By Don Nelson
I swear, I had nothing to do with it.
But once Lauralee Northcott, the irrepressible, multi-talented Horse Crazy cowgirl started putting together the little shindig that will take over the Methow Valley Community Center on Saturday (Jan. 31), I had no choice but to become happily involved.
Lauralee has poured a lot of energy and personal persuasion (it’s powerful, take my word for it) into producing what’s being billed as a 113th birthday party for the Methow Valley News. It’s essentially a variety show that will include music, humor and a bit of sketch comedy celebrating the newspaper’s 1.13 centuries of existence.
Quite a few local people with a lot of talent will be involved. Then there’s me. I’ll have a very small part in the proceedings. A few other Methow Valley News staffers may also make appearances.
The show has been in the works for many months, since the idea germinated last year. Lauralee promises some light-hearted fun and, indeed, we expect a few cheeky pokes at the News. We can handle it.
To be abundantly clear, the show is not a fundraiser, although donations will be accepted. Lauralee hopes to take in enough to pay for rental of the space.
The show starts at 7 p.m. Don’t expect a cake with 113 candles. There will be a few chuckles, many at the newspaper’s expense. You don’t last that long without developing a few idiosyncrasies.
They’re walkin’ here
Our civic duty of the week is to pass along this plea from Winthrop Town Hall: please watch out for the semi-urban deer that have taken up residence in and around the town this winter.
Yes, that’s an annual admonition, but it seems that this year the deer are exercising their presumed pedestrian prerogatives with more frequency and less attention to the vehicular on-comings, especially along Highway 20 (Riverside Avenue).
A couple of weeks ago someone placed one of those sandwich-board signs on Riverside near the Methow Conservancy Office on a heavily trafficked weekend evening (I don’t know if it was official), asking drivers to be really, really, really aware of the deer activities. Sure enough, as I was driving through, a couple of does walked right in front of the sign as though there were a crosswalk painted on the pavement.
Not overdue
Not naming names, but I was in the Winthrop library over the weekend when a patron came in asking for some help. Seems that the patron’s household had come into possession of two identical copies of the same book — one purchased, one checked out from the library — and, you guessed it, the wrong one was returned. The patron was hoping that the library system could track down the purchased copy (he brought back the library’s book). Apparently, this happens regularly enough that it’s not all that surprising to the librarians. You can always check the top ridge of a book for the “North Central Regional Library” stamp to be sure what you’re dealing with.
A good start
Don Reddington reports that the response has been “amazing” to the story we published a couple of weeks ago introducing a series of articles that Don will write over the next year about coping with Alzheimer’s. Don will have the assistance of Raleigh Bowden and News reporter Laurelle Walsh with his monthly offerings.
Our plan is to publish the articles every second Wednesday beginning in February. We hope you’ll look for them, and appreciate the candor, generosity and courage that Don is bringing to this project.
