After reading about Susan Bowers and Jerry Cronins trips to The Dalles, I finally decided to participate in the discussion about entertainment venues.

I bring several valid viewpoints to the fore, as I performed as a professional entertainer for over 30 years. I also lived through the crash in The Dalles in the early 1980s. I served on city council, the Civic Auditorium Arts Commission and owned three businesses there   one of which was in the Granada Theatre Building. Also, as a board member of the very active Masqueraders theatre group, we were constantly searching for a home venue for our productions. We landed upon the Civic Auditorium, a World War I behemoth of a grand building covering a city block. It had a 50-foot-high proscenium stage, a balcony and all of the fly curtains in place with the rope-style rigging. It also had a full basketball court and a huge ballroom with a floating floor system and a bandstand.

When we escorted Angus Bowmer (the founder of the Shakesperian Festival in Ashland), he was saddened to think this grand building should not be utilized. Where to begin. First, there was no money, just dedicated volunteers who slogged through cleanups and many meetings with plans flying in every direction. Then we found an expert grant writer who advised us to get a bio from every group who would use, and benefit from, the entire finished Civic. We found over 50 and began to enlist their help. Mind you, even though this was a community building, there was much apathy on the part of many who said it was an ancient brickpile and efforts to revive it were useless.

We pressed on. It was decided that Earl Moore and I would construct a large model of the finished Civic with lift-off roof and great detail in the various venues of the building. It was placed on a rolling support system so the building model could tip to the side and be displayed in the banks and supermarkets in town. We spared no effort seeing that everyone was informed and involved. We worked up the list on grant funding and then things fell apart at the federal level and it ground to a halt.

During this time the Granada was due for a facelift and it reopened as a movie theater, again with much fanfare. It was one of the first movie theaters built with sound included, not an opera house refitted. But movies were giving way to video rentals and the business suffered. It was also during this time that cable TV and expanded viewing options were taking a toll on live entertainment. I remember well being sent home from a music event in a local night club because Roots was airing and the club was empty as nightly episodes took place on the little screens of America.

So the Civic project was not going anywhere, movies were not popular and live entertainment gave way to spectacles on TV. Then, to add insult to injury, our aluminum plants closed, giving Wasco County over 22 percent unemployment. But wait! Theres more! The red-clad Rajneeshees showed up in Wasco County and caused bedlam for 5 years.

The Dalles is recovering very well, I might add. The Civic moved on with progress and the Granada is poised to be a centerpiece in downtown. Business has recovered and most storefronts are occupied downtown. And the lndustrial park is gaining good clients.

The basic reasons for success are many, but a focused population got together and made it happen. Hood River had the windsurfers and led the way with economic recovery. The Dalles promoted an infrastructure with a dedicated group that pushed it on to recovery. Leadership carried the day and the vision is becoming a reality.

Comes now my home, Pendleton. We have many factions competing for dollars, projects and results. My only suggestion is that it will fall under a unifying umbrella and develop a single spearpoint to go after each project as a total team. No vested interests other than for the benefit of Pendleton and its citizens.

Gary Kopperud was a resident of The Dalles from 1973-1986. He now lives in Pendleton.