunteers are needed. Please apply. You’ll be glad you did and you’ll make a difference.
Passed: One gorgeous Golden Retriever named McKenzie. The canine was seen regularly taking owner Phil Kelly on walks around Silverton, indulging the gentle maulings of kid hands and the soft touch of seniors as a Therapy Dog in local nursing and care homes. McKenzie had a nearly permanent place and water bowl at the Silver Creek Coffee Shop. After 13 good dog years, McKenzie recently passed away. As Kelly will attest, when it comes to man’s best friend, it was no contest.
Found: One loyal employee with 500 Gigabytes of industry knowledge and a legion of customer fans. Martin Moll just had his 50th anniversary working at Cascade Farm Machinery in Silverton.
Lost: Civility in politics. Regardless of where we fall in the political spectrum, it is ugly out there and getting worse. What a sad state of affairs that politicians on the right and left have written off 2011 and most of 2012 because they are more interested in making each other look like blithering idiots in order to get elected 20 months from now. In the meantime, important work isn’t getting done.
Seeking: People who will say they are sorry when confronted with overwhelming evidence that they were sorely mistaken or even partially at fault. As a wise soul from cyberspace once said, “Nothing sucks more than that moment in an argument when you realize you are dead wrong.”
Found: One cool kid. Taehya Conner, age 13, Silverton. One of the youngest and most productive volunteers in Marion County and Oregon. Recognized for her volunteer work with the Apple Tree project and a variety of other benevolent efforts. Invited to be an aide at the State Capital and received a note from the President. Hundreds of hours given to benefit others. Ya gotta like this kid.
Looking: For drivers who realize that there is a law that says you can’t use your mobile phone to talk without a hands-free device, and that texting while driving a two-ton missile at 20 miles an hour over the speed limit is both illegal and a death sentence for someone. The roads are full of people from every age bracket and socio-economic strata who don’t just break the law – they flaunt it. Like it or not, it is the law and it makes sense. Get a BlueTooth, pull off the road, or just wait a few minutes until you arrive at your destination. Maybe someone’s grandparents can make it to Sunday services safely without some idiot torpedoing their Buick.
Wanted: Phone calls and emails from people about people. People make us laugh. They make us cry. Everywhere we look, people are doing incredible things, or passing away after a life well-lived. They’re out there, and their stories need to be told. Have your people call or text my people – 503-602-4320. Email me stories that need to be told at Dixon.b[at]mtangelpub.com. Here’s you chance to share stories in People Out Loud.
