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Election letters: Dance team says support levy The Ashland High School dance team wishes to thank the community for supporting the Youth Activities Levy since 1994. We are asking for your continued support in the upcoming election. Now, more than ever, the levy is vital to the continuation and success of our athletic and other youth programs. Your generosity has allowed the dance team to evolve into a highly skilled group of hard working dancers who are passionate about their sport. This year, with levy funds, we traveled to Portland to compete in the OSAA Dance and Drill State Championships. We were thrilled to make second round and enjoyed five days in the city. We also had the opportunity to dance at a Blazers pre-game show. We are already preparing for next year's dance team, and are holding tryouts next week. As we look forward to another year of dancing, there is a shadow of uncertainty upon the funding which is the deciding factor of our sport. With your 'yes' vote on the levy, we will be privileged to enjoy another year of dancing with our amazing team and coach. The Ashland High School Dance Team Submitted by Molly Thivierge - dance team member Ashland Vote for Kuenzel I am writing in support of Bob Kuenzel, who is running for Position 5 on the Ashland School Board. We are blessed in Ashland to have an abundance of community members with experience and dedication in running the framework of our society. In Bob Kuenzel we have a community resident who has sought leadership positions and then led with energy and by example, improving lives and opportunities for Ashlanders. As a member of the board of directors of the YMCA and Rotary, and most especially as chair of last year's highly successful effort to raise nearly $450,000 for our schools in the Ashland Schools Foundation annual fund drive, Bob has shown his commitment to all of us. And he is willing and able to do more! The members of the school board will continue for at least several years to face tough challenges and the need to make difficult decisions. These can best be made by someone with experience in listening and reaching consensus; someone who works well with others and helps them to find common ground. Bob Kuenzel is the best qualified candidate for this challenging assignment. Elisabeth Geismar, Ashland More support for Kuenzel After serving with Bob Kuenzel on the board of the Ashland Schools Foundation in 2002, I can say that there is no one in Ashland I would rather see on our school board. Many people in Ashland don't realize how tirelessly and skillfully Bob, as chairman of the Schools Foundation, worked to help deal with our #1 issue, the budget crisis. He oversaw the creation of the SOS campaign, which raised $430,000 for our schools - more than five times as much as the ASF had ever raised. And then he made sure the campaign was more than just a fundraising drive; Bob met constantly with the ASD administration, teachers and the school board to keep tabs on what needed funding, so the ASF's effort would genuinely improve education in our town. As most Ashland residents know, his effort paid off in a big way. Everyone at ASF worked hard to make the SOS campaign a success - but Bob worked the hardest, longest, and most effectively. He made the effort a personal quest, because he truly believes each of us in Ashland has a responsibility to do what we can to support our schools and our kids. No candidate for for school board this year has matched Bob's experience, efforts, and results on behalf of our schools. Ashland needs him on our school board. Please vote for Bob Kuenzel. John Javna, Ashland Parker would be great for board I attended a forum for the Ashland School Board candidates on May 1 and was impressed with Heidi Parker. She is very thoughtful, open and willing to be a strong voice for the community. I believe that she will work hard, seek out input on important issues and pull people together. She'll be great on the School Board. Pauline Black, Ashland Guest Forum: Embarrassment to the uniform By J. Mia Land Ashland For shame, for shame! I can no longer sit silently and tolerate the lack of tolerance exhibited in so many recent letters to The Daily Tidings and Mail Tribune. Those who have served this country in uniform seem to be the worst offenders, claiming to love the United States while in the same breath threatening the exercise of freedoms they claimed to defend! This is not only un-American, it is in direct conflict with the oath sworn to uphold and defend the rights and freedoms of the United States - which include the right to burn the flag and to disagree with government decisions and directives. Those of you who have written with thinly veiled threats of violence or censure and condemnation of cooler heads who have allowed expression of protected rights are, frankly, an embarrassment to the uniforms you have worn. You apparently did not fight to protect our rights, but rather only the limited "rights" you are willing to tolerate, which do not represent those of the United States. For shame! Rather than exhorting those who express views opposed to your own or those of the current political regime to "get out" of the United States, it is those who espouse limitation of our freedoms who perhaps should seek out a more repressive regime where it is acceptable to threaten those who do not agree with the government. It has no place in this country. In fact, it is exactly this sort of repression that our military has been sent to root out - in Afghanistan and in Iraq. How ironic! Do you support removal of a repressive regime or do you wish to impose one? To interpret the political statement of flag burning as some sort of personal affront is not a demonstration of clear analytical thinking. This reactivity suggests to me very poor impulse control - the sort of reactivity that leads to such immature behavior as brawls. These individuals did not burn your flag. They burned their own flags. It has nothing to do with either you or me or any other specific person, and it is not directed at any one person. What a flag, or your personal flag, represented in a specific situation is not representative of every situation where the flag appears or is in use. Frankly, I wonder why you are not offended by those flying flags on the outside of their vehicles, where they are subjected to dirt, oil, and exhaust fumes. And when those vehicular flags are frayed and covered in dirt, do their owners dispose of them properly in accordance with flag etiquette - by burning them?! I do not find public flag burning to be an effective political statement simply because it inspires such strong emotional responses on both sides of the issue, but I would never impugn anyone's right to burn the flag because of my personal feelings. I worked for the government for nearly 17 years, and I, too, took an Oath of Office. And I remember clearly what it said and what it stood for. I am proud of the Ashland City Council for standing up for American rights. I am not proud of those who would bludgeon away those rights using personal emotions and the uniforms they have worn or which were worn by family members. Such repression of others represents everything which the military in the U.S. has fought against. If you will withdraw your support from the members of the city council for supporting American rights, who will you then support? Do you choose freedom, or repression? 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