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in 1937
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strictly those of the letter-writers.)
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* * *Gil Gilbertson lauded by former colleague
From John Shaw, Doctor of Education
St. Petersburg, Fla.Allow me to introduce you to the Gil Gilbertson I know. I was so impressed by his honesty and tireless efforts to build an effective police force that I quickly transferred into his staff.
Gil was the chief of Traffic Services in Kosovo. He was continuously engaged in issues of integrity and efficiency. I was very impressed by his willingness to confront bureaucrats to get people to do their jobs.
Working for, and with Gil, every day I was able to assess the man far better than an outsider could.
I found Gil to be extremely ethical and concerned that all personnel assigned to his unit maintained the same high standards. The course of actions taken, in any circumstance, always centered on what was right for the people of Kosovo (whom he viewed as our real bosses).
He enthusiastically encouraged creativity, and was always open to new ideas in looking for ways to improve what we did without increases in funds or personnel. I always felt comfortable going into his office with either recommendations or concerns. He was always willing to hear all sides of an issue.
He was a strong supporter of education and constantly looked for ways to improve the level of expertise of our officers.
Gil was highly respected by everyone with whom he worked. His advice was sought, and he always gave 110 percent effort. He constantly worked to prevent “special people from receiving special benefits” -- everyone, was treated fairly and equal.
Stopping for school bus lights called essential
From Tracie Moore
O’BrienJust how important are your children’s lives today? Take a moment to observe a school bus at any stop on its route.
There is a good chance that you will see dangerous behavior from oblivious drivers as they fail to obey the school bus law’s stopping requirements. I have watched as my daughter’s school bus was forced to sit at our stop because cars from either direction continued to pass students, making them wait.
The school bus law clearly states that when a school bus driver turns on the flashing amber lights to warn other traffic that the bus is about to stop on the road to load and unload children, all other drivers should get ready to stop. When the red lights begin to flash, this means drivers meeting or overtaking the bus from either direction must come to a complete stop before reaching the bus.
These drivers must remain stopped until the bus driver turns off the flashing red lights. This law applies on any roadway with two or more lanes of traffic. The only exception to this law is if you are on a divided highway with two roads separate by an unpaved median strip or barrier; just the drivers on the same road as the bus must stop.
A painted median strip (double yellow lines) or a center lane used only for left turns does not create two separate roads: therefore where this situation exists, all lanes of traffic must stop.
School bus drivers may report vehicles that improperly pass their buses to Oregon State Police, county sheriff’s office or other police agency for further investigation. As caring community members and parents, we need to actively assist them by writing down the license plate numbers from any disobeying driver.
Let’s show our school bus drivers we honor them as they protect our children each and every day, and send a message to our children that we as a community will not tolerate anyone who endangers our loved ones.
Mark of the Beast seen from USDA
From Nate Loncosky
KerbyI don’t write many letters, but I think everyone who owns a horse, cow, goat, chickens or other livestock needs to be aware of what the USDA has in mind for us.
This is the National Animal Identification System. You can find information in “Countryside Journal,” issues January, February, and July-August.
Briefly, this program would require all premises, which house even a single chicken, duck, cow, horse, to be registered in a government database, and assigned a seven-digit number and GPS coordinates, by 2007. The owner would be required to pay a fee for this privilege.
The next phase would require every animal to be tagged with a radio frequency ID device by 2008, also paid for by the owner. Then in 2009, the movement of any animal from the registered premises would have to be reported within 24 hours. One of the “benefits” of this system would allow a trace back to farms of animals’ origin when a disease is found.
These “benefits” would be of no use to small farmers who consume their own products or sell locally. This trace-back system would be much less effective than a testing system as Europe and Japan have now. It also would be much less expensive than a huge tracking system. Imagine another huge bureaucracy.
Now, can you imagine how this would affect our 4-H programs, the county fairs, and rodeos? Not to mention all the small farmers and people who just have a horse or two or a flock of chickens?
There is a broad-based coalition formed, The Liberty Ark Coalition, to oppose the NAIS as currently proposed. People can write, phone or email messages to our reps in Congress and let them know if they oppose this effort to destroy our family farms and make it so difficult to have even a horse to ride, especially if they ride off their property.
People also can visit www.farmandranchfreedom.org for more information, and I believe that there is a petition.
One more note, the large corporate producers will just have one number, but the small producers will be subject to individual animal IDs. So, you can see the small farmer and livestock owners will get the short end of the stick and be penalized the most.
What is happening in the United States? This sounds like a Big Brother for sure. People should read and write or phone while we have a little time.
She supports Chavez calling Bush a devil
From Kris Strohl
Cave JunctionIsn’t it refreshing to see a politician telling it like it is? President Hugo Chavez was right on his assessment of George W. Bush.
Our devil, President George Bush, has intentionally led us into a war under false pretenses, leading nearly 3,000 troops to their early demise, killing more than 140,000 Iraqi civilians, imposing illegal wiretaps on American citizens, devaluating our Constitution by abolishing habeas corpus, an individual’s right to know what he is being charged with. And now his cabal of demonic devils in the Congress are pushing to excuse him from war crimes.
The administration’s lack of respect for human suffering, human life and the Geneva Convention is the basis for this predicament, and not an overwhelming concern for American security, which they claim.
During his last radio broadcast, President Bush admitted explosives went off in the WTC on 9/11, a detail his administration and the 9/11 Commission strongly denied. Will this admission lead to evidence that connects his administration to 9/11? All his other admissions have led to his and their guilt on other matters like torture, rendition, wiretapping, etc.
Will Americans ignore the overwhelming evidence that President Bush and his administration were the directors of 9/11? An event like a new Pearl Harbor that prompted war, the Patriot Act, torture, no-bid contracts, rendition, a huge national debt and administrative incapacity for accountability.
Are we as stupid and naïve as our devilish leaders think? Are we going to let them sink our nation by outsourcing jobs, abolishing our rights, pillaging our future and sacrificing our sovereignty? Probably.
There’s no evidence that the mainstream majority of Americans have the courage to fight the tide of evil that is guiding our destructive downfall, even though there is overwhelming evidence confirming this administrations illegal and illicit conduct, crimes against humanity, crimes against individual Americans and literally crimes against our Constitution.
But be assured that devils are running this country: lies, torture, stealing, fraud, propaganda and crimes against humanity are not the work of angels, but the deeds of devils.
How can Americans be loyal to a president who deplores freedom? As Bush professes the attributes of a democracy, he has ordered the assassinations of leaders who were democratically elected. Bush has ordered torture, rendition, and illegal kidnapping of innocent people, deeds similar to that of communist Russia.
Devil Bush is continually lying to us about the war, the economy, the border, Guantanamo, health care, Social Security, etc. Yet, as hypnotized idiots, we continue to let this imp lead us into a war the experts contend will last for 50 years, a war against an idea, an inanimate philosophy, a phantom enemy.
We have given this tyrant Bush too much power, and we are going to forfeit our children’s future to pay for the profits of his warmongering friends. This war has cost more than $320 billion and will end up costing much more than the $640 billion estimated by the GAO.
Be assured that our corporate nation will continue to lead the fallacious fight for democracy in search of corporate profits throughout the world. You might think that I am anti-business; absolutely not. But corporations continue to control and corrupt our leaders with huge donations, therefore holding the strategy to our future. Corporations do not vote, and they should not have the power that the Constitution gave to us, “We the people.”
Until we demand an equal voice we will have no choice but to suffer the consequences of their whims spurred by mock acts of terrorism and resonated by the corporate-controlled media.
Why is there no accountability on our Pentagon’s budget? Why is our government spending trillions on arms and the maintenance of more than 1,000 military bases throughout the world in 134 countries? Why aren’t we spending money on our senior citizens, national health care, higher education and the infrastructure of this country?
Why are we supporting an antiquated energy sector that is destroying our environment and placing mankind in peril when clean alternative energy has been available for years?
All our networks on corporate TV support and promote the war without much criticism. Fox News continually repeats hateful and destructive views without any evidence, yet millions continue to believe its lies and distortions.
President Bush’s accountability faded when he took office. In 2001, Secretary Rumsfield announced that the Pentagon had lost $2.4 trillion -- enough to sustain Social Security for eons, or enough to establish a national health-care program and sustain it for several years, or enough cash to commit and cover-up 9/11? Currently, several experts are estimating that this administration and the Pentagon have lost more than $7 trillion during the last five years without any accountability. But be assured it is promoting national security.
Monetary accountability in Iraq is practically nonexistent with contractors bidding and taking the money without finishing their jobs. Accountability -- nonexistent, because the contractors awarded these no-bid contracts were major donors to the administration.
Could religion be part of corporate profits? As religious leaders like Pat Robertson hail the deeds of war, seek the assassination of foreign leaders, many of us never question the hypocrisy in their words. Isn’t it time to search our own conscience and the philosophy of Jesus than to follow the hate-filled demands of these purported professors of love?
Anderson will get his vote for county sheriff
From Mark Dickson
Cave JunctionRegarding the sheriff’s race, I personally know Brian Anderson and Gil Gilbertson. Both men are honest and want to do what is best for the community.
However, having been involved in nine sheriff’s elections I, as well as the voting public, know the difference between what is realistic and what is political rhetoric.
Gil has good intentions, but cannot meet his campaign promises. It would take unlimited funding to come anywhere close to accomplishing what he has promised.
The bulk of the sheriff’s budget is dedicated to deputy salaries. With the pending loss of federal funding in 2007 the number of deputies will be reduced to lower than current levels which, logically, equates to even less service. Volunteers, insurance companies and grants won’t amount to a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed.
Additionally, state laws and union contracts place strict limits on nonsworn and noncertified personnel.
Past candidates have made similar campaign promises and tried to honor them, but we still do not have the level of law enforcement service the public wants. Available grants, volunteers and reserves have been and are already being utilized. The only way we will ever see sufficient deputies on the road and in the jail is when the citizens of Josephine County approve a taxing measure.
The same issues apply to the city of Cave Junction. The bottom line is: You get what you pay for.
Those with an issue with the current administration should talk to Dave Daniel, as he is the sheriff and the boss. Brian works for him and is obligated to do as directed.
If Gil were sheriff he would expect nothing less of his staff. I will vote for Brian Anderson. He is a no-smoke-and-mirrors candidate.
Views of ‘Owl Woman’ Learning Tale offered
From Name Withheld
O’BrienThose who know me know I am an artist. I love my true path and sacrifice a lot of material comforts to follow it because artists are usually not rolling in dough.
But I really couldn’t go back to a 9-5 career in a city. The point is, I moved to the woods because I love Nature, and it is my inspiration.
I live in a beautiful box canyon, filled with a diverse environment; cedars, fir, vine maple, live canyon oak just to name a few species. We have deer fern, lady fern, wild ginger, calypso orchids, and a wonderful variety of mushrooms. Dogwoods, trillium, tiger lilies and fairy bells grace our creek banks.
Grouse, quail, blue jays, varied thrush and other song birds return year-after-year to raise their young. There are turtles, snakes, lizards and giant Pacific salamanders that were once common, but are becoming more rare.
I am emotional about the losses we are experiencing and will face soon. We have grieved for the past devastation.
Two years ago a logging company annihilated many acres of trees. It left the ground torn, the slash lying. The poisons are killing the hardwoods and faster-growing brush. It stole the homes and livelihood of a multitude of animals and encroached on a resort backyard bordered by lush conifers I remember as a child viewing from the backseat on the way to the coast with my folks.
Yes, the local mill owned the property, but should anyone be able to own a watershed? Be able to destroy it without any thought to the neighbors who rely on water tables for their springs, wells, creeks and rivers? All the trees in Oregon form the watershed of our state. Should private owners be able to destroy the watershed that provides water for the community and natural environment?
Only large old-growth trees balance the rainfall and absorption rate. Why do we allow this? Are we so short-sighted that we humans shoot ourselves in the foot for a quick buck?
Or let someone else do this to us? When is it enough? When the wind blows the dust of the Earth in billowing clouds choking our lives from us?
I am angry. I understand about the working man. My father was a blue-collar worker, he worked in the mills in the ‘60s. I remember doing a school report with pride about Oregon’s sustainable forestry programs. I also remember when mills sold out to Georgia, Louisiana and Texas and how they didn’t care about Oregon beauty or wildlife. Clear-cuts became the mainline bankroll to the veins of corporate lumber.
But now we can’t even blame out-of-state business for this rape and pillage. Our local mills and logging companies are committing these crimes of thoughtless greed against neighbor and friend.
Every species has had to adapt in order to survive, and sooner or later we will need to adapt to changing climates, bug infestations, water rationing and finding alternative building materials. We are not planning for our future or the future of our children’s children.
Now the local mill owns 80 acres on the other side of our canyon. And is it going to destroy what trees are there, further damaging the ecosystem and water table of Dwight Creek? Do it have the right? Doesn’t the water table belong to all of us? Those who rely on city water are at risk as well.
All we wanted when we moved here was the quiet beauty of these mountains and rivers, the fellowship of good neighbors, and joy of seeing wild animals in their natural environment.
The rains will come and the creeks will fill. The water will run off the mountains taking soil with it, and the water tables won’t fill up because the runoff is not being absorbed. The bears will be hungrier after the logging because the huckleberries will be sprayed; then the logging company will shoot the bears because they will eat the shoots of the plantation unless they decide to put in a subdivision.
If this seems harsh maybe it’s because it has not affected your life now. But as watersheds disappear, so will the quality of life you have come to expect.
Those loggers working in a greedy irresponsible way are shortening the lifestyle they work so hard to perpetuate. They are eliminating our future, not just mine.
OK, maybe the little ecosystem that makes up Dwight Creek doesn’t seem very important, but it tells a story of cause-and-effect. And like a raindrop on a pond, the ripples will reach farther than ever thought possible.
DeFazio faulted because of certain vote support
From Owen W. Dykema
RoseburgWe citizens are “represented” in Congress by Peter DeFazio. Recently some two-thirds of us voted to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
Yet on July 18 our “representative” voted “No” on a similar amendment to our federal Constitution (HJ Res 88). Jim Feldkamp would have voted “Yes.”
DeFazio actively supports immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. Does he really believe that we Americans are the cause of all the unrest in the
Middle East, that if we were to get out of Iraq everything would quiet down
and the Islamic radicals would forever leave us infidels alone?Feldkamp doesn’t believe that one bit, do you?
During 2006 DeFazio voted “No” on bills to protect the Pledge of Allegiance (HR 2028); to prohibit flag desecration (HJ Res 4); and to prevent the ACLU from shaking down us taxpayers over public expressions of religion (HR 2679).
Jim would have voted “Yes” on all.
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