Greetings Brother and
Sister Elks,
My name is Damon Papp and
I am the Exalted Ruler of Winsted Lodge #844. Our lodge has
a plethora of projects and activities that we are involved
in and it is with a great deal of pride and excitement that
I am able to inform everyone of our newest youth activity.
On Tuesday evening, August 10, 2008 we held our first
official Antlers meeting. We have a total of 17 youths,
from Winsted as well as Torrington, Colebrook and
Barkhamsted. These youngsters applied and were found
favorable by the Antler Adviser Committee. On Tuesday
evening, September 7, 2010, these youths will take The
Antler Oath and thus will become the First ever Antlers in
the state of Connecticut. This will be a most proud and
momentous occasion for our Lodge, as well as for these young
people who I am confident will prove to be not only an asset
to our Lodge and community but will attain a great deal of
pride as they embark on this endeavor.
Fraternally,
Damon Papp
Exalted Ruler, B.P.O.E. 844
|
Mill Ends Park: Nearly 55 years ago, Oregon
Journal editor and columnist Dick
Fagen was working in his second-story office, which gave a
pleasant view of Front Avenue and the
Willamette River beyond. But one day a hole
appeared in the concrete dividing the north- and
southbound lanes of the street.
Apparently, the city had intended to
place a light pole at the spot, but
the pole never came. Fagen, who was
well-known for his inventiveness and
"puckish Irish humor," grew tired of
the ungainly sight and planted a few flowers in the hole.
He named the park after the
popular column he wrote for the Oregon Journal
entitled, "Mill Ends." (Trivia bit: Mill ends are the
irregular, rough pieces of lumber left
over at a lumber mill.) On St. Patrick's Day in 1948,
the park
was officially dedicated to the city. Since that time,
Portlanders have made many curious
contributions to the park including flying saucers,
miniature Ferris wheels, statues and a tiny swimming pool
for the entertainment of the
leprechauns who were rumored to live there. (Leprechaun
population at the park has yet to be determined.) Mill
End's Park is still the site of St.
Patrick's Day festivities, picnics and rose planting by the
Junior Rose Festival Court.
Voodoo Donuts is
well known for its outrageous donuts, from cheerios on top, to
bacon with maple icing (sounds gross but it is fabulous),
to a doll shape donut with a pretzel
in it's belly for "Voodoo", plus many other extreme
measures to graphic to describe. The park was really
cool, we drove around three times
until we actually noticed it in the middle of the street, as it
was so tiny.
 At
a staggering 620 feet in height, Multnomah Falls beckons nearly
two million visitors annually to its
location along the Columbia River
Gorge. Multnomah Falls is easily the
tallest falls in Oregon. It's also the second
tallest year-round waterfall in the United States.
Fed by the crystal clear water of underground springs
originating in Larch
Mountain, Multnomah Falls divides into two distinct
sections as it crashes to the ground.
The much taller upper falls is thinner and longer while the
lower section is wider and stronger. There is a fairly
easy, short hiking
trail up to Benson Bridge, which is what everyone climbed.
However, for more experienced hiker,
or at least the more adventuresome visitor, like
Debbie and Gene Clodfelter (DDGER Central), there is a
hiking trail to the
top of the waterfall. This hike is long and strenuous. It's a
mile and one quarter long hike, with
11 switchbacks, at a forty-five degree angle most of
the way. The view at the top is very much worth the
effort.
Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
One of Nature's Youngest and Most Dynamic Natural Landscapes
that erupted on May 18, 1980. Shaken
by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the
Richter scale, the north face of this
tall symmetrical mountain collapsed in a massive rock
debris avalanche. Nearly 230 square miles of forest was
blown down or buried beneath volcanic
deposits. At the same time a mushroom-shaped column of ash
rose thousands of feet skyward and drifted downwind,
turning day into night as dark, gray
ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond. The eruption
lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding
landscape were dramatically changed
within moments. In 1982, the President
and Congress created the 110,000-acre
National Volcanic Monument for research,
recreation, and education. Inside the Monument, the
environment is left to respond
naturally to the disturbance.
 Mt.
Hood was a two hour drive from our hotel, although we could see
it from the balcony of our rooms. Tim
and Debbie traveled to Mountain, riding the
ski lift to near the top, where they met up with several
championship snow boarders. They had
lunch at the foot of the mountain, inside the Timberline
Lodge, where "The Shining" was filmed in 1980 by Stanley
Kubrick. This film is one of the
all-time great horror classics, which featured Jack Nicholson
slowly losing his grasp on reality, in a hallucination of
a 1920s era ball. Twenty-Eight years
later, Nike Sportswear and Fantastic Fest have joined
forces to recreate the very same ball at the very same
lodge. The public is invited to spend
the night and experience the Shining in the privacy of
their room or during a dinner show. |
