Oregon now has some real clout in Congress
The most important phrase of your recent article with Sen. Ron Wyden was "chair of the Senate Finance Committee." Whether readers are aware of it or not, Oregon now has players on the most powerful committees in Washington, D.C. Southern Oregon's own Peter DeFazio is shepherding the massive trillion-dollar transportation bill through the House while Sen. Jeff Merkley resides on the all-important Senate Committee on Appropriations. Read More »

Passage of public safety levy in May is critical
The upcoming May election includes Ballot Measure 17-97. This critical renewal of the public safety levy ensures that we keep police officers on patrol, firefighters available for fires, rescues, and medical response, and the 911 center to answer and process calls to send police/fire/medical. Read More »

Commissioners should pony up, pay OSHA fine
I feel bad for my friends who own restaurants — so many are hanging on by a thread. Since the county commissioners continue to advocate for restaurants to ignore any governor's ban on indoor dining, I think the admirable thing for the commissioners to do is to pay the OSHA fine imposed on the Gold Miner Restaurant. They should put their money where their mouth is! Read More »

Parker doesn't know what she's writing about
Kathleen Parker, reprinted in this publication and working for The Washington Post; Juan Williams of Fox News; and other mainstream pundits and journalists have been doing their best to label any questions raised about the anomalies of the 2020 presidential election as "The Big Lie." The best way to debunk a big lie is to investigate quickly and thoroughly the facts that are available. Read More »

Commissioners making a habit of embarrassing us
In response to the latest commissioner embarrassment, I'd like to point out there is no significant disagreement among physicians and scientists who work on peer-reviewed research into COVID-19. They are unanimous that the virus is dangerous and deadly, and the vaccines are as effective as research shows.  Read More »

Anti-abortion supporters might enable socialism
I believe the Daily Courier recently quoted an anti-abortion demonstrator as saying that the elimination of abortion would make more children available for adoption. Currently, the Guttmacher Institute estimates there are 860,000 abortions in the U.S. each year. If we assume that with the elimination of abortion we would have 860,000 unwanted children available for adoption each year, in addition to the 130,000 already being adopted, we would need to have 860,000 couples wanting to adopt who are currently unable to. Sounds pretty unlikely. Read More »

Action on homelessness will bring about change
Many of us have followed the steps taken by Rogue Retreat to open a temporary shelter on Manzanita Avenue, and the effort to make it a reality. In spite of the goodwill of all involved, this project has come to a halt. However, so many people have stepped up to improve the conditions of our homeless brothers and sisters, I cannot but comment on the hope some of us are feeling right now. Read More »