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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels August 3, 2004 'Restless' headline offends As a resident of Ashland, I am both shocked and saddened that the Daily Tidings would publish such a stereotypical and demeaning front-page headline, "Making the natives less restless," in regards to the story covering the Konaway Nika Tillicum Native American Youth Academy at SOU in last Saturday's (July 24) edition of the weekend paper. I am an enrolled member of the Oglala (Lakota) Sioux Tribe and have been a resident of this community for over five years. I have never, in all of the time I have lived in this city, experienced such an outwardly obnoxious, stereotypical, and ignorant slur against my race. I am angry that by using this headline, the Tidings devalued Native American people as a whole and in particular, the Native American children and staff involved with the youth academy. Although the content of the story was otherwise good, the derogatory headline only reinforced negative and racist stereotypes about my people that programs like the Konaway Nika Tillicum Youth Academy are working to counteract. Throughout my experience in Ashland, I have found that the majority of the people in this community are very accepting and respectful of Native American traditions and culture. Headlines like the one published on the front page last Saturday undermine the attempts at diversity and acceptance our community has worked to achieve. I feel that the Daily Tidings owes an apology to the children and staff who attended the Konaway Nika Tillicum Youth Academy and to the community of Ashland. The people in this community deserve better than the stereotypical and demeaning headline that was printed by the Ashland Daily Tidings last weekend. Jessica Cedarface Ashland Eds. note: A correction ran at the earliest possible date, Monday, July 26. Saving roadless area critical This summer Fruit Growers Supply (FGS), a logging company based out of Hilt, Calif., and a subsidiary of Sunkist Corp., plans to log a 240-acre parcel, surrounded by the Condrey Mountain Roadless Area (CMRA). The CMRA is the wildest and most remote part of the Eastern Siskiyous. Adjacent to the Kangaroo Roadless Area and the Red Buttes Wilderness Area, this represents some of the regions best wildlife habitat. Home of Siskiyou Mountain Salamander, Spotted Owl, Pacific Fisher, Marten, Wolverine, etc.This parcel contains some of the largest Incense Cedars left in the entire world, and they are marked to be cut. It is also home to the Siskiyous only stand of Pacific Silver Fir! Surrounded by a Late Successional Reserve, this area should be managed for old-growth characteristics; however, the Forest Service is planning to permit FGS access to public lands and road systems for helicopter log decks and transportation. Within days the Forest Service will announce its decision to give FGS access to log this ancient forest. Please call or write Applegate Ranger District, FGS, and Sunkist to end the liquidation of our last ancient forests. Luke Ruediger, Suzanne Savoie, Upper Applegate Valley Too much made of a little thing Well, we certainly have heard plenty about the July 4th parade and the effigy of President Bush! I find it interesting that it is in "bad taste" and "disrespectful" to belittle our current president as he continues to defraud the American people and send citizens to die in the quagmire he created with his neo-con pals in Iraq. While few people would say that Saddam Hussein was a leader to be admired, the big detour we are taking in Iraq is not helping the terrorism situation one iota. I would not have chosen to do as those who threw about the effigy did, but I understand their anger and frustration at an individual occupying an office of such great importance to us all, who is so out of touch with so many of us. While I believe the office itself deserves respect, it is the person (and their staff) filling it that gives it substance, meaning and value. And, by the way, the first casualties in an environment of fundamentalism of any kind are humor and tolerance for dissent. Vanessa Scott Ashland Democrats have lost common man Michael Moore must be the best thing going for the Republicans right now. As more than one writer has pointed out, imagine a Republican campaign advertisement running in the Midwest and southern swing states that shows recognizable Democrat politicians heading up the red carpet to see the opening of "Fahrenheit 911." Then cut to an interview by the BBC in which Moore trashes Americans, particularly men, as stupid, white morons. Then cut to a damning remonstration by the president in which he tells the viewer that this is what the Democrats represent. I watched Tom Frank on C-Span some days ago day and was impressed with his take on how the Democrats have lost the working class over the last 50 years and how that same working class have progressively been targeted by the theocrats. Right now blue collar workers are represented by nobody that have their best interest at heart. The Democrats see them as redneck, ignorant "Archie Bunker" characters, the Republicans as mindless trash to be exploited for political purposes and the theocrats as a prime group of voters to help advance their agenda of weakening the constitutional provisions that separate church and state. If our Constitution is to survive the onslaught from the theocrats the Democrats need to get off their high horse, get down in the trenches and develop a platform that appeals to the working man and woman. If not, then they do not have a prayer come November. Doug Forsyth Ashland DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams