Evan Sorce appointed to vacant city councilor seat, questions linger
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, February 14, 2025
Evan Sorce, who has served on the Independence Planning Commission and is a former chief of staff for Rep. Paul Evans, was selected to fill the vacant seat on the Independence City Council this past Tuesday night, becoming the town’s newest city councilor.
However, his appointment raised questions about the process – by some who tried to view the meeting remotely – that remain unanswered along with other inquiries.
Though two candidates were selected as finalists to be interviewed by the city councilors, only one – Sorce – was able to be heard by outside viewers at the special meeting. The other, Bradley Karkanen, answered the same series of questions that councilors presented to Sorce, but Karkanen comments were inaudible.
No explanation appears to have been given for this transmission difference on either the city’s website or Facebook page, but the video seems to show a scramble to deal with a “red light” before Sorce began answering questions from the council.
Trammart News approached the city’s communication director, Emmanuel Goicochea, at the meeting to ask if he was going to answer an email about the process; He had been sent an email inquiry early Monday.
“I haven’t seen it,” Goicochea said. Pressed by Trammart News to reply to the email, he said: “I will take a look.” The same email was then re-sent, followed by a voice mail as a reminder, but no response has been received from Goicochea.
After a special session by the city council, Sorce was chosen over Karkanen, an IT specialist who joined the library board last summer. Sorce had run unsuccessfully for the city council last year, for the position held by Councilor Dawn Roden.
Mayor Kate Schwarzler explained that “we got a total of six applications” and each councilor voted for two; the two who garnered the most votes were invited to the council meeting as finalists.
However, a public records request by Trammart News shows there actually were seven applicants, not six as indicated by Schwarzler.
The five others, obtained through a public records request, were Marc Miller, Jesus Orozco, Vidal Pena, Dale Russell and Dana Sharman. Two had previous experience in elected offices and one had sought a council position by campaigning in the last election – none of those three were selected as a finalist.
City Councilor Shannon Corr said she was looking for “significant experience” and a “demonstrated desire to serve the community” in making her top choices.
Roden voted no on the ballot that affirmed Sorce as the new council member.
“I think it is a real shame that Vidal Pena was not selected,” said Roden, who noted she favored adding diversity to the council and Pena had a long record of community service. She also singled out Marc Miller, who has a resume showing both elective and Oregon statehouse experience.
Trammart News did not receive a reply form Goicochea about an inquiry regarding how the final city council-candidate process was carried out.
Many believe the first serious issue facing the new city council will be establishing the 25-26 city budget. This week another inquiry was sent by Trammart News to ask why no 2024 municipal audit has been filed for Independence, in light of the city’s budget-calendar adoption Tuesday night.
Both the cities of Dallas and Monmouth have a municipal audit for the past year on file with the Oregon Secretary of State, as is expected by the end of 2024. Independence hasn’t met that deadline.
Trammart News sent an inquiry to the secretary of state's office and was advised that Independence had requested an extension until the end of February. ▪
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, February 14, 2025
Evan Sorce, who has served on the Independence Planning Commission and is a former chief of staff for Rep. Paul Evans, was selected to fill the vacant seat on the Independence City Council this past Tuesday night, becoming the town’s newest city councilor.
However, his appointment raised questions about the process – by some who tried to view the meeting remotely – that remain unanswered along with other inquiries.
Though two candidates were selected as finalists to be interviewed by the city councilors, only one – Sorce – was able to be heard by outside viewers at the special meeting. The other, Bradley Karkanen, answered the same series of questions that councilors presented to Sorce, but Karkanen comments were inaudible.
No explanation appears to have been given for this transmission difference on either the city’s website or Facebook page, but the video seems to show a scramble to deal with a “red light” before Sorce began answering questions from the council.
Trammart News approached the city’s communication director, Emmanuel Goicochea, at the meeting to ask if he was going to answer an email about the process; He had been sent an email inquiry early Monday.
“I haven’t seen it,” Goicochea said. Pressed by Trammart News to reply to the email, he said: “I will take a look.” The same email was then re-sent, followed by a voice mail as a reminder, but no response has been received from Goicochea.
After a special session by the city council, Sorce was chosen over Karkanen, an IT specialist who joined the library board last summer. Sorce had run unsuccessfully for the city council last year, for the position held by Councilor Dawn Roden.
Mayor Kate Schwarzler explained that “we got a total of six applications” and each councilor voted for two; the two who garnered the most votes were invited to the council meeting as finalists.
However, a public records request by Trammart News shows there actually were seven applicants, not six as indicated by Schwarzler.
The five others, obtained through a public records request, were Marc Miller, Jesus Orozco, Vidal Pena, Dale Russell and Dana Sharman. Two had previous experience in elected offices and one had sought a council position by campaigning in the last election – none of those three were selected as a finalist.
City Councilor Shannon Corr said she was looking for “significant experience” and a “demonstrated desire to serve the community” in making her top choices.
Roden voted no on the ballot that affirmed Sorce as the new council member.
“I think it is a real shame that Vidal Pena was not selected,” said Roden, who noted she favored adding diversity to the council and Pena had a long record of community service. She also singled out Marc Miller, who has a resume showing both elective and Oregon statehouse experience.
Trammart News did not receive a reply form Goicochea about an inquiry regarding how the final city council-candidate process was carried out.
Many believe the first serious issue facing the new city council will be establishing the 25-26 city budget. This week another inquiry was sent by Trammart News to ask why no 2024 municipal audit has been filed for Independence, in light of the city’s budget-calendar adoption Tuesday night.
Both the cities of Dallas and Monmouth have a municipal audit for the past year on file with the Oregon Secretary of State, as is expected by the end of 2024. Independence hasn’t met that deadline.
Trammart News sent an inquiry to the secretary of state's office and was advised that Independence had requested an extension until the end of February. ▪
Central High School teacher plans to introduce new Latino Studies course
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, February 14, 2025
Will Central High School get a special Valentine gift this year? It’s a first-of-its-kind class on Latino studies.
If it achieves the hoped-for enrollment this month – the number of enrollees remains to be determined – the semester course will be offered in the fall, providing an entirely new educational elective in social studies that counts toward graduation.
Central’s Victor Ochoa, the teacher who led the effort to create it, was born and raised in Independence – he’s a graduate of Central High School. In fact, he’s from one of the oldest Mexican American families in the area. They settled in the town in the 1960s.
After becoming the newest faculty member to join the Panthers this past August, Ochoa quickly began to plan for a Latino Studies course.
Virginia Antunez, assistant principal at CHS, said there is palpable excitement at the school at the prospect of seeing this course “come to life.”
“We are thankful to have al maestro Victor Ochoa collaborate with others on the curriculum and bring his love and passion into this course,” she said.
In a regrettable and ironic twist, it was as a teen at Central High School that he encountered an incident that, in part, spurred him toward his goal. “I was given feedback from a teacher of mine saying that a paper (I wrote) should be reviewed by someone whose first language is English,” he recalled. “I came from a multigenerational and bilingual immigrant household and I had, at the time, passed several advanced English classes.”
Though he credits his love for history – and his community – for propelling him toward achievement, “the scars left by this interaction became part of the kindling that has fueled my passions as an educator,” he explained.
After obtaining an undergraduate degree from Western Oregon University, he received a master’s degree from the University of Oregon in history. His work became part of the basis for a research article that appeared in the Oregon Journal of the Social Studies three years ago, called "Para Les Niñes Olvidados" or "For the Forgotten Children."
The historian who worked with Ochoa foresees great things ahead, thanks to his drive, his professional commitment and his background. “Victor Ochoa brings his important research on the strength and vibrant culture of Independence, Oregon's Latine community,” said Kim Jensen, professor of history at WOU. Jensen predicts “his Latine history course will enrich Central High School students and our entire community.” (Jensen’s term “Latine” is a reference often utilized in academia; Ochoa uses “Latino.”)
Part of Ochoa’s research focuses on the impact of a "dual-identity" of Latinos living in the United States.
He’s a living example. He continues to love pozole, for instance – but it’s been a difficult dish to duplicate because, from the perspective of his childhood, it represents far more than soup.
“During the wintertime, when I was a child, my grandfather would pull out the largest pot we had on the stove,” he said. “My grandfather, my sister, and I would go out to the store together to buy the chicken, hominy, onion, and the rest of the ingredients.”
Once his grandfather had the pot and its contents at a rolling boil, “the entire house was entrenched in a sweet aroma of Mexican oregano and a rich broth,” Ochoa recalled.
But the stew’s scent was only part of it. “Aside from the flavor making it my favorite dish, the main reason is it reminds me of my maternal grandfather and my father,” he said.
“When it was time for dinner, my family would gather around and devour this warm and comforting dish,” he said, noting that love often seemed to be the most prominent ingredient.
Ochoa has chronicled the Mexican roots of Independence, and how Mexican American migrants from Texas, called Tejanos, and Mexican nationals, created a home for generations.
To highlight their troubled history, he collected information from oral histories and photos of Latinos in the United States and Oregon. He also was able to obtain additional information from Latino Studies programming at other school districts and colleges and universities throughout the country.
One essential goal: To create a class where his students can be seen, heard, and feel a sense of belonging. The Latino culture helped build the community in which his students now live, he stressed.
Between the 1950s and 1960s, several Tejano families from Texas' Lower Rio Grande Valley migrated northward to Oregon in search of economic opportunities and refuge from Texas' historic animosity towards the people of Mexican descent. Over the latter half of the 1900s, Tejanos, and later Mexican nationals, would come together to build one of the oldest Mexican communities in Oregon.
The course will also address cultures of Central Americans and others in Latin America because Latino history is often Mexican-centric, but as a group, Latinos are “a colorful diaspora," Ochoa noted.
The Latino Studies course will be divided into four modules that will demonstrate significant shifts in migratory patterns to political and cultural movements. Beginning highlights include the pre-Columbian indigenous civilizations, the influence of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca people, and their experiences with Spanish colonization. Additionally, the course will cover how this colonization affected Oregon.
For example, the Spanish explorer, Bruno de Heceta, mapped the Southern Oregon coast – and is the reason for the namesake of the Heceta Head Lighthouse in Florence, he pointed out.
Other modules will focus on the Mexican American War in the 1840s and its effects on the Mexican people and World War II and its aftermath in empowering Mexican Americans to exercise their sense of citizenship.
Speaking for the CHS administration, Assistant Principal Antunez stated: “We believe this course will help foster a sense of belonging in our community and inspire others to continue learning about their history.”
In describing Latino Studies, Ochoa emphasized that it is not just a course to teach about Latino history but also to support students in celebrating their “joyful existence” as Latinos.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIDEBAR on the MODULES of CHS Latino Studies Course
MODULE 1. Ochoa wants to demonstrate how Oregon was a part of a globalized colonization effort by the Spanish, a story that’s not quite in the public history mainstream. One topic will be how Spanish expeditions mapped the Southern Oregon Coast.
MODULE 2. This module focuses on the Mexican American War in the 1840s and the effects it had on the racialization of the Mexican people that would later serve as a blueprint for racial animosities to other Latinos. The war also created a violent and hostile environment for Tejanos, who would soon migrate to Oregon after World War II with anti-Mexican racism being a significant, influential factor.
MODULE 3. This section examines World War II and its aftermath in empowering Mexican Americans to exercise their sense of citizenship to construct community and life of their own. This era brought Mexican Americans into the armed service and Mexican nationals under the Bracero program; a wartime labor agreement between the U.S. and Mexico.
In speaking of braceros, Ochoa plans to demonstrate how Oregon benefited from this program and why Mexican, and later Latino, laborers became the preferred farmhands for Oregon growers; It was a period in which there was a shift in a perception of Mexicans and Latinos, away from being considered “stoop labor.”
This module also will provide a chance for Ochoa to educate students on the rich Mexican history of Independence, a history that is largely unknown to the general public. Between the 1950s and 1960s, several Tejano families from Texas' Lower Rio Grande Valley migrated northward to Oregon in search of economic opportunities and refuge from Texas' historic animosity towards the people of Mexican descent.
Over the latter half of the 1900s, Tejanos, and later Mexican nationals, would come together to build one of the oldest Mexican communities in Oregon.
MODULE 4. In this module, Ochoa turns the spotlight to Central Americans and others in Latin America. Because some Latino history is often Mexican-centric, the Central American stories of American interventions and growing immigration are designed to bring the course into a modern light. ▪
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, February 14, 2025
Will Central High School get a special Valentine gift this year? It’s a first-of-its-kind class on Latino studies.
If it achieves the hoped-for enrollment this month – the number of enrollees remains to be determined – the semester course will be offered in the fall, providing an entirely new educational elective in social studies that counts toward graduation.
Central’s Victor Ochoa, the teacher who led the effort to create it, was born and raised in Independence – he’s a graduate of Central High School. In fact, he’s from one of the oldest Mexican American families in the area. They settled in the town in the 1960s.
After becoming the newest faculty member to join the Panthers this past August, Ochoa quickly began to plan for a Latino Studies course.
Virginia Antunez, assistant principal at CHS, said there is palpable excitement at the school at the prospect of seeing this course “come to life.”
“We are thankful to have al maestro Victor Ochoa collaborate with others on the curriculum and bring his love and passion into this course,” she said.
In a regrettable and ironic twist, it was as a teen at Central High School that he encountered an incident that, in part, spurred him toward his goal. “I was given feedback from a teacher of mine saying that a paper (I wrote) should be reviewed by someone whose first language is English,” he recalled. “I came from a multigenerational and bilingual immigrant household and I had, at the time, passed several advanced English classes.”
Though he credits his love for history – and his community – for propelling him toward achievement, “the scars left by this interaction became part of the kindling that has fueled my passions as an educator,” he explained.
After obtaining an undergraduate degree from Western Oregon University, he received a master’s degree from the University of Oregon in history. His work became part of the basis for a research article that appeared in the Oregon Journal of the Social Studies three years ago, called "Para Les Niñes Olvidados" or "For the Forgotten Children."
The historian who worked with Ochoa foresees great things ahead, thanks to his drive, his professional commitment and his background. “Victor Ochoa brings his important research on the strength and vibrant culture of Independence, Oregon's Latine community,” said Kim Jensen, professor of history at WOU. Jensen predicts “his Latine history course will enrich Central High School students and our entire community.” (Jensen’s term “Latine” is a reference often utilized in academia; Ochoa uses “Latino.”)
Part of Ochoa’s research focuses on the impact of a "dual-identity" of Latinos living in the United States.
He’s a living example. He continues to love pozole, for instance – but it’s been a difficult dish to duplicate because, from the perspective of his childhood, it represents far more than soup.
“During the wintertime, when I was a child, my grandfather would pull out the largest pot we had on the stove,” he said. “My grandfather, my sister, and I would go out to the store together to buy the chicken, hominy, onion, and the rest of the ingredients.”
Once his grandfather had the pot and its contents at a rolling boil, “the entire house was entrenched in a sweet aroma of Mexican oregano and a rich broth,” Ochoa recalled.
But the stew’s scent was only part of it. “Aside from the flavor making it my favorite dish, the main reason is it reminds me of my maternal grandfather and my father,” he said.
“When it was time for dinner, my family would gather around and devour this warm and comforting dish,” he said, noting that love often seemed to be the most prominent ingredient.
Ochoa has chronicled the Mexican roots of Independence, and how Mexican American migrants from Texas, called Tejanos, and Mexican nationals, created a home for generations.
To highlight their troubled history, he collected information from oral histories and photos of Latinos in the United States and Oregon. He also was able to obtain additional information from Latino Studies programming at other school districts and colleges and universities throughout the country.
One essential goal: To create a class where his students can be seen, heard, and feel a sense of belonging. The Latino culture helped build the community in which his students now live, he stressed.
Between the 1950s and 1960s, several Tejano families from Texas' Lower Rio Grande Valley migrated northward to Oregon in search of economic opportunities and refuge from Texas' historic animosity towards the people of Mexican descent. Over the latter half of the 1900s, Tejanos, and later Mexican nationals, would come together to build one of the oldest Mexican communities in Oregon.
The course will also address cultures of Central Americans and others in Latin America because Latino history is often Mexican-centric, but as a group, Latinos are “a colorful diaspora," Ochoa noted.
The Latino Studies course will be divided into four modules that will demonstrate significant shifts in migratory patterns to political and cultural movements. Beginning highlights include the pre-Columbian indigenous civilizations, the influence of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca people, and their experiences with Spanish colonization. Additionally, the course will cover how this colonization affected Oregon.
For example, the Spanish explorer, Bruno de Heceta, mapped the Southern Oregon coast – and is the reason for the namesake of the Heceta Head Lighthouse in Florence, he pointed out.
Other modules will focus on the Mexican American War in the 1840s and its effects on the Mexican people and World War II and its aftermath in empowering Mexican Americans to exercise their sense of citizenship.
Speaking for the CHS administration, Assistant Principal Antunez stated: “We believe this course will help foster a sense of belonging in our community and inspire others to continue learning about their history.”
In describing Latino Studies, Ochoa emphasized that it is not just a course to teach about Latino history but also to support students in celebrating their “joyful existence” as Latinos.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIDEBAR on the MODULES of CHS Latino Studies Course
MODULE 1. Ochoa wants to demonstrate how Oregon was a part of a globalized colonization effort by the Spanish, a story that’s not quite in the public history mainstream. One topic will be how Spanish expeditions mapped the Southern Oregon Coast.
MODULE 2. This module focuses on the Mexican American War in the 1840s and the effects it had on the racialization of the Mexican people that would later serve as a blueprint for racial animosities to other Latinos. The war also created a violent and hostile environment for Tejanos, who would soon migrate to Oregon after World War II with anti-Mexican racism being a significant, influential factor.
MODULE 3. This section examines World War II and its aftermath in empowering Mexican Americans to exercise their sense of citizenship to construct community and life of their own. This era brought Mexican Americans into the armed service and Mexican nationals under the Bracero program; a wartime labor agreement between the U.S. and Mexico.
In speaking of braceros, Ochoa plans to demonstrate how Oregon benefited from this program and why Mexican, and later Latino, laborers became the preferred farmhands for Oregon growers; It was a period in which there was a shift in a perception of Mexicans and Latinos, away from being considered “stoop labor.”
This module also will provide a chance for Ochoa to educate students on the rich Mexican history of Independence, a history that is largely unknown to the general public. Between the 1950s and 1960s, several Tejano families from Texas' Lower Rio Grande Valley migrated northward to Oregon in search of economic opportunities and refuge from Texas' historic animosity towards the people of Mexican descent.
Over the latter half of the 1900s, Tejanos, and later Mexican nationals, would come together to build one of the oldest Mexican communities in Oregon.
MODULE 4. In this module, Ochoa turns the spotlight to Central Americans and others in Latin America. Because some Latino history is often Mexican-centric, the Central American stories of American interventions and growing immigration are designed to bring the course into a modern light. ▪
A sincere valentine to two remarkable men who loved Oregon
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, February 14, 2025
Today, all over Oregon, valentines will be exchanged. It’s February 14, not just cupid’s big day but the 166th anniversary date for Oregon’s entrance into the union. There’s a lot to celebrate.
But around this time of year, as hearts start appearing, I get a hankering to write thank-you notes instead. Long before “gratitude journals” became a staple of selfcare, the red symbol representing the human cardiac organ always triggered thoughts of the best people from my past who helped me learn.
Who could have predicted that, in 2025, two deceased public servants I knew only superficially – both highly visible but on opposite sides of the political spectrum – would continue to be leading lights for me as I persist in publishing Trammart News?
I think about them a lot, and it’s time to say thank you – to Peter Courtney and Dennis Richardson.
Courtney was the longest-serving legislator and senate president in Oregon's history; Richardson, who was elected Secretary of State in 2016, was the first Republican to occupy that office in more than 35 years.
I didn’t know either man very well but, as we used to say in my Midwestern childhood home, it was “well enough.”
I met Courtney when a friend of his accused me of poisoning his dog, Yoda. It was at a large gathering and the signs of Yoda’s canine hunger were unmistakable. I tore a tiny piece of salmon from the fish heaped on my plate and proceeded to feed the little dachshund.
Someone called out in alarm that the food was toxic to dogs. That’s how I met the Oregon Senate President.
But Courtney could not have been more gracious, though he was very loud. In a booming voice that sounded like a play-by-play sports announcer – which, by the way, is a role Courtney took on at basketball games at Western Oregon University – he mock-scolded his dog for being such a convincing beggar.
I met Dennis Richardson under completely different circumstances, of course. But the incident was every bit as memorable. It was a news conference, but I wasn’t covering it. The Oregon Secretary of State had announced the results of an audit on the foster care system, and I wanted to hear all about it. I had my own opinions – and not entirely positive ones, either.
You may wonder why I’d consider myself such an expert on the topic that I would collar the secretary of the state to share some dim views. It’s because my husband and I had adopted our daughter out of foster care and, years later, I was trying to “give back” as a foster mom in Oregon. I was completely fed up with some aspects of the system, just so sad about it.
That’s what I told Richardson. With stunning agreement, including a vigorous nod, Richardson proved a sympathetic listener.
With a shake of his head, he said: “What we went through to get our daughter!”
Say what?
As it turned out, Richardson – who already had a large family – had adopted a daughter from foster care, just like me. We were both mighty proud of the people our gritty little girls grew up to be.
I couldn’t believe Richardson’s candor with me. He never once told me: “This is off the record.” In fact, I’m the one who suggested it, in a complete reversal.
With many politicians, the heart they have is something they want you to see high on their sleeve – they point to it in subtle or showy ways. Both Courtney and Richardson seemed to carry theirs like a compass, and it prompted reflexive brow furrows and sudden expressive reactions.
Richardson was a Republican. Courtney was a Democrat. Neither appeared very capable of tolerating tomfoolery so it always amazed me they both took these moments out for me, someone who easily could have been considered a total time bandit.
I pestered Courtney because I knew nothing about the Oregon Legislature, and I had applied for an internship and had never heard a word back. One day, an email showed up from him showing me how to access bills, to follow their journey.
And, in his indomitable way, the senate president wanted to know why I was letting a little thing like rejection stop me from learning how the Senate conducts business. After all, there was a gallery for viewing it.
From my visits to a perch above the senate floor, I was able to learn about state government, thanks to Courtney. And I saw a great man in action, and the reasons for his greatness, which were so much in evidence.
And, after that stirring conversation with Richardson, I went on to a volunteer position with the Oregon Foster Care Ombudsman Office in Salem. To this day, it remains one of the most inspiring experiences of my life, filled with memories of people I will always admire.
Both my time in the Capital Building, as well as being a volunteer in a corner of the Department of Human Services, proved immensely valuable educations. They helped prepare me for what I am today – one of the tiniest news outlets in Oregon, but still brimming with the idealism that two intensely committed public-servant leaders helped to instill.
Eventually, to express my appreciation, I delivered a bag of dog-safe salmon canine treats to Courtney.
I never got to thank Richardson at all, except by carrying yellow roses to the bridge in Portland that was lit up in color in his honor when he died.
After Courtney’s passing, I left roses on the porch of his home, which were retrieved by his stalwart wife, Margie, who is admired and loved by all who crossed her path – and credited with much of her husband’s success.
I know both men must have made alienating mistakes along the way, and I know watching them from a blurry distance may be the reason I remain gushy, even worshipful, of the impact both imparted.
But now, in today’s divided world, I wonder if the kind of public servant they exemplified will become a vanishing breed. Is it going too far to ask if their passing marked the end of an era?
There is a famous quote from the late, great French writer Marcel Proust that advises against ever meeting your heroes because the luster that makes you idolize them will fade or shatter.
Not in my case. I met two of mine, and the glow from those encounters still radiates. And, on this Valentine’s Day, I want to say thank them – a thank you that comes from a place deep in my own heart. ▪
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, February 14, 2025
Today, all over Oregon, valentines will be exchanged. It’s February 14, not just cupid’s big day but the 166th anniversary date for Oregon’s entrance into the union. There’s a lot to celebrate.
But around this time of year, as hearts start appearing, I get a hankering to write thank-you notes instead. Long before “gratitude journals” became a staple of selfcare, the red symbol representing the human cardiac organ always triggered thoughts of the best people from my past who helped me learn.
Who could have predicted that, in 2025, two deceased public servants I knew only superficially – both highly visible but on opposite sides of the political spectrum – would continue to be leading lights for me as I persist in publishing Trammart News?
I think about them a lot, and it’s time to say thank you – to Peter Courtney and Dennis Richardson.
Courtney was the longest-serving legislator and senate president in Oregon's history; Richardson, who was elected Secretary of State in 2016, was the first Republican to occupy that office in more than 35 years.
I didn’t know either man very well but, as we used to say in my Midwestern childhood home, it was “well enough.”
I met Courtney when a friend of his accused me of poisoning his dog, Yoda. It was at a large gathering and the signs of Yoda’s canine hunger were unmistakable. I tore a tiny piece of salmon from the fish heaped on my plate and proceeded to feed the little dachshund.
Someone called out in alarm that the food was toxic to dogs. That’s how I met the Oregon Senate President.
But Courtney could not have been more gracious, though he was very loud. In a booming voice that sounded like a play-by-play sports announcer – which, by the way, is a role Courtney took on at basketball games at Western Oregon University – he mock-scolded his dog for being such a convincing beggar.
I met Dennis Richardson under completely different circumstances, of course. But the incident was every bit as memorable. It was a news conference, but I wasn’t covering it. The Oregon Secretary of State had announced the results of an audit on the foster care system, and I wanted to hear all about it. I had my own opinions – and not entirely positive ones, either.
You may wonder why I’d consider myself such an expert on the topic that I would collar the secretary of the state to share some dim views. It’s because my husband and I had adopted our daughter out of foster care and, years later, I was trying to “give back” as a foster mom in Oregon. I was completely fed up with some aspects of the system, just so sad about it.
That’s what I told Richardson. With stunning agreement, including a vigorous nod, Richardson proved a sympathetic listener.
With a shake of his head, he said: “What we went through to get our daughter!”
Say what?
As it turned out, Richardson – who already had a large family – had adopted a daughter from foster care, just like me. We were both mighty proud of the people our gritty little girls grew up to be.
I couldn’t believe Richardson’s candor with me. He never once told me: “This is off the record.” In fact, I’m the one who suggested it, in a complete reversal.
With many politicians, the heart they have is something they want you to see high on their sleeve – they point to it in subtle or showy ways. Both Courtney and Richardson seemed to carry theirs like a compass, and it prompted reflexive brow furrows and sudden expressive reactions.
Richardson was a Republican. Courtney was a Democrat. Neither appeared very capable of tolerating tomfoolery so it always amazed me they both took these moments out for me, someone who easily could have been considered a total time bandit.
I pestered Courtney because I knew nothing about the Oregon Legislature, and I had applied for an internship and had never heard a word back. One day, an email showed up from him showing me how to access bills, to follow their journey.
And, in his indomitable way, the senate president wanted to know why I was letting a little thing like rejection stop me from learning how the Senate conducts business. After all, there was a gallery for viewing it.
From my visits to a perch above the senate floor, I was able to learn about state government, thanks to Courtney. And I saw a great man in action, and the reasons for his greatness, which were so much in evidence.
And, after that stirring conversation with Richardson, I went on to a volunteer position with the Oregon Foster Care Ombudsman Office in Salem. To this day, it remains one of the most inspiring experiences of my life, filled with memories of people I will always admire.
Both my time in the Capital Building, as well as being a volunteer in a corner of the Department of Human Services, proved immensely valuable educations. They helped prepare me for what I am today – one of the tiniest news outlets in Oregon, but still brimming with the idealism that two intensely committed public-servant leaders helped to instill.
Eventually, to express my appreciation, I delivered a bag of dog-safe salmon canine treats to Courtney.
I never got to thank Richardson at all, except by carrying yellow roses to the bridge in Portland that was lit up in color in his honor when he died.
After Courtney’s passing, I left roses on the porch of his home, which were retrieved by his stalwart wife, Margie, who is admired and loved by all who crossed her path – and credited with much of her husband’s success.
I know both men must have made alienating mistakes along the way, and I know watching them from a blurry distance may be the reason I remain gushy, even worshipful, of the impact both imparted.
But now, in today’s divided world, I wonder if the kind of public servant they exemplified will become a vanishing breed. Is it going too far to ask if their passing marked the end of an era?
There is a famous quote from the late, great French writer Marcel Proust that advises against ever meeting your heroes because the luster that makes you idolize them will fade or shatter.
Not in my case. I met two of mine, and the glow from those encounters still radiates. And, on this Valentine’s Day, I want to say thank them – a thank you that comes from a place deep in my own heart. ▪
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