Tag: Features

Triple Crown Bouldering

Horse Pens 40 part
of epic competition

Story and photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Horse Pens 40, high atop Chandler Mountain, is a destination point, or you might say a series of destination points, for boulder climbers from around the country, Canada and beyond.

As home to one of the finest sandstone bouldering fields in North America, climbers from as far away as Colorado, Quebec, California, Virginia and South Florida come to compete in the HP40 segment of the Triple Crown Bouldering competition.

The Triple Crown is the brain child of Jim Horton of North Wilkesboro, NC, Chad Wykle of Chattanooga TN, and Adam Henry of Birmingham. The idea was to create a series of bouldering events in the Southeast with a mission to raise funds for two organizations dedicated to maintaining access to bouldering sites. The Southeastern Climbers’ Coalition and the Carolina Climbers’ coalition are instrumental in procuring land for the climbing community. The motto is “Owned by Climbers and Managed by Climbers.” According to Wykle, the Triple Crown has been visiting Horse Pens 40 for 13 years.

Bouldering is a form of rock climbing without ropes, harnesses or other tools and hardware. It is a bare-handed sport performed relatively close to the ground. Chalk is used to keep hands dry and improve friction while bouldering shoes help feet grip the rock, and a small, stiff brush is used to clean the rocks. Bouldering mats, usually referred to as crash pads, minimize the risk of injury in the inevitable fall.

The lack of sophisticated equipment is more than offset by the physical strength, stamina and agility required for bouldering. Routes up the rocks are referred to as “problems.” But like all problems, the solution lies in breaking it down to the elements, figuring out what moves can be made to conquer the individual elements. Mentally solving the problem is the first step. Physically implementing the solution is where success and failure occur.

Watching a climber is akin to watching a gymnast perform a ballet from the ground to the top of the rock, clinging with fingertips, heels and toes. The burn is intense as a climber swings, suspended by only the fingertips of one hand, in search of another handhold or foothold. The elements of the problem are addressed one by one in an attempt to reach the top of the route.

Many problems require the climbers begin with their back on the ground with only a small crease in the rock. Using fingertips and incredible strength, climbers will lift their bodies from the ground, and find purchase with a heel, toe or another hand on some crack, or even a smooth surface.

The language of bouldering reveals some of the skills that are necessary for success. For example, a “hand jam” is a crack technique in which you slot your hand and cup the palm, wrapping the thumb underneath or beside your fingers, to jam against the crack’s walls. A “fingerlock” is a hold formed by inserting your digits in a finger crack and then twisting, with your weight coming to the lowest crammed knuckle. A “sloper” is a down sloping handhold that relies on skin friction and an open-hand grip. Horse Pens 40 is known for sloper problems.

In the beginning, practice becomes own sport

The sport originated as a method for rope climbers to practice advanced climbing techniques close to the ground, thus minimizing the risk of injury. The sport increased strength and stamina. Over time, bouldering evolved into a separate discipline, with rating systems to score the routes.

Typically, a bouldering problem involves no more than a 20-foot ascent. This makes it fairly simple to identify and rate routes by their difficulty. Worldwide, there are two primary rating systems. In Europe, the Fontainebleau, or “Font” scale is preferred, while in North America, the V scale is used.

The Font scale got its name from the Fontainebleau climbing region in France. The V scale was named for John Sherman, a notorious climber whose nickname was Vermin. Sherman referred to his V-Scale as “an ego yardstick” he and his friends would use to compare their feats. In both scales, the higher the rating, the more difficult the problem.

Both the Font Scale and the V Scale are open ended, allowing for advances in technique and skill sets in the future. Currently, the most difficult route rated on the V Scale is a V-16, but somewhere, someone may find and climb something more difficult.

Rating the competition

In competitions like the Triple Crown, problems are rated and assigned a point value. The higher the rating on the V Scale, the higher the point value. At Horse Pens 40, the most difficult routes were rated V11, with a few rated V$$$, indicating a cash prize for solving the problem. The highest point value, placed on a problem named “The Seam” was 10,000. The next highest, named “Sun Wall,” was 3,000.

At the Triple Crown, teams from colleges as well as various gyms were represented, but the competition was on an individual level within categories, as opposed to a team competition. Competition categories included both Male and Female Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, and Open. The Unisex Categories included Junior: 12 and under; Ancient Hard Person: 35 years and up; Stone Master: 45 years and up and Star Chaser. The Star Chaser category was open to all ages.

Climbers are placed in the various classes based on their experience and performance history. If a climber is registered as a novice, but their performance at the tournament indicates that they should be rated an intermediate climber, they are moved to the intermediate pool, and scored with the intermediate climbers.

On the Triple Crown website (triplecrownbouldering.org), the spirit of the event is summed up in one line. “Space is limited, and we want only excited climbers who encourage each other.” At Horse Pens 40, everyone had that objective in common. One mother commented that her daughter had been climbing for six years, and she had never seen a more encouraging, enthusiastic group of people anywhere. Everyone seemed to want the other climbers to succeed. Eager to spot, coach, cheer and console characterized the climbers at every problem.

In many formal climbing competitions, coaching is strictly forbidden. This is not the case in the Triple Crown. Climbers are given encouragement and direction from spectators and spotters as they climb. Each new move is cheered, and when one “tops out,” the applause is generous.

Editor’s Note: The Triple Crown will return to Horse Pens 40 the weekend of November 19, 2016. Spectators are welcome. It is a family friendly event, so bring your children. Camping is available, or simply make it a day trip. You may leave with an insatiable urge to climb a rock.

Triple Crown Horse Pens 40

82 photos

Features

St. Vincent’s St. Clair: Four Years

No matter the measuring stick, there is no mistaking the impact of St. Vincent’s St. Clair inside and outside its doors over the past four years.

Stories by Carol Pappas
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.
and from the Discover Archives

Replacing an aging building that had become obsolete by today’s medical standards, the new St. Vincent’s St. Clair opened in Pell City in December 2011 to great fanfare. And rightly so. It ushered in a new era in health care for the entire region.

“This is a great community, and we are proud to be here,” said Michael Korpiel, who just took the reins of St. Vincent’s St. Clair and St. Vincent’s Blount as their president. He had been serving as president of St. Vincent’s East, but a strategic restructuring added two more hospitals to his administration. And the fit is not just good in terms of geography but in the services they can provide together.

“I’m excited about how we can make all three hospitals work more closely together,” he said. As an example, he cited St. Clair’s certification as a chest-pain center, stringent standards that mean when time is of the essence, lifesaving procedures kick into action quicker than ever before.

St. Vincent’s is the first health system in the country to be certified under these new standards, and they enable emergency department staff to begin care for a patient suffering from chest pain – often a sign of a heart attack – even before they reach the emergency room.

Once they are assessed at St. Clair, they can be transferred to a sister facility, if necessary, in a matter of moments, saving critical time through a coordinated effort in treating one of the biggest killers in the United States, Korpiel said.

Specifically, St. Clair has many more advancements that continue to keep the hospital and the care its patients receive on a progressive track.

Specialties added since opening are continuing an upward trend. A female obstetrics and gynecology doctor is opening a practice in the adjoining Physicians Plaza. Dr. Kim Cox Gorman will practice at St. Clair and deliver babies at St. Vincent’s East.

Plans are under way for St. Vincent’s St. Clair Transitional Care, a “swing bed” program, which allows patients to receive skilled nursing services within this acute care hospital setting. “It enables us to better manage care for patients without transferring them to a nursing home or other hospital,” Korpiel said.

It basically involves designating beds when the 40-bed hospital is not at capacity for use as continuing care. If a patient needs longer term care, the designation of the bed simply changes, and the patient never has to leave the room. That system would allow more patients to remain close to home for post-acute care services.

“The addition of transitional care beds would strengthen our position as the provider of choice for the people of St. Clair and nearby counties,” according to a release announcing the plans. “It’s better for the patient, and it’s better for us” in providing the continuum of care, Korpiel added.

Bariatrics is “going strong” at the hospital with 30 surgeries targeted for this year. Combined with education and a support system, it is helping patients lose weight en route to healthier lifestyles.

Dr. Gaylyn Horne-Ballard has opened her pain management practice in Physicians Plaza, performing 20 to 35 procedures a day.

Gastrointestinal services are being performed at the hospital as well, with several physicians from Birmingham offering outpatient procedures at St. Clair.

Partnerships have strengthened with local practices as well. “Northside Medical Associates continues to be a great partner,” Korpiel said, noting that such specialists as those with Birmingham Heart Clinic have established clinics within Northside.

And Pell City Internal Family Medicine, housed at Physicians Plaza and at the Publix shopping center “have done a great job” in delivering services, he said.

As for the future, it’s looking better than ever. More specialties in urology, orthopedics and ear, nose and throat are on the horizon.

He acknowledged that while he has been “blown away by the support of this hospital,” he would like to see greater strides in the Emergency Department. It is not unlike national numbers. The lowest statistics for satisfaction are in the area of emergency departments because of long waits and more expensive care.

“My goal is to improve service through the Emergency Department,” he said. Through the hospital system’s Lean initiative, those improvements are already being seen. Delays in lab and radiology results are being eliminated. Transfer time for patients needing emergency services for a heart attack has been cut by 20 minutes, something that is critical to the patient.

The goal for turnaround time for troponin lab tests, which help rule out a heart attack diagnosis, was 30 minutes. It is now being done in 23 minutes.

And overall, 30 minutes has been shaved off Emergency Department times for services rendered.

What all that means is better care and better results for patients close to home at a hospital that consistently rates in the top 10 percent of hospitals in the St. Vincent’s Health and Ascension Health systems across the country for patient satisfaction.

Nationally, it means Joint Commission Accreditation and Joint Commission’s Top Performer Award on Key Quality Measures for the local hospital.

“My vision for St. Clair as the county continues to grow and Pell City continues to grow,” Korpiel said, “is to enable this hospital to provide as many comprehensive services as possible” so that patients get the care they need “close to home.”

For more stories on St. Vincent’s St. Clair four-year anniversary, read the print or full digital edition of the December 2015 and January 2016 edition of Discover The Essence of St. Clair Magazine

Features

Log cabin with an Asian flair

By Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

For eight years, Steve and Carla Valdes have been trying to turn their log home on Logan Martin Lake into a 14th-century Japanese-style home. They tore out the country kitchen, removed a clawfoot bathtub, reworked the master bedroom fireplace and painted the door frames black.

Despite their best efforts, it’s still a log house. It’s also a showcase for their Asian art collection, which constantly pulls your eyes away from the rustic American details.

“It looked like a cowboy bunkhouse when we bought it from the bachelor who lived here,” says Steve. “I hope it conveys an Asian feel now.”

The couple were drawn to Asian art when they lived in China and Japan while Steve sold medical devices from India to California for Johnson & Johnson. They began picking up a Burmese temple guard here, a Japanese kimono there, and the first thing they knew, their house was an Asian art gallery. ”My daughter calls it an Asian antiques store,” Steve says.

Carla, who is originally from Tarrant, was an Atlanta-based Delta flight attendant for 32 years. Steve, originally from Miami, grew up around water. They have lived in several countries and traveled all over the world, but wanted to settle in Atlanta when Steve retired 12 years ago. After searching that area for a house, Steve saw the online real estate ad for a log house on Logan Martin Lake, decided Pell City wasn’t so far from Atlanta, and drove over to take a look. “I had never been inside a log house before,” he says. “We walked in, and I said, ‘This is the place.’ I love the warmth of the wood.”

From the outside, the house looks like a typical log home, with wide, square logs and gray chinking. The silent sentinel near the front door, a stone Chinthe (lion-like creature that guards Burmese temples), and the Japanese-inspired lattice work between the porch rails on one side, hint at the treasures within.

Just inside the door, a Buddhist home-worship altar sits on a tall-legged cabinet. A small Buddha rests on top, with a gong behind him. “So much of Asian art is religious,” Steve says, although he isn’t.

Ceramic horses, copies of those found in Chinese burial mounds, stand on the sofa table to the left. Continuing left, on the wall separating the kitchen from the entrance hall, hangs a 14th-century Chinese scroll in a cabinet Steve built for it. As he turns the scroll, the pictures change, revealing a series of seaside and forest scenes done in ink on silk. “It’s a 30-foot-long story,” Steve says.

He replaced the maple kitchen cabinets with birch and the ceramic-tiled countertops with red and black granite, but the red appears burnt orange. “It looked more red when we picked it out,” Steve says. “We thought it would pop, but the color is swallowed up by the wood.” Stainless-steel appliances include a Jen-Air range with ceramic cooktop, bought because it has a downdraft. “We didn’t want a draft hood blocking the view of the lake,” Steve says.

In a corner of the dining area stands a tall, free-form, paper lamp, signed by its Japanese artist, although Steve can’t recall his name. “This is my most prized possession from an artistic point of view,” he says. “From a value point of view, it would be the Chinese scroll.” A four-section, Asian-style curio cabinet nearby houses part of Carla’s Madame Alexander doll collection, one of the few feminine touches in the house.

Light pours into the great room from two sets of French doors and the fan-shaped transom above one set, illuminating the wide-plank pine floors and the tongue-in-groove pine ceiling. Both ceiling and floors are stained a golden oak color. Recessed lights in the vaulted ceiling also shed light on the seating area in front of the fireplace.

An Asian-style open-front curio cabinet on the right side of the fireplace displays more Chinthe temple guards, including a small ceramic pair that are male and female. The painted ostrich egg, meerkat and giraffe figurines are African, yet seem to fit right in with their Asian cousins. A child’s Japanese kimono hangs on the wall behind the curio, while another child-size version and two adult kimonos hang high in the seating area. Bali puppets flank the chimney on stone shelves above the mantel, where a wooden ship rests. An antique Samurai suit of armor from the late 19th or early 20th century drapes a mannequin on the left side of the fireplace.

The master suite features a bathroom with white-washed ceiling boards — Steve’s attempt to lighten the ceiling without losing the grain and texture of the pine. This is the bathroom that had a clawfoot tub on a platform when they bought the house, and when he removed it, “people were clamoring for it,” he says. He replaced it with a jetted-tub next to a shower that has glass on three sides. The vanity has two matching bowls that sit on top, both with a design depicting orange coy swimming in a sea of emerald-green. Hanging over the tub is a geisha looking into a mirror as she puts on her makeup. “It’s an embroidery cloth traditionally used as wrapping paper for important gifts,” Steve says. More Chinthe stand guard from each end of the vanity.

Steve tore out the stone fireplace in the bedroom, which shared a chimney with its twin in the Great Room, and replaced it with black marble. The bedroom has a three-dimensional Mandarin king and queen wall hanging made of ivory and wood and a Chinese secretary that serves as a television cabinet.

An open deck spanned the back of the house when the Valdeses bought it. Steve screened in both ends, leaving the center section unscreened for outdoor grilling. The section that opens off the master suite is furnished in wicker seating that has predominantly black cushions with an off-white design in them. Another favorite piece of Asian art, a Japanese garden lamp, is located on an end table there. The screened porch off the dining area has more wicker, but with striped cushions in green, tan and red. That porch also has a glass-topped end table that Steve made using a gnarly tree stump he found on the property as the base.

Two areas of the 3,000-square-foot home reflect the eclectic side of Steve, who builds wooden model ships, collects military memorabilia and stocks his bar with South African wines and Italian grappa. (The latter is a fragrant, grape-based pomace brandy.) One is the loft overlooking the great room, the other the basement.

That loft was completely open and had been used as a bedroom when Steve and Carla moved in. He tried to make it look as Asian as possible by building a new bannister with an Asian flair and painting it black. He put up a half wall and painted that black, too. Then he turned its under-the-eaves closet into a storage area and the loft into an office. A Cambodian goddess made of wood, twin dragons made from teak and teak dust that was hardened with glue, and some Thai temple rubbings are the primary Asian art touches. Most of the loft is filled with odds and ends of things that Steve happens to like, such as a small pair of Mayan statues, an FDR “Man of the Hour” clock and the scale model of the steamboat Robert E. Lee that Steve built. “It took me a year,” he says of the project. “Now I’m working on a model of the CSS Alabama.” On the log wall behind his computer hangs a propeller from his dad’s airplane with a clock that Steve inserted in the center hole. “Mom and Dad are pilots,” he explains. “I wanted to be, but I’m color blind.”

Lights come on automatically as you descend the pine-plank stairs into the basement, which has Mexican-tiled floors. Framed Confederate war bonds hang on one wall of the hallway, which leads to two guest rooms, a small bathroom, Steve’s “man cave” and a War Room. He calls the bathroom the Florida bath because of the wooden fish that hang on the wall, fish that he carved himself. “The former owner laid part of the tile floor and I did part,” Steve says. “He did the stucco walls.” Unlike the main floor, the basement has round log beams.

His man-cave features exposed log ceiling beams, tree-stump benches, a wooden bar for his wines, a Thai spinning wheel and another display case of Carla’s Madame Alexander dolls. The closet in one of the guest rooms houses his Nazi and South African Army uniforms and his U.S. Navy peacoat. A Korean painting done on silk hangs on one wall of the room, while a triangular table from China or Taiwan (he’s not sure which) stands beside the bed, and Korean puppets and figurines are displayed in a glass-fronted curio cabinet.

He calls the unfinished basement area his “War Room” because of the military memorabilia there. He has Swiss Army helmets, a German propaganda poster, rifles, a radio-controlled PT boat, and a mannequin dressed in his old flight suit, his jungle boots from Vietnam and a flight helmet and Mae West from his Dad. “That’s a medical dummy, actually,” he says of the mannequin. “It has a pacemaker in its chest. Johnson and Johnson was tossing it out in favor of a newer model, and I adopted it.” He also has autographed photos of famous World War II pilots such as George Gay, a Nazi flag, a Confederate flag, a work bench, and the safe from his grandfather’s cigar factory in Tampa.

“My wife doesn’t like this house as much as I do because it’s so masculine,” Steve admits. “It’s like The Lodge. As the real estate agent told us, it’s not a house on the lake, but a lake house.”

Features

Married in the mountains

Ashville farm turns into special wedding, event venue

Story and photos by Jim Smothers
Submitted Photos

When Jeff Caddell’s parents, Bud and Mildred, bought 110 acres in Ashville in 1989, they weren’t just looking for a home, they were also looking for the perfect spot for Bud to be able to enjoy his life-long hobby of building and flying remote controlled model airplanes. But he didn’t want it just for himself, so he chartered an RC club so others could enjoy the sport, and he was just happy to be able to host them at his place. The club is still going strong, even after his death, with 45 members at last count.

So after Jeff and his wife Sheila had a beautiful wedding of their own on a small island in the 8-acre lake on the property, it wasn’t long before they wanted others to be able to be able to use the property for their weddings, too, and they got the ball rolling last year. To date, about a dozen couples have begun their lives as man and wife at Mountain View Farms.

“There are five or six places here where people could have weddings,” Jeff said. “Inside or outside the barn, in the middle of a field, on the island – they could even have it on the lawn in front of our house overlooking the lake if they wanted to.”

Actually the barn isn’t ready yet, but the Caddells are excited about the plans for the future. Rather than building a purpose-built barn for weddings, they want to convert an existing barn that can be used for not only weddings but other large-scale events. The plan is to retro-fit the exterior of the barn with board and batten walls while retaining the original wood and tin on the inside for atmosphere.

“There’s 5,000 square feet inside. You can get a lot of people in there,” he said. “We will become a destination wedding and events venue next summer once we complete a big remodel of our large home that is being converted into a lodge with lots of stone, cedar, rusty tin and barn wood.

“‘The Lodge’ and ‘The Cottage’ at Mountain View Farms will sleep about 20 people and will be … offering overnight stays.”

Jeff credits an old friend with suggesting the farm as a wedding venue. Gary Liverett, director of the nearby Alpha Ranch ministry for young men, built the island and gazebo for Mildred Caddell in 2007. When the project was completed, Gary remarked it would be a nice place to have a wedding, which put the wheels in motion for Jeff and Sheila’s wedding in 2010. While the plan for hosting weddings was being hatched, Jeff and his mom were puzzled as to where the bride and bridesmaids could get ready. Sheila pointed out there was an unoccupied two-bedroom house on the property that would be perfect.

“’Well, duh!’ I thought,” Jeff said. “That was perfect.”

To get started they set up a Facebook page and offered the use of the farm at little or no charge for a limited number of weddings as a promotion, with the understanding that the Caddells could use photos from those events to show others what they had to offer.

One of the first weddings was actually a couple who remarried each other after being apart for decades.

“Dianne and Gary Duck actually remarried each other here at Mountain View Farms in May. It had been over 30 years since they divorced! They had a small wedding, and then rode away on Gary’s Harley. Gary remarked that he was young and stupid and lost her after being married a short time. Life went on, circumstances changed, and he found her again,” Caddell said.

A very special wedding for Belinda Dorough and Daniel Creech.

More recently, the Caddells offered the farm as a venue for a very special couple. Daniel Creech and Belinda Dorough both attend a day program at United Cerebral Palsy in Birmingham, spending most of their days in wheelchairs, and living in a group home at night.

Daniel communicates by using his eyes to type on an electronic device and surprised Belinda when he popped the question to her. She can speak a little and first responded “What?” and then started crying before answering, “Yes!”

Daniel’s mom reached out to the community for help in making their dreams of a beautiful wedding come true via a Facebook post in which she was merely asking for some suggestions. In the end, a motorcycle club held a charity ride for them, and donations of rings, a cake, photographs and other services were all donated as word about their needs got around.

Their wedding day went like clockwork on a beautiful fall afternoon. Their powered wheelchairs zipped back and forth across the wooden bridge to the island as a custom-built sound system enabled friends and relatives to hear the ceremony and enjoy recorded music. The reception tent a short distance away provided an efficient serving area, and tables under strings of lights gave guests an enchanting evening as they enjoyed dancing on a pallet wood dance floor, a project which another couple that tied the knot there built for the Caddells.

All of the couples are special people, and the Caddells stay close to events to make sure their needs are met.

They are working on a plan to share the farm with another special group of people.

“After my mother passed, it was our great pleasure to make a substantial donation to Children’s Hospital in my parents’ honor,” Jeff said. “Mom and Dad had a charitable trust that provided for any remaining funds after their deaths to be donated to the charity. In talking to people at the hospital, they were interested in having a place for kids to go as a respite, so we’re working towards that.”

They are in the process of setting up a non-profit foundation to be funded by proceeds from weddings and other events at the farm to help fund those kinds of visits.

They are carrying on a tradition of giving established by his parents and want the Caddell Foundation of Hope to give hope to ailing children and their families and underprivileged children.

“When kids go through extended illnesses, their families are incredibly strained,” he said. “There are so many out of pocket expenses.”

The plan is to organize activities at the farm to give them a break without any expense.

Features

For Our Veterans

Pell Citian a part of history in Iwo Jima

Story by Jim Smothers
Photos by Jim Smothers
and Michael Callahan
Contributed photos

You’ve probably seen the famous photo of the five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the flag on Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi. It’s one of the most famous photos ever taken, and is a reminder of some of the deadliest fighting in any battle ever fought.

Retired Sgt. Major George Boutwell of Pell City knows the photo well, but before he saw the picture, he saw the flag in person from his ship. That happened on the fourth day of the battle, the day he left his naval transport ship to help establish the Marines Fifth Division Medical Battalion’s hospital on the island.

Boutwell returned to the island earlier this year as part of the 70th anniversary of the battle. It’s not an easy place to get to, and no civilians live there today. It’s an isolated Japanese military outpost with few amenities and few visitors. But veterans and family members of both nations have been having annual observances there for the last 30 years. A monument on the beach was erected in 1985, written in Japanese on one side and English on the other. “On the 40th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima, American and Japanese veterans met again on these same sands, this time in peace and friendship. We commemorate our comrades, living and dead, who fought here with bravery and honor, and we pray together that our sacrifices on Iwo Jima will always be remembered and never be repeated.”

The order of the day was, “We met once as enemies, now as friends.”

Boutwell said he made the return trip thanks to the non-profit organization The Greatest Generation Foundation. Since 2004, the group has offered the opportunity for war veterans to return to their battlefields at no cost to them. The TGGF programs back to the battlefields are often emotional, but provide veterans a measure of closure from their war experiences, the chance to share in the gratitude for their service, and a venue to educate others.

Boutwell had returned to the island once before, in 1970, when he was stationed in Okinawa. The commanding general of his Marines division at that time authorized all personnel who had been there in 1945 to fly in for a one-day visit. There was a very small group there then, nothing like what he experienced this time.

In addition to his TGGF group of about 25 veterans, other groups also made the trip. The Japanese Cabinet came to this year’s observance for the first time.

Vehicles took visitors to the top of Suribachi to see monuments erected there, and for ceremonies marking the occasion.

This was quite unlike his previous two visits to the eight square mile island.

Reflecting back on the invasion of the island, Boutwell said he was ready to get off of the transport ship, which had been home for more than two months. While in Hawaii, his group had practiced beach landings, but it wasn’t until they went to sea that they were told where they were going. He was ready.

“Back then, I was nothing but a 20-year-old kid that was just like all the military personnel in the service now, 18-19-20-year-old kids. They know that nothing is ever going to happen to them,” he said. “And that’s what makes a good military force – you’ve got kids like that who think nothing’s ever going to happen to them.

“I could see the shore, and boats and amtraks (amphibious tracked personnel carriers) that had been destroyed, and some of them floating out there because the Japanese had hit some of them. We knew there are people who had been wounded and killed on the island there,” he said. “We had heard that John Basilone, who had won the Medal of Honor at Guadalcanal in 1942, had been killed on the first day.”

Basilone had been sent back home as a hero after Guadalcanal to help raise money for bonds, but after a few months wanted to get back into action.

When Boutwell went to the island on a landing craft mechanized (LCM), he drove a Jeep with a trailer off of a ramp where he found himself sitting still with all four wheels on the Jeep spinning in the volcanic ash.

Tractors pulled vehicles onto metal strips put into place by engineers to create a drivable road.

His battalion moved to the other side of the island to help set up the hospital where he subsequently served as a guard. He recalled an incident when an unarmed Japanese soldier walked down a dirt road into their area smoking a cigarette. He was quickly taken prisoner and held for questioning.

Boutwell saw some of the tunnels on the island, which were part of an elaborate defense system designed to help the Japanese fight against an expected invasion. Three days of shelling that took place before the Marines went on shore did some damage to Japanese defenses, but still the Marines took heavy casualties. Most of the 21,000 Japanese troops fought to the death or took their own lives during the battle. The American force of 60,000 Marines and a few thousand Navy Seabees on the island suffered 26,000 casualties, including 6,800 dead in the 36 days of fighting.

Boutwell was unaware if there were any surviving Japanese soldiers from the battle at the ceremony, but the widow of one of the soldiers sent him a gift of “peace beads.” At age 97, she makes the gifts to American veterans every year at the memorial ceremonies.

Boutwell said Iwo Jima was important because of its impact on the air war. Japanese forces there were detecting U.S. bombers flying from Guam to Japan. They in turned alerted Japan, and fighters were scrambled to meet the bombers before they arrived. Iwo Jima was also needed as an emergency landing area for aircraft returning from Japan that had either been damaged on the mission or had other problems.

While the focal point of the trip was the visit to Iwo Jima, most of his time was spent on other islands. Guam was home base. Boutwell was taken by surprise by the public outpouring of appreciation by the people of Guam toward the veterans for freeing them or their ancestors from Japanese oppression during the war.

His group also stayed on Saipan, and traveled from there the short distance to Tinian. There, they saw where the atomic bombs that ended the war were stored and loaded, and the runway from which the Enola Gay took off to make its historic flight.

Boutwell and his family have enjoyed attending service reunions in different cities over the years. He served in the Marines for 28 years, including time during the Korean Conflict and service in Vietnam.

He also served as a drill sergeant at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, a job he said was probably the toughest in the Marines as far as the hours and intensity involved.

These days, he is an avid golfer, with a goal of walking 18 holes two or three times per week.

For more on our Special Veterans Coverage, pick up a print version of this month’s Discover The Essence of St. Clair or read the magazine in digital format online.

Features

Working Breeds

Leeds trainers teaching dogs to herd sheep

Story and photos
by Jim Smothers

There’s a bond between people and their dogs like no other – a type of teamwork found in few other relationships.

That’s what got Kim Crenshaw hooked on dog training, and what led her to Doyle Ivie. Together they are offering a new avenue for that type of teamwork in this part of the state.

While Crenshaw is an experienced obedience and agility teacher and trainer, she wanted to see how her dogs would respond to the challenge of herding sheep. After a workshop with Ivie at his Farmington, Georgia, ranch she has brought him to her home and training center in Leeds to give more central Alabama dog owners a chance to introduce their pets to sheep herding.

He is of the generation that doesn’t think about dogs as members of the family—they are tools, there to do a job, and he’s taken it on as his job to train them.

“Most of the time, the dogs have never even seen a sheep before,” he said, “and some of the people haven’t either.”

About a dozen people came out for Ivie’s latest workshop in Leeds. They got to see how their dogs would interact with the sheep and how well they would respond to new commands for moving the sheep to specific locations.

“Everything out there can think, that’s the problem,” he said. The sheep, the dog and the person all have a mind of their own. “That’s where the dedicated training comes in. There are a lot of variables. Everything is moving here. With agility and obedience, everything is still.”

Ivie says he’s been “cowboying” all of his life and started training dogs about 20 years ago. It was during that time, while learning to use dogs to help move livestock, that he got acquainted with the late Bob Vest. Vest’s career and training methods are legendary in the herding dog community, and are recounted in The Traveling Herding Teacher.

“He was a good instructor,” Ivie said. “I learned a lot from him, and he insisted that I start helping people.”

At his ranch Ivie has a herd of just over 100 sheep. Keeping them healthy can be a challenge, mainly due to feet problems and parasites. He said livestock have to be trained to the dogs, too, so that their reactions to the dogs can help move the herd and keep it together.

“The entire herd doesn’t have to be trained, just enough to start the herd moving,” he said.

It’s up to the shepherd and the dog to direct their movement, whether it’s to the “way side” (counterclockwise) or the “by side” (clockwise).

He cautions that herding can be dangerous.

“It’s a contact sport,” he said.

It’s up to the shepherd to train his or her dog not only how to move the herd, but how to stop it. In training and competition, the herd is typically between the shepherd and the dog, with hand signals used for direction and to stop movement by having the dog lie down.

“When you get tired of having your knees knocked off, you’ll learn to stop that dog!” he said.

Crenshaw said there are some big misconceptions about herding.

“It’s not chasing,” she said. “Some people say their dog would be good at herding because he likes to chase bicycles or something. It’s not about chasing or nipping at them (the sheep). It’s usually trying to push the sheep back to the person. When you see the dog get behind the sheep and push them toward the person, that’s instinct. It’s really cool to watch.”

After the workshop, Crenshaw and Ivie took the summer off from working with the sheep. The summer heat is just too much for them. They plan to pick it back up in the early fall, but no date had been set as of this writing.

“I think everyone had a good time,” she added. “The beginners got a good taste of it, and there is nothing else offered in the Birmingham area for herding dogs.”

For dogs and handlers with herding experience, it’s a great opportunity to work with sheep.

Some dogs pick up on the skills very quickly, with an intuitive sense of how to move with the sheep. Others need more time to catch on.

“You can take five young dogs that have never seen sheep before, and some will turn on,” Crenshaw said. “Some don’t. Some seem confused. It can take a little bit of coaxing for them to know it’s okay to move them because they know they are not supposed to chase other animals.”

Crenshaw and Ivie both have extensive resumés in the dog-training world. Ivie has a background as a competitor, trainer and judge in organizations including the AHBA, AKC and ASCA among others. Crenshaw has been a professional trainer for more than 25 years and is a judge for agility, rally obedience and obedience competitions.

“Really, it’s all based in obedience,” Crenshaw said. You have to have a good relationship with the dog, to be able to read the dog, tell what they’re thinking, and communicate what their role is. All the dogs have to be good at walking on leash and have a great recall in agility or sheep herding.

“If the sheep are going where you don’t want them to go, you have to be able to call them off. They have to be able to go, come and stop. Those are skills you have to have with any of the sports. If you want to do hunting, a retriever has to have those skills, too. Those foundation skills of obedience are the foundation skills for all of the extra games you play with your dog.”

She added that a number of games and activities have been developed to encourage owners to spend more recreational time with their dogs, whatever the breed or instincts. Any dog owner should be able to find some type of activity suitable for his or her dog.

“Whatever dog a person has in their backyard, there’s something it can do and enjoy,” she said. “If it has a good nose for tracking, you can make a game out of finding lost things. There are so many dog sports that are so much fun and can get people and dogs off the couch. There are plenty of opportunities for physical and mental activities.”

The dogs and handlers at the latest workshop demonstrated a wide range of abilities and aptitudes for herding during the two days of working with the sheep.

“I think everyone had a good time,” Crenshaw said.

For more about Crenshaw and Ivie, visit
www.bhamdogtrainer.com and www.woodsendstockdog.com

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