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Plan Now to Visit the Oregon Coast
Welcome to The Oregon Coast News Signal, linking Oregon! The winner of the Snap.com cantankerous
country journal award for dishing out news and commentary for Oregon's coastal communities of Arizona Beach, Astoria, Bandon by the Sea, Brookings, Cannon Beach, Charleston, Cloverdale,
Coos Bay, Coquille, Depoe Bay, Florence, Gardiner, Garibaldi, Gearhart, Gleneden, Beach Gold, Hammond, Harbor,
Hunter Creek, Kernville, Lakeside, Langlois, Lincoln Beach, Lincoln City, Manzanita, Myrtle Point, Nehalem,
Neotsu, Nesika Beach, Neskowin, Netarts, Newport, North Bend, Historic Nye Beach, Oceanside, Ophir, Otis, Otter
Rock, Pacific City, Pistol River, Port Orford, Reedsport, Rockaway Beach, Seal Rock,
Seaside, South Beach, Sunset Beach, Tillamook, Toledo, Waldport, Warrenton, Wedderburn, Wheeler,
Winchester Bay, and Yachats.
A view from the deck at Whales Watch, a vacation rental just north of Florence
Click on pic during daylight hours to see livecam shots
29 JAN 2007
Oregon News
 Salem * Eugene * McMinnville * Portland - THE COAST: Seaside * Coos Bay * Brookings
"A newspaper is not just for reporting news, it's to get people mad enough to do something about it." -- Mark Twain
VHS 1964 DVD 
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From Matt Jarvis: Oregon Coast News for January 29, 2007
Click HERE for Audio News
TSUNAMI
Yes, it has happened before, and yes it will happen again. That’s what Dr. Brian Atwater stated at Saturday night’s Geology Lecture Series at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay. “It,” is a tsunami, and Dr. Atwater, considered one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2005 by Time magazine, talked about the last major quake to hit the Oregon Coast on January 26, 1700. More then 200 people heard about a magnitude 9.0 quake that shook the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which runs parallel to the West Coast from Cape Mendocino, California, to the Canadian border. A tsunami wave traveled across the Pacific and struck Japan in just over ten hours. Dr. Atwater’s book, “The Orphan Tsunami of 1700: A Trans-Pacific Detective Story,” available through Southwestern’s Geology Department, documents the historical evidence to garner the full impact of the devastating earthquake of 307 years ago.
SHAKERS
Several earthquakes shook the Pacific Ocean floor off of Eureka, CA this past weekend. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a 2.1-magnitude “Micro” quake struck at 12:02 p.m., 35 miles south to southwest of Eureka, CA, Saturday afternoon, but on Sunday, two larger quakes hit the same area. A 3.0 “Minor” quake struck at 1:28 p.m., and a 3.3 “Minor” quake hit the same area again at 11:04 p.m. about 60 miles west to southwest of the Humboldt County Seat.
WAVE
The rush is on to grab a piece of the Pacific Ocean for possible wave energy parks even though the technology and process is still under research. It’s America’s dependence on foreign oil that sparks the interest, according to David Elwood, with Oregon State University’s Ocean Engineering Department. He spoke before about 60 people Saturday afternoon at the South Slough Sanctuary, west of Coos Bay. Elwood says OSU wants to establish a research facility at Newport and experiment with an energy producing buoy this summer about one to two miles off the Central Coast. While the United States is slow to embrace the new technology, Elwood says other countries are already doing it. The waters off Oregon reportedly have great potential for steady production. Parks have already been proposed off of Bandon, Gardiner and Newport.
CAPSIZING
It’s the same tricky bar entrance where Oregon’s worst charter boat disaster took place in 2003 when the Taki Tooo went down taking 11 people with it. Last Thursday, a 50-year old Newport man died when a commercial crabbing vessel rolled three times on the Tillamook Bar before crashing into the South Jetty. Kenneth Venard died from his injuries later at a hospital. Three other crew members were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.
RESCUE 21
It’s called Rescue 21, and the new system reportedly “harnesses global positioning and cutting edge communications technology enabling the Coast Guard to perform all its missions with greater agility and efficiency.” The new system will be rolled out and demonstrated to the media today in Seattle. The maritime “9-1-1” system replaces a 30-year old legacy communications system and should help detect hoax distress calls and close gaps in coverage areas. The new system has been undergoing tests in Sector Seattle since December 22nd.
SEX CHARGES
A 56-year old Bandon man was arrested last Thursday as part of a seven-month long investigation into sex-related crimes involving an underage Jackson County male. The Oregon State Police investigation also resulted in the arrest of three other men, ages 23 and 38, from Rogue River, Grants Pass and Winston. Police received information that a 15-year old boy was conversing with the suspects via a personal Internet chat site. Craig William Lunt was lodged in the Coos County Jail, at Coquille, on four-counts of Sodomy in the Third Degree and one count of Rape in the Third Degree. Detectives believe there may possibly be other victims.
ROBBERY
A black male adult reportedly brandished a weapon and fled on foot after robbing the Exxon gas station on Hwy. 101 (Tremont) in North Bend Saturday night at 9:17 p.m. The man, described as about six-feet tall, was wearing a red sweater, black coat and dark colored pants and white shoes.
COAL
Public input will be sought tonight in Coos Bay regarding legislative changes to oil and gas regulatory programs in Oregon, and members of the Department of Geology and Mineral Industry, DOGAMI, will also make themselves available to talk about the recent coalbed methane drilling activity currently underway in Coos County. The meeting will be held in the Empire Building on the campus of Southwestern Oregon Community College at 6 p.m.
CULTURAL
Last year the Coos County Historical Society benefited from a grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust. This year, more of the state’s arts, humanities and heritage programs will benefit thanks to a 22-percent increase in donations in 2006. Governor Ted Kulongoski has announced a record $2.8 million raised last year with more than 75 Oregon businesses donating to the Cultural Trust. That’s an increase of half-a-million dollars over 2005.
COASTAL
He’s dipped his feet into the waters of Hawaii, Tonga, Australia, California and Oregon. Now, Ephraim Temple is testing the political waters of the Oregon Legislature. The Oregon Sea Grant’s new legislative fellow provides expertise to the Coastal Caucus, and other legislators, on marine and coastal issues. Temple recently completed a graduate’s degree from Oregon State University in fisheries and wildlife. At the end of the session he will prepare a report on the final outcome of marine and coastal issues dealt with during the session.
NO BAIL
No bail for a Coos Bay man after he was arrested on an outstanding warrant for Contempt of
Court charges last Thursday evening, 6:10 p.m., from Washington County. According to a Coos
County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, 45-year old Lynwood Charles Jernigan was transported
and lodged in the county jail at Coquille.
VIOLATION
A traffic stop early last Friday morning in North Bend resulted in the arrest of a 22-year old man. According to a police report, Jacob Wyman Tooley was stopped on the 1800 block of Virginia Avenue, at 1:31 a.m., and charged with Driving Under the Influence. He was also warned for Defective Lighting, Failure to Maintain Lane, Improper Left Turn and Possession of a Controlled Substance, Less than an Ounce of Marijuana.
DISTURBANCE
Five males, ranging in age from 16 to 25, were warned about possible Disorderly Conduct charges after a North Bend Police officer responded to the Pony Village Mall last Thursday evening, 5:59 p.m., to a report of subjects in the mall causing a disturbance.
DISPUTE
A 27-year old man was arrested by Coos Bay Police last Thursday night, 9:30 p.m., on an outstanding warrant after officers responded to a reported dispute on the 300 block of North Wasson. A caller to 9-1-1 said a male and female were in a dispute, it was getting physical and the male ripped a phone off the wall. Nemias Martinez Ramierez was taken into custody for Failing to Appear on an original Driving Under the Influence charge, transported and lodged in the Coos County Jail at Coquille.
NOT FRIENDLY
Coquille Police received a report last Thursday afternoon, 4:42 p.m., about two males hitchhikers with a bad attitude at the last stop light headed towards Myrtle Point. The caller said they flipped off and yelled obscenities to motorist who didn’t stop.
BUSY
An active police weekend in Reedsport. According to the logs, a 20-year old Eugene man was arrested for drunk driving and MIP at 12:46 a.m. Saturday morning. Suspicious circumstances involving a possible prowler led to the arrest of a 22 year old man at 1:30 a.m., also on Saturday. Earlier on Friday night, A 27-year old Reedsport man was taken into custody at 10:28 p.m. on a probation violation out of Spokane, WA. At 10:26 p.m., a 79-year old Scottsburg man was arrested on a drunk driving charge, and at 9:24 p.m., a 22-year old Reedsport man was charged with Disorderly Conduct and Attempted Assault on a Public Safety Officer. Paul Anthony Wirtz was transported to the Douglas County Jail in Roseburg.
MIP
An alleged “Large MIP party” was busted in North Bend last Friday night at a residence on the 1600 block of Hayes Street. About a dozen minors were involved. According to a police report, an 18-year old male was cited for Furnishing a Place for Minors to Consume Alcohol and Minor In Possession. Four males, ages 18 to 20, were also cited on MIP charges. Seven others, ranging in age from 16 to 22, were included on the report.
KNIFE
An employee who allegedly threw a knife at another at a North Bend restaurant last Friday morning, resulted in a report of possible Menacing and Harassment charges on the 1600 block of Virginia Avenue at 9:45 a.m.
KIDS
According to the logs for the Coos Bay Police Department last Thursday, it was an active day of police assistance involving children. An officer was called to Coquille Middle School at 9:20 a.m. to assist Services for Children and Families (SCF). At 10:17 a.m., assistance was also requested by SCF at a residence on the 700 block of F Street in Eastside. At 1:08 p.m., assistance was requested regarding a Custodial Writ of Assistance on the 500 block of North Camman Street involving a one year old boy. At 1:49 p.m., an officer was requested to help with an interview of a nine-year old boy at Blossom Gulch Elementary School. At 3:52 p.m., an officer was asked to assist SCF on Thompson Road with a case involving two sisters, six and 16 years of age. At 4:47 p.m., an officer was requested to accompany Department of Human Services (DHS) with a home visit on the 200 block of South Schoneman. At 6:06 p.m., SCF requested assistance on the 2100 block of 25th Street regarding a four year old boy.
COCO MTG.
The Coos County Board of Commissioners will meet in a Budget Work Session this morning, 8:30 a.m., followed by an Executive Session at 9 a.m. to consult with county counsel. A possible work session could follow the closed door meeting in the Courthouse at Coquille.
HISTORIC
The City of Coos Bay’s Historic Design Review Committee will meet at noon, today, in the Manager’s Conference Room at City Hall to discuss proposed facade improvements at three downtown locations.
BUDGET
The City of Reedsport is preparing the for the budget process with a meeting tonight to elect the chair and vice chair. The Quarterly meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
ORIENTATION
A City Council Orientation will take place tonight in the Coos Bay Public Library Conference Room, beginning at 6 p.m. Following a welcome from Mayor Jeff McKeown, presentations will follow for the new members to the City Council.
SPORTS
LAKERS
Southwestern got back on the winning track in community college basketball Saturday night with a 98-74 win over visiting Portland Community College. The men improve to 17-5 overall and 4-3 in the NWAACC southern division. The Lakers next play at Linn-Benton in Albany on Wednesday night.
WRESTLING
Marshfield will make up a wrestling match tonight at home against North Eugene in Coos Bay at 7 p.m.
BLAZERS
Portland wraps up a three-game road trip with a contest at New Orleans (18-25) tonight. Blazers (19-26) host Denver on Wednesday.
WX
Some areas of fog then mostly sunny today along the South Oregon Coast with the high in the 50’s to lower 60s and light easterly winds to 10 mph. Mostly clear tonight, lows in the 30s and light winds. Mostly sunny again on Tuesday with the high in the mid 50s.
Click HERE for Audio News
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Gordon Smith Says...
Four years after voting for the Iraq war, the senator says he wishes he hadn't...
Mr. President, I know it is probably appropriate to speak of our colleagues, and I will do that on the record. I rise tonight, however, to speak about a subject heavy on my mind. It is the subject of the war in Iraq.
I have never worn the uniform of my country. I am not a soldier or a veteran. I regret that fact. It is one of the regrets of my life. But I am a student of history, particularly military history, and it is that perspective which I brought to the Senate 10 years ago as a newly elected Member of this Chamber.
When we came to the vote on Iraq, it was an issue of great moment for me. No issue is more difficult to vote on than war and peace, because it involves the lives of our soldiers, our young men and women. It involves the expenditure of our treasure, putting on the line the prestige of our country. It is not a vote taken lightly. I have tried to be a good soldier in this Chamber. I have tried to support our President, believing at the time of the vote on the war in Iraq that we had been given good intelligence and knowing that Saddam Hussein was a menace to the world, a brutal dictator, a tyrant by any standard, and one who threatened our country in many different ways, through the financing and fomenting of terrorism. For those reasons and believing that we would find weapons of mass destruction, I voted aye.
I have been rather silent on this question ever since. I have been rather quiet because, when I was visiting Oregon troops in Kirkuk in the Kurdish area, the soldiers said to me: Senator, don't tell me you support the troops and not our mission. That gave me pause. But since that time, there have been 2,899 American casualties. There have been over 22,000 American men and women wounded. There has been an expenditure of $290 billion a figure that approaches the expenditure we have every year on an issue as important as Medicare. We have paid a price in blood and treasure that is beyond calculation by my estimation.
Now, as I witness the slow undoing of our efforts there, I rise to speak from my heart. I was greatly disturbed recently to read a comment by a man I admire in history, one Winston Churchill, who after the British mandate extended to the peoples of Iraq for 5 years, wrote to David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of England:
"At present we are paying 8 millions a year for the privilege of living on an ungrateful volcano."
When I read that, I thought, not much has changed. We have to learn the lessons of history and sometimes they are painful because we have made mistakes.
Even though I have not worn the uniform of my country, I, with other colleagues here, love this Nation. I came into politics because I believed in some things. I am unusually proud of the fact of our recent history, the history of our Nation since my own birth. At the end of the Second World War, there were 15 nations on earth that could be counted as democracies that you and I would recognize. Today there are 150 nations on earth that are democratic and free. That would not have happened had the United States been insular and returned to our isolationist roots, had we laid down the mantle of world leadership, had we not seen the importance of propounding and encouraging the spread of democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and the values of our Bill of Rights. It is a better world because of the United States of America, and the price we have paid is one of blood and treasure.
Now we come to a great crossroads. A commission has just done some, I suppose, good work. I am still evaluating it. I welcome any ideas now because where we are leaves me feeling much like Churchill, that we are paying the price to sit on a mountain that is little more than a volcano of ingratitude.
Yet as I feel that , I remember the pride I felt when the statue of Saddam Hussein came down. I remember the thrill I felt when three times Iraqis risked their own lives to vote democratically in a way that was internationally verifiable as well as legitimate and important. Now all of those memories seem much like ashes to me.
The Iraq Study Group has given us some ideas. I don't know if they are good or not. It does seem to me that it is a recipe for retreat. It is not cut and run, but it is cut and walk. I don't know that that is any more honorable than cutting and running, because cutting and walking involves greater expenditure of our treasure, greater loss of American lives.
Many things have been attributed to George Bush. I have heard him on this floor blamed for every ill, even the weather. But I do not believe him to be a liar. I do not believe him to be a traitor, nor do I believe all the bravado and the statements and the accusations made against him. I believe him to be a very idealistic man. I believe him to have a stubborn backbone. He is not guilty of perfidy, but I do believe he is guilty of believing bad intelligence and giving us the same.
I can't tell you how devastated I was to learn that in fact we were not going to find weapons of mass destruction. But remembering the words of the soldier--don't tell me you support the troops but you don't support my mission--I felt the duty to continue my support . Yet I believe the President is guilty of trying to win a short war and not understanding fully the nature of the ancient hatreds of the Middle East. Iraq is a European creation. At the Treaty of Versailles, the victorious powers put together Kurdish, Sunni, and Shia tribes that had been killing each other for time immemorial. I would like to think there is an Iraqi identity. I would like to remember the purple fingers raised high. But we can not want democracy for Iraq more than they want it for themselves. And what I find now is that our tactics there have failed.
Again, I am not a soldier, but I do know something about military history. And what that tells me is when you are engaged in a war of insurgency, you can't clear and leave. With few exceptions, throughout Iraq that is what we have done. To fight an insurgency often takes a decade or more. It takes more troops than we have committed. It takes clearing, holding, and building so that the people there see the value of what we are doing. They become the source of intelligence, and they weed out the insurgents. But we have not cleared and held and built. We have cleared and left, and the insurgents have come back.
I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal . I cannot support that anymore . I believe we need to figure out how to fight the war on terror and to do it right. So either we clear and hold and build, or let's go home.
There are no good options, as the Iraq Study Group has mentioned in their report. I am not sure cutting and walking is any better. I have little confidence that the Syrians and the Iranians are going to be serious about helping us to build a stable and democratic Iraq. I am at a crossroads as well. I want my constituents to know what is in my heart, what has guided my votes.
What will continue to guide the way I vote is simply this: I do not believe we can retreat from the greater war on terror. Iraq is a battlefield in that larger war. But I do believe we need a presence there on the near horizon at least that allows us to provide intelligence, interdiction, logistics, but mostly a presence to say to the murderers that come across the border: We are here, and we will deal with you. But we have no business being a policeman in someone else's civil war.
I welcome the Iraq Study Group's report, but if we are ultimately going to retreat, I would rather do it sooner than later. I am looking for answers, but the current course is unacceptable to this Senator. I suppose if the President is guilty of one other thing, I find it also in the words of Winston Churchill. He said:
After the First World War, let us learn our lessons. Never, never believe that any war will be smooth and easy or that anyone who embarks on this strange voyage can measure the tides and the hurricanes. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.
That is a lesson we are learning again. I am afraid, rather than leveling with the American people and saying this was going to be a decade-long conflict because of the angst and hatred that exists in that part of the world, that we tried to win it with too few troops in too fast a time. Lest anyone thinks I believe we have failed militarily, please understand I believe when President Bush stood in front of ``mission accomplished'' on an aircraft carrier that , in purely military terms, the mission was accomplished in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But winning a battle, winning a war, is different than winning a peace.
We were not prepared to win the peace by clearing, holding, and building. You don't do that fast and you don't do it with too few troops. I believe now that we must either determine to do that , or we must redeploy in a way that allows us to continue to prosecute the larger war on terror. It will not be pretty. We will pay a price in world opinion. But I, for one, am tired of paying the price of 10 or more of our troops dying a day. So let's cut and run, or cut and walk, or let us fight the war on terror more intelligently than we have, because we have fought this war in a very lamentable way.
Those are my feelings. I regret them. I would have never voted for this conflict had I reason to believe that the intelligence we had was not accurate. It was not accurate, but that is history. Now we must find a way to make the best of a terrible situation, at a minimum of loss of life for our brave fighting men and women. So I will be looking for every opportunity to clear, build, hold, and win or how to bring our troops home.
I yield the floor.
Gordon Smith Changes His Mind
Sen. Gordon Smith completed his reversal on the subject of U.S. involvement in Iraq when he rose to speak on the next-to-last day of a lame-duck session.
"I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal."
In so saying, the Republican senator from Pendleton broke ranks with such hawks as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and the president himself. He placed himself among such colleagues as Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who have said the United States must withdraw from Iraq as quickly as possible.
While Smith used blunt language -- "let's cut and run, or cut and walk, or let us fight the war on terror more intelligently than we have" -- his remarks didn't signal as abrupt a break as it might have appeared.
He acknowledged Thursday that he had voted to allow the president to invade, that he had hoped U.S. forces would find secret caches of weapons of mass destruction, that he was thrilled by the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein and was heartened by the way Iraqis turned out to vote three times in national elections.
But after he visited Oregon National Guard troops near Kirkuk in March last year, he said, "We can be a counterproductive force for Iraqi democracy if we are there longer than is necessary. My own hunch is somewhere between 18 months to two years, the American presence in Iraq will be much reduced."
It's been 18 months and the presence hasn't been reduced at all. Nor is a functional central government much closer to asserting itself. Nor is the Iraqi economy any stronger. Nor are U.S. troops dying any less frequently. And more Iraqis are being killed each month than ever.
As a partial explanation for why he chose to speak now, Smith harked back to his visit to the Kirkuk region. He said one soldier told him: "Senator, don't tell me you support the troops and not our mission." That, the senator said, gave him pause.
But 18 months later, with billions of dollars flushed away, thousands more bodies under the ground and no end in sight, the senator's pause is over.
His comments strengthen his hand in advance of his 2008 re-election campaign. They would seem to place him closer to the position of voters who kicked his party out of power last month and certainly closer to the sentiments of most of blue-state Oregon.
But personal political calculations aside, the timing of Smith's remarks helped to increase the pressure on President Bush to break with his policies of the last 18 months. The election results, the ouster of Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary in favor of a man who says America is not winning in Iraq and the arrival of the Iraq Study Group report make this a propitious moment in our political history.
It is a moment when the president must acknowledge what is obvious even to his former supporters in the U.S. Senate. It is time to reset American policy in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.
There is more virtue in admitting a mistake than there is in repeating it, over and over.
Oregon's Criminal Negligence: The Kim Family Tragedy
By Carl F. Worden
I don't know about the rest of Oregon, but what I do know about Southern Oregon, and the way things are done here, none of what you are about to read should surprise you.
About ten years ago, Trail resident Toni Sue Connors shot her husband point blank in the moustache, front to back, and then shot him again behind the right ear, right to left. He was quite dead.
Toni Sue claimed it was an accident that occurred as her husband was trying to show her how to un-cock the hammer of the revolver. The story goes that she was startled by the shot, and somehow pulled the trigger again, a trigger requiring a 13-pound pull in double action.
The cops showed up, offered their condolences, scraped up the body and left Toni Sue with full run of the crime scene for three days, after which they came back and asked what she’d done with the bloody mattress he died on, because they needed to take photographs. She directed them to a neighbor's landfill.
Toni Sue passed a polygraph, but the physical evidence conflicted with her story in several fatal areas. Nevertheless, Jackson County District Attorney Mark Huddleston let her walk, calling it a tragic accident.
A few years ago, a woman whose car had broken down near the Siskiyou Summit, lay exhausted on the lawn at Callahan's, a restaurant/lodge near the California/Oregon border. Her child wandered off and got into an open fountain at the lodge, where the child drowned. The same DA Huddleston, charged the mother with criminal negligence.
The bloody body of Michael Kane was found in the company of Adrien Geyer and Wade Wierleske, after Kane's car crashed near Butte Falls. He was in the back seat, curled into a fetal position with a collapsed lung and multiple stab wounds. The physical evidence clearly revealed a knife assault by passenger Wierleske, including a blood trail on the inside roof liner of the car that would be left by an assailant who was turned and was stabbing Kane's body repeatedly in the back seat.
Miraculously, Kane survived and identified Geyer and Wierleske as the two who tried to murder him. The same DA Huddleston, refused to file attempted murder charges. Geyer, a career criminal, has since victimized many others in the area, and has been arrested and convicted of numerous misdemeanors and felonies. He was recently arrested again for possession of meth and probation violations.
This past hunting season, a hunter saw a deer and shot at it. He missed, and the bullet traveled through 319 feet of thick brush, where it struck another hunter. Even though the investigators acknowledged the shooter could not possible have seen the other hunter or known of his presence, DA Huddleston got the local Grand Jury of morons to indict the hunter on criminal charges. The other hunter is recovering from his wounds.
This kind of thing goes on all the time around here, and it makes me crazy, which brings us to the subject of the Kim Family tragedy.
The Kim Family used a map they'd downloaded from the Internet to take a road that appeared to be the shortest route from Grants Pass, Oregon, to Gold Beach on the coast. Indeed, it is the shortest route. That road appears on all other Oregon maps too, but what they don’t tell you is that the road is virtually impassable in the winter, with no maintenance or patrols. Over the years, many others have taken that road in the winter and got stuck or stranded. This time Oregon bagged the limit.
Highway 4 in California, which snakes through and over the Sierras, is closed during the winter months. The authorities gate it off on both sides, with signs clearly warning of the dangers.
Oregon, after all the other near-tragedies, never saw fit to gate the road the Kim's took. Instead they put up signs that really don’t live up to the dangers the road presents. That road starts off real nice looking, but as you progress, it narrows, turns into gravel, then dirt and is basically a one-lane road leading into heavy snow - and there's just about nowhere to turn around once you are committed to it. It is what lawyers sometimes refer to, as an "attractive nuisance" during the winter.
Now, we have district attorneys here who routinely criminally prosecute parents who aren’t paying attention to their children's whereabouts at the worst possible time. The deaths are usually water-related, involving pools or similar sources, and sometimes fire, but unless these deaths are somehow directly related to the gross negligence of the parents, they are nothing more than tragic accidents.
A Medford Detective was recently quoted in an article about the hunting accident I mentioned earlier, that "all accidents are preventable and avoidable". That was his excuse for approving the criminal prosecution of the hunter.
Sure, they are all preventable and avoidable - in hindsight. But people do look the wrong way at the worst possible time, and they do things, or don’t do things they should have done at the critical moment. It happens, and it will continue to happen no matter how many criminal prosecutions are brought to bear, because no law or punishment has ever been proved a deterrent to a human being not paying attention or being just plain stupid at the worst possible time. In the absence of criminal intent, we rational and merciful humans call those accidents.
Oh, but not the denizens of this mean-spirited state! No way. Had Mr. Kim lived, but his children died out there in that wilderness area, both parents might very well have been prosecuted by the Josephine County DA for ignoring the signs and getting their children killed. Based on all the vicious and cruel prosecutions of parents I've read about - and there are many - that is not an exaggeration.
So what should be done about a state and a county that knows so many other people have taken the same winter road the Kim's took, got stranded and barely escaped with their lives? It has happened time after time on that deadly road, yet the state nor the county ever took the rational step of blocking that road for the winter. No, they just put up caution signs, and those caution signs were just that.
When you consider how much it cost Josephine and Jackson County to launch a search and rescue for the Kim's, you’d think they'd have enough common horse sense to invest in a simple gate, closing off the road for the winter. But they didn't, and if we are to use the same Oregon standard as is being applied to parents who "neglect" their parental duties at the worst possible time, doesn't this tragedy also rise to the level of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Mr. Kim?
I don't know if the surviving Kim family intends to sue the State of Oregon, but I sincerely hope they do. According to that Medford detective, this tragedy was preventable and avoidable as well - by those running the state.
OCNS and The Geeze-related Books
Probiotics? Magnesium? Iodine? Digestion Problems?
By Walt "dr health" Edwards
Due to the great number of spam, we changed the E-mail address.
Please contact me using this number: 1-541-247-7077
Past issues available on my web site: getwel-newsletter.
 A. Are Probiotics Important To Your Health?
B. Magnesium Is Critical!
C. What About Iodine?
D. Digestion Problems Are Reaching Epidemic Proportions.
A. If you are successfully able to change your diet so you are truly eating properly day in and day out, the need for probiotics decreases as it is somewhat similar to planting a garden. If you have plenty of healthy plants there is no room for the weeds to grow. However, if you do indulge in sugar or grains, become sick or take antibiotics, then it is wise to continue routinely taking a healthy, high-quality probiotic like drhealth SUPREMA DOPHILUS or PB-8.
Research now suggests that giving pregnant women and newborns doses of "good" bacteria may help prevent childhood allergies. Allergy experts say probiotics offer the first good evidence that harmless bacteria can train infants' immune systems to resist allergic reactions.
Probiotics are important to your health. Some scientists estimate from 6 to 60 trillion actual bacteria may exist in your gut -- that's 3 to 4 pounds of bacteria -- with more than 400 different kinds of bacteria living in your gastro-intestinal tract.
In light of this fact, it's certainly not a stretch to attribute an abundance of bad bacteria in your gut to the reason why you may be feeling ill. Some experts even believe this may be one of the main physical reasons why people come down with many chronic illnesses in the first place!
Now consider one more staggering fact: the typical American consumes as many 175 pounds of sugar per year! When you make poor food choices that include sugars, grains, artificial sweeteners and other chemical toxins, you feed the "bad" bacteria, which are more likely to cause disease, rather than promoting the "good" bacteria that help protect you from disease.
Choosing a good Probiotic is critical to improving your "gut" conditions. Unfortunately, not every product that claims to be a "probiotic" actually contains the number of bacteria (or even the type of bacteria) associated with this claim. Select your supplements from a knowledgeable, experienced individual you trust is always the best practice.
B. Magnesium is important to your overall health and well-being. Magnesium influences many bodily processes, including digestion, energy production, muscle function, bone formation, creation of new cells, activation of B vitamins and relaxation of muscles, as well as assisting in the functions of the heart, kidneys, adrenals, brain and nervous system. The fact is that lack of sufficient available magnesium in the body can interfere with any or all of these processes.
Diets of the industrialized world, with their processed foods and use of refined sugar and
flour, are commonly quite low in magnesium. The result? A significant percentage of the
population have below healthy magnesium levels and experience a wide variety of symptoms,
such as: Low energy, Fatigue, Weakness, PMS and hormonal imbalances, Inability to sleep,
Weakening bones, Muscle tension, Spasms and Cramps, Abnormal heart rhythms, Headaches,
Anxiousness, Nervousness, and Irritability.
Calcium and magnesium are two different sides of a coin. Calcium excites nerves while magnesium clams them down. Calcium makes muscles contract. Magnesium is necessary for muscles to relax. Calcium is needed for blood clotting but magnesium keeps the blood flowing freely.
C. Iodine is a critical nutrient and one that many, many people are deficient in. Iodine is necessary for a healthy thyroid and anyone on thyroid medication needs iodine therapy. How do you know if you lack iodine? There is a way to discover the lack of iodine at home. You need the orange iodine you can purchase at the drug store. Paint the size of a half dollar on a sensitive part of your skin such as the lower belly area. Monitor how long it takes to disappear. If your body absorbs the stain in less than 9-10 hours reveals your body lacks iodine.
Some of the symptoms of lacking iodine maybe heart arrhythmia, cold all the time, exhaustion, constipation, "brain fog," cystic breasts, low thyroid, etc. There are some folks who are allergic to iodine and can't take iodine supplements.
Dr. Guy Abraham, MD, Endocrinologist, a former professor of ob/gyn endocrinology at UCLA confirms the use of iodine therapy for people with a variety of problems. His observations with women(especially over 65) noticed a major difference both physically and mentally. The most consistent responses have been improved memory, absence of 'brain fog,' regular bowel movements in those who were constipated, and improved skin texture.
D. America's concern with digestive problems is reaching epidemic proportions, as evidenced by the wealth of over-the-counter and prescription remedies advertised on radio, television and in print advertising. There are over 25 million people in this country who suffer from daily stomach discomfort.
Our modern diet is increasingly more processed and filled with a variety of non-food chemical agents., Deep-fried and very rich foods are more commonplace. We often take less time to eat, so we rush our meals and even eat on the run. A number of medications, both over-the-counter and prescriptions, are typically recommended. Unfortunately, these types of drugs have many potential adverse side effects both short and long-term. Over eating, alcohol, ice cold beverages, stress and eating before bed can add to digestive distress.
Some of the digestive problem symptoms include heartburn, indigestion, sour stomach, flatulence (gas), nausea, bloating, and belching, all of which make us physically uncomfortable, and can interfere with our activity levels.
Many of the medical drugs available have harmful side effects. Rolaids and Tums are taken to relieve an upset stomach to nutralize stomach acid. However, stomach acid is required to digest protein. What happens to undigested protein? You can’t get the benefits of digested protein and undigested protein can cause other problems along the rest of your digestive track.
Fortunately there are a number nutritional supplements and natural and traditional remedies -- homeopathic, enzymatic, and botanical -- that have been used for years, safely and effectively, to alleviate these annoying symptoms.
However, diet plays the most important part in good digestive health. Eating healthy nutritious food is the number one way to avoid digestive problems. Don't drink cold drinks like ice water or ice tea with your meals. Take your time when eating. Mixing protein and starch/sugar foods may cause you bloating and acid stomach. Try some good digestive enzymes when you eat like dr health SUPERZYMES or Soloray Digestaway.
Thought For The Day: If the body is sick, the mind worries and the spirit grieves; if the mind is sick, the body and spirit will suffer from its confusion; if the spirit is sick, there will be no will to care for the body or mind. J.R. Worsley
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