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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Election officials fine Richardson for late reporting of rent-free home Ski survey gets heavy response Recap of Mt. Ashland Ski Area survey A Grizzly week of homecoming activity Sheriff a no-show at Ashland Chamber forum Education AHS drops homecoming king, queen A busy homecoming week for AHS students Sportsology returns to ScienceWorks Your child's best best bet for success? It's you Beyond the home: Housing options, continued Environment Annual tour shows how to live green Taking action here, now on global climate change Garden serves up a feast fit for monarchs Only voters can make a tree tops in town Getting away from — and back into — it all Business Ski survey gets heavy response John Kalb, Ashland chiropractor The Coffee Window Oregon job report shows labor force growth Fretwell Music Politics and elections Election officials fine Richardson for late reporting of rent-free home Sheriff a no-show at Ashland Chamber forum New script for film ordinance sent back to rewrite November elections right around the corner Matthew T. Mangino: Federal government complicit in militarization of police State News Nation - World Obituaries Death Notices Susan Carol Loube Burnath M. Morgan Clyde Moore Death Notices Sports Latest Stories Raiders bury Geoducks in Cascade Conference opener A Grizzly week of homecoming activity Ashland readies for another hot quarterback on homecoming night SOU wrestler headed to NAIA Hall SOU tilt moved to US Cellular High school A Grizzly week of homecoming activity Ashland readies for another hot quarterback on homecoming night Grizzlies fight back, bite Crater in five No. 9 Raiders pull away from Coyotes No. 2 Grizzlies put on a show Southern Oregon University Raiders bury Geoducks in Cascade Conference opener SOU wrestler headed to NAIA Hall SOU tilt moved to US Cellular Raiders jump to No. 7 in Top 25 McShane becoming SOU's game-breaker Opinion Latest Stories Granlund cartoon: Eric Holder resigns Letters to the Editor, Sept. 25 Granlund cartoon: US bombs ISIS Keep film ordinance simple Remembering a very prominent local lady Editorial Keep film ordinance simple Don’t ban smoking on the beach A perennial problem No time for complacency Our View: Ralph Temple fought on for social justice Letters Letters to the Editor, Sept. 25 Letters to the Editor, Sept. 22 Letters to the Editor, Sept. 20 Letters to the Editor, Sept.17 Letters to the Editor, Sept. 11 Guest opinions Remembering a very prominent local lady Remembering a simpler time in Ashland Fostering a culture of peace in Ashland Stuck on the sands of hesitation Open our elections and empower more voters Revels Latest Stories Camelot Theatre presents 'Spotlight on Johnny Mercer' John Reischman and the Jaybirds Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas 4 things to do this weekend Community blog: Workshop explores travel and description Theater Camelot Theatre presents 'Spotlight on Johnny Mercer' Southern Oregon hosts its Lunacy Theatre Festival Friends of Jim Giancarlo remember Ashland theater icon Freud v. Lewis: Intellectual heavyweights spar over life's big issues 'Freud's Last Session" at Ashland Contemporary Theatre Music John Reischman and the Jaybirds Q&A: Acousta Noir The Jeff Stanley Trio at Lounge South Visual Art Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhiits by regional artists Movies Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas New script for film ordinance sent back to rewrite Still stifling laughter 40 years after 'Young Frankenstein' 'The Drop' hits all the marks Movie listings for Varsity Theatre, Ashland Street Cinemas Food and Drink Cruelest Month: Poetry Blog Lifestyle Latest Stories Parsi cultural history served up on a plate Community Blog: Predicting Peace - Part 2 of 7 Beyond the home: Housing options, continued Spirit to spirit: Listening to plants What's the worst that could happen? She'll tell you Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs NEWS NOW Election officials fine Richardson for late reporting of rent-free home ... A Grizzly week of homecoming activity ... Sheriff a no-show at Ashland Chamber forum ... Election officials fine Richardson for late reporting of rent-free home ... A Grizzly week of homecoming activity ... Sheriff a no-show at Ashland Chamber forum ... COMMENTARY Stuck on the sands of hesitation By Chris Honoré DailyTidings.com By Chris Honoré Posted Sep. 19, 2014 @ 12:01 am By Chris Honoré Posted Sep. 19, 2014 @ 12:01 am » Social News Author Evangeline Wilkes once wrote: “On the sands of hesitation lay the bones of countless millions who, at the dawn of victory, sat down to wait, and waiting — died.” There is something that resonates in Wilkes’ prose and captures the cynical paralysis we are experiencing month after month in Washington. History tells us that as a nation we have done exceptional things — big things, much of it for the common good — and yet our Republican Congress either obstructs or waits, turning legislative malpractice into an art form, spending days in vacuous ideological riffs and meaningless investigations. As to what we could be doing today if we possessed the political will, putting country before partisanship, consider just the state of our nation’s children: Less than half of all U.S. children, ages 3 and 4, are enrolled in early childhood education and there is no plan to increase enrollment, despite knowing that preschool can make a profound difference in the lives of children, most especially the poorest. Some 16 million children live below the federal poverty line, many exhibiting chronic absences from school while suffering from health problems and hunger that impact their ability to learn. Nearly 60 percent of all fourth- and eighth-graders nationwide cannot read and compute at grade level. For black children it’s 80 percent and for Latino children it’s 75 percent. There’s a moral imperative embedded in that data. The percentage of children living in single-family households more than doubled between 1964 and 2012. It is a fact that single-parent families are more than four times as likely to be poor. Since 1963, three times as many children and teens have died from guns in American than U.S. soldiers killed in the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Between 1964 and 2011, gun deaths for children and teens have increased 31 percent. And there is this: Each day in America, four children die from abuse and neglect; five children or teens commit suicide; seven children are killed by guns; 4,028 children are arrested, 187 of them for violent crimes; 847 babies are born to teen mothers; 1,392 babies are born into extreme poverty; 8,300 high school students, on average, drop out; 16,244 public school students are suspended; and in 50 of America’s largest cities, only 59 percent of high school students graduate. In America, between 2010 and 2012, 1.2 million public school children were identified as homeless, a 73 percent increase since the onset of the Great Recession. On any given night, more than 138,000 children are homeless, living in shelters, transitional housing or on the streets. Every fifth child is poor and the younger they are the poorer. The reality — their reality — is that their parents have to work 2½ full-time jobs at minimum wage in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment and still cover necessities. The federal minimum wage is now worth 22 percent less than it was in 1964. Meanwhile, our schools represent the one public institution that could rescue our children. And yet since the onset of the recession almost 300,000 teachers and school personnel have been cut nationwide and our Congress and state governments have been unwilling to restore funding. What’s needed is a massive effort to restructure our public schools for the 21st century and thus give new meaning to No Child Left Behind (which has become synonymous with reductive testing, and has done inordinate damage to children and teachers all under the rubric of accountability). It is a tragedy that defies understanding that we as a nation will spend some $3 trillion fighting (and rebuilding infrastructure) in Afghanistan and Iraq while our children and our nation want for so much. A final anecdote: It’s been reported that Mike Brown, the young man recently killed in Ferguson, Mo., had his graduation picture taken last March. His school district is so acutely poor (a poverty rate of 92 percent), that there were only two caps and gowns available for his entire class. They shared. Imagine if things were different. A note: much of the data cited above came from the 2014 report of the Children’s Defense Fund, a nongovernmental organization based in Washington, D.C., and the annual report of the Center for American Progress. Chris Honoré lives in Ashland. 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