Thanks, Alan
Dear Editor:
The entire upper valley owes Alan Fahnestock and his crew an enormous thank you for the Mazama fire hydrant. The new fire hydrant will be crucial in saving homes in future fires. This was a true labor of love: the fundraising; the digging; the framing and the organizing. Alan in particular has spent countless hours on this project. Thank you for making our community safer.
Pen Barnes
Edelweiss
And more thanks, Alan
Dear Editor:
Alan Fahnestock had a lovely letter to the editor recently thanking all sorts of folks for getting the Mazama fire hydrant project completed, but he barely mentioned the most important player in this effort: himself. Lots of us wrote checks, some of us stopped and helped him out, but Alan jumped in with both feet. He successfully solicited donations from the Mazama community, he worked day after day at the site — often under a hot sun — with a shovel or other tool in hand, he coordinated and oversaw a stream of contractors, and he answered countless questions. This has essentially been an unpaid, full-time job for him since about May of 2021. Let me be clear, Alan Fahnestock is the reason we now have a functioning fire hydrant in Mazama.
With gratitude,
Don Davidson
Mazama
Cleanup kudos
Dear Editor:
The Methow River is sending out huge appreciation for all the folks who contributed to this year’s river clean-up effort. With the help of over 50 dedicated river loving volunteers, hundreds of pounds of trash were removed from the river! Clean water supports us humans in many ways, makes for healthy communities, and supports the plants and animals that call the river and riparian forests home.
Included in the year’s haul were: irrigation pipe (PVC, poly, and metal), portable radio (cassette and AM/FM), light switch, sunglasses, garden hose, logging cable (very old), car bumper (make and model unknown), riding lawnmower (has to be a story there), leather shoe (right foot), thongs (kind your wear on your feet), beer cans and bottles (domestic, imported, craft), green metal roofing (same old house), two tents (hope everyone made it out safe!), fencing (plastic, metal, barbed, chicken wire), T-shirt and T-posts, ball cap, soda cans (loaded with sugar and sugar free), few tires on rims, scrap wood (dimensional and ply), and lots more plastic and miscellaneous trash.
Thanks to all the sponsors including Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board, Okanogan County, Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation, Methow Rafting, Methow Recycles, WasteWise, KTRT 97.5, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Towns of Winthrop and Twisp, and Methow Valley News. Their contributions helped make the clean-up effort possible.
John Crandall
Bear Creek
Dare to dream
Dear Editor:
Looking at several recent issues of the Methow Valley News has reminded me that we live in a valley where the dreamers far outnumber the naysayers. We could go back decades to the fight over Early Winters. A small group of local residents decided to take on the U.S. Forest Service and rich developers to stop them from building a destination ski resort. It was an impossible dream when they started, but in the end they won.
Another dream was saving the Methow headwaters from a mine that could have polluted the river forever. A mining law from the 1800s made stopping the mine almost impossible. Nonetheless, the whole valley got together and convinced Congress to protect our river.
More recently, we have a new main firehouse and training center in Winthrop. A small band of naysayers fought and delayed this for years. They lost, and we won. On a much smaller scale, the new well and fire hydrant that will help fight fires in the upper valley took more than a decade of dreaming (and fundraising) by a small group of local firefighters and supporters.
I don’t have room to list dozens (hundreds!) of other dreams that we’ve seen succeed to benefit us all. Many more are in the works. For example, there is the hope for a year-around community swimming pool, a “dark skies” program to reduce light pollution that obscures the stars, and creating the RiverWalk in Winthrop.
Finally, let’s not forgot that newspapers are dying all over the country. Don’s dream of bucking this trend and keeping the News alive and vibrant has been succeeding.
Let’s keep dreaming and working to achieve our dreams.
Randy Brook
Twisp
