Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us July 11, 2005 Risk pinkies for shared privilege How many of us use the greenway bike path? A thousand? How many would even try, if berry brambles met in its middle? I have never once seen other users deign to risk their pinkies clearing that path. If 50 of us separately take a pocket clipper and a glove to the brambles for only a half-hour a month, June through August, the problem will evaporate and 50 of us can feel good about doing the responsible thing for this privilege we share. Dean Ing Ashland Democracy deficit disorder American citizens at every level of government suffer from Democracy Deficit Disorder (DDD), which results in the pathology called “demockery.” The disorder is so great that as many as one-half of eligible voters typically stay home at election time. On the national level one result is that, as The Wall Street Journal put it, we have “24 percent presidents,” elected by that percent of eligible voters. At the local level, in Ashland, four recent elections were won with less than a majority of votes cast; two elections were won with pluralities of 31 and 36 percent. This is DDD in action. There are cures for DDD. The broad-based “IRV-Ashland” nonpartisan coalition is organizing a citizens’ petition to the Ashland City Council asking that the city place a measure on the next ballot allowing for “instant runoff voting” (IRV) for specified municipal offices. The IRV system allows voters to rank candidates on their ballots in order of preference and determines which candidate receives each voter’s vote through a process by which the least popular candidates are eliminated until only two remain; the candidate ending up with the greater number of votes is declared the winner. Oregon laws and the Oregon Constitution allow a charter city like Ashland to introduce such a voting system. State and county electoral rules and mechanisms must be modified to encompass this innovation. American democracy in general has a comparatively poor record in reflecting the wishes, to say nothing of the participation, of the citizens. IRV would be an effective way of improving voter turnout and offering an enhanced sense that one’s vote and voice will not be simply ignored. Ashlanders should support IRV. More democracy is a cure for DDD. Gerald Cavanaugh Ashland Don’t outsource Healthy Start Healthy Start is an excellent community program. It is run by six professional health care workers who visit first-time mothers and assess the needs of the mother, child and family. All of these professionals are members of SEIU, and a contract was bargained in good faith between the workers and the county. Now the county and the director of Health and Human Services want to outsource this job to the nonprofits in Jackson County. We the public, who pay the taxes, will be the losers. The health care workers are professionally trained, reliable and dependable workers, and they make the program work. If this program is outsourced, these professional would lose 40 percent of their earned working income and benefits because their contract would be negated and they would be moved to the nonprofits without their seniority rights being considered. Oregon Action works for a living wage in our community. We have listened to all of our legislators, commissioners, councilpersons and small- and large-business people talk about a fair living wage for all working people. We don't want to see wages being driven down in the Valley. Living wages help people meet the needs of their families. They should not have to choose between mortgages, food, health care, gas and electricity. If this goes through, the county could outsource many more jobs and lower the standard of pay in the Valley considerably. Beverly DeLeonardis Chairperson of Rogue Valley Oregon Action Colonists were not terrorists Robert Plain’s asserrtion (Daily Tidings Extra, July 4) that the colonial leaders were “inciting what today would be called terriorism” is factually incorrect and very offensive. Our founders did not murder innocent civilians, including children! They dumped tea into a harbor. The equivalent today would be if Iraqis were to throw their brand-new Visa cards into the Tigris. There is no moral equivalence between our founders and today’s terrorists. Neal Smith Jacksonville DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams