Page 4 RAIN June 1976 RURAL ROOTS continued from p~ge 3 Creek Road. The U.S. Forest Service also met with us and has rejected . our proposal for manual control of vegetation. We are initiating litigation in federal court against them. We have complained to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Environmental Quality and The Tool Shed in turn is supported by the Church of the Creative, a small, rural, intentional community here since 1970. The Church in turn is involved in a number of areas." (Hexam Creek Notes, Spring 1976, p. 1) • The·coming together, gather.ing, building bridges seems to be happening, sometimes through spontaneous awareness among many people of: I have roots. I'm staying here. And sometimes through crisis (as in the case of Citizens Against are having our water quality monitored by the Oregon State Department of Agricult_ure. Action against the private company that sprayed a homestead water system with 2,4-0 and 2,4,5-T is pending. • Membership in CATS is only $5, but we are asking for larger donations to help pay for ever-growing legal fees and expenses. We have lots .Toxic Sprays-or in California, the case of owner-builders of references on he_rbicides and would like to get more. Let us know ·. ... being tagged for housing code violations). • . •RAIN welcomes other ins~ances of ·community building. (SJ) what is happening ip your area and we'll let you know about ours. CATS, Route 1, Box 14, Deadwood, Oregon 97-430; or Route 2, Box 242, Tidewater, Oregon 97390. Over in Camas Swale (or as it's known through its post office, Creswell) Oregon, there's the Hexam Creek Notes, Church of the Creative, and the Tool Shed. • .Johan Mathieson, one of the primary persons involved in the activities, talks about the possibility of rural access to urban information flows, to the world ·out there in general through the use of telecopiers/telefacsimile. Ht;xam Creek Notes is Johan's perso~al newsletter, in a sense (with access for all), stamped graphically with his handwritten copy, bits and pieces of the world at afar and notice~ of local happenings. "How It Works," the Notes explain: "Hexam Creek Notes , are published by the Tool Shed and are financially supported by a loose group of friends concerned with life in the Camas Swale Valley. It goes out to all my near neighbors plus a number of other peopl.e around the Northwest. The Tool Shed, ,for its part, is a rural acces.s center that finances a library and general information depot concerned with the ,Valley and rural life. It maintains contact with the 'infor- , mation nets and does a lot of reaping. Cerro. Gordo Cottage Grove, OR 97424 •. ~~'''. ,;.. .. . ··:: ·~· - -I first heard about ~nis planned community talking with some people with the . Oregon EnvironmentarCouncil who' were feeling the need to say something. I mean, it's the idea of more people. They were planning a town of 2,500 people-mostly newcomers to the state. They might use, or contaminate, for example, over 3;2_ million gallons of water in a year flushing toilets. • But Cerro Gordo has·since gotten informal endorsement from the OEC. They are doing carrying capacity studies of the 1200 acres they are building ori, developing small scale industries and from rumors off and on 'getting involved in many lc;>cal comm,unity projects·. Chuck Missar writes from Cerrn • Gordo: How's Cerro Gordo coming? We cut a road in for the w~ll drilling rig this week, and next week we hope to have our fir'st well dug and producing. Now if the water will only be pure and no,J: loaded with arse.nic, as is often found in these here parts. We're doing some site clearing this we~k for the first home sites. Lord willing and the bankers· come through, we'll be starting construction on our first homes in about a month: We keep chipping away at the government bureaucracies (or is it the other way around?) and maybe someday we'll have what we're looking for. What Cottage Grove feels.like? Real good. Most of the time. Sometimes'! get very down from feeli"ng that this town is going the way of San Jose, but then I realize it really isn't' quite that bad. I just finished my first year on the Cottage Grove Planning Commission. The emotional, intellectual and philosophical push and shove from this involvement is heavy. Land use planning is where the action's· at in most cities, I feel, and a lot more people .should get vocal in what's happening in their ~own,.' Most people aren't heard from until their ox is getting gored. Get involved afthe local level, especially in small towns. A little ·indignation goes a long way. we· love to walk through the quiet streets, • past the small older houses, and meet the retired farmers, etc., who come to the city to settle. Our neighbors are priceless sources of information and inspiration. We thought Cottage Grove was a small town when we left the S.F. Bay area. Now we're ready for'a rea~ly small towri. What's new? We acquired the neighbor's _cat, Jasper, before they moved; the Energy Primer is in its fifth printing, 75,000-plus . copies to date; my little business consulting trip, Briarpatch Services, struggles along;'the 80-year-old carpenter gothic house we bought and ·redid extensively still is in desperate need · of finishing; we just got a pickup load of fresh horse shit delivered for the garden; my darkroom is working out just fine, thank you; we've got a cord of maple out in the side yard that needs splitting still; just got our income tax refund check; with 10 other families we just bought three head of cattle and are awaiting the frozen results;'pears and apple trees are in.beautiful seasonal sartorial splendor; Dian cleaned up the s~udy; my attempts to take creative pictures of neighborhood cats was'a bomb. • A "Californian's" impression of the Northwest? Wet. My fingers are developing a touch of arthritis. Poor. Every once in a while EP business : takes me back to Portola Institute. The fancy cars, fur coats, expensive restaurants lined up like fence posts, etc., boggle the mind when I get to a large urban area. The dichotomy of wealth between an urban an·d rural area is amazing. Beautiful. Wet; Multi-talented people. Odd things spotted? Me; in the.mirror this morning. Animals figuring out how to live with us or vice versa? Jasper, the aforementioned cat, trying to figure out where Dian and I are at. The whole process of us each trying to understand the other's biological clock is a real kick. Peace, sunshine, and a good apple crop ... (Chuck Missar) ' • ,For more information about commu- , nity land news and developments of other communities, subscribe·to The Town Forum. They also sponsor town forums. Write for details. '(SJ)
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