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Letters to the Editor: A Street Pavilion would be a great asset to Ashland Members of the City Council: As a long-time property owner who has always been a fighter for a better Ashland I urge you to allow the A Street Pavilion to operate as a showplace. It would he a welcome addition to our city's ability to attract well known names in both the music and theatre worlds. Can you imagine what our city would be like if no music or theatre were allowed after 10 p.m. Our city is unique because of our theatres, university and music which bring the tourists here and support the city, There are people who object to any change regardless of their merits. I recall that when I was Chairman of CPAAC a gentlemen complained that the Shakespeare Theatre and the college were ruining Ashland. Again, I urge you to allow the A Street Pavilion the hours it needs to function and become one more asset to our city. Al Teitelbaum, Ashland First Amendment on the line with City, Council Dear Councilors and Citizens of Ashland, The Ashland Patriots, a broad base of educated citizens, has brought a resolution to the City of Ashland. The resolution is called the "Resolution to Protect Civil Liberties" and is opposed to the "Patriot Act" which is a Bush/Ashcroft big-brother law that gives too much power to the FBI. It seems that the resolution has gotten caught in a catch 22. It will be heard once the city attorney has looked at it and the city attorney says that he cannot/will not look at it until the city council directs him to do so. Hmmmmmm. Would this be considered some kind of obstruction of justice? Is the city council an elected body whose charge is to honor the laws of the land and obey the will of its citizenry? I know that many who sit on the council are small business owners. Therefore, it is germane to consider that each would seek out experts when their business needed further attention. Since we are often told that the city is in business it would seem that it is appropriate for the city council to consider and listen to the concerns of the Ashland Patriots. It is absurd enough to consider that this huge task of gathering the people together, researching the language, developing the instrument (the resolution) would go unnoticed rather than naturally provoke an open city conversation in a Democracy. A wise business person would not avoid the advice of experts on a subject. So, why would a Democratic body see it as their function to be obstructive rather than in compliance of the First Amendment Rights of its constituency? Please take the time to more fully research this body of information, its impact, its integrity and its possible importance to the City of Ashland as well as to the citizens of the United States of America. Suzi Aufderheide, Ashland Guest forum: The students are left with very little after the failure of Jan. 28 By Evian DiStefano, Ashland Our elders have told us all our lives to be studious; to value each day of school because it will be what carries us into our prosperous, respectable futures. Established in our minds as a citadel of knowledge, wisdom and values, its purpose is to indoctrinate these societal virtues and to fundamentally recreate the world within each of its students. The fate of our institutions is kept out of our hands, because we are told that we are not always capable or 'educated' decision-makers. We are led to entrust our prosperous futures to our all-knowing elders and leaders, because they are what we grow up and strive to be. We are taught to respect them. It has come to the point now that we see the framework of our lives shudder. Through closing schools and cut weeks across the state, even our instructors question the virtues which they were taught, personified and worked so hard to uphold all of their lives. They question our leaders. We, the students, the state's dependents, can only work with what is given to us to continue our lives successfully, and what we have is very dismal. We, the students, are left to work through a problem left to us with the respect of our leaders; our elders. We see no ability in our leaders to lead the people, and we saw on January 28 that respect is not a universal virtue held among our elders either. We, the students, have little reason left to respect our leaders any more. The many voices of the students in our district have not been powerful enough alone to reach Salem and the law-makers within. The students, however, have begun to come together to form a stronger voice on issues which affect us collectively. An all-encompassing union which upholds the values that make us civil and responsible members of American society and to which we will hold close when we become the leaders and decision-makers. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said: "The day our lives begin to end is the day we are silent about things that matter." We must be vocal about education, or our prosperous lives that we have been working so fervently towards may never realize. The Ashland Associated Union of Students is open to all students within the Ashland school district who want their interests to be heard and to effectively have a say in the decision-making which affects us. We encourage everyone to join so that a greater variety of opinion can be heeded. We must take action on what directs our lives. Lessons from the city planning study session By Susan Marsden, Ashland After attending the city planning commission's study session wherein the laws governing land use in Oregon were explained, as well as the role the commission plays in the development of our city, I spent some time trying to understand what I'd heard. Perhaps this was my fault for not having read prior to the study session what must have been the required reading in preparation for attendance, Catch 22. These are the lessons those of us present were expected to fully comprehend: 1) The Planning Commission has very little power. It must respond only to pre-determined guidelines set forth by local ordinances. Later in the evening we were told that the Planning Commission has "a lot of power, second only to the City Council." 2) The Planning Commission is charged with the responsibility to allow, respect, and regard public opinion. However, as per the example given by one commissioner, if 90 percent of the residents of a neighborhood show up and object to a project that will effect their neighborhood it would be wholly irrelevant to the decision making process. 3) The process is "both top down and bottom up." Puzzle that one out for yourselves. 4) The commissioners are appointed, not elected, because they are there to represent the community. That one's a puzzler, too, and might raise the questions, why hold elections at all, and what exactly our elected representatives are then doing? 5) The Planning Commission responds to city ordinances. If there is something that the community is unhappy with, the only recourse is to change the ordinance. Subsequently we were told that ordinances are virtually impossible to change. 6) People who say that this process is dysfunctional are mistaken. The commissioners, or even our council members, may be helpless to effect much change in this state of affairs, but what is most disconcerting is the apparent lack of will to even try. I certainly have learned now, first hand, the root of civic apathy. 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 -