Intensified A weblog about wireless, security and geekdom

Intensified OutReach – WE ARE KELSO

I came from a very small town in Washington.  So small that Mayor was a part time job, with the City Manager running the show.  I also come from a long line of law enforcement and....the other side of the law.

Kelso (Springfield) is a Scottish town, twin citied with the dreaded Longview (Shelbyville).  All of us Scots were sent to the Highlands of Kelso.  Our bitter rivals stayed on the West Side of the Columbia River in Longview.  To say we had a football rivalry is...mild.  A group of hoodlums once burned a K in the center of Longview's the RA Long high school football team's new grass.  THEY painted OUR Mountain side "K" their dreaded black and red, over our beloved Blue and Gold.  It was small town Americana at it's best and worst. To say that we were a...culturally segregated town is mild.  Jocks everywhere, Punks hidden, Hicks over there and moderate folks trying, with their families to make a living, everywhere.  The first Gulf War started the Junior year of my class of ~350.

My older brother and hero, Richard Gregory was deployed very early as a combat MP.  I was not a fan of that, or of having anyone in harm's way.  I was the classic "support the troops, not the war" kid.  I started penpal campaigns, wrote to my brother daily, sent weekly care packages and worried for a year.  My stance confused most of my small, backwoods high school.  To the extent that the school polarized and fists were thrown.

Senior year, people who had been in school a minimum of eight years together started to get wistful.  We lost one and nearly lost another of our own in tragic accidents. The chief jocks in charge and I had a life changing speech and debate course together.  We argued, laughed, poked fun, and became friends.  Two jocks in particular saved my life.  Being disabled, I could only play my beloved baseball and tennis, and worse, Boxing a few years as a lad.  During those years I took and made many bets.  The scariest of which was asking Brenda Compton if she wore a jock when she played hardball with the boys.  It was met with a poke in the nose that may have been my first of many beek breaks.  The other jock was of the same scale.    I am proud to say, these two have remained among my dearest friends my entire life.  We were a true BreakFast Club.  We each have gone through the roughest times in our lives TOGETHER.

Kelso is poor.  My father held that part-time Mayor job for a quarter of a century.  He, as shrewd a guy as he is, could barely keep the lights on in The City, or as my Mom called it, dad's other wife.  Days, Papa worked(s) as a cop.  Starting as a County Mounty and working to Criminal Investigator for both Washington and Oregon.  So I was the classic Cop/Mayor's kid in a very small town.  My friends called me the teflon offender during our childhood hijinks.  Nothing stuck.

 

Kelso has gone down hill.  Being on the I5 corridor, gangs and meth hit early.  They hit hard and they hit with a vengeance.  In my day we would drink, tip cows, race motorcycles, make babies and the like.  Now it is hard core drugs and violence.  It tears my family and the BreakFast Club to shreds every time we hear about our beloved home town sliding further into a tougher and tougher spot.

 

Wistful in our old age, Brenda, a few other friends,  and I are doing something about it in our ancestor's names.  Dad started the Community Alcohol, Battered Womens (SIC) Shelter, Public Transportation System, a Babe Ruth Park with Reggie Jackson dedicating, and countless other community enhancements.  With Dad retiring, the torch is being passed. Brenda went on to coach one of the best competitive Softball teams in Nevada,  I consider myself a mentor to many of the finest engineers I know.  I bask when they exceed me and I pass the torch to them when they are ready.  I dream of working for one of them one day.  We have the skills to help our hometown in the toughest economy since the depression.

Kelso NEEDS a Boys and Girls club, science center, and gym for the under served.  My personal mission is to teach kids business, technology, and how to defend themselves.  Brenda and I will overlap, in many ways, in her continued life coaching.  She is  my goto when I need advice, and I them.  Along with The Cricket, my padiwans and my peers, we will improve our homes and home towns.  Portland is my home, Kelso will always be my hometown.  It's time to stand up and fix it.  We are Blue and Gold Collar Workers.  Having the luxury of a damn nice internet pipe and all sorts of telepresence, the BionicFamily can help from afar.  We will crash at the Gregory Compound  as much as is feasible and help young tech and boxing students along their paths.  We will teach how to communicate on the world stage of the Internet as it is necessary.

A call to action: Those of you still home, get ahold of Brenda, or me and tell us what RESOURCE you can offer.   Not money per se, or equipment, or time.  What you can AFFORD to give back to the Blue and Gold.  Even the Red and Black (Shelbyville)! I commit to: Build as much technology as is feasible into the community. Teach and learn from Mentors and Mentees. Give back to my family and my heart. Show up with REAL PIETROS and Yobys as much as possible (there is still a non-Pi@tros in PDX)! What are you gonna do?  WE ARE....?