Michael Watson, a.k.a. "Whitewater Walrus", or just "Wally", always suggested that the above heading was probably much more appropriate than the plainer title of my former Pioneer Press column title, "Salmon River". Since this effort encompasses more of a regional attitude, it seemed prudent to expand the scope of the column's title. Thanks, Wal... I wonder how many folk would still understand the other moniker he hung on me... "Mabel"? By the way, that's Wally guiding the raft at the mouth of the South Fork of the Salmon River, my wedding day, 1983. My dad shot the original photo. Whelp, welcome to Creek's new place to write. The old Salmon River Column bites the dust and I get to act a little more locally. Specifically the Rivers area. The Pioneer Press polarized it's community and my association has been too uncomfortable, for far too long. Many people have thought the idea of a local paper is a good idea. So... here we go. First off, thank you to Sarah Hugdahl and Jim Villeponteaux for.. #1, reassuring me that even I could learn something if only I'd lock myself away and do nothing else for an indefinite. lengthy period of time, and #2, giving me the technical, finish-up-the-project know-how. Malcolm Terence for his editorial and spiritual guidance. Talk about testing your spiritual practice! The River Voice is looking for contributors. Always wanted to write something about your river experiences? Got news that seems to be ignored elsewhere? Write it for now. Do it for your neighbors. Poetry, stories, art, photos, whatcha got for us? In other words, within these pages we are what our contributors make us. We expect to publish quarterly. If you have any comments or trouble with this first effort, please let me know... tcreek@sisqtel.net. Write a letter to the editor through the same address. Open forum, the literary equivalent of free land. I'm truly sorry that we didn't get this thing off the ground in time to print Chris "Bird" McCullough, article on his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers and get his prediction for the NFL season in before things went from worse to worser... like just before the first game... I should talk, my 49er's have been anything but stellar and left me open to verbal abuse from Raider fans... Losers! If you believe the national media and the local school enrollments recently, you'd think we were in the middle of a flu epidemic. Reports of great misery abound. Just after xmas, I found the rumors to be true. Andrea "Andie" Butler-Crosby is the new upper grades teacher at Junction School, in Somes Bar this year. She split the school year with Sue Edwards (now overjoyed to be unemployed, so to speak) last year, so is no stranger to the kids. Lots of smiles down river. Frowns up river... there goes another great substitute teacher. Speaking of school news and... Margaret "Muggs" Nichols has resigned from her service on the Forks of Salmon School Board. I'm not quite sure how long she helped guide the districts fortunes, but I know the Sawyers Bar School closure just about killed her. She's helped the river schools make the tough decisions and move successfully on. Chuck's working the county road gang out in the valley, see him mostly on the valley floor, but as this winter progresses in a big way I expect we'll see him up on the summits dealing with the growing snow load, too. Speaking of winter... Godfrey reported about thirty inches of freshy, Blue Ridge Ranch found Donna Brucker trying to hoof it through snow up to her hips. Finally got about four inches up the Salmon, but not until a day after Somes Bar to a couple of miles below Berry Summit got hit. Weird storm. Over twenty inches of rain so far... so far so good. It's still the Somes Bar Store, The Salmon River Outpost, but it's no longer Sam's Store. Chris Hatton and Tera Palmer are the new owners. Sam's back in Florida simultaneously involved in multi-tasking endeavors and other exoteric, but totally logical projects. Judy's still there as they learn the ropes. Same high quality selection, with an expanded organic section. We've put a few in the plus column recently, (and the future looks good) but we've had a couple of losses too...
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