Kalamity Flats: NOT a warm and fuzzy place to be
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11/22/2010
I've read a few reviews on KF and I've just got to say, WOW, anyone who finds the majority of the people in this town friendly, well, we apparently met different people. I'm also struck by few, if any, mentioning Oregon Institute of Technology! That, in my opinion, is the ONLY redeeming factor of this unfortunate place. I lived there from 1999 through 2005 and the only folks with which I've kept in touch are a Buddhist and an African-American (I think there are 12 of each in the entire county, which is one of the largest counties in the state...), and a couple of professors. The owner of Main Street jewelers is awesome, veterinarian Dr. Ronne, and the couple who owned the pet store on Main were incredible. Six years in this small town and I came to call the place The Back Door to Hell. It is still the Old West, in that the war between the cowboys and Indians is alive and well, and I have to tell you; the South does NOT have the corner on the redneck market! My 6' tall daughter tried to stop a young man from killing another in a bar, where he had already knocked the guy unconscious with a glass beer pitcher. She stepped in front of him, with hands raised, and said, "buddy, I think you've won." At this point, rather than stop kicking the downed fellow, he punched my daughter in the face so hard he knocked her backward, over a table, breaking her nose and blacking both her eyes. That isn't what astounds me (although it does!), what kills me is this man is then allowed to walk out the door, unimpeded. Here in the South, that man wouldn't have gotten two steps toward the door. Not long after her nose had healed, she was at a party, sitting on one end of a couch, talking to a guy sitting on the other end. Next thing she knows, a large Native American woman has punched her in the nose for having the temerity of talking to "her man," again, breaking her nose and blacking both eyes. The social center of KF is Wal-Mart, and as mentioned before, due to the Californians coming up to hyper-inflate the housing, it is NOT a cheap place to rent OR buy, jobs are scarcer than hen's teeth, obesity and bad teeth are the order of the day, the hospital (Merle West) was commonly referred to as Murder West, and the only way out of town is going over a major mountain pass. The lake is a pit of slime and the summer is full of Chia-cars, due to the midges. All in all, having lived all over the country, I would have to say, one of the happiest days of my life was the day I saw that god-forsaken place in my rear-view mirror, so unless you've got pots of money, want to stay home, and keep a guard dog to keep the meth heads from stealing everything you own, then steer clear of this little garden spot!
Suzanne | Knoxville, TN