Arts
A point of land, sitting on the north side of the Vista Flowage, was Zeke Jonas’ favorite spot. Sometimes, his mother Rene Rayala said, he’d come to watch birds. When the season was right, he loved nothing more than duck hunting here with his friends and family. “They’d get their war paint on, haul down their makeshift blind, drive their big revved-up trucks and they would love to duck hunt here,” Rene remembered. In fact, there’s an old picture from the very spot where Rene and her husband Brian were standing and talking. “So this is Zeke and his dog Emma. She’s still with us, but barely. This is sitting right here with that branch and him hunting, sitting on a bucket,” Rene said. But so long after that picture was created, Zeke wasn’t around anymore. “A lot of the kids worked at a local restaurant around here. They were just driving home one night,” Rene said. “We don’t know exactly what happened, but he lost his life just down the road here.” Of course, the death was difficult for