Everyone has heard of putting your name and address and/or message on a slip of paper and putting it in a bottle and tossing it out to sea, just to see if anyone ever finds it. More……
‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the town
it was raining big buckets we thought we might drown
Our raincoats were hung by the backdoor with care
A few years ago Larry Burtness told me that the oldest building in Forks was a small wooden structure that sat in the side yard of the former Ninke house which sits in the middle of downtown. I thought to myself I need to take a picture of that little building and of course I didn’t. More……..
Building quickly cleared of parents and children attending Christmas program
Fire Wednesday night destroyed the Quillayute Grade School. The structure was burned to the ground and only a few things were saved.
Well, Forks Forum readers, I have made it one year and I am still here! And according to former Forks Forum editor Chris Cook I have six good years left before I get run out of town. But by then I may be too old to run?
With Thanksgiving just a week away a lot of people are thinking about what they are thankful for. One thing the West End can be thankful for is our volunteer fire departments. Neah Bay, Clallam Bay/Sekiu, Quillayute, Beaver and Forks, they respond at all times of the day and night and the only compensation is when we say thank you.
Tales of a trip through the graveyard at night are a Halloween staple. What if there was a lost graveyard? A place where school children played and the identities of those buried there were long forgotten. Such a place may exist on Beaver Hill.
Is it the chill on the backs of our necks, or the acceleration of our hearts pounding in our chests that make us watch scary movies or listen intently to stories of the unexplained? Our fundamental human desire to explore the boundaries of fear and anxiety all the while knowing we are safe and secure in a movie theater, in our living room or with friends around a campfire. With Halloween about a week away, the time is right to explore more unexplained mysteries of the West End.
Every year since 1981 a “pioneer logger” has been honored during the annual Hickory Shirt/Heritage Days celebration in Forks. This award is presented by the West End Business and Professional Association. Past recipients have received plaques, certificates and other items acknowledging their contribution to the timber industry. Many have not only left their mark on the West End economy but have made Forks the community it is today.
In a letter to the editor in last week’s Forks Forum from D. Brown, Brown questioned a notice she happened to see on the window at the Forks Post Office and what it was about.
What has been discovered is that this little notice at the Post Office was the only notice our community received regarding this activity that the Navy soon will be implementing in our area. The activity includes installation and operation of equipment on an existing tower at Octopus Mountain and operation of the Mobile Electronic Warfare Training System, vehicle mounted emitters, in the Olympic Peninsula on USFS and WSDNR lands to facilitate training.
There is an epidemic in Forks, an epidemic of irresponsible pet owners. People are dumping, leaving, abandoning cats all over town. Some of the worst areas have been Steven’s Grove Mobile Home Park, Castle Rock, and near B & P Auto on Sol Duc Way. What is the problem? Well, they are ill and starving and it doesn’t have to be that way and a good place to start is if people would only get their pets spayed and neutered.
There are a lot of things that Forks is good at, like rain and generosity, but, one thing we are really not good at is keeping a secret.
Last year at this time I was working at Forks City Hall, the mayor came up to the front counter area and motioned to my co-worker Valerie Russell and me to come over closer to him; he whispered that we might want to dress especially nice the next day. I guess our regular attire of riggin’ pants, hickory shirts and suspenders was a little too casual for his taste. So, being slow-witted it did not hit my brain that something special was going to happen the next day, but my co-worker was on it. She said, “Stephenie Meyer is coming tomorrow.”
The Forks Forum was started around 1930. The Forum office has fairly good archives of hard copies of old newspapers from 1940 until the present day. The only hard copies of the 1930s are thanks to someone that sent some papers that they found back to the Forum at some point in time.
The old papers have very few photos not until the 1970s are there many pictures of local people and events.
