A Weekly Roundup of News (and Tidbits) in the Valley
It’s Memorial Day, a time for barbecues, rest, and some people even remember fallen service members.
Counter to the holiday’s intent, Memorial Day is fresh water when you’re crawling from one holiday to another. Labor Day is another.
To serve in the armed forces is a calling, sometimes forced. There is no “Happy Memorial Day” or “Have a nice Memorial Day weekend.” That’s like saying hope you have a nice time to someone going to a funeral.
What to say on Memorial Day isn’t nicely packaged like other holidays. The horror of dying in the line of duty is hard to contemplate. So on this day, may we take a minute from our weekend to remember those who have fallen. Our lives would look very different without their sacrifice.
Here Kitty Kitty
How would you like cougar snot on your leg?
MVN published a gripping story of Twisp resident Ned Buckingham’s encounter with a cougar while jogging Upper Winthrop Trail below Patterson Lake. Stepping backwards while waving his arms and shouting wasn’t working. The cougar continued to approach. Buckingham hurled rocks. Undeterred, the cougar sniffed his leg.
Buckingham thought he was going to die, until Mazama resident and friend Sam Naney appeared out of nowhere on his mountain bike. I was anticipating the two using the bike as a barricade against the cougar. Instead, the cougar chased after Naney, who pedalled for his life. That gave time for Buckingham to climb a hill to get telephone reception to dial 911.
If this wasn’t real, it would be a great skit.
Everyone, including the cougar, is lucky to have survived. The only question I have is why 36 people tagged this story as funny. If you’re that person, I’d like to know. No judgment. Just curious.
Tapping the Brakes on ATVs
Following a packed room of supporters requesting the Winthrop Town Council allow ATVs within town limits, a packed room of people opposing ATVs packed the same room the following meeting.
Winthrop resident Vern Herrst, the de facto spokesperson for Winthrop’s ATV community, told the council not allowing ATVs for recreation while allowing other means of transport such as motorcycles is discriminatory
According to opponents, allowing ATVs within town limits would ruin the current feel of Winthrop. It boils down to whether Winthrop wants to maintain its image as a hub for outdoor recreation such as hiking, running and mountain biking or add what some would call grittier recreation like ATVs. It’s a matter of what residents want their community to feel like.
Winthrop council paused expanding ATV access to the town while the county conducts its own review of roads that could be opened to ATVs and linked to the town.
Note from the Editor
Somebody mentioned the word “sabbath” two weeks ago and it came back to bite me. I had been thinking about it for a year but ignoring it. Then it came up again in one of my feeds.
Some people take rest daily, some weekly, and one woman I know averages it out and simply takes a week off a month. I hadn’t been taking any of these. I told myself driving long distances was resting. I looked at doing things related to work, but not actually writing, as rest. Wrong.
Last week, my body just didn’t want to cooperate. What I learned from that experience is I have to incorporate rest, whether it’s daily or weekly. Given my compulsive tendency to work until something is finished, embarking on this new habit is hard. But, as I heard someone once say about a toddler, you can do hard things.
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Julia Babkina
Editor
Methow Valley Examiner
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