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Letters to the Editor: Bates, Hannon, 'Count me in' I am writing to thank our local legislators, Sen. Lenn Hannon and Rep. Alan Bates, for their support of the most vulnerable citizens of Oregon. The passage of the supplement for the 2001-2003 will, I am certain, save lives. The suggestion from Rep. Bates for a "grassroots movement to lobby both the Legislature, and the governor � to support seeking new revenue" is also an appropriate call to action for the next biennium's budget. Count me in. I also urge continued support for those same vulnerable Oregonians - disabled, seniors, mentally ill, those unable to afford health care and prescription drugs, and school kids - when it comes to passing the 2003-2005 budget. If that means raising revenue, I say, let's raise taxes now. Don't wait. I am willing to pay for essential services for the people of our state. Rev. Caren Caldwell, Ashland Thanks from the AHS hoops team The Ashland High School boys varsity basketball team would like to thank the following restaurants for providing meals before each home game this season: Beasy's on the Creek, Callahan's Lodge, Gippetto's, Macaroni's, Mihama's Teriaki Grill, Northwest Pizza and Omar's Restaurant. Thanks also to Papa Murphy's Pizza for support-ing AHS basketball teams in the sales of pizza coupons. We sincerely apprec-iate your generosity and support. Candace Palmesano, team mother; coaches: Rick Cornelius, John Skinner, Vance Littleton. Team members: Airen Brown, Zack Brown, Clint Bryan, Bryan Clevenger, Logan Bishop, Chris Mackovijak, Dave Morris, Nick Palmesano, Chris Presicci, Jeff Skinner, John Woodley Signals needed on Siskiyou Blvd. Dear fellow Ashlanders and others using the Siskiyou Boulevard. construction area: This is a request to all drivers entering and exiting Siskiyou Boulevard construction zone: Please, please, please use your turn signals. A car entering Siskiyou at an intersection last week nearly hit me. The person did not signal intent to turn and then turned left into the far lane of Siskiyou directly at me. Her head was turned right watching the break in the on-coming traffic. And the next day I had a similar close call. As a savvy and cautious pedestrian and a person who believes we are all in this together (bikers, drivers and pedestrian), I had made a choice to cross where I did because it appeared (due to lack of any turn signal) that this person was going straight across the intersection. Observing driver's turn signals indicating the direction of intended turns is one way I make a decision about how and where to safely cross and also to honor drivers needs to get to their destinations in a timely manner. We all know that the Siskiyou Boulevard construction changes daily and we need to adapt. Drivers, please help me and other pedestrians by using your turn signals. M. Clara Ammond, Ashland Good tax idea On the topic of raising municipal money, I find Vivian Korn's letter of March 10 to be a good idea. Increasing the room tax from 8 to 10 percent seems reasonable enough without being a harsh imposition on those who can't afford it. Concerning the meals tax, a letter in the same edition also made a good point; the city's residents are penalized - although isn't it equitable that city residents should foot some of the bill for city services (as discretionary as they might be)? But perhaps there is a solution for this, too: Exemptions. Why can't a valid Ashland ID (driver's license, utility bill) be presented upon ordering and the resident then be exempted from the meals tax? Scott Calamar, Ashland Guest forum: Our foreign policy defines our future democracy By Betsy A. Bradshaw Ashland Last October, our Congress passed the Iraq Use of Force Resolution (Public Law 107-243) for the defined purpose of acting against an actual threat presented by Iraq, not for waging an indiscriminate war of aggression against a country whose resources we are interested in. The Congressional power to declare war should never have been altered. A democracy is at its highest level of peril in wartime, not just because of war itself, but because the legislative branch's power becomes abridged, in favor of the executive branch. This upsets the tripartite balance of powers, and can ultimately ruin a democracy. A fascist government during war, however, can thrive. Hitler knew this, and those within the Bush administration know it. This is a road we must absolutely resist going down. If we regard our legislative power as expendable when the chips are down, our future legacy to all humanity will be that of a flawed, and ultimately failed, "republican experiment" in representative government, in the Jeffersonian sense, thereby forfeiting this country's heritage, and the very real individual freedoms that a true democracy affords. The result will resemble a lousy, pixilated image file: with no way to undo the damage, we will live under laws that we have no vote in. The parallels between the German government in the late 1930s, and the developments within our own government in just the last two years, are astounding - yet in typical American fashion, some of us feel immune or are otherwise oblivious to such a harsh reality, believing, as thousands of German Jews did, that our government is essentially good and right, and that our individual civil rights, social liberties and freedoms cannot be taken from us without our consent. This fallacy has already cost us the legislative ability to hold the line regarding our nation's involvement in a war with Iraq: the power to make that decision has not been wrested from us - instead, in a legislative environment of ubiquitous fear resulting from the WTC and Pentagon terrorist attacks, we handed it over freely, based on the perception that this would increase national security and help rid the world of terrorists. Our civil liberties in this post-September 11 world have already been significantly compromised and diminished, through the Homeland Security Act and the USA Patriot Act. The chief executive, even without the Iraq Use of Force Resolution, has already used executive orders and directives to circumvent the will of the people expressed through Congress. The Pentagon's citizen data-mining TIA (Total Information Awareness) Program, the new CAPPS II (Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System) airline security program to compile personal dossiers on all passengers, and the recently revealed Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 ("Patriot Act II"), which expands the parameters of the USA Patriot Act, are still to come. In wartime, all of these national security measures will take further effect. The Defense Department's authority to conduct surveillance on law-abiding citizens and our private records can increase ten-thousand-fold. During a war with Iraq, we can all become "Jews." Consider carefully the long-term effects of losing legislative power during wartime, in combination with increased wartime privacy-invading national security measures that pre-empt our civil liberties without a legal means of appeal. How much more of our power and our civil liberties shall we forfeit, in the name of "enhanced national security"? Do we really intend to trade our democracy for a fascist alternative? LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | 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 -