Kathleen Beaudoin Alberding
Kathy is the glue holding Belmar Window Shop's many components (sales, customer service and installations) together. A tireless servant of our customer base, she has a bachelors degree in business administration and over 30 years of "on the ground" management experience. Kathy is also a Hunter Douglas Certified Window Treatment Expert.
"Kathy made her mark on history in 1970"...A little known fact outside of the Beaudoin family is Kathy's 4th grade creation of "Woodsy the Owl" and her Earth Day slogan "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute", no kidding, the slogan and owl were Kathy's creation.
Columbus, Ohio 1970.....While being raised by her paternal Grandmother Hazel Beaudoin whose favorite saying was "I don’t give a hoot", Kathleen Patricia Beaudoin made a poster in the 4th grade that won a national contest connected to the founding of Earth Day. Her poster was of an owl sitting on a tree branch with a speech bubble above it reading “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute”. Her creation was chosen out of all the entries nationwide. It is safe to say that Kathy has had an impact on your world! Very few people know of this outside Kathy's family and closest friends.
Kathy’s winning poster was hung temporarily in the trophy case of her school, West Franklin Elementary, and then shipped away somewhere. The poster was never returned to the family and it may seem a little hard to believe but we just simply forgot about it. The late 60s and early 70s we're chaotic for the Beaudoin family. Our mother, Joan Beaudoin, died in 1967 leaving our father, to care for five children ages 5-12 until our Grandmother, Hazel, moved to Ohio to care for us. We re-located several times in the following years and in the chaos my sisters award and poster was all but forgotten.
I have tried for several years to locate poster. It is undoubtedly in an archive file or hanging in a forest service or other government building somewhere. The government doesn’t throw anything out. I know it still exists.
My research has produced some evidence of a ridiculous cover up by our beloved federal government. God bless our government but it seems they can't do anything without fear of reprisal so they sweep stuff under the rug! It's really crazy!
After creating a Twitter account under the name "Woodsy Truther", (yes, I really did that) I have been contacted by two other people that have almost identical stories. One from a woman in Washington State who said she also created a poster of an owl with a similar saying in 4th grade that won a national contest. The other was a man that lives in Wisconsin, who had put the same kind of research and effort into finding his younger sister's winning poster as I have. His description of the poster his sister created is similar to my sister's. This man's family was military, living in Germany at the time and attending school on base. ( to add another level of strangeness to this whole story, his name is Steve same as mine, his little sister is Kathy, same as my sister). All three stories are aligned by date, the 1969-70 school year.
My conclusion...
Woodsy was created in the 1969-70 school year by some special 4th graders that will never get credit in any way, by anybody except by me.
Our government, I’m sure with good intentions, makes use of input from 4th graders to create influence over all children of that impressionable age group and younger.
I assume that when children nationwide were tasked with the same criteria, to “Create a poster for Earth Day” several would be very similar. I think that’s what happened here.
Kathy's story has been on the web for several years now and last time I looked, my Woodsy Truther Twitter account is being followed by someone from the Forest Service. Now, Woodsy has changed its slogan from “Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute” to "Lend a hand — care for the land!"
I hope they didn't change it for fear of reprisal. That motto really stinks! An Owl that says lend a hand? Give me a break.
This is the most recent Wikipedia definition...
Woodsy Owl is an owl icon for the United States Forest Service[1] most famous for the motto "Give a hoot — don't pollute!". His current motto is "Lend a hand — care for the land!" Woodsy's target audience are children five to eight years old, and he was designed to be seen as a mentor to children, providing them with information and advice to help them appreciate nature. Harold Bell of Western Publishing (and producer of Smokey Bear public service announcements), along with Glen Kovar and Chuck Williams, originally created the mascot in 1970 as part of a United States Forest Service campaign to raise awareness of protecting the environment.[2] Woodsy's slogan was officially introduced on September 15, 1971 by Secretary of Agriculture Clifford Hardin. The first Woodsy Owl public service spot was created by US Forest ranger Chuck Williams, who was the Forest Service's technical consultant for the Lassie TV show which featured a Forest Service ranger and his family.[3] Williams, along with Bell and Glenn Kovar, also of the US Forest Service, brainstormed the idea for the Woodsy motif name together in Los Angeles, California, in 1970.[2](no doubt while sipping cocktails, admiring my sisters poster hanging on the wall at the National Flower and Garden gala after it won first place!...Steve Beaudoin) In 1974, the U.S. Congress passed the Woodsy Owl Act (Public Law 93-318) to protect the image of the character. Despite the documented history of Woodsy Owl's creation, various rival claims to his parentage have emerged over the years. Several individuals have stated that they invented Woodsy Owl as children as part of a nationwide poster contest. The Forest History Society has said that no evidence of such has been provided.[4]Isn't it a little bit of a coincidence that all those that are making the claim were in 4th grade in 1969? And isn't it a coincidence that they have the same story? And why change the most well known Forset Service slogan since "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires"? Why can't they just admit where Western Publishing got the Idea?... Steve Beaudoin
Kathy’s winning poster was hung temporarily in the trophy case of her school, West Franklin Elementary, and then shipped away somewhere. The poster was never returned to the family and it may seem a little hard to believe but we just simply forgot about it. The late 60s and early 70s we're chaotic for the Beaudoin family. Our mother, Joan Beaudoin, died in 1967 leaving our father, to care for five children ages 5-12 until our Grandmother, Hazel, moved to Ohio to care for us. We re-located several times in the following years and in the chaos my sisters award and poster was all but forgotten.
I have tried for several years to locate poster. It is undoubtedly in an archive file or hanging in a forest service or other government building somewhere. The government doesn’t throw anything out. I know it still exists.
My research has produced some evidence of a ridiculous cover up by our beloved federal government. God bless our government but it seems they can't do anything without fear of reprisal so they sweep stuff under the rug! It's really crazy!
After creating a Twitter account under the name "Woodsy Truther", (yes, I really did that) I have been contacted by two other people that have almost identical stories. One from a woman in Washington State who said she also created a poster of an owl with a similar saying in 4th grade that won a national contest. The other was a man that lives in Wisconsin, who had put the same kind of research and effort into finding his younger sister's winning poster as I have. His description of the poster his sister created is similar to my sister's. This man's family was military, living in Germany at the time and attending school on base. ( to add another level of strangeness to this whole story, his name is Steve same as mine, his little sister is Kathy, same as my sister). All three stories are aligned by date, the 1969-70 school year.
My conclusion...
Woodsy was created in the 1969-70 school year by some special 4th graders that will never get credit in any way, by anybody except by me.
Our government, I’m sure with good intentions, makes use of input from 4th graders to create influence over all children of that impressionable age group and younger.
I assume that when children nationwide were tasked with the same criteria, to “Create a poster for Earth Day” several would be very similar. I think that’s what happened here.
Kathy's story has been on the web for several years now and last time I looked, my Woodsy Truther Twitter account is being followed by someone from the Forest Service. Now, Woodsy has changed its slogan from “Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute” to "Lend a hand — care for the land!"
I hope they didn't change it for fear of reprisal. That motto really stinks! An Owl that says lend a hand? Give me a break.
This is the most recent Wikipedia definition...
Woodsy Owl is an owl icon for the United States Forest Service[1] most famous for the motto "Give a hoot — don't pollute!". His current motto is "Lend a hand — care for the land!" Woodsy's target audience are children five to eight years old, and he was designed to be seen as a mentor to children, providing them with information and advice to help them appreciate nature. Harold Bell of Western Publishing (and producer of Smokey Bear public service announcements), along with Glen Kovar and Chuck Williams, originally created the mascot in 1970 as part of a United States Forest Service campaign to raise awareness of protecting the environment.[2] Woodsy's slogan was officially introduced on September 15, 1971 by Secretary of Agriculture Clifford Hardin. The first Woodsy Owl public service spot was created by US Forest ranger Chuck Williams, who was the Forest Service's technical consultant for the Lassie TV show which featured a Forest Service ranger and his family.[3] Williams, along with Bell and Glenn Kovar, also of the US Forest Service, brainstormed the idea for the Woodsy motif name together in Los Angeles, California, in 1970.[2](no doubt while sipping cocktails, admiring my sisters poster hanging on the wall at the National Flower and Garden gala after it won first place!...Steve Beaudoin) In 1974, the U.S. Congress passed the Woodsy Owl Act (Public Law 93-318) to protect the image of the character. Despite the documented history of Woodsy Owl's creation, various rival claims to his parentage have emerged over the years. Several individuals have stated that they invented Woodsy Owl as children as part of a nationwide poster contest. The Forest History Society has said that no evidence of such has been provided.[4]Isn't it a little bit of a coincidence that all those that are making the claim were in 4th grade in 1969? And isn't it a coincidence that they have the same story? And why change the most well known Forset Service slogan since "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires"? Why can't they just admit where Western Publishing got the Idea?... Steve Beaudoin
