Knotty Pine Gazette - January 23, '09

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and it is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Eph. 2:8-10

I think Ranger Bill would agree that this would be an excellent theme verse for the program. Bill, Stumpy, and Gray Wolf are Christians who are saved solely by the love of God through the blood of Jesus. And the new life that comes from faith in Christ has a new nature that produces good works that give Jesus all the glory. Simply Ranger Bill and we love because Christ first loved us.


Winter Loosens Grip
According to the weather service, the weather in and around Knotty Pine and the Big Pine Forest should be easing somewhat and returning to more seasonal temperatures and snow fall for the next few weeks. That is good news for road crews, including forest ranger plows, who have been working just about around the clock trying to keep most major roads open. With record snows and temperatures hovering around zero, plows have been unable to keep many of the side streets and back roads cleared even with help from Ranger Bill Jefferson's crews assisting with the road work.

Fighting Cabin Fever
Cabin fever affects many residents of the tri-county area, if not the entire state, this time of year. Most cities in the area have organized volunteers to deal with the effects of being shut in during these winter months.
Knotty Pine's Meals on Wheels have been bringing groceries and hot meals to elderly and handicapped city residents. Drivers stop to chat with residents as well as to deliver food. Often this human contact is more important to and needed by citizens than even a hot meal.
The mayor's office and several churches in town have organized entertainment nights. Family friendly movies; dances; visiting choirs; as well as amateur nights with comedians, singing, and bands of all kinds; are all scheduled for this winter. Weather permitting, there will be at least one astronomy night. People are encouraged enjoy the telescopes provided by the Big Pine Astronomy Club and bring their own telescopes as well. The city is offering lost-cost trips to Canyon City and Central City, weather permitting.

Prayer for Our Leaders
Beginning tomorrow, Saturday Jan. 24, Chief Ranger Bill Jefferson will be leading, not one, but three prayer breakfasts this week. The focus of these prayer events will be to pray for our national leaders, especially our presidents. Ranger Bill will begin each breakfast with prayer for our new President Obama that God will lead and guide the president to make decisions that are in line with His holy will. Ranger Bill also will pray for now former president George Bush that God will give Mr. Bush new purpose now that he is out of office. Ranger Bill also wants to thank God for blessing us with a godly leader like Mr. Bush. Finally Ranger Bill will focus prayer for our country that we as a nation live according to God's will and that Jesus would be preached to everyone in our country and to the world. Ranger Bill will hold other breakfasts on the following Wednesday and Saturday. They will be held at Knotty Pine Church in their multi-purpose room. The food will be served by the ladies of KPC lead by Agnes "Mom" Jefferson.

Survivalist Rescue
Famed TV survival expert Todd Stiner literally dropped in on Big Pine National Forest earlier this week by helicopter. With permission from Chief Ranger Bill Jefferson, Mr. Stiner jumped from an army chopper onto the slopes of Old Baldy to survive three days and nights with nothing but a small backpack of survival tools, a canteen of water, and a two-man camera crew. Using nothing but his marine survival training and his wits Todd travels around the world competing against extreme climates - jungles, deserts, wilderness, even on a raft adrift in the ocean - and shows how the experts survive these dangerous environments.
Todd had explained his plan fully with Ranger Bill. Todd and his crew were to start on Old Baldy, climb down to the Shady Valley, then hike back to Ranger Headquarters. Ranger Bill having had marine survival training himself agreed to Todd's trek with the stipulation that all three men carry GPS units in case of emergency.
Unfortunately for Todd, the record-heavy snows and cold created icy conditions on Old Baldy. near the end of the team's decent, one of the crewmen slipped and fell, breaking his leg. Mr. Stiner radioed for help. Because of the location of the men, a helicopter rescue was not possible. So Bill and his team drove, hiked, and then climbed to the Stiner team's position. The injured man Allen Ramsey is reported in good condition at Knotty Pine Hospital and should be released in a day or two. Ranger Bill has given Mr. Stiner permission to come back to Big Pine with the condition that he, Bill Jefferson, join Todd on his next attempt at Old Baldy.

Ranger Bill actors on The Sugar Creek Gang

Many, if not all, of the actors who worked on Ranger Bill also played in other programs. The following is what I found from the Geocities page below:

"The series was narrated by Miron Canaday who played an old Bill Collins remembering the adventures of his youth. Some of the other voices were Jon Gauger as young Bill, Gisli Bjorgvinsson as young Bill, Randy Paradise as Poetry, Kim Rasmussen as Dragonfly, Flo Schmid as Little Jim and Mrs. Collins, Rex Brenner as Old Man Paddler, Larry Moran as Barry Boyland, and Larry Shackley as Big Jim. Click on the picture of Larry Shackley (on the Geocities page) to listen to a two minute clip from "The Lost Campers."


http://www.belovedbooks.com/page/page/1567900.htm

http://www.geocities.com/rmannor69/scg/scg-series-av.htm

http://www.educationforthesoul.com/scg/

You can order books, tapes, videos and CDs from Beloved Books and from Education for the Soul links. The gentleman with the Geocities site is a fan of the stories and has assembled an impressive list of information about the gang.

RB-010 Hit and Run

Two young hot rodders, Reuben and Smitty, are driving around the town of Big Pine. Sam Potter; an elderly, well-known resident; steps out in front of the boys. The car hits Sam and Sam dies. The boys are scared and run away and hide.
Bill and the fellas arrive just after the accident and investigate. Meanwhile some of the men in town find the boys and want to lynch them. Bill saves the boys and jails them. Bill must now gather evidence to determine if the boys hit and killed Sam. See what Bill finds at the scene of the accident and from Sam's doctor who examined Sam's body.

RB-009 Bim, The Dog

If you are an animal lover and especially if you're a dog lover, you'll love this story about a mutt dog, Bim. Bim goes far above and beyond the call of duty with his loyalty and bravery. Bim fights snakes, guards his injured masters, goes to war and protects Bill and his fellow soldiers during WWII. And what is even more interesting is that everything that Bim does came from real-life stories of dogs protecting their families and masters.

Some of the Ranger Bill staff

At the end of RB116-"The Deadly Laundry Basket" and from some information that Ed Ronne sent us at the start of the New Year, this is what we know of the RB staff other than the actors:
Writers-
Charles Erkhart
John Rowan
Directors-
Jim Grant
Charles Christiansen
Music-
Dick Anthony
Organist-
Ralph Colburn
Announcer (also various voices including Ranger Ralph)-
Walter Carlson
Sound Effects provided by-
John McCombe, Cooke Labs, Stanford, Conn.

Our link to "Ranger Bill on Wikipedia" will provide you with even more information on men and women who worked on Ranger Bill.