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in 1937
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Letters to the Editor
(Editor’s Note: Views and commentary,
including statements made as fact, are
strictly those of the letter-writers.)
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Typed, double-spaced letters written solely to this newspaper and/or Website are considered for publication. Hand-written letters that are double-spaced and legible
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* * *Honest leadership by Gilbertson cited
From Don Fasching
SelmaI read Mark Dickson’s letter with great interest: (Gilbertson can’t possibly fulfill campaign promises, “Illinois Valley News,” Oct. 2).
Dickson claims that he knows Gil Gilbertson personally. But I ask if it isn’t true that his only involvement with Gil is through his wife’s club affiliation. As such, his relationship with Gil is misrepresented and he couldn’t possibly know anything about his personal makeup.
From time to time, all candidates running for an elected position can be said to use “political rhetoric.”
Brian Anderson is no exception. He will tell you how qualified he is to be the next sheriff and later explain how he will have no patrol deputies in 2007. His excuses for substandard performance are no money and, “I was just following orders.”
It is unfortunate that Dickson and Anderson are placing all the blame on Dave Daniel. How convenient for Anderson.
Anderson has been and continues to be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office. Under his guidance, the sheriff’s office is the defendant in a large number of civil lawsuits involving employee sexual harassment, excessive force, false arrests, employee misconduct and numerous violations of Constitutional law.
Dickson states, “Anderson is a no smoke-and-mirrors candidate.” There is so much smoke surrounding Brian Anderson it is impossible to tell what the facts really are.
Gil Gilbertson does not have the magic cure for all the problems facing the sheriff’s office. However, he will provide honest leadership; establish a workplace where men and women will receive fair treatment; and work very hard to regain the public trust. I’m voting for Gil; I hope that others will do the same.
Gil Gilbertson’s plan as sheriff questioned
From Lloyd Putney
Cave JunctionI’ve been noticing Gil Gilbertson’s large ads denouncing the current sheriff’s administration. He states that he “has a plan” for funding the sheriff’s office after the O&C funds are gone.
He says he “has a plan” for eradicating the meth problem. When is he going to share his plans? Do we have to elect him first and then he’ll tell us?
Why aren’t the county commissioners seeking his input for replacing O&C funds if he has a plan? Maybe the reason the current administration says that without money we can’t give service is because Brian Anderson has a degree in accounting. He understands that the sheriff’s office is a personnel-based operation and that without money, he doesn’t have personnel.
I’ll vote for the sure thing -- experience, education and someone who will deal with the reality of hard facts -- Brian Anderson.
‘Palestinian problem’ perspective provided
From William Schneider
Cave JunctionI have watched, with great dismay, the unfolding of events in the Middle East these last few years. What was to be a cleansing moment in history has turned into a most revealing miasma of human ineptitude.
Myself, had I known then what I know now I would not have supported a move into Iraq. However, like most intelligent people, I feel the world is better off without Saddam at the helm of any ship of state. As to the rest of this mess, I believe we are witnessing the confrontation, head-on, of madness and reason.
To clarify, I have several points to make and in order to be truthful, I hereby kick political correctness to the curb with the rest of those, and this and that, where conviction is lacking and stale rhetoric the noise of the day.
First of all, I read what the pope said, or actually quoted about Muhammad and Islam. What’s the problem? Truth hurt? Perhaps the timing was a bit off, but for whose sake would that be? I’m quite sure the timing is far less disgusting as the indiscriminate murder of Muslims by Muslims in Iraq. On a daily basis.
Second, as to Hezbollah, and that puffed-up puppet Nazerellah, it is lost on them that it is honorable behavior and restraint that allows them to live, behind the skirts or burkas of women and masses of children, to spew this fantasy of victory when in all reality Israel has the ability to erase Beirut and Tehran off the map during, before, or after a pompous rally. Political correctness aside of course.
Third, to the Mullahs and sheep of radical Islam I would say, “Get real, dummies.” If the United States were half as evil as these demented witch doctors try to convince their mindless flocks that we are, they would a long way back been fused into a sea of glass that was once the desert sands of the Mideast, never to rise again, spewing such deranged babble as only they could babble on.
The problem in Iraq militarily speaking, as it stands now, is due to a lack of manpower and incredible bungling by the powers that be (Mr. Rumsfield.) We are fighting a war with layers of gloves on, and one hand tied behind our back (Mrs. Sheehan.) Perhaps it’s time, as a friend of mine put it, to stop dancing like a butterfly and biting like a flea. Lebanon should wake up. Iraq should take heed.
Almost last, but far-far from the least, the Palestinian propaganda war, being passed off as an occupation. I have for years puzzled over this dilemma; and in my searching for the whys and wherefores, I have come to the conclusion that the “Palestinians” have largely contributed to their own plight throughout the years through the perpetuation of lies and murder by many of their own people and government, or lack thereof.
True, Israel is far from perfect, but that does not excuse Yasser Arafat, Hamas, suicide bombers, Hezbollah, or any other people or ideologies for their failures. I thought at one time maybe they had a righteous cause, but everything I have read that is even close to being true -- and the actions of the Palestinians themselves -- has shown me their true face.
I find it incredibly difficult to sympathize with what is for the most part a self-imposed misery. Gaza, as of late, being a good example of the mindlessness that is the present Palestinian street.
I suggest to anyone who thinks the Palestinian problem is caused by the Jews and Israel to do some research. I’m not going to soft peddle for liars or mullahs who brainwash their people’s children with hog scat and hatred. I am sick and tired of the one-sided view that is so prevalent that it begs for reason.
I might add that right now Israel could do to Iran what Iran threatens to do to Israel in a few years. Pretty stupid, spitting in the eye of a giant and threatening to kill its friend. Someday.
Madness. Imagine the Mideast as a glass bead forged in the fire of ignorance. Can it be prevented? Are we bound by prophecy or can reason prevail?
Or who knows, maybe political correctness will save the day.
D’Feet of ALS aided by fund-raising walk
From Pamela Kennedy
Cave JunctionOn Saturday, Oct. 7, my family and I walked, and my mother used her electric wheelchair, to participate in the public Walk to D’Feet ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and help fight Lou Gehrig Disease.
This 3-mile walk was held at Hawthorne Park in Medford. We “Grandma’s Angels” walked in honor of my mother, Ardith Graham, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2003.
“Grandma’s Angels” can be found on the ALS Website.
*ALS is a rapidly progressive disease and fatal neurological disease.
*There is no cure. In ALS the motor neurons that control all voluntary movement die in a rapid cascade, leaving the person severely disabled.
*All people with ALS experience progressive symptoms that include full paralysis, muscle atrophy, speech and swallowing problems, problems maintaining adequate nutrition, and respiratory failure.
*Most people with ALS die within two to five years of diagnosis.
During last year’s walk, more than 1,000 walkers raised $170,000 for vital patient services and, through our national organization, cutting-edge research and advocacy. The ALS Association is funded solely by donations, and all services to patients are offered free of charge.
All donations from the walk were forwarded to the ALS Association of Oregon and S.W. Washington, which will use the money to serve local persons affected by ALS.
To learn more or to donate, I can be contacted at 415-1229.
Developments give her the Cave Junction Blues
From Katy Morrison
Cave JunctionI see the tall green reasons that I came here, falling one by one. Seen as just a money crop or something in the way.
No longer cleared for one man’s use, with that old time-honored ax. There wiped out by the thousands, and lay in unmajestic stacks.
Those stacks return as lumber, to add more houses to the mess. To bring more people to use more land, all in the name of progress.
Those houses crawl over the landscape, like locusts in a blight. For those of us who loved this town, it is a sad-sad sight.
The quaint downtown is spreading, pushing out mom and pop. Instead it’s Dairy Queen and Subway, and I’m sure that it won’t stop.
The line up at the market is now so long and slow. It’s filled to overflowing with people I don’t know.
The town I loved has disappeared, under that avalanche called urban spread. I know that I can’t stop its coming, and it fills my heart with dread.
I wouldn’t call myself a tree-hugger, and I don’t swim naked with the fish. Can’t say I pray to Mother Earth, but a green one is my wish.
Someday soon this nice small town will become just another city. And I for one, and maybe more, will think it such a pity.
When that time comes, I’ll give up my place and go out upon a quest. With broken heart for what’s left behind, but for me a small-town home is best.
Business bull -- bums should do some work
From Terry Anderson
O’BrienIn a recent Police Blotter, there was an item about a 48-year-old man cited for selling wood in Cave Junction without a business license.
I find this most ridiculous. Nearly every store in Cave Junction has been broken into or robbed at least two to three times with little or anything being done about it. On many corners drunks sit, spitting on people and cursing at them as they drink their booze.
Now we have an honorable, respectable man who is trying to earn a few bucks selling wood that he has cut on his own to help support his family, and the police cite him, while ignoring the brawls and break-ins of disrespectable citizens. I think this man needs an apology and no fine.
If some of the bums did a little work, this would be a cleaner and safer city.
State forester position challenged by resident
From D.H. Kramer
Cave JunctionYour article, “Projects aimed at bettering forest ecology,” (“Illinois Valley News” Sept. 27) quotes Marvin Brown, but more exactly it represents an Oregon state forester’s wishful thinking without raising any questions about the reality of various attempts to improve forest ecology.
The human imprint, whenever forests are entered, especially through BLM or forest service timber sales, is the shattering of a fragile ecosystem that has existed for many decades. It does not matter what the agencies call it -- “fuel reduction, forest thinning, stewardship, biomassing to produce energy” -- the outcomes are usually much worse than the issues raised by small trees and undergrowth.
As residents, we must ask hard questions of BLM and forest service officials who need to work very hard to restore any sense of public trust:
*How will they ensure that only small trees are cut for thinning when it is
more profitable for the timber companies to cut big timber?*How will they guarantee well-planned removal and use of materials for
biomassing that does not destroy our wooded hillsides which are a great asset to tourism?*Why do they emphasize that biomassing fuels will be a “clean” source of
energy when burning wood produces a vast amount of greenhouse gasses including nearly the equivalent of its own weight in carbon dioxide?*Why do they call cutting forests a “renewable resource” when it takes more than 60 to 100 years to produce the beginnings of a forest ecosystem, especially in our poor serpentine soils?
*What makes them so sure that they can “better forest ecology” when there is no science to support these claims?
We deserve answers to these questions, and charge the media to give responsible and scientific scrutiny to these concerns.
Regarding election: Illinois Valley still here
From Richard Thomas
Cave JunctionI just wanted to write and let the good people on the other side of Hay’s Hill know that Illinois Valley is still out here. We haven’t seceded from the county or anything like that.
I would also like to add that we do enjoy very much participating in the electoral processes of our local governments. I do wonder sometimes, especially around now, when the November ballots are right around the corner, if perhaps we here in the Illinois Valley have a tendency to be forgotten about.
Or perhaps maybe it has something to do with the numbers of D’s and I’s registered on this side of the hill. These sorts of people don’t generally see eye-to-eye with whatever Good ol’ Boy cronies are contriving to elect policies, or excuse me, people, by appealing to the voters of Grants Pass and its outlying areas.
I have a little theory I’m testing. I have registered as a Democrat or an Independent for as long as I have been voting. Usually I receive my ballot late. After filling it out I have to get down the county building in town in-between their lunch hours. Though I do believe on voting day they stay open an extra couple hours, which I think is right considerate.
This year I am registering as a Republican. It’s my hypothesis that my ballot will arrive promptly, and I can get this voting business over with in a timely fashion. It just seems to me that the county could make it a little easier to make this whole voting thing more convenient for a valley that has something like one-fifth of the county’s votes.
That is, only if they wanted to actually encourage us to vote.
Editor’s Note: Voting is by mail; plus, a ballot box is located
at Cave Junction City Hall.)
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