Letters to the Editor
From our weekly issue dated March 11, 2009
(Editor’s Note: Views and commentary, including statements made as fact, are strictly those of the letter-writers.)
Typed, double-spaced letters are considered for publication. Hand-written letters that are double-spaced and legible also can be considered. “Thank you” submissions are not accepted as letters
Shrinking toilet paper
From Bob Ziller
O¹Brien
Everyone remembers when a pound can of coffee and a package of pasta suddenly shrank to 12 or 13 ounces, but the price didn’t change.
How about a couple of years ago when Nabisco graham crackers shrunk in all dimensions (except price) by about 20 percent? Do the corporations that make this stuff think that consumers don’t notice what they have been doing to us in recent years? Some people obviously didn’t notice, or at least they didn’t seem to care.
Recently, at a wholesale supply store, we picked up another “industrial-size” box of single-ply toilet paper. The price was just a bit more than last time, but the box seemed strangely smaller, even though it contained the same number of 1,000-sheet rolls. Removing the wrap from the first roll, I realized that it was slightly smaller in diameter by a quarter-inch (thinner paper). Then I realized that the width of the roll was smaller by a full half-inch.
This gives new meaning to the words “corporate down-sizing.” If this trend continues, we’ll all be able to fit two rolls of TP on our bathroom roll holders.
Industrial hemp solution
From Waves
Cave Junction
The United States has a vast unacknowledged source of wealth to be tapped.
For decades the federal government has attempted to comply with the most destructive special-interest law ever written. America has wasted billions trying to eradicate the very plant which could have prevented this economic crisis. If used to its full potential, within the first year hemp would greatly lower the cost of fuel, food, clothing and building material, put more people to work and generate more new wealth than any other provision of the recovery plan.
Hemp has more uses and produces more usable raw material than any other plant. Growing 15 feet tall in 100 to 120 days, hemp will grow on marginal land, of which the U.S. Government owns millions of acres.
Hemp can yield more than 300 gallons of seed oil per acre. The remainder of the seed is high-quality protein suitable for people or livestock. More than 100 years ago, before petroleum took over, hemp seed oil was the standard fuel oil, machine lubricant and paint base. Anything that can be made from petroleum, including plastics, can also be made from hemp seed oil, with fewer toxic by-products.
Hemp provides the longest and most durable of all natural fibers. Hemp clothing lasts many times longer than cotton, and “breathes” quite well, unlike synthetic textiles. The American Revolution depended heavily on hemp cloth for sails, rigging, tents and clothing. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp and praised its virtues in their journals.
The first U.S. flag was made from hemp cloth, and still survives. American independence would have been impossible without the hemp plant, and is gravely weakened by its prohibition.
Hemp stalks can be heat-compacted into boards, beams and panels that are lighter and twice as strong as those derived from trees, and with several times the annual volume per acre. Hemp plastic and fiber composites are tough enough to make car bodies. Another application of the stalks is biomass for fuel, where hemp once again provides annual yields many times higher than forest land.
Hemp is ideal for rebuilding local economies. Decentralizing production greatly lowers fuel consumption as raw material is grown closer to where it’s used.
Hemp prohibition was instigated more than 70 years ago by petrochemical and timber barons, simply to eliminate their greatest natural competitor. This artificial scarcity forced over-reliance on timber and oil, leading to massive crimes against nature, and needless wars over basic resources.
It takes courage to admit that a major established policy was fundamentally wrong. Legalizing industrial hemp is one of the boldest and most vital moves required of this administration.
The growing season begins soon, and it will take time to acquire seed supplies from the other countries with industrial hemp programs already under way. Details on transition logistics are available, so phone the White House at (202) 456-1111.
Sheriff easy on thieves
From Rycke Brown
Grants Pass
During the Feb. 18 meeting of the Josephine County Board of Commissioners, Sheriff Gil Gilbertson told us that he has two detectives assigned to crimes against people, two assigned to narcotics, and none, zero, assigned to property crimes.
Why is our sheriff so easy on thieves? Does he think that the people of this county like the idea that, when they phone the sheriff’s office to report a burglary, it will not be investigated?
It is not the duty of the sheriff to enforce every nit-picking law passed by an organized mob. He took an oath to provide justice while upholding the Constitution. There are too many laws to enforce them all, which our sheriff acknowledges when he assigns zero detectives to property crimes. I take issue with his priorities.
Oregon’s voters passed Measure 57 mainly because they were tired of thieves running loose. They were deceived by the Legislature with a ballot title that did not tell them that hard drugs makers and sellers would receive mandatory sentences, while thieves would simply get an increase in their presumptive sentences. Now, every hard drug maker and seller convicted will crowd a thief out of our prison system.
Gilbertson should concentrate his enforcement on crimes against people and their property, rather than crimes against the state. He might do so if he hears it from other people. His e-mail address is jocosheriff@co.josephine.or.us.
‘Bushisms’ not funny
From Ray H. Brewer
Cave Junction
I thought that I had to respond to the Wednesday, March 4, 2009 “Bob’s Corner” of the Illinois Valley News.
First, I don’t know what the point was. Was it just another case of Bush bashing by a person who hates ex-president Bush or just some hack thinking he was being funny or some other reason that was less obvious?
George Bush, contrary to the liberal line, is not stupid. He has a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from prestigious Ivy League universities and had a higher GPA than the liberal darling, Al Gore. He also was a National Guard fighter pilot.
He is not glib, slick or a great orator, nor does he claim to be. People may not agree with some of his policies. I don’t.
But, compared to the last several Democratic presidents and current senators, he is a saint. He admits past mistakes and has asked for and been forgiven by God, as opposed to denying them or saying, “I didn’t inhale,” or some such nonsense.
Let me name some of the liberal heroes. Jack Kennedy (womanizer), Ted Kennedy (womanizer, drunk, college cheat and leaving a drowning girlfriend to die), Johnson (responsible for the majority of deaths in the Vietnam War which Kennedy started), Carter (possibly the most ineffective president the country has ever had), Clinton (draft dodger, womanizer, lied under oath). Not even to mention the current crop of loonies now in charge.
Oh well, that’s enough of that. I would much rather have an honest, decent president who sticks by his convictions than a glib, smooth talker who constantly changes his views according to the polls and has no moral convictions. I understand that most liberals believe that anyone with morals is a moron, but I can assure you that is not true.
Firearm licensing
From James Walmsley
Cave Junction
Regarding H.R.45 (Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009) “To provide for the implementation of a system of licensing for purchasers of certain firearms and for a record of sale system for those firearms, and for other purposes.”
Introduced in the House of Representatives, Jan. 6, 2009, by Congressman Rush, (former Black Panther) of Illinois, he and the treasure trove of politicians and lawmakers demonstrate nothing but contempt for the Constitution and laws they don’t like.
This bill does nothing to address the growing problem with gangs, but will make criminals of law-abiding citizens who respect the Constitution.
We need to phone our congressmen and senators to demand that they vote “No” on every attempt to pass this bill. Don’t know who your representatives are? They are easily available on the Internet. Don’t care enough to phone them and get involved? You don’t deserve the freedoms and liberty that our forefathers sacrificed so much to guarantee for us.
Any of our representatives who support this bill should turn in their passport and exile themselves to Haiti, never to set foot on this great land again. Tune in next week, and I’ll tell you how I really feel.
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Social disorder
From David Winchester
Cave Junction
Linda Schluter Tedder’s letter to the editor in the March 4, 2009 edition of Illinois Valley News reports a young woman and child jay-walking across Hwy. 199 during what seemed to be a period of heavy traffic.
Tedder is rightly concerned for the safety of mother and child. She also rightly draws attention to the mother’s dismissive attitude and the child’s copying of that attitude.
Tedder alludes to, but does not emphasize, the insidious danger that is far greater than that of physical safety. That problem is the growing disregard for the fabric of social order -- respect for others and respect for the law. The mother’s dismissal of the law (and the child’s repeating of the dismissal) is one more example of the corrosion of our social fabric.
If we do not agree together to respect one another and to respect the law, the inevitable result is the destruction of society. Anarchy cannot exist for long. A stronger force -- internal or external -- will impose its will and enforce order.
Mother and child are merely examples of the larger problem. I, too, fear for their safety. My greater fear is for our culture.
Questions KWD plans
From Chris Courville
Kerby
I have some areas of concern with the Kerby Water District’s plans.
First, pump stations ability to supply water in a state of emergency, elevation of pump station or design of station to be operational should it be flooded, or loss of power to the area occurs, reference of back-up power supply, aka generation plant.
Second, bank reinforcement at all creeks, and water way crossings in path of water lines to avoid wash-outs of Redwood Hwy. Third, residential water meter sealing type, to avoid surface water contamination into our residential water lines. Next, size and location consideration of underground utility vaults for our water meters, to avoid flooding or major excavation to remove mud and sediment from around meters.
Finally, the most important. Size of flood gates and design of fresh water make-up system for supplying water during the dry seasons.
The pump station: Have the designs included plans for this unit to be able to work should flooding occur? In most natural disasters fires do tend to occur. Also, if the electrical power should be knocked out by the event, is there a back-up power supply to keep this system operational?
Has the design of the installation of the back-up power supply been checked for location and containment of fuel source to avoid being contaminated by the flood waters and has it also been designed to prevent spilling into the run off water?
Bank reinforcement: This system crosses many small streams and creeks. Has something been designed to prevent water from undermining the soil from around the piping to prevent these bodies of water, should they exceed their banks, from washing out Redwood Hwy.?
Residential water meter type: Every resident on this system is being charged for a water meter upon the installation of this system. Are the meters designed to be under water and not allow surface water contamination to seep into our residential supply? Are the meters the gas pressurized double-sealed meters?
Underground utility vault: Have the vaults for the meters been sized to allow clean-out should the flooding occur? Will each vault be located in a location so the reader can access them or be able to properly clean out around the meter should soil fill the vault, or will an estimation of cubic units of water be estimated for charging of customers till excavation equipment can be brought in to dig up the vault so accurate readings can resume?
Fresh water make-up reservoir: Has it been designed with flood gates? Has the overflow been routed back into the river in a way to prevent the river from eroding its banks on the opposite side?
I have been unable to find any information regarding the reservoir or its location as to draw water from the river during peak flows, its size to supply water during August, September, and early October until our rainfall returns -- since the approved city housing that has not been occupied and the Kerby water demand leave a major water shortfall that I found to be missing when I visited the river at the city’s draw point last summer.
Nurses needed
From Steve Mozena
Carson, Calif.
“Through the curtain of my hospital room, I hear a patient snoring in the bed next to me.
“My grandchildren call me ‘Grandma.’ In my younger days, I was a ball of fire, and even now the flame is hard to douse. But I wish my grandchildren were here with their smiling faces. It’s lonely. My husband passed away not long ago. Here, nobody hears me or helps me.
“It’s dark and cold, and these hospital blankets are too thin. It’s about 3 a.m. I’m here due to a heart condition.
“I need to go to the bathroom, but I’m all wired up, and there is no bedpan is sight. I use the nurse-call remote. Buzz, buzz. Nobody comes.
“I hear all the different bells and buzzers echoing through the hallway. I hope for a response, but all I hear is the murmuring of voices echoing in the hallway.
“I buzz repeatedly. I look around desperately, hoping to reach anything I can go to the bathroom in. I can’t hold it anymore. When I was young I could hold it for hours.
“The pee begins to flow, and I poop in my own bed as if I were an infant. I must now lie in the mess. I don’t want my children, and especially my grandchildren, to see me now.”
The preceding is a fictional account, but something like it likely is going on in hospitals around the country more often than anyone cares to think. We have a chronic nursing shortage. According to the American Hospital Association 8.1 percent of vacancies for RNs cannot be filled.
It’s ironic that in this economic crisis, all the talk is about unemployment and job creation. Here are jobs available but no one is available to fill them.
It’s easy for people to talk about the nursing shortage without bringing to mind the cost in lives and human dignity. But we must put our attention on it nationally. As the Baby Boomers age and need more and more medical care, the problem is only going to worsen unless we create a solution.
According to a recent report, the United States could be short 500,000 nurses by 2025. The need for nurses is growing at the rate of 2 to 3 percent every year. Yet despite this shortfall, nursing schools are turning away qualified applicants.
Many nursing programs in colleges are affected in this way. There are too many applicants for the spaces available. This includes Californian institutions such as UCLA and CSU at Long Beach in Southern California.
During 2007, U.S. nursing schools turned away more than 40,000 qualified applicants from nursing programs due to insufficient faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget problems.
The problem can be solved in the short-term by opening the national door wide and inviting the best qualified nurses from not only the United States, but from countries around the world such as Ireland and the Philippines. These countries have many bright, well-trained people who want to care for others in a professional capacity.
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