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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us June 23, 2005 A good season for control fires Spring rains delayed the onset of Southern Oregon’s wildfire season until late July, according to the Tidings (June 15). Forecasters say fires will burn with less intensity this year than in prior years. At this opportune moment, land managers should be poised to reintroduce wildland fire to forest ecosystems starved for natural disturbance. Fire is the principal disturbance process in Siskiyou forests, rejuvenating life by stimulating nutrient cycles and shaping biodiversity patterns. Without it, forests become homogenous and deteriorate. Instead of using fire to restore ecosystems and reduce fuels, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management will continue their counterproductive practice of total fire suppression regardless of landscape context or weather conditions. Suppression often risks human life and damages the environment worse than fires do. In addition, both federal agencies will propose major logging projects packaged as “hazard reduction” in the Ashland and Little Applegate watersheds this summer. The projects would cut and sell large, mature and fire-resilient trees deep in the backcountry that should remain to live, die and rot (or burn) in situ. Without a plan to reintroduce fire, continued suppression coupled with logging only entrenches problems and evades solutions. Years of accumulated failure to plan for fire use will cause this summer to pass as a wasted opportunity to restore local forests. Jay Lininger (of Ashland) Fire and Fuels Management Point Reyes National Park Runoff voting rewards factions I found your report on runoff voting (IRV) to be very revealing. Eric Navickas makes a great point by stating IRV "would prevent two liberals from splitting votes in a council race and handing the victory to a conservative." That seems to be the point of most so-called "Democrats" these days: trying to prevent a conservative from gaining an elected position. As part of the Democratic Party, we need to stop focusing on the conservatives and start focusing on the issues at hand. We need to come together and have a single voice. The current voting process favors this and favors the candidates with a focused vision, not a party with fragmented views. Todd Silveo Ashland It’s a shame that Artattack’s going We in Ashland are fortunate to have several fine community theaters to augment the great fare we sample from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. However, I note with much sadness the departure of ArtAttack from the local scene. I have attended their productions from the early days in the garage on Hersey Street, always amazed at the quality of work they presented. Their skills have only increased over the years, and their new space on Oak Street gave them a much improved venue to showcase intimate works that might not otherwise be seen (as well as reinterpreted masterpieces such as last season's remarkable “Glass Menagerie”). Even as I wish Nicole and Justin well in their future personal and professional lives, I cannot help but comment that the absence of this company will leave a huge hole in the experience of Ashland theatergoers. Joan Steele Ashland Why throw more money at AFN? In reference to the letter from Bruce Barnes concerning the ailing AFN, I would respectfully disagree. From my perspective, the AFN is like a dead horse whose supporters are trying to beat back to life by pelting it with money — what a waste! The worst part is that the money will be coming from everyone’s pockets, not just those who use the system. In the name of fairness, what sort of solution is this? I, for one, resent being forced to pay for a system I neither want nor will ever use, so that others, with deeper packets may benefit at my expense. Let’s bury this dead horse so that its stinking corpse no longer taints our town with its stench of corruption. Nicole Twining Ashland Cowardice of witnesses appalls I am appalled to read that the grand jury in the Thatcher-Stevens matter was unable to get information regarding who might have supplied alcohol to him and his party prior to the tragic accident. I am further astonished that the six persons (unidentified) who were counseled by their attorneys not to give evidence were unable to see that their actions simply condone a continuation of a system which allows such horrendous behavior. They are apparently unaware or too smug to understand that they are as guilty of the deaths of innocent persons as the drivers of the vehicles involved. William M. 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