Document text
Sections Home Page Local News AP News Archives Business Classifieds Event Calendar Forums Life Opinion Obituaries Photo Gallery Since We Asked Sports Tempo Weather Special Coverage 2006 Britt Festivals --> Shop Our Valley AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Search Our Valley Special Sections Homelife Magazine Joy Magazine Readers Choice 2006 Oregon Golf Info Oregon Wine Info Our Valley Other Publications Local Links Ashland News eSouthernOregon Newspapers In Education Personals Moving Here Movie Listings TV Listings Volunteer Customer Service Advertise With Us Media Kit Place Classified Ad Contact Us FAQ's Home Delivery Site Map --> Email Story to a Friend June 25, 2006 This one is worth reading As near as Roger Harris can figure, the bug bit him during the 2005 all-eras reunion at Butte Falls High School. It probably happened when he was guffawing with his childhood chums over memories of youthful misadventures during the alumni gathering in the city's picturesque park. He felt nothing at the time. There was no welt, no angry red swelling. Yet the prognosis is not good. Sadly, he was nailed by the writer's bug, a foul creature whose vile bite causes a merciless itch. Advertisement "I had written a few stories a couple of years ago but after the reunion I decided to get real serious about finishing it," Harris recalls. He resolved to put a book together about humorous tales of his childhood days in Butte Falls, where he graduated in 1972 with 21 classmates. Incidentally, a population influx just before the class graduated accounts for the larger-than-usual class, he explains, his tongue held firmly in cheek. "I started writing different stories that I remembered from my childhood, things that tickled my fancy," says Harris, 52, of Medford. "As I wrote, more things came to mind." Late last year, he self-published 25 copies of "The 1960's — The Other Story" for his wife, Judith, three grown children, extended family and friends. One 112-page book recently landed with a light thump on my desk. Ordinarily, I would rather have a root canal sans painkiller than read a self-published book. Too many should never see the light of day. But I also hail from a small town — Kerby — and appreciate small-town America. That's what initially drew my attention to the book. Yet it was Harris' heart-felt humor, natural writing ability and bull's-eye portrayal of small-town Southern Oregon life from that era that held it. You can't help but chuckle your way through the series of anecdotes about his life and times in Butte Falls. Reading it is an evening well spent. As the title suggests, the book is about the other '60s — not about the much touted drugs, sex and rock 'n' roll, but about growing up in the shelter of a close-knit small community. "This book is all about the good times," says the son of a logger. "We all have enough negative things in our lives. I wanted to focus on the good times of living in a small town." He writes of going out to Willow Lake, known simply as "The Lake" by locals, for a lazy day of fishing, of fouled up but fun camping trips, of summer nights at the drive-in theaters in Medford, of the day he and Little Henry rolled Big Henry's Studebaker pickup truck while spinning doughnuts. The tank-like Studebaker was barely scratched, by the way. Harris is no country bumpkin. He is the controller and vice president of cable operations for California Oregon Broadcasting Inc. He can tell you about living on the outskirts of Boston and Washington, D.C., as an adult, of traveling to the Big Apple. After four years in the Army, where he worked as a radio receiver repairman for the National Security Agency, he followed his father's footsteps into the woods for a while, then began installing cable television. He also attended what is now Southern Oregon University in Ashland, majoring in accounting. "But I was never one of those who felt he had lived in a little dirtwater town," he says. "I think a lot of people I grew up with share that feeling. We lived in a special time." And a special place, he rightfully adds. For a moment, he travels back in time to the Butte Falls of his youth. "We wore white All-Stars," he says, referring to Converse tennis shoes. "You got a new pair every year. At the end of the year the old pair became your 'crick' shoes." He talks about graduating from a Sting Ray bicycle to a motorcycle. The latter sent him flying over the handlebars on more than one occasion, plowing through the gravel with arms outstretched, collecting bits of rock en route. His big sister Pam cruised "the gut" in Butte Fall in a '56 Ford pickup truck with a rumbling engine. The truck's exhaust pipes ran up the outside of the cab just behind the doors. "You talk about a sweet sound," he recalls. "But anyone sitting on the passenger side who rested his arm out the window inevitably had a burn mark on the back of his arm." It's all there in the book, which is now being sold as a fundraiser for the Butte Falls Scholarship Fund Committee. You can acquire a copy by sending $12 — $2 is for shipping — to Butte Falls Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 164, Butte Falls, OR 97522. Harris will be in Butte Falls during the annual Fourth of July celebration, where he will sign copies of his book for the fundraiser. He expects some good-natured ribbing by his lifelong pals. "I'm going to get thrashed by my homies on July 4," he says with a chuckle. Pshaw. They'll be tickled he was bitten by the bug. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback online casinos news Home Security Systems California Casinos Men's Clothing Southern Oregon Loans --> GMAT Prep Fundraisers Send Flowers Entertainment Guide --> Casinos Canada Trunks, Footlocker Online Casino Reviews Advertisement s Advertisement