Sawdust group gets the win 7

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--> --> Sawdust group gets the win I am writing in response to the editorial "Freedom as big as a tree." According to the opinion, our First Amendment was violated by the Ashland City Council when the ginkgo tree was axed. The council violated the rights to peaceably assemble and seek redress of grievances by failing to give 24 hour public notice of the tree's destruction. The removal of the tree has uglyfied the corner of Gresham and Siskiyou but is hardly a violation of our First Amendment rights to protest and redress grievances. Those in favor of keeping the tree did not protest and redress their grievances, just like those in favor of turning the Tree of the Year into sawdust. The sawdust group won because the council put environmental beauty in the back seat of economic interests.The Ashland economy will now benefit from over $4 million in library expansion. It is true that the council could have done a better job at notifying the public. Let us face it though: the Ashland City Council is no better than the bureaucracy in Salem and D.C. The council is inept, just watch a council meeting and judge for yourself. Javier Ayala Ashland Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing