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Guest forum: Democracy begins at home By Leah Ireland, Ashland Ashland may be arty and ethereal, but when it comes to the police, this town could be Jersey or Medford. One topic at parties or walks in the park is who got pulled over and where, who got stopped and questioned while walking peacefully down the street at night, and whose children were illegally searched for marijuana. Let's get it straight. The police are real heroes and do the job no one else wants or has the nerve to do. They risk their lives for us in ways we'll never know. But we don't seem to be generating enough real crime for them, and they have to turn to looking for crime. Our street children usually come from bad homes and have no recourse other than being out in the world while far too young. Can you imagine how that feels? Just because they are unwanted, have nowhere to go and nothing to do, does not mean they are criminals. They are not threats to society; they need society. They are continually stopped, searched, filled with shame, and alienated for no other reason than that they exist. Almost everyone in Ashland is smoking or has smoked pot. Why do we allow the police to waste their time on a substance less harmful than cigarettes, alcohol or chocolate? This has nothing to do with the hideous drugs that are deadly dangerous to our invaluable asset - our kids. And what about the terrible new trend of our girls crash dieting and drinking? The tragedy over a few members of our high school debate team suspected of using pot a few years ago ended friendships, careers, and traumatized families - not to mention the harmful message it sent our youth. Unfortunately, we have a situation where every Ashland resident, and especially every young person, needs to be informed of their rights if questioned by the police. Worse still are the complaints that some kids are promised by police they will be rewarded for cooperating in searches that unfairly further incriminate them. If the older generation allowed organized crime to keep pot illegal, it now costs them big-time in needless law enforcement, prisons and courts. We do not want to collude in the lesson that the police are to be feared and distrusted, and that they have unfair authority over any individual. Democracy begins in the community, and since we are fortunate enough to have a community, let's work together to keep it law-abiding. Honor and respect the police for the great job they do. People in Ashland are different, they can't help it, but it doesn't make them guilty. If we can't have peace with our police, taking into consideration our differing political beliefs, religions, and ages, where can we? Ashland has plenty to show the world besides art. In defense of stray cat caretakers By Robert Casserly, Ashland I applaud Leif Joslyn's Letter to the Editor on 1/24/03 regarding stray cats and the terrible destruction they cause in parks and wildlife preserves. Part of my duties as a manager for Friends of the Animal Shelter (FOTAS) is to help save as many stray cats as possible, so to me, this is not a theoretical problem, this is everyday life - and death. If everyone held as high a standard for the caretaking of pets as Mr. Joslyn, I would be happily in search of a new career, because we would not have the several thousands of stray pets that FOTAS serves each year. However, I would like to add one more dimension to the debate that may help everyone understand a particular point of Mr. Joslyn's in a different light. For those of you who missed his letter, I shall sum up Mr. Joslyn's arguments: 1) People who do not fix their cats and then abandon them are doubly irresponsible. 2) The homeless multitude of stray cats is decimating native wildlife. 3) Trapping and re-dumping the cats on public land is misguided. I agree with the logic and implicit morality in the above three propositions. However, Mr. Joslyn takes these ideas and synthesizes them into a fourth point which misses the mark. I do not oppose what he states as totally incorrect, but the statement is incomplete, and thus the issue at hand may be misunderstood. The fourth proposition of Mr. Joslyn's letter I paraphrase thus: People who feed colonies of stray cats are making the problem worse, not better. It is true that some stray cat caretakers feed cats without further consideration of the effect on the environment. They mean well, and are simply trying to keep innocent beings from starving to death, an act that is difficult to criticize because of its "moral high ground," as Mr. Joslyn stated. However, the problem with holding all stray cat caretakers culpable for environmental destruction, as Mr. Joslyn's fourth proposition suggests, is this: Most stray cat caretakers take great pains, with inevitable personal expense and hard work, to spay and neuter all the cats in the colonies they are feeding, eventually breaking the vicious cycle of one species destroying another. They are not only helping the cats to survive by feeding them, they are using the food to attract them, humanely trap them, get them fixed, and then let them live out their life without the means to create more unwanted cats. I think this is a just and utilitarian action, fairly compromising between the cat's right to life and the desire to protect wildlife species. So lest we condemn ALL stray cat caretakers, please consider that MOST of them are 1) saving the lives of innocent creatures 2) enacting a long-term solution for the protection of wildlife by decreasing the homeless cat population 3) cleaning up the mess left behind by the criminals who commit pet abandonment, and 4) caring for the unwanted litters caused by irresponsible pet guardians who let their unfixed cats roam outside. Most stray cat caregivers are not making the problem worse. On the contrary, they are frequently the only people who care enough to solve it. 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 -