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Letters to the Editor: Measure 28 is Oregon's 9-11 When the tragedy of 9-11 happened in New York, the city unified and people helped one another. Measure 28 is Oregon's 9-11. Far too many people will suffer harsh consequences if this measure does not pass. Please vote YES! Dee Tilles, Ashland Measure 28: an opportunity for Oregonians to do the right thing This January 28, Oregonians have been given the wonderful opportunity to make the tough decision and do the right thing. Measure 28 calls for a temporary increase in our income tax, an average of $10/month. Is $10/month too much to ask to keep this state a place that cares about the elderly, children in need, and those who are less fortunate than ourselves? Is $10/month too much to ask to keep this state a place where schools are properly funded, so they can keep their doors open and continue with the programs that provide a quality education for our children? If we say NO to Measure 28, what are we saying to the elderly, those in need and most of all our own children? On January 28, do what the state Legislature would not do - make the tough decision and do the right thing. Diane Barnes, Ashland Dead Indian Memorial Road must be changed When I moved to Ashland and saw the sign "Dead Indian Memorial Road" I was surprised. It's negative, and it calls to mind the racial slur "The only good Indian is a �" When our daughter recently visited and I drove past the sign without comment, she asked, "What's that all about? It sounds awful!" Surely, I thought, there's a reason for this wording that I just don't understand. After all, Ashland seems to be an intelligent, caring community. But I just learned that I understood all too well. The history of the designation is that two Indians were discovered, shot dead, on the road. At the time, such discoveries were commonplace in many locations. Requests made of the county urging a change of the name have been ignored. While some may oppose changing documentation of old attitudes, I care more about the hurt freshly created every day by this and other epithets. Ironically, the words of the sign don't even commemorate the fact that anyone was murdered, they only refer to a dead body. Can't we revisit the old attitudes that led to the original sign and remove the word "Dead" to show respect to the native peoples who are alive and living here today? Diana Morley, Ashland Guest forum U.S. war against Iraq is illegal, immoral and misplaced By Donald A. Wells, Medford No good reason for the US war against Iraq has yet been given by the Bush Administration. Good reasons for not going to war are legion. These reasons may be classified under three general premises: 1) Such a war would be illegal, 2) Such a war would be immoral; and 3) Such a war would be counterproductive and would promote the very evils we wish to avoid. Consider first the legal matter. International law since ancient times has established that the first nation to attack is always the aggressor. The Nuremberg war crimes trials against the German government found it guilty of aggression against Poland, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Holland and the other countries and named these aggressions as "crimes against the peace." The German leaders argued that these invasions were "pre-emptive" or "preventive" wars, but the Nuremberg Court found otherwise and the Court had international law on its side. Both pre-emptive and preventive are silly terms. To pre-empt is to attack some nation which "might" attack us. To prevent an attack by attacking makes no sense at all. In both cases war is being waged. The United Nations was founded to "rid the world of the scourge of war," and it is still the only effective group through which nations may resolve their problems peacefully. The moral objections to the war against Iraq are clear. Modern war is directed primarily against the innocent. In World War I, 5 percent of the casualties were civilians; In World War II, 45 percent were civilians; in The Korean War 85 percent were civilians; in Vietnam 90 percent were civilians. Aerial warfare, using imprecise weapons of mass destruction, means that armies target civilians, and of the civilian casualties almost 50 percent are children. The Gulf war followed this pattern of primarily civilian casualties. The Bush administration makes a point of emphasizing that Iraq is amassing "weapons of mass destruction." If the charge is that Iraq is trying to get nuclear weapons, and that is the reason for the war, what about Israel, Pakistan, India, North Korea, the U.S, England, France, China, and several of the republics of the former Soviet Union? They already have these weapons. Should the U.S or some other well-meaning nation attack them? Chemical and biological weapons can be purchased on the internet, and most nations of the world already possess them, so there is nothing uniquely threatening about Iraq joining this grisly club. The third error in the Bush war against Iraq is that it is misplaced and thus counterproductive. Iraq is not a hotbed of Al Quaeda. After all, the 9/11 terrorists came from Saudi Arabia. More importantly, attacking Iraq would provoke the very consequences of acts of terrorism which we wish to avoid. We cannot reasonably imagine that a war against a Muslim nation would have any other result than to inspire "suicide" bombers to reciprocate. Such a war casts doubt on the very idea of international law, on the world court, and on the United Nations. Such a war would give aid and comfort to any other rogue nation which wants to make war a national policy. Anti-gun crowd: political elitism By James A. Farmer, Ashland Since the victim disarmament crowd are now using medical doctors to push their "socialist/victimization" anti-gun political agenda, perhaps this will rebut the letter, "Big difference between Canada, U.S. gun laws" (Ashland Daily Tidings: Friday, Jan. 17, 2003), and expose it for what is really is: political elitism! Think about it: a. The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000. b. Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year is 120,000. c. Accidental deaths per physicians is 0.171. (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services) Then think about this: a. The number of gun owners in the United States is 80 million, if not more. b. The number of accidental gun deaths per year (all age groups) is 1, 500. c. The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is .0000188, Statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners. Fact: Not everyone has a gun, but almost everyone has at least one doctor. Please alert your friends to this alarming threat. We must ban doctors before this gets out of hand. As a public health measure I have withheld the statistics on lawyers for fear the shock could cause people to seek medical attention. Further information debunking anti-gun distortions is available online at www.sas-aim.org/education/ninemyths.htm. and likewise www.jpfo.org/doctors.htm. Finally, I have visited Canada twice where draconian gun control is oppressive. This includes the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia. And I never felt any safer there than in the United States. Of course, I tend to avoid the Democratic Party "Mob controlled" metro-centers anyway; I have yet to see an anti-gun politician who wasn't a deceitful, left-wing "socialist" crook. Instead, I favor my cousin's rural ranch near Paisley, Ore. where there are 12 handguns, several rifles, and a few shotguns inside their house. I'm far better protected and safe there, than I would be in Canada, England, Australia or in America's urban jungles. And I get a blast out of shooting my own firearms in an Eastern Oregon community where the populace is hospitable, honest, down to earth, morally and intellectually honest, and don't behave and act like socialists and political snobs. 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 -