by Bruce Garrett
In cooperation with the Oregon Health Authority, the City of Jacksonville will facilitate a series of COVID-19 vaccine clinics at Jacksonville New City Hall, 206 N 5th Street, Second Floor Assembly Room (ADA Accessible). ANYONE MAY PARTICIPATE for a first or second vaccine. Your name and birth date are all that is required. […]
This month, I would like to give you some information on a program available for historic structures in Jacksonville that is currently in process. Many of you may be unaware of the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), which is under the aegis of the Historic Architectural Review Commission […]
A Few Minutes with the Mayor – August 2021
I hope you’re having a wonderful summer and enjoying the freedom of Oregon being open after the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s an update on what’s happening in Jacksonville and what your City Council has been up to.
Budget—At the June 1, City Council meeting, your Council approved resolution R2021-002—Adopting […]
After a non-existent 2020 season, due to COVID-19, Britt Music and Arts Festival has worked hard to provide programs for 2021. Recently your Mayor, City Administrator and staff, City Planner, and City Fire Chief, along with Britt President and CEO, Donna Briggs, met for a pre-season conference […]
Recently, fully vaccinated, my husband and I flew to our southern states and then drove home to Oregon from Jacksonville, Florida. We took care of some family obligations and visited old, familiar haunts and some new places along the way. I found myself comparing every place we […]
This month, I would like to provide a short recap of my first three months serving as Mayor. I thought I was as prepared as possible to serve as Mayor, after six plus years on the HARC, three years on Budget Committee and 2 years as a […]
This month, I want to address something that several citizens have commented on—which may be an uncomfortable subject for some. I tried several approaches to this subject, but this subject is hard to write about for some reason. I tried scientific, humorous, dead-pan and folksy… none seemed […]
We have been lucky to have fire protection in Jacksonville for many decades. Organized in 1883, Jacksonville’s original volunteer fire department, Engine Company #1, responded to the call of the Jacksonville Fire Hall bell well into the 1950s. Eventually, it was re-organized into a professional department with […]
We have all been through quite a stretch since last winter. Life as we knew it is different and not by choice. Some days it seems we have given up much that we will never regain. We miss our freedom of travel; dining out; the movies; […]
Well, here it is… my last column as Mayor. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to write. I mean, what do I say at the end of a ten-year run? “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” What drivel! When is sorrow sweet? If you’re sorrowful you’re not […]
Recognize this song title? It’s the song of every immigrant who ever came to America after leaving home, family and friends behind seeking a better life. Immigrants like Irving Berlin who wrote it, a Russian Jew escaping Russian tyranny… Einstein escaping German genocide… or Gloria Estefan whose […]
The deadline for submitting this column was rapidly approaching as I finished what I hoped would be an appropriate topic as I near the end of my term as Mayor. Then disaster hit… a broadside of bad tidings for our people in Jacksonville and the rest of […]
Recently, I received three postcards from Jacksonville citizens, all denouncing me as a racist for my July column. The column deplored racism, but the readers read it to mean quite the opposite. How very sad! I may have far more reason to condemn racism as well as […]
I got up the usual way this morning… one eye half closed and legs that wobbled with a message to stop at once, crawl back under the sheets and go back to sleep. Rejecting such temptation, I groped my way to the bathroom. Reaching the bathroom mirror, […]
One of the most familiar quotations in literature came to mind as I saw our nation’s cities explode in violence once again. It was by Charles Dickens who wrote the following words to introduce “A Tale of Two Cities,” a story of nobles and not-so-nobles during the […]
With time on my hands, as so many of us have these days, I was surfing the Internet when this quotation popped up on my screen: “When everything seems to be against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” No… that’s […]
The other day someone asked me to compare the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on citizen‘s lives with the aftermath of Pearl Harbor during World War 2. I can start by saying that nothing else in my ninety years on this planet has […]
Our twin-date movie nights at Old City Hall when we ran The Last of The Wild Horses, a 1948 film shot in Jacksonville and other parts of the Valley including the Rogue River, wound up being a great success. Reluctantly, we had to turn away fifty or […]
A few days ago, I was watching the news on television. There were two anchors on camera and the longer they talked the more I began to see them as two bottles of vinegar. Their words, their countenance, their every vocal inflection, were lacking any warmth or […]
A number of you know that a Hollywood motion picture, The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, was filmed right here in Jacksonville in 1972. You may not know of another film released in 1948… also filmed right here in Jacksonville.
In 1947, a successful independent producer, Robert L. Lippert, […]
Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Fa la la la la, la la la la
‘Tis the season to be jolly
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Familiar words at this time of year, yes, but what if we cannot muster up any “jolly-ness?” What […]
Growing old isn’t easy. There are no classes for it, and it’s not as if one has much choice. It just happens faster than we expect. We go along from day-to-day, then one morning a look in the mirror, and suddenly, it’s a different face staring back. […]
A prominent citizen visited my office recently to complain about a statement I made in one of my columns. The statement read, “It is the Constitution that holds our political parties in check. It stopped the Republicans from destroying President Truman. Today it is stopping the Democrats […]
Long, long ago there was a fellow named Charles Atlas. That wasn’t his real name, but it sounded good for a body-building guru which he certainly was. Everyone knew about him because his ads were everywhere… especially in comic books where they were […]
Some readers may remember a column years ago about my falling and then riding in an ambulance to the ER. It struck me as humorous how repeatedly I was asked my birthdate… 11-14-29. However, I annoyed a couple of readers who mistook my humor […]
I was 16 years old when I went to college. The year was 1946, World War II had ended, the GI Bill had been passed by Congress, and the colleges were flooded with soldiers returning home to resume their lives. It was no […]
Ah! Summer! That long-awaited season of warm sun, balmy winds, and blue skies. Just as Mr. Gershwin wrote:
Summertime, and the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high
Let […]
Recently, I was having lunch with some leading citizens when one of them, Linda Kestner, spoke about her deep love for our little town. You may recall that Linda was a recipient of our Citizen of The Year award, and if anybody can […]
Why is it, the older one gets, the more difficult it is to remember recent events while the easier it is to remember something in the distant past? I guess this is true for almost everyone except maybe politicians who, when faced with questions about the present […]
The women seen dining here are members of the “Jacksonville Belles and Beaus Old West Society.” They celebrate history by donning costumes for almost any era dating back to the Civil War—but with an emphasis on the Victorian days. You’ve seen them in Jacksonville’s Christmas and Chinese New Year parades; at other times strolling sidewalks […]
One of the joys of being your Mayor is introducing you to the wonderful people who make our city work—the fine, professional staff at City Hall. At City Hall, I’m glad to say, you’ll find people who actually care about helping you and I’m happy to introduce […]
‘Tis the season… a time for family and friends to gather around the Christmas table or the Christmas tree… a time for love and good will to all. Winston Churchill described Christmas “as a season not only of rejoicing, but of reflection.” In Jacksonville, we reflect […]
The election is upon us. With all its insane anger and pent up hatred, I’ll be glad when it is over. Contrarily, I welcome the Thanksgiving season for the blessings in life. It’s a feeling we should have year-round.
Every election seems to get worse with the name […]
I thought I’d put the election off till next month. You already know how I feel about this terrible meals tax proposal.
Have you noticed a lack of civil discourse in these times? Of course you have. Just turn on the television news and cable channels and the […]
As your Mayor, I’m always ready to take responsibility for my actions. Screw Up—‘Fess Up is my rule. So imagine my surprise when confronted with accusations of sponsoring the meals tax initiative on this November’s election ballot. Evidently the assumption was made on the part of some, […]
Summertime and the livin’ is easy…
Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high
Those lyrics Ira wrote to his brother George’s music seem very appropriate as we head into August and the heart of summer. Summertime! The mere word brings thoughts of picnics on the lawn, blankets on the beach and boating on the lake. For […]
One song I remember growing up was sung by a very sincere June Allyson in a movie called Good News. The song was The Best Things in Life Are Free. The words went…
Ah the moon belongs to everyone
The best things in life they’re free
Stars belong to everyone
They […]
I need to start this column by thanking a couple of people, who through their efforts have made a positive contribution to our city: Donna McMann and Donna Williams, neither of whom lived in Jacksonville.
Donna McMann possessed a beautiful, circa 1880s upright piano which she treated with […]
A visitor stopped by my office the other day to discuss a dream she has. That dream is to one day see a world where everyone who is handicapped and wheelchair-bound will have the freedom of movement to go where others go who take it for granted. […]
Though it was half a century ago, it seems as fresh to me now as the day it happened. I was what they called a Data Processing Manager in those days. One of those fellows who ran all of the business computer systems which included Operations, Systems […]
I know a young man who was recently visiting who needed to pick-up two weeks of work in order to earn money to return home. When the time came for him to be picked-up and taken to the job, he became flustered because he couldn’t find his […]
When you woke up this morning, how did you feel? Were you happy? Did you feel like singing? Did your morning coffee have that refreshing aroma? Were you exuberant at the thought of a new day? Was the sky bluer? Was the grass […]
Did you know we have a town historian? Well, we do! He’s one of the many volunteers who serve without pay in our community. His name is Larry Smith and he can just about recite the history of any event, person, or structure within our city. He’s […]
I recently had occasion to remember a political figure I listened to every week on the radio. His name was Senator Claghorn and he was a true Southern spokesman. One week, when objecting to the import and sale of apples from the North, and being told that’s […]
We all have one of “those days,” a day when unforeseen circumstances alter our plans. Sometimes they offer pleasant surprises. Oftentimes they are anything but pleasant. I had one of these in late July, and thought it worth sharing.
July 4th has come and gone… now for the “lazy hazy days of summer.” If you missed it, we had one “swellegant” party here in town on the Courthouse lawn with 350 to 400 people this year. That’s not counting the many volunteers as well as the […]
Independence Day is at hand. Congratulations and Happy Birthday America. It’s been quite a ride for 241 years. When the Continental Congress formalized the Declaration of Independence with the signature of John Hancock, they took a step so bold and daring and went where no others had […]
Last month, we ran a film called Saturday’s Children at Old City Hall. It’s a story about people living in tenements… people like my own family.
In buildings like this, there were no elevators, so the higher the floor on which you lived, the cheaper the rent.
Ours was […]
I’ve always wanted to “play” Walter Winchell in one of my columns. Walter would jump from topic to topic in almost every other sentence. So… with the forbearance of my publisher, here goes.
Greetings Mr. and Ms. Jacksonville wherever you are, in your home or in one of […]
In my years as Mayor, the two questions I get most often are, “Will we have a museum again?” and “What are the chances of having a live theater in town?” In case you didn’t know, Jacksonville once had a permanent melodrama theater in the old Pioneer […]