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Dislikes some reporting
From Joe Phlaum
Kerby

I want to ask the people of Josephine County to join me in my effort to stop the spread of hate and discontent that seems to be the tabloid-type objective of the Grants Pass Daily Courier.

The attacks on our elected officials (in my opinion, portraying our sheriff as a money grubber, and our commissioners as petty juvenile liars) are not conducive to the best interests of our county.

Although I am not a journalist I feel that there are better ways of reporting the facts without it being like a three-ring circus. Personally I like the way Illinois Valley News covers the news and events.

Those who feel the need to read a paper every day could use the Medford Mail Tribune or The Oregonian out of Portland.

I feel that we should pray that God will give our elected officials the wisdom and strength to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

Sheriff’s budget, reality
From Paul Massing
Cave Junction

I guess everyone has their own idea on how to solve the sheriff’s budget problem, when the reality is that everyone wants protection, but no one wants to pay for it.

In any case, court after court case has determined that it is not the job of law enforcement to protect the individual citizen. It is there to maintain order and enforce laws.

But I digress. In the March 3 edition there was a brilliant letter by a fellow who had solutions to all the sheriff’s ills. The only difficulty is, the fellow’s assertions were not correct in all aspects, or should I say, most.

I want to state that I am writing this of my own accord without any connection or knowledge of the sheriff’s office. I have been a volunteer member of the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office Search And Rescue unit for five years. We are a highly trained group that covers everything from mountain rescue to ground search to swift water rescue.

After our academy training (on our time), we continually train beyond the 30 hours mandatory yearly training. We maintain our diverse equipment, which ranges from a Sno-Cat to boats to other technical gear too numerous to list.

If there is a public event such as Boatnik or Back To The ‘50s, you will probably see us in our orange SAR shirts out there doing traffic control or some related job, thus relieving the city police department to do their thing with less man-power.

Our area is a tourist attraction for many. Fishing, camping, hiking and rafting are all great draws for tourist dollars. While all these great opportunities for recreation abound, our area is unique in that it contains some of the most rugged, unforgiving terrain in the world. People come here not prepared for this, and it bites ‘em when they’re not lookin’.

Let me close by putting minds at ease about our funding. We SAR members, even though we are sworn members of JCSO, are entirely voluntary, and our funding is provided solely by grants. We receive no funding from the sheriff’s office.

However, for anyone who would like to donate, we accept checks from private citizens. People can contact JCSO, and I’m sure they’ll be put in touch with the right folks.

Stay safe; remember 911; phone 24/7.

‘Collectivist pledge,’ he says
From Paul Grad
Cave Junction

The verbal assaults and letters to the editor on the dignity of Catherine Austin’s brave daughter, whom I call The Littlest Patriot, completely miss the relevant legal points in this case for not standing for the collectivist Pledge of Allegiance

And I feel that the two I.V. High School employees who challenged her need to be fired.

The question is one of property rights. Does Austin’s daughter own property rights over her body, as the Constitution teaches, or can she be forced into involuntary servitude and made to stand against her will?

Of course, the Constitution, Natural Rights Law, and the Founding Libertarians all stand with Austin’s daughter. Writing in the Massachusetts’ Resolves, the radical Libertarian founding father, Sam Adams, wrote, concerning rights of the citizens of Massachusetts, that they were grounded on “the law of G-d and Nature, and on the common rights of mankind.”

Therefore, Adams continued, they “are unalienably entitled to those essential rights in common with all men, and that no law of society can, consistent with the law of G-d and Nature, divest them of those rights.”

Then Adams gets to the nub of the argument: the sanctity of property rights. “Resolved, that no man can take the property of another without his consent.”

When the State forces Austin’s child to stand, it has stolen her property rights over her own body, by forcing her into involuntary servitude. It is unconstitutional, and the Constitution, it should be remembered by all, is the Law of the Land. And, if anyone doesn’t like it, then let them move to Canada, as was suggested to Austin’s daughter, where they will not be bothered with having to live under the U.S. Constitution.

While I do not say the pledge for religious reasons, I do stand for it as a sign of respect for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Founding Fathers, and for this greatest of all modern civilizations and the American free-market system. But I have no problem whatsoever with my fellow citizens who view even this as an unconstitutional concession to the Leviathan State an evil, according to President Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence.

I respect their decision, and even question the wisdom of my own standing up as a possible bad example to our children. In this example, Three Rivers School District, through its minions, has cruelly violated the G-d-given rights of a brave child-patriot.

Our public schools are merely prison camps where authoritarians teach our children to obey unconstitutional dictates. They breed passivity and conformity. They are a complete waste of the taxpayers’ money and should be eliminated and replaced by private schools and tutors, while Jefferson’s urging that all citizens should learn to read could now be accomplished through the Internet.

I salute Austin's daughter. She is a true Patriot, with guts and true grit.