by Linda Perry
My dad taught us to do things the old fashion way. He was from Oklahoma and grew up in the depression. He taught us how to garden, and took us deer hunting, squirrel hunting, wild boar hog hunting, bear hunting, fishing and finally how to find wild berries and mushrooms in the forests.

I grew up in Anderson, California. One day, when I was about nine, my dad took my brother and me out looking for honeycomb mushrooms. We had gone to this same place for about five years; it was across the river from Anderson River Park. Anyway, we were walking through the forest looking for mushrooms and I watched a huge black thing run from one tree to another about twenty yards from us. It hid behind a tree and peeked around to look at us. I was terrified. Remember, I was only about nine and I didn’t know what a Bigfoot was. I had never heard of such a thing, so I thought it was a big bear. I yelled at my dad, something like “Dad, Dad, I see a big bear running from tree to tree peeking at us!”

We had been bear hunting with him before and my dad seemed to not be afraid of anything. I didn’t want my dad to think I was scared so I tried to not be; but, it was just too scary and the biggest bear I have ever seen. So, I couldn’t help it, I just burst out, “Dad, Dad, there is a really big bear following us!” I was scarring my little brother who is two years younger than me. He started crying and screaming and we ended up going home early. My dad was angry with me.
About a year later, our family was watching a TV show about Bigfoot. This was the first time I ever heard anything about a Bigfoot. They ran a video of what is supposedly the only real footage of a Bigfoot ever caught on tape. I jumped up and pointed to the Bigfoot and told everyone in my family who were sitting there watching TV with me that, that is what I saw when we were hunting mushrooms in the park. Dad and Mom, my sisters and brothers and aunts and uncles all got a shocked looks on their It’s a matter of time by Linda Perry faces.

Thanks GRH for telling us your story of a Bigfoot sighting. If you have one, email me at lindap@douglasco. net. I will need a full name but will only use your
initials. (Linda Newton- Perry, along with her husband, Christopher Perry, is the author of the Viking Age novel, Forced Blood The Norseman. Order where books are sold or online.) The “Friday Foreign Film” series at Coos Bay Public Library continues at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, January 9th. Multiple award-winning, audience favorite “The Band’s Visit” (Israel/France, 2007) is this month’s feature.

When the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra flies from Egypt to Israel to perform at the opening of an Arab culture center, they are left stranded atthe airport. When they attempt to find their own ride, they arrive instead at a remote town, where all eight members are left standing alone far from theirintended destination. Stuck there until the next morning's bus, tired, hungry, and confused, they find help at a restaurant run by the pretty but brash Dina. Dina invites two band members to spend the night at her apartment, farms out fourmore to a cafe regular who has been "between jobs" for more than a year(eventhough it is his wife's birthday), and puts up the others in the restaurant. As the band settles in as best it can, each of the members attempts to get along with the natives in their own way.

There's no instant cultural understanding, merely the sometimes awkward, sometimes easy interactions of former national enemies who don't speak the same language but manage to find common ground nonetheless. What follows is a special night of quiet happenings and confessions as the band makes its own impact on the town and the town on them The “Friday Foreign Film” series is normally held on the second Friday of the month and is free to the public. Many of these films are not rated and parental discretion is advised. For more information call 269- 1101.