04/21/05 Burns, Oregon

Burns, Oregon My wife and I recently visited Burns, Oregon and really enjoyed ourselves. I'm Jeff Keane and in a minute I'll tell you a little about one Burns' attitude. The main aspect I enjoyed about Burns and Harney County was the population cross-section seven thousand people and 350,000 cattle. Now, that's a good thing. Well with that many cattle in the area you would think every conversation would be about cows and they were mentioned one or thirty times. But there was something else that was always just under the surface in all the conversations I had there. Every now and then this underlying topic would bubble to the surface with enthusiasm and pride. Citizens of the Burns area have the welfare and education of their young people on their minds more than just a little bit. At the Harney County Watershed Council annual meeting we attended, high school students presented part of the program and more than one person talked of involving younger people in future programs. But when a school activities levy failed recently, the Burns community really went to work. They formed SODASave Our District Activities that coordinated all the usual fund-raisers. Now the most unique money- maker was a radio auction of donated items carried out by Stan Swol of KZZR radio and his crew. The goal of the year- long work was to raise $213,000. Well, closer to $220,000 was finally tallied. I'm sure many, more populated school districts could take a lesson from hard-working Burns. I'm Jeff Keane.