As I See It
by Mary Schamehorn

September 26, 2018

The first picture I am sharing this week was chosen because in the near left side of the picture you can see the little barbershop that I mentioned in last week's column.

Second Street
I said that it had been torn down to make way for the building that now houses Second Street Gallery and Coastal Mist, and earlier was Hugh Harrison's first Harbor Hall. But that's another story.

Actually, I learned from one of its early tenants, long-time barber Mick Peters, that the building was purchased by Joe Bolduc and moved to First and Delaware where it became part of the building which is now La Fiesta, a popular Mexican restaurant. If you look closely the next time you drive by, you can see the addition, along Delaware Avenue, which used to be the barbershop. Mick cut hair in the small shop in 1967 and 1968 before he moved up on the hill to where Napa Auto Parts is now.

After being up there for four or five years, he moved back downtown in the small building on Chicago, which now houses Angelo's Italy. He then moved uptown again to Fern Park Business Center and then built his new Mick's Hair Surgeons building on Baltimore Avenue, near the post office, where he has cut hair for many years, more recently in partnership with his son, Mark.

Back to the photo, you can see Carver's Furniture next to the barbershop, and across the alley is Kronenberg & Waldrop Insurance (now Sassy Seagull). Across Second Street is Boone's Hardware, now owned by Lynn Davies and her daughter, housing Bandon Card & Gift.

Talk about an amazing guy. This picture of Barry Winters was taken 43 years ago (1975) in front of his Winters Auto Sales business, located along Highway 101 near where Dan Farmer's State Farm business is now.

Barry Winters, 1975
He looks as great today as he did back then, and if he's anything like his amazing mother, Edith Hunt Winters, almost 95, who spoke at the Bandon Museum Sunday as one of the Fire survivors, he will look as good many years from now.

Not sure exactly when the next picture was taken, but it is one of my favorites and was probably taken sometime in the 1970s. Gerry and Trudy Fraser owned Fraser's for many years at 101 and 10th Street, and were loved by pretty much everyone who knew them. Barely visible in the back is Judy Ellis Welch, who worked there for many years. The building now houses the Asian Garden restaurant and bar.

Gerry and Trudy Fraser, 1970s
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Mary Carol Roberson (Julie Miller's mother) is a strong advocate for children, and recently she invited me to attend a training on child abuse, being held at Ocean Crest School on Oct. 17 from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

She pointed out that Bandon has an issue with child abuse.

"Coos County, based on per capita population, had the highest rate of child abuse in the state in 2017. The number has been rising for three years and so far in 2018 it isn't declining," Mary Carol pointed out.

Last fall the Leadership Class at Bandon High did a survey of the students and asked what they felt was a major issue of concern that needed to be addressed. Their response was "find ways to prevent child abuse in Bandon," she said.

The community training will explain how to move from the darkness of abuse to light, and is recommended for people 16 years and older.

Darkness to Light offers training that specializes in the education and prevention of child sexual abuse, other forms of abuse, and mandated reporting.

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St. John's Episcopal Church is offering a valuable service to the community, and they want people to know it's available, free of charge.

The church, located at 795 Franklin Ave., lends medical equipment at no charge for a three-month period.

While at the church Saturday, to assist with their 125-year anniversary celebration, I was shown their impressive array of medical equipment which is available to loan. They have walkers and wheelchairs, crutches and canes, commodes and toilet risers, transfer benches, shower stools and tub rails.

People can call 541-590-2443 or email stjohnsloancloset@gmail.com for information or to make an appointment to check out equipment.

This is a wonderful community service and equipment like this is not always easy to find, and can be costly.

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If you haven't gotten your flu shot lately (and that probably means most of us as it's hard to think about flu weather when we're basking in the sun), you can go to Bandon City Park on Wednesday, Oct. 3, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. where Southern Coos Hospital and Health Center will be giving free shots. I get my shot there every year. This is just one of the valuable services that our hospital provides for the community.

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I probably should concern myself with my own typos and mistakes, but I couldn't help laughing (and sending a note to the Register-Guard) when I saw a headline about the Oregon - Standford game at the top of the front page Saturday. I have never seen Stanford spelled with two 'ds' and probably won't again, but you sometimes wonder if anyone bothers to check at least the front page before it goes to press.

(Anyone who watched the game is certainly not laughing as it appeared that Oregon had it won, but instead of taking a knee to run out the clock, chose to run with the ball, which was fumbled. Stanford went on to win in overtime).

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I know I sound like a broken record, but I must point out again, there is no partnership between the Pool Committee and the City of Bandon.

I do not know the particulars, but I understand someone was staking out several locations in City Park where the pool might be located. And yes, there is a chance that the pool will be in City Park.

But the Ballot Measure that people will vote on in November has nothing to do with where the pool will eventually be built ... or even if it will ever be built.

If you vote yes, as the pool committee and the city council are urging, it will amend the city charter to prohibit the city from paying for the operation and maintenance of a swimming pool ... if sometime in the distant future it cannot support itself. The thinking here is that if the pool is built and operating, the community would put pressure on the city council to fund the pool if it were no longer self-supporting. But if the charter says that the city cannot pay for O&M without a vote of the people, it would not matter if pressure were applied.

If you vote no, it simply means you do not want to change the charter to add that prohibition, and you have no problem with the city paying to operate a pool.

Neither a yes nor a no vote will impact what the pool committee does as they continue to work toward finding ways to finance a swimming pool for the people of Bandon and the surrounding area.

And as far as Facebook posts asking where the money has gone over the years, and some inferring that the money was embezzled or misused, that is pure hogwash. No group has ever mounted the kind of fund-raising campaign that is now under way, and I do know that in the past, on several occasions, the money that had been collected was given to the Coquille pool where local swimming lessons were held for many years.

I understand that people who live near City Park do not want the pool in their backyard, but like the rest of us, who live in various parts of the city, we enclose our backyards with a fence (which can be as high as eight feet) so that the property we enjoy and care for is our own.

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The Sacramento Bee had an article recently about the man who turned himself in after going to see wife in Oregon.

The article reads: "A suspect in a Northern California killing went on the run for a month and finally turned himself in at a small town in Oregon after saying goodbye to his wife, authorities said.

"Terrance Boyd Dixon fled to Bandon, Oregon, where his wife lived so he could hug her one last time, police in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Concord said.

"Dixon is suspected in the July killing of 64-year-old Michael Downie ... authorities believe Dixon beat Downie to death with a fire poker, according to a criminal complaint.

"Detectives said Downie had told friends he was afraid of Dixon seeking revenge because his testimony in a decades-old case had sent Dixon to prison.

"After the killing, police determined Dixon had stolen Downie's car and sold it in Yolo County. From there he hitchhiked to Bandon.

"On Aug. 14, a woman -- later identified as Dixon's wife -- called police and said Dixon wanted to turn himself in. He will be returned to Contra Costa County, where he was charged with murder."

A spokesman for the Bandon Police said last week that Dixon remained in the Coos County Jail pending extradition.




As I See It
by Mary Schamehorn

September 19, 2018

I know I've shared the first picture before, but I have learned more information about Gene Bifano, which is fun to share. Actually, Bill Smith emailed me this week to see if I remembered anything about this little market ... and I did.

Bifano's Market & Motel
Bill and I both remember being bused across the highway from Ocean Crest every year at Christmastime where Mr. Bifano played Santa for us children.

Gene Bifano leased the small store and motel from Ed Rauschert in 1941, later buying and enlarging it. He was still in business when he died at age 63 on Jan. 1, 1956. Born in Italy, he immigrated to the United States at age 29, came to Bandon in 1930 and worked as a janitor for the Bank of Bandon. He then started a shoeshine business, which he operated until the Fire of 1936. He then built a small shop, which was later a barbershop on Second Street (in the '50s). I believe the barbershop was operated by Jim Scott Sr. and later by Carl Williams, before the building was torn down to make way for what is now the Second Street Gallery-Coastal Mist complex.

Bifano Geniale
Today, the motel-market is the site of Umpqua Bank, and across the street you can see the service station where Banner Bank is now located. The McKay's Market sign is just visible over the top of the school bus. I am assuming this photo was taken in the '50s.

Bill has his own memory of an incident when he was in the third grade. "I used to stop by there and get a candy bar on the way home when we lived down across from Orcutt's Market (later Bandon Food Center, Ray's Sentry Market and now the building owned by Larry Hardin which houses Brian Vick's antique business). I still have a VERY guilty conscience about what I did there. One day, I didn't have a nickel, and stuck the Hershey bar in my pocket without paying for it. I remember looking back several times at Mr. Bifano, before I committed the dirty deed. That incident still haunts me to this day. I wish I knew if he had any kids; I would like to pay them for the darn candy bar," said Smith.

I am surprised Bill stills remembers that, but knowing Mr. Bifano he probably saw him take it, but he was a generous guy who loved kids and probably pretended to look the other way.

Those were the good ole' days ....

The second picture was taken in 1961 of the Bandon Home & School Club officers.

Bandon Home & School Club officers, 1961
From left are Mary Capps, Pearl Jenkins, Lucy Wallace, Norma Tucker, an unidentified woman and Fannie Hopson. Hopefully someone will recognize the woman I can't ID and jog my memory.

The third picture is Forrest Norton, when he was a CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) employee at the Port of Bandon in 1980. Forrest's father, Forrest "Nort" Norton Sr., was assistant fire chief at the time of the Bandon Fire. His mother, Norma Miller Norton (later Robertson), was a much loved member of St. John's Episcopal Church for many years.

Forrest Norton, 1980
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Speaking of St. John's Church, they are celebrating their 125th anniversary (Quasquicentennial) with a special program Saturday (Sept. 22) at the church, with Jim Proehl and I taking part in the program on behalf of the Bandon Historical Society. The program will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. at the church, and is open to the public.

I will be sharing photos from my collection of events that have taken place during the last 50 years, when my family was active in the church. Jim will talk about what Bandon looked like in the late 1800s and early 1900s, also sharing old photos.

The church is located at 795 Franklin Avenue SW, behind Bandon High School.

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I was interested in a letter to the editor in Sunday's Oregonian, and after I read it, I saw that it was written by Bandon's own Dayton Turner, who graduated from high school here in 1959. His parents, Bob and Amy, worked for my family at Western World for many years.

Dayton left Bandon to work in the sports department of the Oregon Journal, and although he retired years ago, he still pens an occasional letter to the public forum.

His comment on the Portland State University shooting ends: "If he didn't bring a gun, this would never have happened, whether or not the officers were armed. When you play with guns there is always a chance that bad can come from it."

The story, of course, is that the recently armed PSU officers shot and killed a man, who was trying to break up a fight, although they were unaware of the circumstances. He had a gun in a holster, but while trying to break up the fight, the gun fell onto the sidewalk, and it was when he picked it up, that he was shot by the officers. One article said that when the officers ordered him to drop the gun (having no idea who were the good guys and who were the bad guys), he did not immediately do so. Hence Dayton's comments.

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Speaking of guns, Forrest Simpson is closing his shop, FCS Protection Services, located at the corner of Rosa Road (Fillmore) and 11th Street, as he plans to travel.

Apparently he had been thinking about closing for some time, but the latest incident (last month) when several men smashed their way into his shop through a glass door and stole six or seven rifles made the decision a bit easier. To my knowledge they were never apprehended.

At one time, Forrest was an officer with the Bandon Police Department, and is a knowledgeable firearms expert.

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Darrin Quillen posted on his Facebook that his father, Jerry Quillen, who graduated from BHS in 1961, had passed away on Sept. 15 after battling a brain tumor for the last few months.

Sorry to hear that ....

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In my account of the 50-year class reunion of the Class of 1968, I forgot to mention that classmate Kathy Calame was also there. I also said that Sonny Querry attended, but what I didn't realize is that he was a member of the Class of 1967. I was afraid I'd forget someone because I was doing it all from memory ... and I had graduated 10 years earlier.

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It was cool to read about the Silversea Cruise Line ship that docked in Coos Bay last week, with a load of golfers bound for Bandon Dunes Golf Resort and at least one other area course.

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I have learned that the Trump administration will send a message to all U.S. cellphones on Thursday to test a previously unused alert system that aims to warn the public about national emergencies. The message will bear the headline "Presidential Alert," the FEMA said in a statement this week. Phones will made a loud tone and have a special vibration, which will send the alert. The message is scheduled for 2:18 p.m. EDT, which means we will hear it at 11:18 a.m.




As I See It
by Mary Schamehorn

September 12, 2018

The first picture I am sharing was taken in 1939 of the "new" Coast Guard Station, which was built in 1939 and decommissioned in 1946. At that time it was said to be "one of the most modern structures of its kind on the Pacific Coast." The building today is owned by the Port of Bandon, and houses their office and several businesses.

Coast Guard Station, 1939
What interested me even more about this photo, which came out of Western World, was the photographer (Soterion). That would be Tom Soterion, who had his darkroom studio and his small home on Elmira Avenue, just south of Goddard Energy. I spent many hours there with the Soterion kids, who included Barbara (Mallory), Linda and Albert, as we lived only a couple of blocks away when we were growing up. I think there were several other children, but that's all I can remember.

The second picture was taken at the local harbor in 1977, and shows the Port of Bandon's dredge, which was used to haul sunken logs out of the Coquille River as part of their maintenance operations. Things look very different there today.

Removing sunken logs, 1977
The third picture was taken in November of 1965 as the pastor of the First Church of God on Elmira Avenue rang the bell for the Thanksgiving service.

Ringing church bell, 1965
The church building was later torn down, and today it is the site on which Eugene Hill built his two-story office building, anticipated to house a residential care facility.

I believe that the Seabird Church of God was built by members of the congregation to replace the Elmira Avenue church.

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If ever the weather gods shone on Bandon ... it was last weekend for the annual Cranberry Festival. I have been to a lot of festivals ... make that almost every one, and I can never remember having three days of such wonderful, warm, sunny, windless weather as we experienced over the weekend.

Anthony Zunino and his crew, which included (among others) Larry Langenberg, Steve Pounder and Rachel Reed, are to be commended. I've heard many say that this was the best Cranberry Festival they can ever remember, and I tend to agree.

There are always going to be concerns, and one of those turned out to be the thing that Anthony & Co. felt would bring more authenticity to the cranberry festival ... vats of fresh cranberries around town.

Apparently some spilled into Second Street, and Saturday night a group of young people decided to have a cranberry fight with the ones that were over by the wildly popular street dance.

There was a Facebook post that indicated that a local man had slipped on the cranberries, fallen and broken his ribs, but it turned out he had fallen near Cranberry Sweets, but not on cranberries. There were also a few comments about squished cranberries being tracked onto merchants' carpets, but early Sunday morning, Anthony, Steve and Larry cleaned the streets, with the help of city employees Kim Boston and Tim Lakey, who used his own blower and his own time to help out. It was a great effort on the part of the chamber and the city, and Anthony and I agreed that we will work together next year to continue introducing cranberries into the Cranberry Festival ... but maybe in a different format.

Anthony has a lot of good ideas, and if he just had more volunteers, it would be easier to implement them. In the meantime, he deserves a huge vote of thanks for putting on such a great event for the community and our visitors.

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The Bandon High School Class of 1968 held their 50-year-reunion over the weekend at classmate Reg Pullen's property east of town. Because my sister, Maggie Dufort, was a member of the class, I was invited to join them Saturday and it was neat seeing so many people that I remember fondly. I am going to try and remember the members of the class who were there (but of course not their spouses, most of whom I did not know, nor their married names), so here goes:

Carolyn Mullikin, Diana Fraser, Eileen Donahue, Marilyn Hall, Randy Texley, Tim McCue, Bruce Mallory, Bob Dahl, Margery Chandler, Janell Leach, Dr. Rich Gorman, Cheryl Swigert (husband Steve Howard is also a BHS graduate), Mary Turner, George MacDonald (wife Melinda Era is also a BHS grad), Frank Barnekoff, Sonny Querry, David Dornath and Rick Howard. Other BHS graduates were there, including Hiemer Kiefer, Willie Shindler and Steve Fox (whose ex-wife Sue Finical was a member of the class). I am sure I have missed one or more, but those are the ones I can remember.

I also know that 13 members of the Class of 1958 held their 60-year-reunion at Lord Bennett's Saturday night. I saw several of them at the museum Friday afternoon, including Frank Ross, John Gamble, Chuck Ward and John Bresler, and heard that Don Chandler was also there. I did see a Facebook post, but couldn't recognize anyone except Theresa Ackerman, Mary Ann Bohles and Sonja Hultin.

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There seems to be quite a lot of misunderstanding about the charter amendment which would prohibit the city from using public dollars to pay for the operation and maintenance of a swimming pool.

Regardless of how the vote goes, the swimming pool committee will continue with their efforts to build a swimming pool.

Nor will the outcome of the vote on Measure 6-172 have any impact on where the pool will/could be located.

I was interested in a letter from Will Turner in this week's Western World, who says he does not want the city to partner with a private business (the swimming pool committee). I agree. The city has no intention of partnering in a private business venture. Mr. Turner's home backs up to City Park; hence his concerns about not wanting a pool to be located in City Park. We understand that.

What a YES vote on Ballot Measure 6-172 would tell the council is that the people in the community do not want the city to spend taxpayer dollars on the operation and maintenance of a pool.

The sign "vote no pool" on the back of a car, parked here this weekend, makes no sense.

If people vote NO on Measure 6-172, it indicates to city officials that they want the city to ultimately be on the hook to fund the pool if fees and other revenues are not enough to support it. Both the city and the pool committee hope that would never happen, but on the outside chance that it did, a charter amendment prohibiting the city from paying for O&M would take the decision out of the council's hands, and put it where it belongs: in the hands of the voters. If the city's financial situation should change years from now, and people wanted the city to fund a pool, a vote could be taken which would allow that. But it would take a majority vote of the people.

That's the value of the charter amendment.

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I was sorry to miss the event at the museum Friday night, which was attended by graduates of many classes who were here for their reunions, but David and I were invited to Dan Andor's 70th birthday party in wife Olivia's new shop on the Pedway. And it was a special event, with great food, good conversation and an opportunity to make new friends, while enjoying Olivia's new shop.

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People seemed surprised, and many are not happy, about the planning commission's approval for a recreational marijuana shop off Highway 42S on Third Street.

The subject of where shops could be located was thoroughly discussed by both the planning commission and the city council, and even though some of us favored not allowing shops inside the city limits, that apparently was not an option. There are only a couple of areas where they are allowed, and the Third Street location (in Takashi Haruna's former shop, later rented by Brian Gibson of Gibson Graphics) was one of them. The applicants met the requirements and the planning commission approved the request.

That's the way the system works.

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A bit of humor: I won't mention where I saw this, but earlier this week in an article about the shooting in a bank in Ohio, one article read: "Isaac said the gunman then entered the bank's lobby where he exchanged gunfire with the shooter."

My guess is that the gunman and the shooter were the same person; the writer probably meant he exchanged gunfire with the police.




As I See It
by Mary Schamehorn

September 05, 2018

I love this first picture, which makes me yearn even more for the "good ole' days."

The Dispatch, early 1900s
The Dispatch, a steam stern-wheeler built in 1903 by Charles Twigg at Parkersburg to replace the smaller Dispatch, built in 1890, provided freight and passenger service on the Coquille River for 23 years. If you could blow the picture way up, you would see that most of the women are wearing elaborate hats and long dresses ... for a trip up the river to Coquille. This picture was taken in the early 1900s and is one of many in my postcard collection.

During its years on the water, the 111-foot-long Dispatch was owned by several transportation companies and the Nestle's Food Company of Bandon.

According to the April 21, 1921, Western World the name was changed to the John Wilde and was used to haul milk on the river for Nestle's. The farmers up the river brought their milk to their docks and every day the boat picked up the full cans and left empties for the next day, according to information in Dow Beckham's book.

"She was abandoned near Prosper in 1927. Shortly after her abandonment, the tug Klihyam attempted to tow the John Wilde off the mud and over the bar so she could drift onto the beach, but unintentionally pulled her into two pieces. The Klihyam towed one piece out to sea and set it adrift; it later came ashore near Bradley Lake," according to Ernie Osborne in his book "Wooden Ships and Master Craftsmen."

As you look at the second photo, we will probably see pretty much this same scene Saturday night, but with different dancers. This photo was taken during the '70s of a street dance held on Second Street, between Chicago and Delaware, in front of the Bandon Theater. The band, in the middle of the picture, is on a stage near what is now Bandon Coffee Cafe.

Street dance, 1970s
The street dance has been a popular event at the last couple of Cranberry Festivals, and hopefully the streets will once again fill with people Saturday night.

The third photo was taken in 1971 of Police Chief D. S. "Big Mac" MacDonald, who is talking about the evils of marijuana to students in Mrs. L.A. Willett's elementary class.

Police Chief D. S. "Big Mac" MacDonald, 1971
You can see marijuana leaves in a container next to a very old flash camera on the table alongside Mac.

Wow, how times have changed! Some will say for the better; others will disagree.

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I love going through old copies of the Western World, and always find tidbits that I like to share.

I was looking through the 100-year-old copies from 1918 ... and discovered that the city council had set the wages for common laborers, who worked for the city, at $3 a day. Yes, that's a day ... not an hour.

This, of course, was during World War I, and another item on the front page attracted my attention. The headline reads: "Food Survey Man Coming." Here's what the article said; "The government has decided to make a survey of one county in each state to determine the amount of hoarded food, provisions, etc. in the hands of dealers and others. Coos County has been chosen for Oregon. This survey will start soon."

Hard to imagine ....

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While glancing through the obituary section of the Register-Guard one day last week ... I froze as I remembered with clarity the license number 8B6961, which has been embedded in the back of my mind for more than 50 years.

I had stumbled on an obit for a man who I believe harassed me one evening when I was coming home from the television station in Coos Bay after giving my "News of the South Coast" on air.

As I was driving up Beaver Hill, I had watched a car make a U-turn at the top of the hill and return to pull alongside me. He followed alongside me until we reached the top, where the road merged into one lane and he crowded his car as close as he could get to mine, trying to force me off the road. But I sped away, terrified. I could not get his license number because he had removed his front license plate.

The next day a person from Bandon called me and said he had witnessed what had happened, and knew the make of the car and two digits of the license number. I was engaged to marry an Oregon State Police officer, and Bill (Harris) and his lieutenant, John Heenan, sent out an APB across the state for all cars of that make with those two digits. One came back for our area, but we weren't sure we had the right guy.

I tried to put it out of my mind, but after leaving the TV station the following week, just as I approached the junction of 101 and 42S, I came up behind the same car .... obviously heading out to find me or some other unsuspecting young woman. As soon as he realized it was me, he sped away and I could barely seen him as he left me in the dust at a very high rate of speed. But I had his license number... and no pen. I quickly grabbed my lipstick and used it to write down the number: 8B6961.

But, I knew that he was somewhere in front of me between Bandon and Coos Bay, and by the time I got to Bandon, I was sobbing hysterically. I immediately called Bill and he ran the plate and discovered who the guy was.

I filed a complaint against him for harassment and we went to court, but he won because I couldn't prove that the guy I'd come up behind the second night was the same guy who had harassed me. I knew and he knew, but I couldn't prove it, and his employer (a well-known Coos Bay businessman with ties to Bandon) testified as to his character.

Later, however, a different story emerged when a Coos Bay police officer told Bill the guy was known to them as a similar thing had happened in Coos Bay ....

I may not have prevailed, but at least it never happened again.

It felt strange reading his obituary as he appeared to have ended up a happy, well-rounded family man living in another part of the state.

But I never forgot the name, the license number or the incident.

Sadly that's all I remember about my "TV days.

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I received a strange email earlier this month with the subject line: "turn on your brain ... vMZxTo xuoyKDJga." Here is part of what it said:

"You can complain to the cops but nobody can solve your problem. I dont live in your country. It means they can not catch me even for 7 months. I upload a malware on your devise. We turned on your webcam, when you went to the porn web-page. Now we have a record of you, touching your intimate parts. I copied all your contacts and if you ask us to delete this compromising evidence we need to receive 390 USD in bitcoin."

They then gave me an address through which to pay ... ending with the threat:

"Good luck. Think about the disgrace."

Obviously I knew it was a scam because I would probably be the last person on earth to look at porn of any kind.

But it did surprise me that it got through my spam filter as this is the first thing of this kind that I ever remember seeing in my email.

It came from no-reply@americanasviaje.com. I am curious if others have received messages like this?

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I received the latest rain data from Gerry Terp, and was not surprised to see that since May 1, we have received only 1.11 inches of rain (.20 for May, .79 for June, .01 for July and .11 for August.)

He included the data for the rain year (October through September) for the last 12 years, as well as the data for the calendar year.

The totals for the rain year ranged from a high of 102.04 inches for 2016/17 to a low of 41.71 for 2013/14. The average for the 12-year period was 65.33 inches.

For the same period, the calendar year rainfall totals ranged from 86.59 for 2017 to a low of 34.19 for 2013. Other calendar years with rainfall of at least 80 inches were 2006 and 2012.

It would be interesting to see Frank Sproul's figures as his gauge, out at Prosper, annually records a lot more rain.


Previous columns by Mary Schamehorn

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