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Editorials: It's now or never for RVTD petition Medford Mail Tribune Jan. 8 RVTD recall petitions must be signed by Monday to make the ballot Time is running out for organizers of a petition drive to trigger a recall of five Rogue Valley Transportation District board members. This newspaper encourages its readers to sign the petition. For those who have not closely followed news reports over the past several months, it may be difficult to sort out the conflicting claims of recall supporters and the embattled board members. What is clear to us, and to many respected observers, is that the board members in control of RVTD have lost whatever effectiveness they may once have had, and unless they are removed, they threaten to drag the entire organization down with them. The recall effort began after the board voted in June not to renew the contract of Sherrin Coleman, the district's popular and widely respected general manager. That was within the board's power, but the members who voted to do so have never adequately explained the reasons for their actions or how and when they arrived at the decision. The board later voted to place Coleman on paid administrative leave until her contract expired Dec. 31. Late last month, Coleman filed notice that she intends to sue the board members who voted against renewing her contract. The first recall effort failed because too many of the signatures were invalid. The deadline for signatures on the second effort is Monday. Four of the five board members targeted in the recall effort will serve until 2005 unless they are recalled. The fifth is up for re-election this year. Members of the local legislative delegation have warned that state funding for RVTD is in jeopardy as a direct result of the board's actions. Federal funding could be threatened as well. "Either get it together, resign or get recalled," said Rep. Rob Patridge, R-Medford. We see little sign that the board is getting it together, and the targeted members show no indication that they intend to step down. That leaves the third option. Recall organizers still must collect nearly 2,000 signatures to reach the 6,180 required to place the recall on the ballot. Signatures are being collected at the Mobil gas station at exit 14 and at Shop N Kart in Ashland, at Tark's Market in Talent and behind Costco on Lear Way in Medford. Call 621-7038 for more information. Guest forums: Bowling for Columbine film depicts a culture of fear By Joe Charter, Medford, and Bill McMillan, Ashland Michael Moore's film "Bowling for Columbine" raises difficult questions regarding violence in American culture. It does not, however, provide answers. The film is not about bowling or the shooting tragedy at Columbine High School in Colorado. It is about fear as the root cause of gun violence in American society. The first documentary accepted at the Cannes Film Festival in 46 years, it is a very thought provoking film. The biggest unanswered question raised by the movie is why there are so many gun deaths in America every year, some 11,000 according to Moore, compared to 381 in Germany, 255 in France, 165 in Canada, 68 in the United Kingdom, 65 in Australia, and only 39 in Japan, a country of 120 million people. It's not that the people in those countries are any better or less violent than Americans. So why? Killers Dylan Kleebold and Eric Harris were supposed to be in bowling class on the morning of the murders. Moore asks what caused them to kill. Rock lyrics, video games, TV violence and bad parenting are typical scapegoats trotted out as explanations when a shooting tragedy occurs. Moore's title spoofs that bowling is a similar simplistic explanation for the massacre: perhaps bowling caused the killings. Why so few gun murders in Canada, where there is a high percentage of gun ownership? The Canadians depicted in the movie seem much less fearful than their American counterparts, but why? If actual violence is caused by violent TV programming, why are murder rates so much lower in Windsor, just across the border from Detroit, where the same television programs are shown? The film also explores the story of a 6-year-old girl who was killed by another 6-year-old child using a handgun at Buell School near Flint, Michigan. The school district is one where 87 percent of the kids live below the federal poverty level. Moore asks why the mother wasn't home to prevent her child from taking the gun to school. Because, he says, the State of Michigan wanted her to pay back her food stamps under a welfare-to-work program. She took an 80-mile round trip bus ride each day to work two minimum wage jobs at a suburban shopping mall. Still unable to afford her rent, she was evicted from her home and went to live with her brother, who owned the handgun used in the shooting. Moore asks if this is the kind of society that we want, where mothers are forced to work instead of being able to supervise their kids at home? In one film sequence, Moore makes several visits to Kmart Corporation headquarters with Columbine survivors, one in a wheelchair, both with bodies still full of bullets. The Columbine shooters bought their bullets at Kmart. With Moore's help, the two young men eventually persuade corporate executives to stop selling handgun ammunition at their stores. They essentially force the corporation to accept responsibility for selling bullets to teenagers. News media coverage feeds us a steady barrage of things to fear, from El Nino to Y2K to Killer Bees from Africa. The test for good news coverage is "if it bleeds, it leads." Moore claims that news coverage of murders has gone up 600 percent, while the murder rate has gone down 20 percent. Could it be that we have been conditioned to be addicted to fear? If so, what is the antidote? One possibility is that we begin to face our fears by making contact with people who are "different" from us. By consciously trying to create community and connection to others, maybe we won't feel so afraid and separate. If fear is based in ignorance, then knowledge of "others" may reduce our anxieties. Moore touches on this when he notes that crime suspects are often described in news reports as "large black men." In the face of the unknown, old stereotypes and prejudices fulfill the need for an easy explanation. The community is invited to join a discussion of these issues. The movie is currently playing at the Varsity Theater. A Community Conversation will be held on Friday, January 10, 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Congregational Church, 1801 E. Jackson, Medford. This event is open to people of all ideologies, religion, race, economic class or age. 'Moore' questions By Jim McGinnis, Ashland I recently viewed Michael Moore's film "Bowling for Columbine." This film, which provides a provocative view of the role of guns, violence, and fear in our culture, raised many questions for me. Though I do not agree with all the methods Michael used in his film, it was extremely effective. It has left me deeply questioning the choices my country's leaders are making for ME, and my satisfaction with my own involvement in our community. Most adults are probably appalled by Marilyn Manson's music. To me, his music represents our nation's shadow. He did, however, hit the nail on the head when interviewed in the film when he said: "� we are a culture that is driven to consume out of fear." And in response to being asked what he would say to the students of Columbine High School in reaction to the past slayings there, his reply was: "I wouldn't say anything, I would listen to what they had to say." I never thought that Manson would have gifted me with such wisdom. Right On Dude! As I left the theater I felt angry, charged, and self-conscious. I don't own a gun, but there have been many times that I have - not in jest - fantasized about drilling a belligerent driver with an Uzi. I have never been robbed, but every night I walk around the house and deadbolt every door. I frequently travel to large metropolitan areas where I notice my guard is up when a Black or Hispanic man sits down on the Metro I am riding. I think "oh poor them" whenever I hear about another senseless act of murder or rape � somewhere else. And I often wonder what other people around the world really think about me, an average end user in the U.S.A. with a five-fold appetite for consuming our resources. I have to ask my self: Do people in other countries feel the same fear that I do? Why have I sat blithely by as administration after administration has used my tax dollars to support the overthrow and control of foreign governments in the interest of multi-national corporations? Why in Uncle Sam Hill am I sitting twiddling my thumbs as our country's president marches toward war? Do 81 percent of Americans really want that? And I ask myself, what am I doing in my own community to make a dent in reducing the fear that polarizes us? If the reader of this article thinks that my thoughts and reactions are "only sane" � then you � and I have a problem. Not for thinking these things, but for NOT acting on them. Seeing this movie I feel invigorated and I want to stand up and take a stronger stand on our policies around the world. I want to be more proactive in determining where we are going in this "broad land of ours" - the land that we, for the most part, took from others. I see even more clearly now it is of utmost importance for me to really listen to my children, to all children, and for me to live in integrity so that my children will also. They are the generation that will be standing in our shoes. Will they point a finger at us and shake their heads in disappointment or will they look at us and thank us? Let us step further into a community dialogue where we openly listen to each other's needs and ideas. Together, lets define the problem and find solutions. Let us diminish the subtle and obvious fears that separate us. I encourage you to see "Bowling for Columbine." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | 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 -