A6
TH E BULLETIN SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2015
A pillow fight at West Point
turns bloody,bone-breaking New York TimesNewsService many of the Army's top leadFor generations, freshmen ers are trained, left 30 cadets cadets at the United States injured, including 24 with conMilitary A c ademy h a ve cussions, according to West marked the end of a grueling Point.
®. /
summer of training with a
Michael Williamson / The Washington Post
Cars
sion. They, too, believe a cool
Continued fromA1 He pumped gas to pay for
car is a fast track to a woman's heart.
"There's something to be w heels to c r u ise over t h e said about picking up a chick bridge to Washington, D.C., in this car," Kurdziolek says. or impress the girls at a local "It's cool and loud and aggresdrive-in. sive. You don't even have to Back then, he could name hear her. You don't even need the make and model ofany- music." thing that zipped by. Even The young guys realize now, cars speak for him: they are th e a n omalies in "When my wife beat ovarian their generation. Coming up cancer," he says, "I bought her behind them are people like her dream car," a '56 Chevy Kurdziolek's younger brothNomad station wagon. er, who is 21. "He can't afOn Friday evenings at the ford most cars," Kevin says. Cruise-In, Mecca and his "He's looking for something b uddies cluster behind t h e that has a long warranty on '72 Dodge Challenger and it, good fuel efficiency, Bluethe electric-blue '65 Corvette. tooth, all the odds and ends They check under the hoods for his phone. It's just about and tradestories about cars utility for him." and women and where the
years have gone.
Car to smartphone For nearly all of the first
the other way around," says John Heitmann, a historian
"The automobile provided the means for teenagers to live at the University of Dayton their own lives. Social media
blows any limits out of the water. You don't need the car
to go find friends." Much of t h e emotional meaning of the car, especially to young adults, has transferred to the smartphone,
t he
up 4 percent in the first half
of this year. Americans are choosing big vehicles again. Thanks in part to low gas prices, sales of SUVs and light trucks are up. Sedans, subcompacts, hybrids and electrics are down. "This is all actually eco-
At the Cruise-In, 30 miles
outside Washington, Mecca and a cluster of other collec-
tors, all men past the half-century mark, trade lamentsfor the days when cars had
more fanciful designs, for what they fear will be the loss of the Washington Redskins' t eam name, for t h eir c h i l-
dren's lack of interest in cars. "The world's changing too fast for me," Mecca says. "I'd like to be back in the '50s." The old guys' conversation turns to blemishes — not on the sparkling cars before them, but on their own, less
painstakingly preserved bodies. " It's benign, thank t h e Lord," Mecca says of the spot
on his scalp. " This i s
w h a t w e ta l k
about," says Gary Fanning, 58. He tried to give his son his '65 pickup. Gift declined; not interested.
Across the parking lot, though, a few much younger men take a stand for their generation. K evi n K u r d z iolek, 26, and his friend Conner Walsh, 25, match their
the cost of owning a car drops
below 10 percent of income, "young people will stop telling pollsters they can do without
sit, connect with friends digi-
tally without always having to meet in person, and live in
big cities. About 40 percent of them say they intend to stay in cities, though previous generations said that, too, before marriage and children. "With tuition and student
loan debts, young people can't afford a car," says John Townsend, longtime spokesman for the AAA Mid-Atlan-
tic. Plus, there's the sky-high cost of car insurance, an aver-
age of $1,100 nationwide. But McAlinden is confi-
often had to deal with mechanical problems. His first
few cars were "real beaters" that broke down frequently, Dad to drive them around, requiring him to bang on a and some frankly say, 'I don' t stranger's door and beg for need to drive; I can walk to help. "You'd end up interactMetro,'" says Jim Snow, a re- ing with people you wouldn' t tired Montgomery County, otherwise meet," he says. And Maryland, police officer who knowing your car paid divteaches driving at the I Drive idends. Braking was a skill. Smart school in Rockville. Parking did not involve camAs cars have become more eras or computers. automated and reliable, teens Now, he says, "cars have have lost their connection to become virtual reality boxes," the mechanics of the vehicle. infantilizing the driver. BMW "I don't see kids who know even pipes phony engine noiswhat's under the hood any- es through its cars' sound more," Snow says. "A lot of systems to make drivers feel them don'teven know how to like they' re in charge of a maopen the hood." chine that mostly runs itself. Driving these days, Crawford Reasons for the trend writes, "would seem to proWhy this disconnect is hap- mote a kind of regressionpening is very much subject back into the womb." to interpretation. Maybe carculture is wanIt's all about a craving for ing, he suggests, because simplicity, Facebook found- "parents ar e l es s a u thorier Mark Z uckerb erg has tarian and want to be your said, a r eluctance to j u mp friend." In other words, the into the trappings of adult need to rebel isn't what it used life — marriage, children, to be. car. Just as millennials delay Through the 30 years he buying houses, so too have spent as an Oldsmobile dealthey found other ways to get er, Steve Moskowitz saw this around — Uber, Zipcar, pub- coming. "In my early days, I
roots. Fewer jobs meant less money, which translated into
drag racing. They, too, know
an inability to buy, insure or
how to rebuild the suspen-
maintain a car.
campus turned bloody as some cadets swung pillowcas- knocked unconscious and takes packed with hard objects, en away in an ambulance and thought to be helmets, that had not returned to school, split lips, broke at least one they said. But a spokesman for bone, dislocated shoulders the academy, Lt. Col. Christoand knocked cadets uncon- pher Kasker, said all cadets scious. The brawl at the pub- had returned to duty. licly funded academy, where Though talk about the
cadets," Kasker said. "We are
conducting appropriate investigations into the causes of the injuries." So far no cadets have been punished, and the academy has no plans to end the annual tradition.
Fire
75 percentofthe costs for Or -
egon's most expensive fires,
now 4 decades old. Fire officials and lawmak-
Continued fromA1 Yet the bill for the state
Keith said.
ers feared British insurance
heading toward th e
saw how romantic the idea
of buying a car was," recalls Moskowitz, 67, now executive director of the Antique Auto-
mobile Club of America. For many years, people dressed up to visit the showroom. But
in later years, "people were looking for dependability and value and weren't concerned with looks and romance."
FEMA may pick up much giant Lloyd's of
l a tter of the tab "on all our most ex-
reasons," said Ti m K e i th, administrator of the state' s Land Protection Fund. First, the state splits fire-
" Their priorities are d i f -
collecting Hot W heels, and Kurdziolek's father was into
"West Point applauds the
ken leg and dislocated shoul- cadets' desire to build esprit ders in others. One cadet was and regrets the injuries to our
group funded by government and industry grants. When
ferent— they have Mom and
elders in passion. Their Mus- lic transit, texting friends to see who can offer a lift. bra and Conner's '04 Mach 1 No, it's the economy, stupid, — are buffed to a showroom some car industry analysts gleam. They, too, have dewy and executives say. The recesmemories of how their love sion hit this generation just of cars began. Walsh grew up as it was about to put down
had left one cadet with a bro-
the West Point, New York,
"If you' re surprised it isn' t more, it's for two primary
dent they will return to the auto fold. "It's completely (He also is restoring a 1971 un-American not to like moPorsche 911T Targa.) "And the tor vehicles," he said, and he
tangs — Kevin's '03 SVT Co-
program thatprepares them fortherigorsofplebeyear.
threatening.
AAA Foundation for Traffic
Collectors oldandyoung
trolled culture said the fight
omist at the Center for Automotive Research, a nonprofit
who studies Americans' relationship with automobiles.
Safety.
maraderie after the summer
build dass spirit. But this year the fight on
Sean McAlinden, chief econ-
warranties."
droid, and instead of customizing their ride, they custom-
a n nual
in West Point's strictly con-
nomics, not preferences," says
ize their phones with covers and apps," he says. "You express yourself through your phone, whereas lately, cars have become more likeappliances, with 100,000-mile
Automobile Club of America Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania. "Instead of Ford versus Chevy, it's Apple versus An-
Kasker said th e
fight is organized by first-year asked that their names not be students as a way to build ca-
way to blow off steam and
part of the fire season is much lower than it could have been — $26.5 million as of Friday afternoonhad the fires not been so
way we live now, especially on is both joking and not joking. the coasts, it's a bother to own Or maybe what it means a car. For young people, and to be American has simply not just the urban elite, there' s changed. " Digital e nticements ar e not even a desire to drive." displacing the pleasures of Fewer drivers driving," says Matt Crawford, A mericans d r i v e f e w e r a political philosopher at the miles per year — down about University of Virginia's In9 percent over the past two stitute for Advanced Studies decades. The percentage of in Culture who a lso fabri19-year-olds with driver's li- cates components for custom censes has dropped from 87 motorcycles. "So that whole percent two decades ago to 70 sense of getting in the car and percent last year. Most teens finding out what's beyond the now do not get licensed with- next town is less powerful." in a year of becoming eligible, Crawford, 49, fell in l ove according to a study by the with cars back when drivers
says Mark Lizewskie, executive director of the Antique
York Times until Thursday.
ec o n omy
bounces back, auto sales are
cars. You say you' re not interested in owning something if K urdziolek a n d Wal s h you can't afford it," he argued. don't quite fit with Mecca and the old regulars, and they' re Backtothefold already nostalgic for a time Millennials i n creasingly when teenagers rushed to get telecommute, use public tran-
century of automobile travel, their licenses. As car buffs, getting your license meant lib- their road forward looks loneeration from parental control, ly, and the way back is crowda passport to the open road. ed with another generation's Today, only half of millennials memories. bother to get their driver's liThe number of vehicles on censes by age 18. Car culture, American roads soared every the 20th-century engine of the year until the recession hit in American Dream, is an old 2008.Then the number plumguy's game. meted. Recently, it's c r ept "The automobile just isn' t back up. Similarly, the numthat i mportant t o p e ople' s ber of drivers has leveled off. "In the near future, cars will lives anymore," said Mike Berger, a historian who stud- control the driver instead of ies the social effect of the car.
Now, a s
ed on social media, West Point did not confirm it to The New
In interviews, cadets who
huge nighttime pillow fight that is billed as a harmless used forfear of repercussions
At the Sterling, Virginia, Cruise-ln, young and old alike get to view some classic cars from the 1950s mixed in with later muscle cars.
brawl on Aug. 20 had circulat-
fighting costs with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for fires
that start on federal land. Second, the state will also get federal help because some wildfires were severe and threatened communities and their watersheds. The
pensive fires: Stouts Creek, Canyon Creek, the Eagle
other year of the policy after consecutive bad fire years Complex, and th e G r izzly and after thestatehad record Complex." low snowpack last winter. It's not guaranteed that the Lloyd's eventually offered federal government will pick a policy with a $50 million up 75percent ofthe costs for deductible and a $3.75 million those fires, and the state is premium. only making a best guess at Without the help from the this point in the fire season federal government for the about its total costs. state's largest wildfires, "we It can take years to get a fi- would have blown well past nal tally on firefighting costs the $50 million deductible," because so many different Keith said. A figure for the toagenciesare involved.So the tal costs of all the agencies so state could see its portion of far was not available. the tab increase over time, Heading into Labor Day and if more fires ignite be- weekend, more than 650 of tween now and the end of fire the 884 wildfire starts this season. year on land protected by the Also helping protect the Department of Forestry were
Federal Emergency Manage- state's coffers from a spiked ment Agency will potentially bill is Oregon's unique large reimburse the state for up to wildfire insurance policy,
History
the press' attention more than Shevlin's athletic ex-
ploits was his playboy attitude. The son of a wealthy
human-caused. — Reporter: 406-589-4347, tanderson@bendbulletin.corn
to his wife and two children. Even with his athletic days Shevlin's legacy was guarbehind him, Shevlin couldn' t anteed in Bend when in 1919 Shevlin-Hixon mill.
Continued fromA1 (That undefeated 1905 stay out of the headlines. He squad is considered one of would occasionally return the greatest ever, shutting to Yale to coach his old team out nine of its 10 opponents before big games, sometimes w hile o u t scoring t e a m s relieving the current coach 227-4.) of his duties in the middle of An impressive all-around the season. "Shevlin has been called athlete, Shevlin lettered in baseball and track as well as upon by Yale teams for assisfootball — at one point he held tance more than once when the world record in the ham- the coaches in charge were mer throw — and was said to making failures of the work," be one of the best collegiate The Bulletin wrote in 1915. boxers in the country. With the construction of But what seemed to catch
L o ndon
wouldn't offer the state an-
S hevlin-Hixon d onated t h e land that would eventually become Shevlin Park. Later, in
1954, Shevlin was a member of the second classinducted
into the College Football Hall of Fame. "A sportsman, a leader, a
friend, always at the front with a dominant personality that compelled attention
and success," is how football coachinglegend Walter Camp described Shevlin to The As-
the Shevlin-Hixon mill near-
sociatedPress afterhisdeath. ing completion in Novem- "Into life, as into football, he ber 1915, Shevlin was called carried that personality and back to his old campus in it always stood him in good New Haven, Connecticut,
stead.
"Yale will miss him," added Camp, the namesake for the games of the year against Walter Camp Player of the Princeton and Harvard. Year Award given annually to "Pep a -Plenty S h o w n the top collegiate football play-
timber baron, Shevlin was
to take charge of the "Yale
a real-life Jay Gatsby — 20 years before "The Great Gatsby" was penned. He raced his "$15,000 French
eleven" before their last two
automobile" throughout New
When Tom ShevlinCame to Town," New London, Connecticut's The Day newspa-
er in the country. "Football and
eran comes out of the West
— Reporter: 541-617-7829, beastes@bendbulletitt.corn
England while in college, dressed in nothing but the highest fashion — The New Haven Register estimated he spent $17,000 one year on clothes — and may or may not have had an engagement brokenoffbecause he became "too prominent in a
sport will miss him, but above all a host of friends will feel a per wrote in a headline once deep sense of personal loss Shevlin arrived. "Old vet- that nothing can replace." and grips Yale squad with a Kaiser-like rule," the paper wrote.
The Elis topped Princeton 13-7 but lost to Harvard 41-0 in Boston, a defeat which
certain social circle" during a trip to Europe. After graduating from Yale in 1906, Shevlin came to Bend and spent six months exploring the timber po-
worse, Shevlin caught a cold he couldn't shake, which
tential of the area. That trip
eventually turned into pneu-
eventually led to the Shevlin family purchasing land and smaller timber companies in Central Oregon, which
monia. He died, 100 years ago this December, at the age of 32 in Minneapolis. Shevlin
paved the way for the future
approximately $3.5 million
secured their first losing re-
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