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Book chronicles bigotry, tolerance State of Jefferson experienced both By WENDY SIPOREN In 1861, someone raised the Confederate flag on a flagpole in the center of Jacksonville. The flag remained there all day until a woman who lived nearby angrily lowered the flag and burned it in her stove. No one tried to stop her. In 1922, Robert Ruhl, the owner and editor of the Medford Mail Tribune, dared to criticize the Ku Klux Klan's anti-Catholic campaign and was forced to declare he was not a Catholic. He went one step further and prefaced his declaration by saying there was no disgrace in being a Catholic. In 1940, Camp White's commanding officer, Maj. General Charles Gearhardt, warned that if Medford businesses would not serve his black soldiers, he would declare the city off-limits for all of his troops, thus threatening an economic boycott of local business. These are among positive stories told in a yet-to-be-published short history of tolerance in the State of Jefferson that is being used as a textbook of sorts for an Ashland High School alternative program. Titled "A Tough Spot With a Nice Climate," the book chronicles both the individuals who worked for racial, religious and gender harmony as well as the bigotry, discrimination and organized hate-groups that have shaped the area's history. "Intolerance is more than racism. Bigotry and prejudice imply attitudes. Discrimination implies policies and practices," explained the book's main author, Southern Oregon University adjunct professor Jim Phillips. "What we really want to deal with is why it's there. "People do the worst things for the best reasons. We wanted to get at the economic and social roots of why we do what we do," said Phillips, a cultural anthropologist. "Then if we understand those better, then people can stop blaming other people and start changing." The project began as a Peace House brochure identifying local white supremacist groups but soon grew into a larger book analyzing the economic, political and social context for intolerance. "The current white supremacist groups are really the agents of prejudice that has its roots in the early 1800s," said former Peace House director Elizabeth Hallett, who conceived the project. "Part of the link that we are making is that the prejudice, the organized hatred is not going away. It's taking on new forms." Hallett and Phillips hope to use the book to promote community discussion of these issues and dispel two common myths about the area of Southern Oregon and Northern California known as the state of Jefferson: That intolerance doesn't exist anymore and that the area is historically a homogeneous community. Ashland High School alternative education teacher Michael Foley is using the book to teach his students social studies and writing skills and to give them a connection to the community. "The reason why it appealed to me is they (students) are on the periphery themselves -- the periphery of school, the community," said Foley. "Jim's book was a way of helping us understand difference." Foley's 30 students each created a fictional autobiography, choosing one of the six racial and ethnic groups discussed in the book. Students prepared a meal for their classmates and wrote about how their character came to Southern Oregon. Next semester they move to the subject of religious intolerance. Foley plans on using the research his students have done to create a study guide for other teachers to use in conjunction with the book. Hallett and Phillips hope to use it as the focus of a two-day symposium at SOU that would include prejudice reduction workshops and speakers from different cultural groups. But their first priority is getting the book published. They estimate it will cost $5,000 to print 1,500 copies. "Our main goal is not to politicize the issue of intolerance," she said. "The goal is to educate and to provide understanding about the contributions made by a rich and diverse cultural mix in our Southern Oregon community." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA