Ohio man's new book includes Moses Lake memories

Author not planning return visit due to virus

MOSES LAKE — He was only in town for about five years, but Harvey Jones appears to have a lot of memories about his time in Moses Lake.

Some of those memories are included in Jones' new — and first — book, "The Jones Boys, Their Lives and Times," which became available last week.

"The book's basically about my family, mainly my twin brother and myself," Jones said. "It covers our early life and then later life. The central part covers all the things we ran into in Washington state."

Jones, now a resident of Groveport, Ohio, was stationed at Larson Air Force Base from 1956 to 1958, although he said he remained until 1961.

The list of things Jones ran into in the state is a long one.

Jones said that he went to the roller skating rink every night, and interfered with "kind of a racial problem" to "keep a girl out of trouble." He said that the instigators tried to kill him.

Other Jones memories included being told that he and his brother could pick watermelons from a field and pay for them after fact, only to be in the field and have a farmer come shooting after them, working to pick rows of sugar beets for 11 cents a row, and getting "cheated out of" winning a roller skating marathon.

"I think a lot of people will like to see things they didn't hear about, like the race things that went on out there," Jones said of his book.

Jones said he decided to write the book after his brother died several years ago.

"(I'd) always wanted to write something," he said. "I decided I had better get it done or it will never be done."

Jones said he is not planning a trip back to Moses Lake anytime soon, because he nearly died from a virus and still finds it "kind of hard to walk."

"The Jones Boys, Their Lives and Times" has been published by the Publish America company. It is available through www.publishamerica.com, and available at all online stores, Jones said.

Jones has also submitted a second book, "Red Dog War," a fictional story "based on some real life events," to Publish America and is waiting to see if it will be accepted for publication.