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Standing for the Pledge
From Gary B. Luerding
O’Brien

Catherine Austin’s points (Illinois Valley News letter to the editor, March 12) are valid and well made save one, and that is where she writes, “The U.S. Constitution is a far more precious thing than the Pledge of Allegiance or the flag.”

She also writes that, “our freedom, liberty, and security are in the Constitution.” I submit that the American flag is a symbol that stands for those very same ideals and all our freedoms and thus is representative of the Constitution that Austin holds so dear.

The freedoms fought for under the banner of the original American flag were the same ones embodied in our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If you read your history, the American flag predates our Constitution by 10 years. The first flag was flown at Fort Stanwix on Aug. 3, 1777 and came under fire for three days in the Battle of Oriskany on Aug. 6 of that year.

Our Constitution was ratified in 1787. My point is that our flag is due the same reverence as the Constitution and the ideals it represents because they both are so inextricably intertwined. It has absolutely nothing to do with a corrupt government.

I have no problem with refusing to recite the Pledge. No one is more critical of our present government than I. However, I do take offense in a lack of respect for the flag by not standing during the pledge. I believe our flag is a symbol of our country, not our government and I dearly love this country no matter how corrupt its government.

Too many men and women, some close friends and family, have died for that flag and for the privilege that grants the right for Austin to state her views.

By dishonoring or disrespecting our flag a person dishonors our Constitution. And, in case people don’t know, our first president, George Washington suggested our flag represent the following: “The red is for valor, zeal and fervency; the white for hope, purity, cleanliness of life, and rectitude of conduct; the blue, the color of heaven, for reverence to God, loyalty, sincerity, justice and truth. The stars symbolize dominion and sovereignty, as well as lofty aspirations. The constellation of the stars within the union, one star for each state, is emblematic of our Federal Constitution, which reserves to the States their individual sovereignty as to rights delegated by them to the Federal Government.”

I have two daughters and a son. Two of them (and myself) have retired from the military. And while I respect Austin’s right to her opinion and even her right to disrespect our flag, I also have the right to state, unequivocally, that seeing an American citizen not showing respect for our flag, makes me sick.

So I would stand with Illinois Valley High School Assistant Principal Patty Dickens-Turk for her request that everyone stand during the Pledge. She is definitely correct in pointing out the fact that this student, by failure to show respect to our flag, also disrespected her fellow students who honored it.

Lack of respect to our flag also dishonors those men and women (including past I.V. students) who have fought and are fighting and dying for this country under our banner.

I also respect Ed Faircloth (Senior Chief Master Sergeant, U.S. Air Force, retired), for correcting a misguided member of the student body.

On burning yard debris
From Elisabeth Goines
Cave Junction

Concerning the burning of yard debris by many Illinois Valley residents on the very most beautiful first days of spring.

Common sense tells me that this is not a wise way to get rid of debris. It fouls the air in our valley with a lot of unnecessary smoke full of particulate matter. And it can carry many hazards, including smoke-laden poison oak oil, which can cause outbreak in those who stand in the way of the smoke.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to compost that valuable organic matter back into the soil to feed our trees and other plants, to feed our lawns and flowers?

A good model of an alternative to burning yard waste is at the recycling center in Merlin. You can bring yard waste, lawn clippings and other clean organic materials to the facility, where it is composted in large mounds and then it is made available to the public for a reasonable fee to be used directly in gardens and for potting plants, etc.

When I visited Austin, Texas I was impressed by a city-sponsored program that manufactured “Dillo Dirt.” It is a combination of organic waste from the neighborhoods of Austin dumped into large trenches where it is turned slowly and continuously by a mechanical method for rapid breakdown in the southern heat. When fully broken down it is clean and ready for reuse in parks, golf courses and other public and private places to give rich nutrients back to the plants.

With this knowledge I am prompted to start visualizing all kinds of innovative and alternative methods of dealing with yard waste and slash without burning. Why not use chippers to break down the wood and create compost piles that could be used to give the nutrients back to the Earth? Why not create community funds to buy cooperatively owned chippers that could be invested in by many neighbors thereby sharing the burden of cost so that all could recycle their yard waste

Smart self -propelled people could even create jobs for themselves and their families based on recycling all manner of waste. People could create flourishing businesses based on the service of collecting yard waste and other trash and recycling it.

This kind of occupation nurtures our environment rather than destroys it. It returns nutrients to the plants and trees without which there would be no life.

City grant money
From Paul Massing
Cave Junction

Was I hallucinating a couple weeks ago when I.V. News ran an article exposing the fact that the CJ City Council through its incompetence botched the paperwork and lost a grant of almost half a million dollars?

I mean gone, as in no do over, for the unconscious out there.

For crying out loud, any other city on the planet would be seeking recall of the whole city council, and there has been no further mention of this debacle anywhere. And what’s even worse, the money was earmarked for water and sewer work at the new medical clinic. This work had to be done, and if it is done where did the money come from?

The people in Cave Junction have got to wake up and pay attention to what’s happening here. Apathy isn’t going to get it done any more; things are moving too fast and you can never ever count on government to do what is in your
best interest. And when developers and large sums of money are added into the
mix: Katy, bar the door.

All this new infrastructure is going to need
maintenance forever, and everybody’s taxes are going to pay for it. Pay attention to the things that affect us now. Running our cars on Crisco probably isn’t going too help much in our lifetimes, or maybe not.

What do you think?

‘Let it shine’
From William Schneider
Cave Junction

“The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” That’s a quote from Nazi Reich Marshal Herman Goering at the Nuremberg War Trials.

In my anger and dismay I have blamed the people for the acts of a few. I cannot expect anyone to make logical, informed decisions when they have been bombarded with the same lies that I, too, believed. As the details surface, the ugly truth will come out, just as in Waco, Oklahoma, and Pearl Harbor.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States was conducting multiple live-fly exercises involving hijacked airlines. Some of these exercises involved scenarios like crashing planes into buildings. Dick Cheney was in command of NORAD on that fateful day. Who knew?

Why did the 911 Commission fail to mention it? Then Condi Rice turns around and straight-faced tells the American people, “We never imagined anyone flying hijacked planes into buildings.”

Cheney, George Bush, Donald Rumsfield and Colin Powell time and again swore that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Not only that, but that he was ready to use them against us.

We were told every day, week after week, that 19 hijackers flew into four locations. However, nine of the supposed hijackers have been found quite alive in other parts of the world. Any casual look, and especially any close look, at film and photo immediately after and for some time following, show that without a doubt no 747-size anything crashed into the Pentagon or into the ground in Pennsylvania.

Soon we will be presented a show trial involving six suspects who allegedly masterminded and financed the 9/11 attacks and the 19 hijackers. Nine of whom are still alive. Hopefully, these arrogants are going to open Pandora’s Box upon themselves, and some of the real truth about 9/11 will fly out and bite them. One can only hope.

What really makes me wonder about each and every one of the up-and-coming candidates for president of this once great nation, including, to my dismay, Ron Paul, is why have none of them even mentioned the 200 million people-size Gorilla in the room that questions the government’s story.

I have to wonder if and when this Gorilla if going to confront this pathetic, wilting, excuse for a government. To Rumsfield and Cheney and Wolfowitz I would say that there is no statute of limitations for murder.

And Bush included, may they all be reminded that they are not immune from a War Crime Trial. Not yet. Not as long as the 2nd Amendment shall not be infringed upon any further.

Our First Amendment is the only stake we need to drive through the heart of this vampire that is our present government is the Constitution. What is stopping us?