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Book chronicles Ashland's government Author notes recurrent themes By DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- If knowing the past can really help guide decisions of the future, Ashland leaders should be making some real winners in years to come. After three years of work, historian Kay Atwood completed a 250-page history of Ashland's 125-year government and presented it to the City Council this week: "What is the City but the People? An overview of Ashland City Government." "It's a very impressive work," said councilman David Fine. "It gives a good chronology of events that have gone into Ashland government and it helps us know how we got to where we are." The book, he added, is "immensely readable." "I sat down with it Friday evening and thought I'd spend a minute or two at it, but I gobbled half at one sitting," he said. Former City Administrator Brian Almquist initiated the project three years ago with the intention of completing it by the city's 125th birthday -- Oct. 13, 1999. But he also wanted to spread the $9,000 cost over three years, city officials said. The city donated copies of the book to the city's library, the Southern Oregon University library and the Southern Oregon Historical Society. The soft-bound books will be available to the public at the city's cost: $20 each. Although community histories are becoming commonplace, it's rare for a city to chronicle the history of its government, Atwood said. Councilwoman Carole Wheeldon said the council enthusiastically accepted Almquist's presentation of the project three years ago. "If we look at the past, we see the present, and we see the future," she said. "I guess I recognize innovation is really valuable, and preservation is really valuable because they work together to make your life rich." The book chronicles the city from 1874 through 1999. Atwood used minutes of city meetings and newspaper stories to research the project. It tells the tales of why the city has its own power system, how citizens handled epidemics of rats and rabid dogs, and why a mayor was recalled in 1950 as well as the nuances of ordinary governance. "The thing that surprised me the most was how many kinds of repetitive cycles there have been in our community's history," Atwood said. "And how we end up facing the same issues over and over again." She noted that the need for water has come up repeatedly in the city's history as has the need to deal with homelessness. Also through studying the history of the city she saw that people have always spoken their minds in Ashland -- often stirring controversy. "There is a fair amount of contentiousness over the years in dealing with issues -- between the council and community, between the community and the city administration," she said. "I don't mean that there's this horrendous hostility, but the way we thrash out issues now is the same as it's been in the past. "Everyone has always wanted to get their two cents in." Atwood said, though, over the years the outspokenness of the people of Ashland have proven one thing more than anything else: "Everyone cares." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA