5/10/5 - North Bend to St Helens

I ran across “Weyerhaeuser Henry” yesterday in North Bend, Oregon.
I always enjoy catchin’ up with W.H. even though lately, he’s been nothin’ more than a self-righteous, bitter liberal. But, what-the-hell, I really can’t get on him too much for that, seeing how things have been going these days.
So, I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised me that he hadn’t changed much, when after my introduction of, “Well, Godammit W.H., how ya holdin’ up?”, Henry let me have it.
“How d’ya think Tom? Bush and his crony-criminals have taken this country back 75 years, I hafta hear DeLay and Frist’s crap justabout every day, Robertson, Falwell and all of them religious-shysters are completely out-of-control and for-Christ-sake Tom, just what the hell’s going on in that town you’re always bloggin’ about?”
“Whaddya mean?” I asked, happy that he’d been keepin’ up with my blog.
“Well, I’ll tell ya just what I mean Tom: I’ll be up in Rainier, Columbia City and Scappoose next week with SOLV,” he angrily explained, “and I suppose St Helens is now in the league of a Paris or a New York or somethin’? Are they too good for us?”
Wow. I really didn’t know what to say to Henry who has been an active volunteer in SOLV for years. SOLV, for those who don’t know, is a non-profit organization that brings together government agencies, businesses and individual volunteers in programs and projects to enhance the livability of Oregon.
“We’ll be cleanin' up at Datis Park and Pixie Park in Columbia City on May 20th and the next day we’re in Rainer and Scappoose…and NOTHIN’ IN ST HELENS! So I guess we’ll just head down the Columbia River coast line and skip St Helens…I mean, are the citizens of Ranier and Columbia City and Scappoose more enlightened than people in St Helens?”
"Well, some people in St Helens make it as hard as possible to pick up trash and clean things up," I offered back, not botherin' to explain any further.
"It's a cryin' shame Tom, that's all I hafta say."
“Jeez W.H., I’ll hafta let ‘em all know,” was all I could muster back.
So...ahem...
SOLV’s annual Down by the Riverside event has thousands of volunteers build trails, plant trees, shrubs and seeds, create gardens, remove invasive species, and cleaning up litter, and a number of other projects that will enhance parks and greenspaces. If you’d like to help out, you can visit www.solv.org or call 1-800-333-SOLV (7658) for specific site information including project details and date and time listings.
Keep things clean and take care of business in this town y’all…ya hear?
-Tom