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Corvallis is $2 million closer to having a new museum and cultural center downtown, thanks to more than 240 donors who met a challenge offered by longtime Benton County Historical Society supporters, Peter and Rosalie Johnson. The Johnsons offered $1 million to the new museum project if the Society could match the million by February 28, 2015. According to Executive Director, Irene Zenev, donations and pledges of $1,134,510 were collected, surpassing the goal. “We are thrilled with the generosity of so many people who see the value in having this important museum to serve Benton County residents and visitors,” said Zenev. A challenge-within-a-challenge was offered by Fred and Mary Brauti who pledged the final $50,000 of the million needed if the Society reached $950,000 in donations. In a ceremony at the Benton County Historical Museum in Philomath, they presented a check from their Oregon Community Foundation donor-advised fund. “We are happy that we could complete the challenge in the drive for Benton County Historical Society’s new Corvallis museum,” said Mary Brauti of the gift.
Glass Half Full
Zenev was quick to point out that the fundraising effort is not done. “Our glass is a little more than half full,” she said, but we are not letting down our efforts to raise the rest of the money we need.” The total goal of the campaign is just over $9 million. Zenev reported “We have raised 52% of the funds needed for the project.”
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Historical Society President Neal Peterson outlined the next phase of the campaign. In addition to completing the fundraising, Peterson said, “The Society will start to look for a contractor this summer and will re-engage our architects soon thereafter.” World-renown architect Brad Cloepfil of Portland’s Allied Works Architecture, Inc. created the concept design for the museum and his firm will complete detailed drawings for the project. “We are very fortunate to have an architect of Brad’s stature working with
us,” said Peterson. “It’s an added benefit that he is an Oregon native who understands the history and culture that make our state special.”
Now-Closed OSU Museum Spurs Growth
The need for the new museum building became clear to the Society when its own collection doubled with the acquisition of some 60,000 items from the former Horner Museum on the Oregon State University campus. Horner Museum closed in 1995.
The Society’s current Benton County Historical Museum in Philomath can display only a fraction of the 120,000 items under the Society’s care. Zenev noted that the Society is not leaving Philomath, since its headquarters, research library and state-of-the-art collection-storage facility will remain there. Details of the Society’s plans for the new Corvallis museum as well as concept drawings are available on the campaign website at www.CorvallisMuseum.org.
Oregon Department of Revenue Addresses Fraud in Light of Recent Scam SALEM—The Oregon Department of Revenue has identified inconsistencies in recently-filed state tax returns prepared with third-party tax preparation software, indicating potential fraudulent activity. However, this is just one of many scams detected and stopped this filing season by the state’s tax administration agency. “Fraudulent attempts are on the rise and we’re working to stop fraud where we find it,” explained the department’s director, Jim Bucholz. Bucholz attributes the current detection of fraudulent attempts to the business rules and processes in use by the department. The characteristics of this specific fraud have been incorporated into these business rules. No department systems have been breached and taxpayer information on file with the department has not been compromised during this current situa-
tion, Bucholz said. Staff are reviewing and verifying the validity of a number of returns. The department may contact victims of identity theft. The department is working with TurboTax-developer Intuit to determine the extent of the impact on Oregon taxpayers, Bucholz said. “If we can identify victims of fraud early, it’s easier for us to help them.” If you’ve received notification that a tax return has already been filed on your behalf when you try to file your state return, contact your third-party tax preparation software vendor. Intuit, the vendor for TurboTax, has set up a dedicated hotline for its users at 800-944-8596. Visit www.oregon.gov/dor to get tax forms, check the status of your refund, or make tax payments; or call 1-800356-4222 toll-free For TTY (hearing or speech impaired), call 1-800-886-7204. Email: questions.dor@oregon.gov.
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Lodging & Drink
THE VALLEY EXPLORER
Legends of the White Eagle A prostitute killed upstairs by a jealous lover, drunken patrons shanghaied through a basement tunnel, and a waitress half-pushed, halfcarried down the basement steps by an invisible, but persistent force. Such sordid lore envelopes the White Eagle Cafe & Saloon and the details become more graphic and gruesome with each telling. At the White Eagle, the line between this world and the other—and between fact and fiction—seems to have been thoroughly and wonderfully blurred. There is more than just good story telling going on here, though. Psychics who have examined the place report a sensation of violence and death in the basement and a deep well of sadness dwelling on the second floor. The White Eagle first nested in the rough, working class waterfront neighborhood of Albina in 1905. At the time, the area was crowded with hundreds of recent arrivals from Great Britain, Scandinavia, the Balkans, Russia, the Mediterranean and the Far East. They worked on the docks, in the Union Pacific railroad shops, or at the neighboring factories and mills built along the Willamette’s east bank north of the Broadway Bridge. When a steam whistle proclaimed the end of a shift, dirty, tired men walked three or four abreast up Russell Street and disappeared into one of a dozen bars lining that bustling thoroughfare. A trolley line that ran up Mississippi Avenue stopped at Russell Street, practically dumping passengers at the White Eagle’s front door. Upon approaching the place, conductors yelled out, “Next stop, ‘Bucket of Blood,” a nickname earned from fierce and frequent brawls that erupted in and around the saloon. Two Polish immigrants, Barney Soboleski and William Hryszko, opened the White Eagle to offer other Polish immigrants a place of after-work recreation: pool, cigars, poker, liquor, beer. And, according to the lore, with the right connection and proper amount of money, patrons could indulge in a brothel upstairs or an opium den downstairs. Another notorious feature of the basement was a tunnel connecting to an underground network leading to the waterfront. Legend has it that through this subterranean passageway unlucky patrons were shanghaied to fill the ranks of ships’ crews. On the White Eagle’s ground level, the Polish proprietors dressed out their
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gentlemen’s emporium handsomely with a mahogany back bar crafted in Europe in the 1800s and a tile floor laid out in a beautiful Native American pattern. When state Prohibition brought the curtain down on (legal) drinking in 1916, the Bucket of Blood became the place for neighborhood kids to get ice cream cones. Although, so the story goes, folks wanting a good stiff pop could still get the goods down in the basement, below the “soda shop.” Once the veil of Prohibition lifted in 1933, many of the ragged qualities of the White Eagle were smoothed over. For the next 35 years, it served faithfully a hardworking, blue-collar clientele, offering cold glasses of Oly, hearty burgers, and honest games of pool, shufflebowler, and cards. By the early ‘60s, the back room was usually held by a group of old cronies playing hand after hand of pangini and sucking on Irish cigars (stogies dipped in a glass of whiskey).
Then in the early ‘70s, rock music and long hair were introduced to the hard hat bar. Surprisingly, it worked out; everyone coexisted under the bark and watchful eye of the bartender, a gruff and stocky 30-year-old Brooklyn-born, former bookie, bouncer, and bus driver, named Tony Ferrone. The White Eagle’s first house band was an eclectic and acoustic, good time outfit called the Fly By Night Jass Band. They were young musicians who had been performing in a theatrical production at the neighboring Storefront Theater (now the Widmer Brewery). When they walked into Tony’s bar with their instruments in tow and asked for a drink, Tony gave them a new gig, and thus was born a live music tradition that is now as big a part of the Eagle as its storied past. The Fly By Nights paved the way for other stellar Portland acts to play the Russell Street landmark. White Eagle
favorites of the ‘70s and ‘80s were the Pete Karnes Blooz Band, Driving Sideways, Paul DeLay, Terry Robb, Steve Bradley, Robert Cray, the Razorbacks, and the much celebrated and wildly popular Holy Modal Rounders. Final sets at the Eagle achieved legendary status. People lined up along Russell Street at 1:30 in the morning to get in. As Billy Hults of the Fly By Night recalled, “someone had to leave before someone else could go in,” or more likely, the mercurial Tony Ferrone, would throw someone out which would allow someone new to come in. Alcohol flowed liberally on these evenings. In fact, the Eagle, it’s been said, sold more tequila than any other place in the state. It was not uncommon to see scores of shot glasses brimming with Jose Cuervo and a lemon slice lining the bar top. The most famous round served came at the end of one closing set of a Mighty Good Eatin’ show early in 1974. The band thanked the enthusiastic audience by donating its night’s wages—$100—to the purchase of 125 shots of tequila, which Tony Ferrone set up along the edge of the bar for the house to enjoy. Over the past quarter century, the White Eagle’s music, checkered past, finely crafted saloon furnishings, and other worldly vibes have lured the curious, the ghost hunters, and the folks who just want to dance with a beer in hand. Among the more illustrious visitors have been actor Matt Dillon, blues harpist Charley Musselwhite, Billy Gibbons of Z Z Top, and the crew that built the Fremont Bridge. And all found themselves in good, spirited company.
ENVIRONMENT
THE VALLEY EXPLORER
Commission Briefed on Growth of Oregon’s Wolf Population SALEM, Ore.—Wolves are increasing in abundance and expanding in distribution across Oregon, the Fish and Wildlife Commission heard today at its meeting in Salem. ODFW Wolf Coordi nator Russ Morgan presented the 2014 Oregon Wolf Report. ODFW documented 77 known wolves in Oregon in 2014, including 26 pups that survived through the end of the year. Eight of Oregon’s nine known wolf packs were “breeding pairs,” meaning they had at least two pups born in spring that survived through the end
of the year. Six new pairs of wolves were also documented in Oregon last year, Morgan said. While 2014 saw fewer incidents of livestock depredation by wolves than the previous year, Morgan noted an increase in sheep depredation. He also discussed the management rules in effect since late January 2015 in the eastern third of Oregon (east of Hwys 395-78-95), where the state is in Phase II of its Wolf Management Plan. “Non-lethal preventive measures are still very important in Phase II,” Morgan told Commissioners.
More details are available in the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management 2014 Annual Report. The Commission also approved $755,093 in funding for 14 enhancement and one restoration projects recommended by the Fish Restoration and Enhancement Board, and a combined 2015-17 program budget for the R&E and Salmon Trout Enhancement programs. The Commission appointed William Bronson, a retired forester from Eugene, as the new Landowner Representative for the Access and Habitat Board and
approved continued funding for several A&H projects that provide public hunting access to private land. The Commission is the policy-making body for fish and wildlife issues in Oregon. It usually meets monthly. The next meeting is April 24 in Bend.
-Photo by ODFW-
And now, the legends continue...
White Eagle Cafe & Saloon 836 N Russell St, Portland, OR 97227 (503) 282-6810 www.mcmenamins.com/ WhiteEagle
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2014 pup of the Wenaha wolf pack. Photo taken during summer 2014 in Wallowa County. Oregon’s wolf packs produced at least 26 pups last year.
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ENVIRONMENT
THE VALLEY EXPLORER
By Shayne Morgan
HEALTH
The Sisters Wilderness in Central Oregon, with three towering snow capped peaks reaching toward a blue bird sky. Breath taking views of lakes nestled inside mountains, etched into the backdrop of an infinite blue sky. I have been there for recreation and for work as a wild land firefighter for seven seasons. The mountain air and wind blowing through the tall Ponderosas clears a weary mind. The abundant wildlife scurrying back and forth through the cool forest. Green grasses and ferns growing under the canopy of towering Ponderosa pines. The smell of fresh rain and pine needles. Squirrels gathering acorns and pine nuts. Northern Alligator Lizards leaping through the hot dust, leaving a trail behind, as their tail whips behind them. These are the calm and healing moments in the wilderness. I want to ask Mother Nature how tranquil you can be, then at a moments notice when the forests’ become dry and lightning strikes, have one foot in hell from raging wildfire. As summer gets hotter and the forests turn drier, the sky turns angry. Winds blow ferociously between the peaks. Bright lightning strikes, across a pale, dim night sky. Some lightning strikes are air to ground, while others are ground to sky. The fury in the wilderness as the lightening ignites raging wildfires. I ask the wilderness, how you can go from the tranquility of a “Buddhist Monk” to the anger of a “demon?” I have seen wildfires with flames shooting hundreds of feet into the starry sky. When just hours earlier it was an uncharted and untouched forest. Now instead of cool rain showers, embers fall from a fiery hell. The peaceful memories destroyed in minutes with the burst of 2800 degree flames. The winds can blow. Snow, sleet and hail can fall. It is all beautiful in its own way. The changing of the seasons is like a changing of the guard. Spring flowers, winter snows, fall colors, and summer rains. I ask the wildness; how she created such beauty, such diversity, but can make it all end so quickly with a fit of fiery rage? The rabbits, squirrels, deer, and snakes scurrying out of fires way and Mother Nature’s wrath screams like a ‘bat out of hell’ as it devours everything in its path with hellish flames. When the fire has burned, and the ash has settled, the wilderness brings more surprises with life normally unseen to the eye. Unique wasps and bark beetles that mate on the hot coals. How can mother nature create such diversity and bring a phoenix of life out of the ashes. New seedlings, which the fire forced open, re-seed in the spring. The wilderness is diverse, pure, and self-sustaining. I ask the wilderness what she thinks of man intruding on her with cutting, building, polluting, and molesting. She survived the harshest conditions the planet has brought yet, but can she survive the impact of man’s destruction and selfishness.
ROSEBURG, Ore – Rock Creek Hatchery will temporarily be closed to the public during raceway reconstruction. The closure begins March 16 and is expected to continue through June. Two 75-year-old raceways for South Umpqua River winter steelhead broodstock will be reconstructed into four, increasing rearing capacity by 25 per-
cent and allowing biologists to conduct research studies. The estimated $600,000 project is being completed by Deschutes Construction Corporation of Bend, Oregon. Funding is through the Restoration and Enhancement Program which generates revenue by a surcharge on sport fishing licenses, and a $20,000 matching grant from the Umpqua Steelhead Enhancement Derby.
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CORVALLIS, Ore. – In the continuing debate over how much vitamin E is enough, a new study has found that high levels of blood lipids such as cholesterol and triglycerides can keep this essential micronutrient tied up in the blood stream, and prevent vitamin E from reaching the tissues that need it. The research, just published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also suggested that measuring only blood levels may offer a distorted picture of whether or not a person has adequate amounts of this vitamin, and that past methods of estimating tissue levels are flawed. The findings are significant, the scientists say, because more than 90 percent of the people in the United States who don’t take supplements lack the recommended amount of vitamin E in their diet. Vitamin E is especially important in some places such as artery walls, the brain, liver, eyes and skin, but is essential in just about every tissue in the body. A powerful, fat-soluble antioxidant, it
plays important roles in scavenging free radicals and neurologic function. In the diet, it’s most commonly obtained from cooking oils and some vegetables. Some experts have suggested that recommended levels of vitamin E should be lowered. But because of these absorption issues, the recommended level of 15 milligrams per day is about right, said Maret Traber, the lead author of this study. Inadequate vitamin E intake remains a significant societal problem, she said. “This research raises particular concern about people who are obese or have metabolic syndrome,” said Traber, who is the Helen P. Rumbel Professor for Micronutrient Research in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University, and a principal investigator in OSU’s Linus Pauling Institute. “People with elevated lipids in their blood plasma are facing increased inflammation as a result,” Traber said. “Almost every tissue in their body is
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tope methodology that these researchers believe is more accurate, they concluded that only 24 percent of vitamin E is absorbed into the body, instead of previous estimates of 81 percent measured by the use of radioactive vitamin E. “In simple terms, we believe that less than one third the amount of vitamin E is actually making it to the tissues where it’s most needed,” Traber said. Vitamin E in the blood stream is not completely wasted, Traber noted. There, it can help protect LDL and HDL cholesterol from oxidation, which is good. But that doesn’t offset the concern that not enough of this micronutrient may be reaching tissues, she said. Collaborators on this study were from the USDA Human Nutrition Center on Aging at Tufts University, and the Children’s Nutrition Research Center at the Baylor College of Medicine. The work was supported by the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the National Institutes of Health.
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under oxidative attack, and needs more vitamin E. But the vitamin E needed to protect these tissues is stuck on the freeway, in the circulatory system. It’s going round and round instead of getting to the tissues where it’s needed.” This research was done with 41 men and women, including both younger and older adults, who obtained vitamin E by eating deuterium-labeled collard greens, so the nutrient could be tracked as it moved through the body. Of some interest, it did not find a significant difference in absorption based solely on age or gender. But there was a marked difference in how long vitamin E stayed in blood serum, based on higher level of lipids in the blood – a more common problem as many people age or gain weight. The study also incorporated a different methodology, using a stable isotope instead of radioactive tracers, than some previous research, to arrive at the estimates of vitamin E that made it to body tissues. Using the stable iso-
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High Cholesterol, Triglycerides can keep Vitamin E from Reaching Body Tissues
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