Having lived in C.O. for 40 years or so, the only time I can think of when there wasn’t a full-fledged Recession, was the last two years of the Clinton Administration.
I started working here on the Sunriver Lodge after completing a carpenter’s apprenticeship with a contractor’s license, no workman’s compensation or insurance protecting me or mine whatsoever. I was providing my own tools, paying my own social security at 16.5 percent, for $6 an hour because I had two kids that needed to eat. At no time in those 40 years have I ever contracted for what union wages were.
All of the wealth in Central Oregon is hauled off to the southern end of the Portland area (Tualatin Valley).
Anyone that moves here and has to work for a living is a fool. Poor land, poor schools, poor health care – all for twice what it is worth – amount to poor people.
Appalachia of the West – only poorer and more ignorant.
– Ker Nunnos
This article appears in Oct 13-19, 2011.
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