Jefferson Banner - Opinion
Ellen Hamill
Ellen Hamill on the Jaeckl Bros. vs the County

 

August 6, 2004

From: "Hamill, Ellen" <ellen.hamill@oregonstate.edu>

I am responding to the recent headlines about the Jaeckl Bros vs. the county.  I agree that if they are doing business as a salvage yard, they need a license.  That makes sense.

But please do not force fencing around this tractor graveyard.  Fencing would be a detriment; cemeteries are places of respect and are not hidden.  In this particular cemetery, the tractors and equipment are all lined up neatly for historic viewing. 

People who own old tractors are now putting them in their front yards. Isn't it interesting that what we used to consider junk is now ornamental?  I guess that junk becomes attractive when it passes into history.  I love to see old cars and old trucks now, sitting on a hillside or in a pasture, with the trees growing thru them.  And when I was small, junk yard owners were forced to enclose them from the highway.  Now we would love to roam thru those old junkyards and see the ancient vehicles.  That would be a real find for historians, photographers and artists.

Jefferson County has lost so much of its dairy industry.  I took 16 rolls of slides (540) and not one has a cow in it. Jaeckl cattle were in and around their pond when I drove by.  If it hadn't been late in the day, I would have had photos of their cows standing contentedly neck deep in water. So I say Hats Off to the Jaeckl Bros.  And I thank them for their burial ground of farm history.

(Please print this as a letter to the editor in your daily paper.  I would hate for it not to reach people who don't use computers.)

Thank you very much.

Ellen Hamill
2042 Hill
St SE
Albany Oregon 97322