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Letters to the editor: Crosswalk sting questionable As a long time Ashland resident who drives, walks, and bikes around the community, I would like to comment on the recent police-pedestrian sting. It is almost impossible to drive around the city and not violate the pedestrian right of way ordinance on a daily basis. As every motorist will agree, the law says we must stop when a pedestrian steps off the curb. As every pedestrian should agree, you must use your brain when crossing the street. (From the Tidings article, It appears that maybe brains don't count when police operate a sting.) Yesterday, the driver behind me had to lock up her brakes to avoid rear ending me because a pedestrian decided to step out (oblivious to the world around him.) Even though he entered the cross walk two lanes from me I had to stop. She missed slamming into me by inches. Her fault or the pedestrian's? Officer DeSilva would have ticketed her for sure. As a pedestrian, when I cross the street, I do not step off until there is a lull in the traffic. (Duh!) And when I do, I try to make eye contact with the driver of every vehicle. I smile, and mouth a thanks and hustle across the street. The motorists always appreciates the gesture � as do I when I stop in a similar situation. With all of our visitors it is tough having to drive around the town in the summer. Perhaps it is a good idea that the police operate a "sting" now and then to remind us of the law and keep us alert. My problem is the punitive nature of the fine. Come on officers! Does it do you that much good to lay a $175 fine on a fellow citizen? Would it not be so much more productive to give a warning and let the motorist go? The driver would have learned a lesson and perhaps you would feel a bit better about yourself � just like when you, as a motorist, stop and smile at a pedestrian crossing the street in front of you. Dale S. Smith, Ashland The recession ended? No way I was horrified to read the headlines on AOL News and in newspapers that the recession ended in 2001. What?! Since then: We have deficit spending that has not been exceeded since Reagan was in office. We have the highest unemployment in 30 years. Even though no one can count the other thousands of highly trained workers whose benefits ran out years ago. They are the uncared for who have given up on ever getting a job in their field of expertise. The lines for free food from the food banks are beginning to take on the same appearance as the 1930's soup kitchens. The number of homeless on our streets has grown exponentially every month. Most states in the union (except Vermont) is on the verge of bankruptcy. Education has been cut to the bone marrow due to lack of funds. Young Americans are dying every day in Afghanistan, Philippines, and Iraq - at the cost of billions to us tax payers. Health care is now available to less Americans than it ever was. Lost jobs also mean lost benefits, and the Enron debacle was just one way in which loyal employees have had their lives stolen. Since that man stole the White House we have become poorer, more afraid, less free, and the nation is split as it has not been since the civil war. We have a Fascist regime in Washington who seem to be deliberately trying to destroy the economy as well as the Constitution. I'm sure glad they can get a good headline into the "free" press. I'm sure glad I no longer believe a word of it. Our duly-selected government is letting us know the recession has been over for a long time. Wow! I wish I was one of those people prepared to celebrate any lie out of Washington. Noreen Hulteen, Ashland Guest forum: Editors of Tidings leave a lot to be desired By Leah Ireland Ashland The flag wars never die, they just get more absurd, and the Tidings new editor, Scot Bolsinger, and assistant editor, Myles Murphy, (they don't sign their names but just say "we") fanned the fire of recent flag mania with the editorial "Flag Pole: Accept It or Move Out," Friday, July 11th. Sadly, the hopes for a new, dynamic, forward-thinking editor for the Tidings are again crushed. Except for Jon Enders, the Tidings has always refused to rise to the level of its readership and continues to be the laughingstock of the community. Why do these conservative editors take a job with a paper in a town that is not only progressive, artsy, well read, extraordinary, and eighty percent Democratic? Isn't their work in Medford or the Midwest? The unsigned editorial identifying the editors as "we" (the two editors, the Tidings staff, the Medford staff?) quoted a reader's comments that "the flag represents dominance, greed, corporate power, not freedom" and called it "liberal jabber." You have to wonder what compelled these editors to enter the field of journalism. Yes, the First Amendment and the law protect this student's desire for a flag outside the learning center. No question. What a great experience for the students and us! What seems to have been the will of a minority was protected over the will of the majority through the law. That's what democracy is all about! Great. But how much do the new editors of the Tidings know or care about the First Amendment themselves? Are readers to be ridiculed for their equally patriotic and courageous criticism of the flag as its come to symbolize their government? Is this talk radio or the newspaper? If the Tidings editors are going to shout down readers who disagree with them in their position of power at the only local newspaper, won't the Tidings become even more boring? Didn't publisher Grady Singletary promise Ashland its own paper with its distinctive voice? First the deluge of classifieds so no one knows what's local any more, then a conservative editor? What's up? The editors go on to name the lone flag waving student's motives as "purely patriotic." So dissent is unpatriotic? The editors, the students, the world need to know that the Constitution also protects the rights of the majority against the minority. It goes both ways, decided by law. Good for the young student for reminding us of the law and his rights as a citizen. Now, if the editors of the Tidings will remember their readers' rights not to be ridiculed for stating their opinions, remember that the First Amendment is foremost about the press as a sacred tool for freedom. Ease up, guys. We all want the same thing. Let's not pull the flag to shreds this way or that. America was built on disagreement. It's okay. It's what makes us great. Now, for equally great journalism. Reaction to Willow Wind an outrage By Erin Terrall Ashland As a teenage student of the Willow Wind Community Learning Center, and a friend of the Bungay family, I am outraged with the way some of the community has reacted to the issue of a flag going up at WWCLC. Ever since the July 10 article, you have published several letters that have insulted Mrs. Bungay and Mrs. Bedford, as well as all of the teenage students at WWCLC (with the exception of Jesse Stanton). The most prominent of these was the July 17 Guest Forum by Jo Fries. I personally felt insulted by the way Jo Fries implied that our learning center is teaching "hatred of America," and that the teenage students at our center are lawbreakers. Ms. Fries, you should be ashamed of your comments. You say that "Since they passionately hate America, the Bungay, Bedford, and other families who agree with them move to another country where they would not be subjected to our 'greed,' 'commercial imperialism,' and belief in law and order." How dare you determine that, based on a few comments you read in a newspaper, these families hate our country? Tracy Bungay is a kind, wonderful person, raising two incredible children, and has just as much right to her opinion as you do. I cannot believe that a citizen of this region would say such a thing, and if living in America means that I have to agree with every decision made by my school board, support illegal wars for oil in the Middle East and a president who did not win the election, then I am no longer proud to be a member of this beautiful country. I hope that after you read this letter, Ms. Fries, that you will no longer believe that our center is "brainwashing" my friends and I. The teachers and Parent Advisory Council of WWCLC work very hard, and I do not appreciate your comments about our center, and homeschooling in general. I am a 14-year-old boy, love my country (but not its current leadership). I have been homechooled for nearly my entire life, have been reading and writing since before a normal child would enter first grade, and I believe that if I had entered public school, I would not be the person I am today. I appreciate the comments of people like Gerald and Ragan Cavanaugh and Paul Copeland, who show that there are still people who can see things as I, and many others at WWCLC do. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -