IBefore I go Home to be with my Lord, I want to take my Grandson fishing, crabbing, deer hunting, cutting Tamarack (with a really loud chainsaw) then haul the firewood home in the back of an Army Surplus Hummer with an AR-15 and a 12gage pump in the gun rack. Then as we sit before a roaring fire feasting on Salmon, Crab, and Venison, I will tell him of my two Grandfathers. Grampa Grant was born in a homesteaders cabin north of Grey Butte outside of Old Culver. He was a real "Cow Puncher" who kept horses all his life. He was a welder/iron worker who helped build many of the bridges along Hwy101. During WWII he helped build Liberty Ships in Portland. Grampa Dinkel was born in Iowa. He came to Sisters OR as a young boy in 1910 where his family homesteaded. As a young man he mule packed lumber up Black Butte to build the fist watch tower there. When he got his first Model-T, he never rode a horse again. In the 20's and 30 he built covered bridges in  Linn County. He harvested the first Peppermint crop in Central OR, starting a multi-billion dollar industry. I'll tell him of my Father; farm boy, U.S. Marine, expert rifleman, Cat-skinner, engineer that helped build Trojan. Then I'll tell him about all the fun I had growing up in Oregon. How when I was 12, I had my first job mowing a dozen yards on Shoemaker Hill in Scappoose. How I leaned to shoot by hunting rabbits with a .22. How I went fishing and hunting with my Grampas. How when I was a teenager,  I spent my summers farming in Culver, swimming in Lake Billy Chinook, and going to the Madras Drive in on Saturday nights. While going to OSU, I worked as an Iron Worker building bridges. When I returned after six years as an Armor Officer in Germany, I worked as a landscaper, tree topper, carpenter, and airplane builder. At the same time I served in the Oregon Guard as an M-1 Company Commander, Fire Camp Commander, and Weapons Inspector..When he asks me "Grampa why DID you run for Congress?" I'll tell him" SO THAT YOU AND EVERY KID IN OREGON CAN HAVE THE SAME FUN AND OPPORTUNITIES  I HAD"'

G. Shane Dinkel