Features

Occasionally, when Evergreen Middle School science teacher Jeff McCarthy says goodbye to a class of students, he offers an offhand salute.

He likens it to a gesture that late-night television comedian Johnny Carson often made to his right-hand man, Ed McMahon. It’s a sign of respect, a sign of farewell.

McCarthy may make that offhand salute on May 30, the last day of this school year, when he says goodbye to his last class of eighth-graders. McCarthy, 63, is retiring after 35 years of teaching, 21 of them at EMS.

On a chilly Saturday afternoon, Rachel Emmer walks briskly across a large, smooth field in Buchanan Park where vegetables and other plants will be growing in the not-too-distant future.

“We’re so excited to be at this stage,” Emmer said about the long-range community garden project.

After six years of planning, Emmer, interim executive director of Evergreen’s Alliance for Sustainability, and others involved in the project are finally seeing the garden take shape.

“We had discovered an accursed country. We had found the Home of the Blizzard.”

— Douglas Mawson

Here’s the thing about things — they can always be worse.

On March 26 of last year, hell came to 4,000 acres 6 miles south of Conifer.

As the battle to fully control the Lower North Fork Fire continued for a week, residents waited and watched as they learned about three neighbors who lost their lives and homeowners who lost everything in a blaze that was sparked when a prescribed burn escaped in high winds.

One year after a state-overseen prescribed burn re-ignited in high winds and torched 4,100 acres south of Conifer, officials have made several changes to address some of the glitches in procedures and protocols that were apparent during the horrific blaze.

But for victims of the Lower North Fork Fire last March, the changes have amounted to too little, and have come decidedly too late.

It was a fitting four-leaf clover at the Rotary Club of Conifer’s fourth annual St. Patrick’s Day fund-raiser: tasty food, friendly companions, delectable drink and a worthy cause.

St. Laurence Episcopal, which serves as a church 364 days a year, took a day off March 16 and dressed up as an Irish pub — complete with furnished tables, signs, balloons and lights strung around the walls.

“The energy is just amazing,” said Rotary president Suzanne Barkley. “It just feels great in here.”

Many people in Evergreen knew Robert “Bob” Greenwood as a good neighbor and volunteer coach at the high school. 

Perhaps not as well known are Greenwood’s accomplishments in professional and collegiate sports. An Ohio native with a passion for athletics, Greenwood played football for the Cleveland Rams in the 1940s. He also competed in football and track at Ohio University before transferring to Kent State, from which he graduated.

Greenwood gained the most recognition for his abilities as a college basketball coach.

Rebuilding a life doesn’t come cheap.
Families who lost homes in the Lower North Fork Fire are juggling costs such as land reclamation, tree removal, and architectural plans and construction for those who want to rebuild on their properties, and house hunting costs for those who don’t.

By Alison Mahnken
For the Courier
Hang gliders and paragliders catching the currents at Lookout Mountain are enjoying the fruits of their joint labors with Jefferson County Open Space: an upgraded trail to the popular launch site on Windy Saddle.
The airborne adventurers earn their rides by hauling gear weighing up to 80 pounds to the launch area — and a deteriorating foot trail was making that undertaking both unsafe and unpleasant.