BELL MAN IS A RINGMASTER.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

It's all in the wrist. Bell held up, not down. Quick strokes. None of this slow, back-and-forth stuff.

"To me, that would get tiring," said Tony Mabbutt, a second-year bell ringer with the Salvation Army who mans the Fred Meyer store in Santa Clara.

And, no, Mabbutt says he doesn't hear ringing in his ears when he goes home at night. He leaves his work at the office.

The 65-year-old retired gravedigger, who could pass for late 40s with his unwrinkled skin and the gray ponytail shooting out of the back of his hat, is the best bell ringer this side of, well, Interstate 5. As a rookie bell ringer last year, Mabbutt rang up more money - about $100 a day over 5 1/2 weeks - in his kettle than any other bell ringer in Eugene, said Sharon Quest, kettle supervisor for the Eugene office of the Salvation Army.

"He likes his work," Quest said. "And he really likes helping people. It's not an easy job standing out there."

Especially when the temperatures dip below 40, as they did during the workday earlier this week.

An army of about 23 bell ringers began ringing in the holiday season and working eight-hour shifts at Eugene stores the weekend before Thanksgiving. And they'll keep on ringing through Christmas Eve, said Maj. Joe Murray of the Eugene Salvation Army office. Last year, ringers in Eugene brought in $54,591, he said. In Springfield, 22 ringers are working four-hour shifts, said Lt. Ned Ortiz.

The money raised during the holiday season creates a pot of cash that the Salvation Army uses to help needy folks in its Christmas Assistance program, Murray said. It buys food, toys, even a tree for families who can't afford such items. The Eugene Salvation Army has already reached its quota of families who will receive help and there is now a waiting list, Murray said.

So Mabbutt and the others keep on ringin'.

"I ring the bell enthusiastically," he said. `I greet them, I say `hi' to them, I wish them a happy holiday.'

"Thank you, ma'am. Have a good holiday"

"My dad always told me, if you're gonna do a job, do it right," said Mabbutt, whose late father, Ralph Mann, traveled all over Northern California managing telephone operators for what was then Pacific Bell before retiring to Springfield 20 years ago with his wife, Barbara. "If you don't put enthusiasm into it, people don't care."

"Hey, there - how ya doin'? I'm doin' fine, thank you, sir."

Not a bad attitude for a guy making Oregon's minimum wage of $7.05 an hour.

Every year, plenty of people looking for work apply to become bell ringers for the holiday season, Murray said. And some are volunteers with various service organizations who go out on the weekends, he said.

A hiring agency, DePaul Industries of Portland, accepts their applications and screens the applicants, Murray said. For those who don't get the job, a waiting pool is created to fill in when someone doesn't show or gets sick.

Bell ringers attend an orientation before they start. They watch a video that tells them what to do and what not to do as bell ringers, Murray said.

No smoking. Be pleasant. Dress warmly. No boom boxes. And be responsible for your bell, your kettle and your Salvation Army apron.

Last year, a bell ringer in Eugene was just a tad too trustful, Murray said. When a man approached her to say he had come to relieve her for a spell, she took a break and came back to no kettle. She'd been robbed.

The kettle was found, but it had been pried open and the money, of course, was gone. All kettles are padlocked and the bell ringers do not have the keys.

What goes in there, stays in there.

Sometimes, folks will even write a $100 check and drop it in as a gentleman did last year, Mabbutt said.

"You have a good one, my friend."

SALVATION ARMY

Canned food: The Eugene Salvation Army office at the corner of West Seventh Avenue and Jefferson Street is taking donations of canned foods to help needy families during the holidays. Just drop off your donation any weekday between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. between now and Christmas.

Waiting list: If you or your family would like to be added to a waiting list to receive donations of food, toys, etc. this holiday season, you can call 343-3341 in Eugene and 747-6229 in Springfield.

CAPTION(S):

With a constant ringing of the bell in his left hand, Tony Mabbutt often waits for several minutes before anyone approaches with money for the Salvation Army pot at Fred Meyer near River Road. His persistence pays off. Last year, he raised the most money in the area for the Salvation Army. Tony Mabbutt helps Sydney Frey, 4, add money to the pot. Sydney was shopping with her mother, Chris Frey, and brother, Boston, 6 months. INSIDE Not allowed: A national chain bans bell-ringers at all of its stores / B9 H o l i d a y g i v i n g