Letters to the Editor
From our weekly issue dated October 07, 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.
I.V. News ‘right wing’
From Matt Richards
Cave Junction
I’ve subscribed to the I.V. News for quite a few years to keep up on local news, sports, kids’ photos and the like.
I’ve found the prominent featuring of Scott Jorgensen’s partisan and transparently right-wing articles these past six months irritating. While the News has always had a somewhat politically conservative bent (the use of news releases from The Heritage Foundation for example), in the past it was a reasonably small aspect of the paper.
Those seeking to publish and read ideological local “journalism” can find plenty of it in other places. Couldn’t the I.V. News tone it down a bit, or balance it out, at least for those of use who are buying your paper to find out what’s for lunch at Evergreen Elementary School, and aren’t ready to join the John Birch Society?
Enjoyed farm festival
From Eileen Renno
Cave Junction
What a fun time my family and I had at the I.V. Farm &Garden Festival at Jubilee Park weekend before last. From live music, good food, interesting booths and great demonstrations, there was not one dull moment all day.
I especially enjoyed learning about cob building, and it was so cool to have alpacas and sheep taken for walks in the park amongst the crowd. The atmosphere of the festival was friendly and inviting. And to top it off, the weather was perfect.
What a great way to promote sustainability in our valley. Count me in for next year’s Farm & Garden Festival.
Giving the people a choice
From Jack Alan Brown Jr.
Grants Pass
I filed my candidacy on Sept. 14 for the Josephine County Commission seat currently held by Dave Toler. I did so by petition, gathering in one weekend half again the necessary signatures, rather than paying a filing fee.
I am the first candidate to file for this position. I have a long primary campaign ahead of me with the goal of getting a majority vote in the 2010 Primary Election.
My goal is realistic in view of the name familiarity I enjoy at this point from my previous race. Consider that I received 16,505 votes in my contest with Commissioner Dwight Ellis in the 2008 General Election. (A shift of 600 votes would have made me the winner.) Then consider that Dave Toler received only 15,210 votes in the 2006 General Election.
I have pledged myself to defend our rights, develop our resources, and conserve our tax dollars. I am obviously the right choice, even as Dave Toler is the left choice. This contest will give the people a real choice.
Another farm fest fan
From Christine Perala Gardiner
Cave Junction
I want to commend the Spiral Living Center and all the volunteers who created the first Farm & Garden Festival Saturday, Sept 26. The event was so beautifully orchestrated and focused, not just on locally grown food, but on the whole food system of the Illinois River Valley.
Cave Junction Mayor Don Moore's speech helped us to look at the importance of creating jobs through local food security, growing more food on farms in our region and putting folks back to work. Making the distance shorter from where our food is grown to where it’s eaten makes good economic sense.
The Gleaners Project is making strides to gather the food that otherwise would go to waste, and getting that food into the food banks and kitchens. There is hunger right here in our valley, and these good folks are doing something about it.
I'm looking forward to next year’s festival.
Health Care Reform
From Nicole Rensenbrink
Cave Junction
I am confused by so many working people’s position against health care reform.
The agency I work for changes insurance carriers so often that by the time I remember who’s covering me, we’ve changed companies. Astronomical rate hikes each year have become the norm and we all pay more and receive fewer benefits than we used to. My son was laid off and is now uninsured. My daughter, a college student, is uninsured. My husband, who has a small local business, has employees who are all uninsured. Everyone is delaying or ignoring their health care needs as much as possible because of costs and this has resulted in some bad consequences for more than one of the above mentioned.
We have to do something about health care because it will break us, particularly when we baby boomers dominate the Medicare-Medicaid rolls. My 77-year-old father was recently put in an ambulance for a ride across town and hospitalized overnight due to an anxiety attack, which he protested to no avail. An 80-year-old friend, diagnosed with a terminal cancer on his neck, had to fight off the doctors who wanted to do intrusive testing on the other places in his body even though there was no escape from the cancer already diagnosed. My mother’s doctor encouraged her to get a knee replacement. She was ambivalent but went ahead. The experience and recovery were grueling and she walks no better.
Drug companies also rake us over the coals. An employee at my husband’s business recently compared the price of a medication sold to people and to veterinarians. The same medication sold for more than $500 in the human side and only $7 and change on the animal side.
We should do something about this. We should give insurance companies some competition and insist that they cover us better at rates that we can afford. We should look seriously at the extensive care that is pushed on the elderly that they should have the right to question and refuse. We should tax more those who make obscene amounts of money at the expense of the rest of us. I don’t understand why people become angry about change that is so clearly needed.
I fear that the public outcry is more about personal feelings regarding the president then it is about wanting to keep the system we have. Though Barack Obama may lose a political point by the failure of health care reform, he and Congress will keep their terrific health care plans. But, if it loses, my daughter won’t get to go to the doctor to find out why she has chronic stomach aches, and there are thousands of other Americans who will experience much more drastic consequences.
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