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For the fourth consecutive year, Ronnie Dickerson will climb more than one thousand stairs to reach the top of the Columbia Center in Seattle.
The 23rd Annual Scott Firefighter Stair Climb is March 9 and professes to be the largest firefighting competition in the world. The annual event raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Ronnie Dickerson will participate in the 2014 Scott Firefighter Stair Climb for the fourth consecutive year. Tim Kraack will not be climbing this year, but will go to support Mr. Dickerson and to change his bottle. The two men hope to raise close to $3,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Around 1,800 firefighters from across the United States and other countries will make the 69-story ascent up the Columbia Center, which is the second tallest building west of the Mississippi. Firefighters will wear more than 50 pounds of firefighting gear including boots, pants, jackets, gloves, helmet and self-contained breathing equipment.
“I thought last year might be my last year,” Mr. Dickerson said. “But on every floor there is a picture posted in memory of somebody who didn’t make it and I couldn’t believe how young they were. I thought somebody has to go and do this so this will be my fourth year. It raises money for a great cause.”
When Mr. Dickerson first heard about the event, he thought it would be fun. And while he enjoys it, it is quite a bit of work, he said.
After hearing about the event, he told his friend and fellow firefighter Tim Kraack about it. When Mr. Kraack received some comments that he was too old and that he wouldn’t be able to make it to the top he set out to prove his critics wrong.
Mr. Kraack had his fastest time last year. He ascended the 788 foot building in less than 30 minutes. However, it was also his last.
“They sent me up after Ronnie and when I got to the 40th floor and found that he had already been there and gone, I took off like a rocket. I sort of panicked,” he recalled. “I knew last year would be my last year. My knees can’t handle it anymore. It’s too tough on me so it’s time to retire.I have the seniority so I decided Ronnie could climb.”
“I still think I can make it to the top,” Mr. Dickerson said.
Though he won’t be doing climbing this year, Mr. Kraack has plans to continue to participate.
“I’m going to be changing Ronnie’s bottle this year so I’ll get to ride the elevator. This is still a great cause and I can still raise money. I would hope my friends and family would continue to donate like they have in the past,” he said.
The two St. Maries firefighters are now accepting donations. They have an account set up at AmericanWest Bank.
“We ask everyone to donate $10 or whatever they have,” Mr. Kraack said.
For the last three years, the men have raised around $3,000 collectively. They hope they can raise close to that amount again this year. As part of the rules, each participant is required to collect at least $75 in donations for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
“But if you raise $1,000 or more, than you are guaranteed to have a spot in next year’s event,” Mr. Dickerson said. “And that’s pretty important because spaces fill up fast.”
The two men have already started training for the event.
“I’ve been riding a pedal bike and a treadmill,” Mr. Dickerson said. “I usually take my time on the climb. I take it slow. I finished the climb in 45 minutes last year.”
“I’ll be getting into a lot of elevators,” Mr. Kraack joked.
The two men said they would be interested in learning of anyone in the area who has fought leukemia or lymphoma. They climbed in honor of the late Dr. John Thomson last year, who used to change their air tanks for them, and their friends Charlie Derry and Roger Gentry.
“We’d love to represent somebody from home,” Mr. Dickerson said.
“We’ll strap photos to his tank and helmet,” Mr. Kraack said.
Donations, Mr. Dickerson said, will be taken through the end of March. For more information about the event, or to give them a name and photo of someone fighting cancer, call Mr. Dickerson at 245-6639 or 568-1419; or Mr. Kraack at 689-3681.
In 1967, a young Marine first lieutenant named William Woodier and his First Force Recon Marines began the Fourth of July pinned down under heavy North Vietnamese fire on top of a 452-foot high cliff.
They had been thorns in the side of the Communists for a long time by calling in strikes on Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army troops using the Ho Chi Minh Trail along the Laotian-Vietnamese border. Earlier that day, approximately 200 Communist troops had overrun a platoon of U.S. Marines a few kilometers away at Fire Base 106. First Lt. Woodier could see the fire base from his position. A few Marines, including Medal of Honor posthumous recipient Pfc. Melvin Newlin, were still holding out in a bunker there.
The rain that night came down at a rate of six inches per hour. “It was like being waterboarded with a helmet on,” said retired Sgt. Harold Wadley, who lives near St. Maries.
Once a Communist unit began chewing up an American unit, said Sgt. Wadley, they never let up. Some of the Vietnamese troops broke off and began to scale the cliff to get to 1st Lt. Woodier’s position. Sgt. Wadley said 1st Lt. Woodier was on the radio all that night requesting help.
First Lt. William Woodier and his First Force Recon Marines overlook the Ho Chi Minh Trail from atop Hill 452 the summer of 1967. St. Maries resident Sgt. Harold Wadley assisted 1st Lt. Woodier during an intense battle in the early hours of July 4, 1967.
Sgt. Wadley’s unit was ordered into the fray to assist 1st Lt. Woodier and the Marines still fighting at Fire Base 106. They crossed the rain-swollen, swift Thubon River full of debris, leeches and pythons, said Sgt. Wadley. One Marine corporal from Brooklyn, deathly afraid of snakes and leeches, had a young python curl up on his back during the river crossing. Lightning struck a case of grenades on top of 1st Lt. Woodier’s hill, blowing three of 1st Lt. Woodier’s men off the cliff.
Notwithstanding all that they faced that night, Sgt. Wadley, 1st Lt. Woodier, and their respective Marine units overcame the elements and the Communists on that Fourth of July.
But in the rush and confusion of combat, the two men never met face-to-face until 47 years later.
After helping him get through a hellish night in Vietnam 47 years ago, Lt. Col. William “Bill” Woodier showed up at the National Museum of the Marine Corps to finally meet Sgt. Harold Wadley of St. Maries in person. They met at the July 26, 2013 unveiling of a statue honoring Korean War hero Staff Sgt. Reckless, which Sgt. Hadley served with in Korea. Ms. Robin Hutton, whose organization Angels Without Wings led the fundraising effort for the statue, is pictured at right.
They crossed paths on a telephone conversation years ago while working with the U.S. government to find POW/MIA service members. As Sgt. Wadley recalls it, they were talking and he heard the man on the other end of the phone call a rifle a “piece.” That’s something that only Marines did, said Sgt. Wadley. One question led to another until the pair realized who they each were. It brought back a rush of memories, said Sgt. Wadley, “memories that are reduced to teardrops now” because of all the buddies they had lost in combat.
One of Sgt. Wadley’s lost comrades from that night, Sgt. William Stutes, never got to meet his baby daughter Katherine. Years later, Katherine became Sgt. Wadley’s daughter-in-law when she married his son, also a U.S. Marine. The Brooklyn corporal, Jimmy Porter Braswell, also fell in combat in Vietnam. First Lt. Woodier’s Navy corpsman, Hospital Mate 2 Michael Laporte, was caught by a crosswind on a low-elevation jump one night and never found.
This past summer, Sgt. Wadley was the featured speaker at the July 26 unveiling of the bronze statue honoring Staff Sergeant Reckless at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Va. Staff Sgt. Reckless was a horse that served with U.S. Marines during the Korean War, which Sgt. Wadley had served in 13 years prior to reenlisting as a volunteer for Vietnam. Sgt. Wadley retired later due to severe wounds.
Following the ceremony, a man approached Sgt. Wadley and simply said, “I’m Woodier.” The man is “a Marine’s Marine, all heart and all grit,” said Sgt. Wadley. First Lt. Woodier had gone on to become a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force and retired in Virginia. But he patiently waited for several hours so he could finally meet the Marine sergeant who helped him and his Marines get through the Fourth of July 1967 alive. The bond among Marines, formed in the crucible of combat, can’t be explained.
More than $12,000 has benefitted local cancer patients in Benewah County and the surrounding area over the last five years.
The money has been raised at the St. Joe Snow Riders annual Breast Cancer Snowmobile Run.
Jeff and Paula Spooner and Dale Hill are organized the second annual Breast Cancer Snowmobile Ride. Pink ribbons again can be purchased for $25. The ribbons will line the trail. Money will benefit local cancer patients.
Paula Spooner, organizer, said money raised from the event is sent to Kootenai Health Foundation where it is then given to patients from the area for prescriptions, fuel vouchers and food vouchers.
“Last year, we had 102 riders and made $4,193,” she said. “It’s always been very good and always received great support.”
Mrs. Spooner said a total of 71 people from Benewah County and the Calder, Avery and Clarkia area have benefitted from the money the event has raised.
And the group is on track to do it again. This year’s ride is Feb. 9. Registration is from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Big Eddy Resort. Breakfast will be available for $6.99.
Hands cost $5 and there is no limit on the number of hands one can purchase. Money is paid back to the lowest hand, highest hand and middle hand. All hands must be in by 5 p.m. at the Calder Store where a barbeque dinner will be served. Beef, pork or chicken will be available. The cost is $15.95 for adults and $8.95 for children.
The ride is 45 to 55 miles long each year. This year’s event will take riders through the high and low country, Jeff Spooner said.
“We try not to bring them back in the same way they went out,” Mr. Spooner said. “They are groomed trails.”
“It’s always a fun time for everyone,” Mrs. Spooner said.
Hot dogs and hamburgers are served along the trail for a donation. The theme this year is “Ridin’ Thru It” and is printed on the ride T-shirts ($15), long sleeve shirts ($20), crew sweatshirts ($25) and hoodies ($35), Mrs. Spooner said.
Once again, pink ribbon cutout signs that will include the sponsor’s name will line the trail. Businesses and individuals may purchase a pink ribbon for $25. Tenth Street Lumber has agreed to donate the sticks for the ribbons.
“Businesses can buy them and individuals may also buy them in the memory of someone,” Mrs. Spooner said. “Last year, we had 92 ribbons.”
Mrs. Spooner said this is the second year for the ribbons. The ribbons allow those who may not snowmobile to support the cause as well.
Through the sale of ribbons, clothing, hands and other donated items the St. Joe Snow Riders are able to raise money to help cancer patients.
Shirts are available and can be ordered from Mary Skinner at Big River Designs, Mrs. Spooner said.
To purchase a pink ribbon, call Mr. and Mrs. Spooner at 245-4070. For more information on the ride, call Idaho Rigging at 245-3523; St. Maries Saw and Cycle at 245-4544; or Dale Hill at 582-3402.
After a combined 15 years on the Seattle Police Department’s Canine Unit, Debbie Martinson and her husband Bob know a thing or two about man’s best friend.
So when Mrs. Martinson, who spends three days a week volunteering with the dogs at the Benewah County Humane Society, noticed that the dogs were just zoning out on their walks, she got an idea.
“I wanted to try to get their minds going,” she said. “They go for walks, but it doesn’t connect their minds.”
Mrs. Martinson reached back into her law enforcement career to dream up a fun, challenging way for Benewah County’s adoptable canines to get more engaged in problem-solving and helping out their masters.
Kristian Hindman and Michael Lounsbury construct a table as part of a dog obstacle course during carpentry class Jan. 17. St. Maries High School students and teachers, along with volunteers at the Benewah County Humane Society, are working together to build the obstacle course.
Dog obstacle courses, said Mrs. Martinson, teach coordination, obedience, and make dogs more adoptable. She and her husband discussed the idea with St. Maries High School teacher Jerry Machado, who eagerly embraced the project.
Mr. Machado said more than a dozen St. Maries students are taking part in building the obstacles, which include a tire jump, a teeter-totter, an elevated walk with stairs and ramp, a tunnel, and a table.
The Martinsons bought the materials, and Mr. Machado is using the project as a way for his students to get the satisfaction of seeing their work put to good use.
“It’s fun and exciting,” said Kristian Hindman. “People will help the dogs get through the obstacles,” said Michael Lounsbury. The boys are two of Mr. Machado’s carpentry students.
“I want to thank the public for bringing us projects,” said Mr. Machado. “They give the students a sense of accomplishment.”
Mr. Machado is grateful to the Martinsons, as well as Potlatch, Stimson, NAPA Auto Parts, and Kiwanis for their donations to the agricultural mechanics and carpentry classes that Mr. Machado and fellow teacher Bill Lawson oversee.
The obstacle course will be located on property behind Hopes’s Haven Animal Shelter that Jack Buell has agreed to let the humane society use, said Mrs. Martinson. Mrs. Martinson said she expects the obstacle course to be in place later this winter.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” she said.
