Life in Shasta County hardly dull

I've lived in Shasta County all my life - well, almost all of it.

During that time, there have been a cajillion changes from the major Interstate 5 construction in the 1960s to a growth pattern that just keeps spreading.

There are natives and then there are pioneers. I, too, have finally become a pioneer. If a person wasn't born here, it just takes longer to become a pioneer. A pioneer is someone who has lived here for at least 50 years.

Working as a journalist most of my adult life, I've covered some of the biggest events, shootouts, plane crashes, devastating fires and so on. But, I've also seen a lot of goodwill, those heartwarming moments when individuals and groups come together after adversity strikes.

During my life, I've also had the pleasure of meeting four presidents.

Harry S. Truman came through my community, Summit City - now Shasta Lake- while the whole Toyon Elementary School came out to watch his motorcade make its way out to view Shasta Dam. I was a mere kindergartner at the time and most certainly wasn't sure who the heck Truman was other than I realized he must be someone really important.

Then, in the mid-1960s, John F. Kennedy dedicated Whiskeytown Dam. I was in high school and this, too, was a big moment for our area.

Some time between the 1960s and 1970s, Ronald Reagan came to town. At the time, he was still Governor of California but it was just before he became the nation's President. I remember running the television camera during a live interview with Reagan at the Holiday Inn.

About three-fourths of the way through our interview, the old 16 mm TV camera that donned those Micky Mouse ears - two large, black film spools - made a strange noise.

As our interview came to an end, I mentioned it to the TV anchor, who was conducting the questioning.

I said, "I think there might be a small problem with the last minute on the film."

Mr. Reagan came up and shook my hand just before I opened the side of the camera and a large wad of film jumped into my hands.

"Oops," I said as he stood next to me, "But, I'm sure we only lost a minute."

At that time, he put his arm around me and said with a smile, "Don't think a thing about it, it used to happen to me in Hollywood all the time."

I will say this - he definitely had a gracious way of putting me at ease.

Then, in the late 1980s, I think, anyway at the time Vice President George Bush, Sr., was in Caldwell Park for a Presidential campaign speech. I photographed that event and some of those photos were requested for his library in Texas.

That was the first time my camera was scrutinized. I had to waste a section of film shooting in the air for the Secret Service team. Did they think it was a gun?

I don't expect to meet any more presidents in my lifetime, and have no desire to meet the current one.

During my life, I've seen a lot of Shasta County from the Intermountain Fair in McArthur in the east to the county line near 299 West, just past the town of French Gulch, north to Dunsmuir and south to Cottonwood Creek and the county line on the I-5 freeway bridge.

In between those markers are some pretty neat growing little communities worth visiting, especially at certain times of the year. Take, for instance, Manton, Oak Run, Whitmore and Shingletown. Tree colors in the fall are knock-dead gorgeous. Old Shasta has its colorful judicial past and Cottonwood's early days with cattle drives through town have unique histories worth preserving.

Yep, Shasta County is still a great place to live. I've seen better in some respects, but I've also seen much worse. So, I'm content to continue calling this place home.

Some of our younger generations will leave to seek wealth and fortune, but eventually many return. We're not big city, although some want to push for that. We're not real small town, which I'd rather see. But you can't turn back the clock in all we are today. We can, however, keep the spirit of our ancestors alive - that old-fashioned, honesty-and-integrity-on-a-handshake mentality. Yes!