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Click Here 40 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, February 6, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend February 1, 2004 Debbs Potts: as Oregon as they get Debbs Potts once lamented that he wasn’t a native Oregonian. "It was my mother’s fault," he told me in a 1998 interview. "If my mother had put me off for three days, I would have been born in Oregon, doggone it. My parents were heading for Oregon." It would have been Oregon’s great loss if his parents had headed elsewhere. Debbs was Oregonian through and through. His webfoot roots were as deep as Crater Lake, as wide as the Columbia Gorge, as strong as the winds sweeping the rugged beauty of the Oregon Coast. It matters not where you were born or when you arrived in the state. What matters is your state of mind. And Debbs’ mind was foremost on the state of Oregon. Advertisement The baby boy born Dec. 10, 1910, at Buzzard Roost, a long forgotten roadside hamlet in southern Shasta County, Calif., would be christened Eugene D. "Debbs" Potts. Chances are he was wearing his trademark awe-shucks grin when he entered this world. The burr haircut and black-rimmed glasses would come later. He was a major player in Oregon politics for nearly half a century, rising to state senate president. He became chair of the Oregon Lottery Commission when it was created in 1984, retiring last November. Debbs died Dec. 19 at his Merlin home. He was 93. Flags around the state will be at half-staff in his memory on Monday. During a memorial service for Debbs at the state capitol, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a longtime friend and fellow Democrat, will give the eulogy. In an illustration of the mark Debbs made on the body politic, representatives from the Republican side of the aisle, including former Gov. Vic Atiyeh and former Congressman Bob Smith, will be on hand to add their fond memories. My earliest memory of Debbs goes back to summer 1966. I was a high school student working as a printer’s devil at the Illinois Valley News, a then hot-lead weekly paper in Cave Junction. The job included everything from sweeping the floor to operating the ancient flat-bed press. You fed the metal monster, now resting quietly in the Kerbyville Museum, one sheet of paper at a time onto a roller while the heavy press bed slammed back and forth underneath. One day the late Bob Grant, the likable curmudgeon who was both the paper’s publisher and editor, was showing Debbs around the printing plant. I was feeding the hungry monster. When they came over to the press, I was happy to take a break, even if it was only to be glad-handed by a grip-and -grin politician. But, like many times after, I found the handshake firm and the grin genuine. Here was a fellow who simply liked people, places and things, particularly if they were Oregon nouns. The exact conversation is lost to memory, but I recall Debbs’ keen interest in the old machine. He peered into it from several angles. He asked me how it worked. "Well, Mr. Potts ...," I began in what must have been a truly sophomoric attempt at explaining the mechanics. "Everybody calls me Debbs," insisted the man who would be elected Senate president the following year, a position he served again in 1969. He stopped by a couple of times over the next year I worked there, always taking a moment to chat with the ink-smudged printer’s devil. It left an indelible impression. I was a high school student, years away from voting. Years later, as a journalist, I renewed my acquaintance with Debbs. When he was involved, the issue was invariably more interesting, more genuine, more fun. That was particularly true when I was able to visit him on his 30-acre parcel known as "Pottsville." He created Pottsville to house the Oregon memorabilia he began collecting for the 1959 state centennial. It now houses thousands of Oregon artifacts collected from as far afield as the legislative halls to the local logging woods. There is a 1,500-pound concrete step from the state capitol building, which had burned in 1935, and a red stagecoach used to make the run between Kerby and Crescent City, Calif. "I want to perpetuate a place where a poor man or rich can go to look at things for free, and maybe learn a little about Oregon history," he told me. "People need to understand our past." One which includes one great Oregonian. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times