Your account does not include highlighter on images.
Searches Highlighted on Image
National Sponsors
| April 27, 2011 The Sun Paper |  |
|
©
The Sun Paper. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 2 (2 of 14 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
April 27, 2011 |
|
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader 
|
2 The Sun, Wednesday, April 27, 2011
• i
PINION
i
In Other Words
I
i00From death
to new life
I suppose it's fitting that during the past week my
family mourned the loss of a loved one and then cel-
ebrated a new life.
After all, once we get past the heaps of Peeps and
mounds of chocolate eggs that's what Easter is all
about: death and new life. We celebrate Easter to
remember that God gave us his only son, a sacrifice
so that we may one day join Him in Heaven.
I wrote about the passing of
my wife's grandfather, Mano
McLaughlin, more than a month
ago, and last week the entire
family met in the Florida Keys,
where Mac and his wife Pat
owned their retirement home, to
say goodbye and spread his
ashes at sunset behind Shell
Key.
A fantastic evening. The
moon was rising behind us and
Clinton Vining reportedly, the Tarpon were roll-
ing not more than 20 .yards away--somewhat of a
miracle since no one caught anything to speak of
during our weeklong stay.
With more than 40 family members all in the same
place, we found ourselves too otten enjoying the 70-
degree weather--meaning we stayed up way too late;
it was in the mid-80s and 90s during the day. Am I
bragging? A little. I thought I was going to die of
hypothermic shock when I came back to work last
week and there was frost on the windows in the
morning.
So, on to the happy part of this story. Saturday
morning my sons and I were at the second of four
Easter egg hunts when I got a phone call from my
sister in Alaska.
"I don't think we're going to have an Easter
baby," she said, and she didn't heed to say any-
more--I could hear it in her voice that she was
in labor.
Melissa and Murat Shamanov welcomed Akulina
Joy Shamanov to the family at 8:19 p.m. on Satur-
day, April 23. She weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces and
measured 20.4 inches long.
It's also fun to note that despite listening to
his oldest son, Papa made it to Alaska in time to
welcome his fourth grandchild to the world. Dad
wanted to go on Friday, but I talked him into hav-
ing a little patience--she wasn't due until the
29th.
Hope everyone had a fantastic Easter.
Letters to The Sun
Where to write your lawmakers
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, 223 Dirksen Senate Office Build-
ing, Washington, DC 20510-3703. Phone (202) 224-5244.
Local office: 911 NE 1 lth Ave, Suite 630, Portland, OR 97232.
Phone (503) 326-7525. Website: http://wyden.senate.gov/
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, Office 107 Russell Senate Office
Building Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone (202) 224-3753.
Salem Office: 495 State St., Suite 330 Salem, OR, 97301.
Phone (503) 362-8102. Website: http://merkley.senate.gov/
U.S. Rep. David Wu - Oregon-lst Dist., 2338 Rayburn
HOB, Washington, D.C. 20515. Phone (202) 225-0855.
Portland Office, 620 SW Main, Suite 606, Portland, OR
97205. Phone (503) 326-2901. Toll Free (800) 422-4003.
Website: http://www, house.gov/wu/
U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, Oregon-5th Dist., 314 Cannon
HOB, Washington, D.C. 20515. Phone (202) 225-5711.
Salem District Office, 494 State Street, Suite 210, Salem,
OR 97301. Phone (503) 588-9100. Website: http://
schrader.house.gov/
Governor John Kitzhaber, 160 State Capitol, 900 Court
Street, Salem, OR 97301-4047. Phone: Governor's Citizens'
Representative Message Line 503-378-4582.
Sen. Brian Boquist - Dist. 12; 900 Court St NE, S-305,
Salem, OR, 97301. Phone 503-986-1712. E-mail:
sen.BrianBoquist@state.or.us
Rep. Jim Thompson - Dist. 23; 900 Court St NE, H-388,
Salem, OR, 97301. Phone 503-986-1423. Email:
rep.jimthompson@state.or.us
Rep. Jim Weidner - Dist. 24; 900 Court St NE, H-387,
Salem, OR, 97301. Phone 503-986-1424. Email:
rep.jimweidner@state.or.us
Oregon Legislative Information and Citizen Access:
Phone 1-800-332-2313.
Yamhill County Commissioners: Kathy George, Leslie
Lewis, Mary Stern, Yamhill County Courthouse, 535 NE Fifth
Street, McMinnville, OR 97128. Phone 503-434-7501.
Polk County Commissioners: Mike Ainsworth, Craig
Pope. Polk County Courthouse, 850 Main St., Dallas, OR
97338-3174. Phone 503-623-8173.
The00Sun
-OIA 493-940
Clinton Vining
EDITOR and PUBLISHER
POSTAL NOTICE: Published weekly byThe Sun, 136 E. Main
Street, Sheridan, OR 97378. Periodicals postage paid at
Sheridan, OR 97378.
SUBSCRIPTION RATE (one year): $29 in Yamhill/Polk County.
$39 out of area. Payment must be received by noon Friday for
subscription to start with the following Wednesday's edition.
DEADLINES: Letters to the editor, society and church news,
press releases, general -- Noon Friday. Legal notices, display
-- 5 p.m. Friday. Classified display -- Noon Monday. Classified
ads -- 5 p.m. Monday. Phone: (503) 843-2312. Fax: (503) 843-
3830. E-mail: news@sheridansun.com
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Sun, RO. Box
68, Sheridan, OR. 97378.
Held hostage by
environmentalists
To the Editor:
We folks that live on upper
Gopher Valley Road are tired
of being pawns with the threat
of lawsuits by the Center for
Biological Diversity and the
Xerces Society over the main-
tenance responsibilities of our
road. The US Fish and Wild-
life Service are involved with
this process as well. Accord-
ing to the USF&W Service re-
port from March 2006, several
factors pose potential threats to
the prairie environment habi-
tat including road grading,
ditching, hydrologic alter-
ations and of course, herbicide
applications. The CBD has as-
serted that the county has not
provided a conservation plan,
which it should pr0vde. What
is troubling to me is that the
CBD has charged without ba-
sis of fact that the county is
killing the lupine with its main-
tenance practices and it knows
it. The failure of this lupine
will have a detrimental impact
for the Fender's Blue butter-
fly which inhabits the same
territory.
It is a fact that the lupine is
a self propagating plant that
naturally spreads its own
seeds annually. Larger colo-
nies will of course do better
than a smaller grouping spo-
radically reseeding itself. But
the practice of road grading
and ditching along Gopher
Valley has been occurring for
decades, and yet the lupine
survives. The roadway must
also be kept free of blackberry
invasion as well, which actu-
ally helps the lupine maintain
its open prairie habitat and
ensure its success. Who will
do this if not the county? Once
again, this has been handled
by the county for decades, as
well as by the previous prop-
erty owners prior to the habi-
tat being acquired by the Na-
ture Conservancy.
So what exactly is it about
the road maintenance activities
that the two environmental
groups are saying is destroying
the habitat? How can general
claims of destruction hold the
human side of this issue hos-
tage to the desires of groups that
do not live here indefinitely
without evidence of fact? This
happens everyday when the
threat of a lawsuit is introduced
to the situation.
The residents here on Go-
pher Valley are pawns in the
sense that we must endure the
many large potholes that the
county is ordered not to main-
tain in the vicinity of the threat-
ened species. We must accept
the apparent position of the
enviro-groups that our safety
navigating the pothole filled
road is not their concern, and
that the safety of the school bus-
ses carrying the children is of
less value than the goals of the
CBD. The road has become a
dangerous adventure along the
area known as 'the habitat.'
Will we be required to stop
driving when the dust that our
vehicles raise is labeled as de-
stroying the habitat by these
groups?
Gopher Valley residents ap-
preciate the natural beauty of
the area in which we live. We
would like to be known as pro-
tectors of our land without the
threats and the apparent disre-
gard for our safety brought
about by the actions of outside
organizations, who at best pro-
vide a weak case to support
their position.
Keith M. Miller
Sheridan
Know about
esophageal
cancer
Dear Editor:
I am writing because there is
a silent killer that's attacking too
many of our citizens at this very
moment. It's a disease that's
caused tremendous pain to my
family. On December 18th,
2008, my Father was diagnosed
with Stage 3 Esophageal Can-
cer. In January 2009 iny dad had
a feeding tube inserted, then he
went through Radiation, chemo-
therapy and in March 2009 had
surgery to remove his esopha-
gus and many lymph nodes. In
March of 2010, he was told his
cancer had come back, and had
metastasized to his bones, lungs
and liver, and he was now ter-
minally ill. My father, Michael
'Yaiiaes RoclcWobd, pssed away ....
July 25, 2010 at the age of 62,
in his home, holding the hands
of those he loved.
When I was a little girl my
father told me I could do any-
thing I wanted, and that all it
takes is one moment to be great,
and that greatness lives in the
hearts of many. He chose to
enroll in a clinical trial when he
received his terminal diagnosis.
He gave the gift of his body to
researching new treatments,
even though they weren't go-
ing to help him. My dad was
an amazing man, who was
loved by many. I believed when
my father told me there was
greatness inside me, however
now I am saddened that he is
not here to see how his moment
of greatness was realized in me.
On March 11, 2011, I con-
tacted Governor Kitzhaber to
share my story as well as some
facts about Esophageal Cancer.
It is my dream to help raise
awareness of Esophageal Cancer,
the fastest growing cancer diag-
nosis in the United Slates, with a
400 percent increase in the last
20 years. Esophageal Cancer has
one of the worst survival rates of
any cancer----more than 80 per-
cent who are diagnosed will lose
their battle with this devastaling
disease. A big part of the reason
for these dismal statistics is the
lack ofawareness about this type
ofcancer. Yet, when it's detected
early, new procedures have been
shown to have a 98 percent cure
rate. That makes awareness so
important!
On Monday March 14, Gov-
emor John Kitzhaber signed a
proclamation making the month
of April Esophageal Cancer
Awareness Month. IfI can raise
awareness of signs aod symp-
toms, even if one life is saved, it
would make all th difference ifi
the world to me. This is my o
porte'to show my father
greatness I have in me and make
a mark. Please help me share this
news with my fellow Orego-
nians; please help me in my fight
to save lives.
Ashley Rockwood
Canby
Letters are welcome,
but must be signed
Yes, we like letters. But they
must be signed or they won't
be published.
Please provide a telephone
number--for verification pur-
poses only. The phone number
will not be published.
All letters are subject to ed-
iting. Please limit length to 300
words or less. Deadline is 5
p.m. Friday.
Send your letters to EO.
Box 68, Sheridan, OR, 97378.
You may also e-mail to:
news@sheridansun.com.
On a Shoestring
Ever thought about how much
water goes right down the drain?
By Emily •Chadwick
Columnist, The Sun
To some, this may come as a surprise, but
tap water is not cheap. In fact, depending on
where you live, it can be quite expensive.
So when Kristy Peterson's daughter
filled up their giant Jacuzzi tub with sev-
eral gallons of water for a two-minute soak,
she recognized the opportunity to teach her
family a lesson in economics and resource
conservation. So instead of business as
usual, she stopped her daughter from drain-
ing the bathtub and in that moment a cause
was born, "Save the world one flush at a
time."
It's been a rough year between natural
disasters, nuclear meltdowns, coup d'rtats,
and establishing no-fly zones. With all that
is going on around the world, one can eas-
ily feel powerless and melancholy amid the
Yamhill Valley's relentless rain.
"I'm tired of sitting around and getting
angry about the state of things," said
Peterson. "It's depressing. So 90 percent
of what I do in my life right now is fo-
cused on teaching my children what they
can do." There is no sitting around feeling
helpless in the Peterson household.
And there is no flushing the toilet ei-
ther, at least in the traditional sense. The
bathwater, Peterson saved from the sewer,
sat in tub for a few days as she came up"
with ways to reuse it. Most of it never left
the bathroom.
They filled a 2-liter bottle and placed it
in the tank of the toilet to displace the wa-
ter and reduced the amount used with each
traditional flush. But that might seem of
little consequence since they more or less
stopped flushing .when they began scoop-
ing buckets of water from the tub to empty
the contents of the toilet.
"If you think about it, we are wasting
clean water in our toilets. It seems ridicu-
lous. We put dirty bathwater down the drain
and clean water, that has been treated with
our tax dollars, in our toilets," said Peterson.
Finding ways to use gray water, or house-
hold wastewater, is akin to keeping money
in the bank. And ifyou live in a community
like Sheridan, Carlton or YamhiU where you
pay a monthly rate for a several hundred
cubic feet of water and then pay a metered
rate for gallons or cubic feet used beyond
the monthly allowance, conserving natural
resources is also financially savvy.
In addition to using gray water for flush-
ing, the Petersons began using the water
for their animals and watering plants.
But they are now acting beyond the
bathtub too. Instead of dumping half-drank
glasses of water in the sink, Kristy now
pours them into a pitcher and gives this
water to her birds.
It might not be for everybody, but it is
something everybody can do. And while
the choice to flush or not might not change
the world tomorrow, it has changed the
Peterson family today and real change hap-
pens one person at a time.
"I just can't waste anymore," said
Peterson, "I can't wash money and water
down the drain," she said.
For more information on water conser-
vation check out www.wateruseit
wisely.com.
Emily Chadwick is a local writer who can
squeeze three meals from a four pound bird,
find the best deal in the bargain basement,
and,, on occasion, collects roadside items la-
beled "free. "She welcomes ideas and feed-
back at byemi!ychadwick@gmail.corrt