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Dr. Timothy X Merritt

The (Koontz) Forest Region Script

Updated: Aug 7, 2023


Fiercely Independent Cascadian who Distrust Americans


*Note the highlighted information for your scenario area. This is the critical info that each Response Team should get. We do not want to give the game away, so don’t offer this information without being asked for it.


A village in the forest area has about 2000 inhabitants. Due to sound building practices, only a few homes were destroyed by the earthquake, but 200 homes were found to have sustained significant damage to walls and roofs. However, the school for 250 students was destroyed. Electric power is out for the foreseeable future.


The Koontz people are very distrustful of Americans. Why doesn't the Cascadian government come to help them? They are extremely independent. They have trees, they have stones, all they really need is tools and they can start the rebuilding process.


Questions

  • What are you Americans doing here? Where’s the Cascadian government?

  • What is ShelterBox? Who are you? Why are you here?

  • How large of a family can fit in a SB Tent?

  • Who decides what families get help?

  • If they get a shelter Kit for repair, will ShelterBox do the rebuilding?

  • What other resources do you have?

That should get you started, play off these questions. Try to build a realistic conversation based on the first question asked by each Response Team member.


Frustration Points

  • For this scenario, the frustration point is mainly that the villagers distrust the American ShelterBox Response Team.

  • Strangers entering the village should encounter “hard stares” and struggle to gain the villager’s trust.

Help them Succeed in the end!


The Real History of the Koontz Family


In 1880, James H. Koontz moved to the area from Umatilla Landing, on the Columbia River at present Umatilla, and platted the town, which he named for his three-year-old daughter Echo. The town was incorporated in 1904. The population of Echo was 650 at the 2000 census and estimated at 710 in 2018.

The Koontz House - National Register of Historical Places

This Koontz House site has four contributing buildings. Built in 1881 in the Italianate style, the house is one of the finest examples of this style in Umatilla County. The ornate brackets, wide eaves, turned posts and fancy balustrades further mark the house as one whose owner was wealthy and able.

The features of the house combine to denote it as one of the finest of its time.


Built in 1904-05 by J.H. Koontz, this beaux-arts styled building served as a general store and feed and seed. Son-in-law, Charles Miller, and F.T. George then operated the George & Miller Store until their new building was finished in 1910 on Bridge Street.

The Koontz Building - National Register of Historical Places

Then came the O.B. & Bob Store. At some point the building was converted to a restaurant, then bowling alley. After the bowling alley was closed c. 1972, the building became a fiberglass factory for constructing satellite dishes and boats.


The city of Echo sold the building in 2009, Renovation was recently completed and building unveiled as the new home of Sno Road Winery and tasting room.


Around 1860, pioneers began settling in a small rest stop on the Oregon Trail, 20 miles west of Pendleton, Oregon. This small settlement grew as the newcomers planted crops such as alfalfa and corn. Agriculture led to the settlement’s incorporation by James H. Koontz and William D. Brassfield in 1880.


Named after Koontz’s daughter, Echo, Oregon, eventually became home to successful sheep, wool, cattle-producing, and shipping industries.


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