Not every one golfs here.

Thirty minutes north of here we can play golf at the world class Bandon Dunes, designed to resemble the links on the Scottish Highlands. We had lunch last weekend as people who had flown in for the game spent hundreds to play a round and more to be housed in lakeside bungalows and lodges with the sounds of the Pacific as it roiled and moaned all night.

Most people who live here cannot afford to play here.

But they are happy The Dunes provide work. Some work full time with benefits; many more work part time. Groundskeepers, the wait staff, housekeepers, caddies, drivers,  cooks, general service people feel lucky to have a job, any job. They do  not have the extra money to cover even one round of golf in the place they work. Young, ambitious high school juniors become caddies as soon as they qualify, and will work here for a few years, unless they are headed for college with a scholarship and the blessings of a supportive family. Most of the young people will not return to their town after graduation because the chances of getting a job is quite small, anywhere on this coast where millionaires fly in on chartered jets and play a weekend of golf without giving a thought to the town that is hosting them.

Before Bandon Dunes came to the west coast, cities like Bandon, Coos Bay, Port Orford, Gold Beach, survived on lumber and fishing and ranching. With the arrival of retirees from California and other areas where real estate had reached skyscrapers' prices these towns began to see an influx of steady income and the need for services like health care and hospitality. Restaurants and hospitals are doing well; other businesses, however start up and close down within a couple of years.

People here survive on very little. Over 70% of our school children qualify for free or reduced lunches. Parents  work part time, with no benefits and make do with  meager salaries. The free dental van that visits our elementary schools found a bigger percentage of dental decay in our children  than usually found in undeveloped countries.

You are not going to hear sad stories out of anybody's mouths. These people are survivors, proud of their abilities to make do, year after year, cutting wood to use for heat and cooking, growing their own food, hunting and freezing their own meats, fishing in the rivers for fish that will feed their families for weeks. You may find they are eager to help neighbors, and they trade easily with each other, a mower, a tractor, a new part for an old engine.

The local municipalities have many challenges, not the least of which is how to upgrade crumbling buildings, water treatments, sewer systems, electrical grids, communication networks to keep the city alive and thriving. Grants are few and they require in-kind investments from a municipality without any industry to keep the coffers filled. Twice we have tried to pass a bond to upgrade our water system; both times it failed. With the sequester in place, schools and police force are seeing cuts that cannot be undone by local means. Safety and education will suffer; people will be displaced; food banks will empty out.

Yet, the golf business will continue to thrive. The recession did not affect them, as they developed and expanded even during those times; and they continue to grow and provide world-class recreation in a milieu of third-world economics.

Trouble, right here in Rivercity, my friends.

Playing Golf

We live a few miles from an exclusive golf resort, Bandon Dunes, a huge complex for serious golfers who enjoy playing on links with ocean views and panoramas resembling Scottish links.

This picture was not taken there.

Most of the locals would love to play golf; but, we can't afford the fees and the clothing, and the caddies, and the entire experience of Bandon Dunes.  Most of us will hit the ball at a miniature golf place, or in our backyards, or at a less expensive venue.

The trouble Oregon will have in the election at the end of this month is convincing citizens to up the business tax base. Our initial business tax is $10-ten dollars. Yes, ten dollars.  Prop. 66 and 67 ask the voters to reform this ordinance by making the tax commensurable to the income the business generates.

Fair. Equitable. 

The opposition contends that passing these propositions, upping business taxes and upping the percentage of income tax for folks with income above 250,000, doing that would imperil job creation.

Our caddies at Bandon Dunes are part-time college students. The number hired is proportional to the number of players who fly in on their private jets to play for the weekend. These folks are dropping an average of $3,000 for a few days of golf in an unspoiled paradise.  Charging a higher tax base will have no effect on the number of golfers or caddies. It will, however, have an effect on the number of teachers Bandon School District will layoff. 

The State coffers have fewer dollars for education; schools are forced to cut additional days and additional staff if these propositions fail.

Politics is a game we all play.

More Oregon beaches on a calm day: Bandon

Bandon is the town north of us, about twenty-three miles up Pacific Coast Highway.  We do this trip whenever possible, to walk on the beach, admire beautiful homes on the bluff, and end up having a fish meal at Tony's Crab Shack whenever we can sit outdoors.

Just north is Bandon Dunes Resort, with these views greeting the lucky golfers.
We don't golf. Yet. We are tempted. Especially on such a glorious day.

This is another typical day after a heavy storm that dropped inches of rain, and deposited driftwood all over the place. The sunshine was enough to coax us outdoors.

It will be weeks before I can return to these beaches.

A schedule of a life.

Wednesday: My Backyard.

Now that I put my life back on a schedule of sorts, remember, how Mondays are about Governance, Tuesdays are Education, Wednesdays are Our backyard....and so on......

I'm bound to follow this menu because you're coming in with expectations; and as a teacher, I must deliver what is on the weekly planner. Not that following a plan is always a good thing...

My front yard and back yard are in Port Orford, Oregon, the oldest town site on the Oregon coast, and the westernmost point in the contiguous United States. Contiguous, in this instance, means the forty-eight states. Cape Blanco, with its lighthouse and majestic vistas is ready for whale-watching ,next week. I will get out, and catch me a whale of a tail to show you.

Since my shoulder problem, for new people dropping by, my shoulder froze in place with much fanfare and excruciating pain. The MRI identified the problem as Bursitis, and today is my first physical therapy session. So, I'm still on heavy medications, am bothered by sleep deprivation and lack of comfortable movement, and look forward to a time when I can use both arms. I can still type this post; and that, amici miei, is a very good thing, indeed.

Now, I will leave you to enjoy your backyard. I plan on packing my new digital camera and carrying it everywhere. From authorblog, I'm getting very good tutorials on how to take pictures; with practice and determination, I'll begin to record pictorially. Most of the other pictures on this blog are mine; but they came from a phone camera. Not bad, if you ask my opinion. Not bad.

In life, though, we can teach each other in this open university called Blog land. Not only it is open twenty four hours a day, but it is also free. What? Yes. Like air, and good will: FREE. People like David at authorblog, a profession photojournalist who gives us a great deal of his personal time with hints and suggestions, walking us through the technical aspects of setting up and shooting as though we were picking fruit at a farmer's market, people like him make this adventure so much fun to pursue at leisure.

I'm off to Bandon, a town up the highway, home of my clinic and Bandon Dunes. If you google Bandon Dunes and Pacific Trails, you'll find that these are outstanding golf resorts, world class, designed like the original golf links in Scotland. They are worth every penny, I hear.

Perhaps, hubby and I will stop by and have lunch at the Dunes, and enjoy the same vistas as the players who have to dish out $300 or so to play one round. I'll do this research willingly. Besides, a good meal is worth its weight and calories in gold.