September 2018
Volume 6 • Issue 8
Pasco works to survey historic African American sites BY ROBIN WOJTANIK for Senior Times
Duck race celebrates 30 years
Page 7
It’s canning season
Page 9
RV retailers see uptick in sales Page 17
save the date
Tri-Cities’ CommUNITY Picnic Friday, Sept. 21 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Southridge Sports and Events Complex, Kennewick
The city of Pasco is working quickly to identify historic African American buildings and locations of significance in the community before they’re lost to city growth. “It just seemed like it was prime time, if you will, to capitalize on this opportunity and preserve the history of this community,” said Tanya Bowers, project manager for the historical property survey. She helped write the federal and state grant proposals to document historic properties in the community. Since receiving about $30,000 in grants, the city hired a Portland-based firm with an archeologist, who is narrowing down the list of historic sites to be considered for nomination. The working list includes spots like Morningstar Baptist Church in east Pasco, which was the first African American church in the city. “Morningstar was the center of the community,” said Pastor Albert Wilkins, who has been a member of the congregation for 65 of his 67 years and is the fifth pastor of the church. “During the whole civil rights movement, the church was where folks met and strategies were formed,” he said. Since then, the makeup of the city and neighborhood has changed. “There was a time when the majority of African Americans in the Tri-Cities lived here (east Pasco). As you look around this neighborhood now, it’s 95 to 97 percent Hispanic. When I grew up, it was 95 to 97 percent African American,” Wilkins said. The segregation was not by the community’s choice, as ordinances forced African Americans to live primarily in east Pasco. “The community was isolated and wasn’t necessarily welcomed at businesses west of the train tracks,” Bowers said. uHISTORICAL SITES, Page 15
Dodie Gregory, 74, left, and Patty Burnett, 66, both of West Richland, will compete in several events, including swimming, during the 2019 National Senior Games in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Senior athletes begin training for national competition
BY KRISTINA LORD editor@tcjournal.biz
Two West Richland women didn’t set out to be gold medal competitors when they joined a gym last fall. They had never even competed in team sports before. “I’d never been to a swim meet or track meet and didn’t have a clue. We didn’t know squat. We learned everything on YouTube,” quipped Dodie Gregory, 74. She and her stepdaughter Patty Burnett, 66, each won gold at the Washington State Senior Games, held in Olympia in July, and qualified for the 2019 National Senior Games, which will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico, next summer.
Burnett competed in the 65-69 age category and placed first in the women’s 25-yard backstroke and 25-yard breast stroke; second in women’s shot put and 1500-meter power walking; and fourth in women’s 50-yard backstroke. Gregory competed in the 70-74 age category and won gold in the women’s 50-yard breaststroke, 25-yard breaststroke and 1,500-meter race walking; and silver in the 25-yard backstroke, 50-yard backstroke and 1,500-meter power walking. Burnett was disqualified in one swimming event for not touching the wall with both hands at the same time, so she traveled to compete in a qualifer in Idaho, placing third in backstroke and breast stroke. uSWIMMERS, Page 2
Richland man’s book outlines how he beat ‘dementia monster’ BY KRISTINA LORD editor@tcjournal.biz
A Richland man who was able to reverse his own brain’s atrophy wrote a book about his experience hoping others will benefit from what he’s learned. When doctors told Dave Brown, 69, that his brain scan showed deterioration that was most likely the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, he became alarmed. “The MRI showed my brain was shriveling up fast,” he said. That’s when he began researching in earnest.
Brown writes about his medical issues and how he recovered in “Beating the Dementia Monster,” which sells for $8.95 on Amazon and $4.95 on Kindle. He’s already sold more than 800 copies of the 99-page book, which he selfpublished on Amazon in mid-February. Brown, who has lived in the TriCities since 1985, is a retired nuclear engineer and substitute high school physics and biology teacher. Balance issues, regular episodes of mild depression and difficulty speaking prompted him to seek medical attention in 2015. uDEMENTIA, Page 14
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