Mitch Powers didn’t really expect much when he answered a posting on Craigslist looking for people with interesting historical items.
The 51-year-old Vancouver chiropractor was just looking for a venue to sell the 1889 Colt revolver that was owned by his father, Dale Powers, who passed away about five years ago.
“He was a big collector of anything Old West,” Powers said. “I’m not a big gun guy, but apparently any old Colt gun is worth a lot of money, and my mother needs it for her retirement.”
About two weeks after responding to the posting, Powers got a call from the producers of the History Channel TV show “Pawn Stars.” They asked him if he could bring the gun to Las Vegas and appear on the show.
“It was just on a whim, and I don’t really know how it all works, but I’m going to go down there,” Powers said.
The episode will be filmed on May 21. Powers said he’s uncertain when it will air.
Powers tried to auction the gun earlier in Oregon, and a bidder offered $47,000, but it was set up with a minimum bid of $50,000, so it didn’t sell.
“We were sort of kicking ourselves about that,” Powers said.
Experts on the show will check the gun and the documentation saying it was owned by Fred W. Coates, a participant in the Johnson County War in Wyoming.
Powers’ sister lives in Las Vegas, and he said he plans to turn the trip into a short vacation.
“It’s a very popular show, so yeah, I’m excited,” Powers said. “Plus this gun needs to go to the home of a collector that will really appreciate it.”
— Sue Vorenberg
Former Vancouver radio personality pens children’s book about the family cat
A voice familiar to a generation of Vancouver residents has returned, only this time he’s speaking to kids in print.
William Coleman, who went by the name Bill Cole on KVAN radio from 1978 to 1987, has written his first children’s book.
Coleman, 63, used to broadcast live in Orchards when he was the morning announcer on the station, most memorably during the Mount St. Helens eruption.
“I did the first broadcast over the mountain during the eruption in 1980,” Coleman said. “It was a little crazy. We got within 20 miles of the volcano and the only word I could use to describe it at the time was ‘awesome,’ but in retrospect it was a little scary and a little tragic.”
He now lives in Bremerton.
Coleman said he’s long wanted to do a children’s story about his old tomcat Oscar, who was adopted by his daughter, Michelle, when she was a child.
“She brought him in as a field cat, and I know people say you can’t do that, but she tamed him,” he said.
In the story, the anti-social Oscar learns to love a little girl who shares tuna sandwiches with him. When she’s threatened by a mountain lion, Oscar saves her. The tale is aimed at kids from about third grade through middle school.
“I always wanted to write the story of Oscar, although I’m not sure he ever encountered a mountain lion,” Coleman said. “But Oscar was a very special cat.”
The book “Oscar: A Cat’s Tale” is available for $16.97 through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and directly from Coleman’s website at http://sbpra.com/WilliamLColeman.
— Sue Vorenberg
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