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2 The Sun, Wednesday, December 28, 2011
N
Along These L/nes
Looking
forward to
2012
By Nick Thomas
Guest Columnist
Commentators are always keen to give their predictions
for the coming year. Along these lines, I'm also looking
forward to 2012:
January: Gridlock in Washington will continue as Re-
publicans and Democrats continue to fail to find common
ground.Another government shutdown looms when the two
are unable reach an agreement on the selection of new Con-
gressional cafeteria wallpaper.
February: Republicans breathe a sigh of relief when
Rick Perry drops out of the presidential race after telling
Americans to support the U.S. pig industry by cooking more
minced pork on Groundhog Day.
March: The long-awaited new Martha Stewart cook-
book will be released. Entitled "Cooking with Conviction,"
it will include cellblock favorites ~uch as Breaded Roaches
with Dirty Rice, HacksawLog Cake, Chain Gang Chili,
and a crunchy version of Ratatouille.
April: Phase If, The Occupy Restrooms Movement, will
force the closure of all public buildings throughout the country.
May: Sarah Palin will become a commentator for the
new cable network, "The Laundry Folding Channel."
June: After telling her story on a national talk-show,
Casey Anthony will become the darling of the American
public. Later that day, a flock of flying pigs will be spotted
in the skies over Florida.
July: A new site called Faunybook will be launched in
competition with Facebook, and will examine the other side
of social networking.
August: A 7.0 earthquake will rattle New Jersey when
frustrated Governor Chris Christie violently struggles to
open his jammed refrigerator door.
September: The CIA will begin broadcasting C-SPAN
into Iran. The next day, a penitent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
agrees to all U.S. demands.
October: A Staggering number of new sequel movies will
be released which will continue popular themes including: Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Kidney Stone; Happy Foot: Revenge
of the Limping Penguin; Paranormal Radioactivity; Lord of
the Rings: Return of the Lysol; Indiana Jones and the Box Of-
fice of Doom.
November: Ron Paul will be elected president. His first
act will be to allow every state to use medical marijuana.
Doctors will begin prescribing it for the common cold--it
will have no affect, but patients won't care about their symp-
toms. The nation's unemployment rate will also suddenly
riset~isinonth n° members 0f C°ngresswill be reelected"
December: The new president will announce that earlier
in the year, NASA had secretly launched a mission to colonize
Mars, with passengers on board including: the Kardashian
clan, Justin Bieber, Rush Limbaugh, Pierce Morgan, Paris
Hilton, Bill O'Reilly, Charlie Sheen, Michael Moore,
Octomom, Kanye West, Kate Gosselin, Donald Trump, Tiger
Woods, Kathy Griffin, and Rosie O'Donnell. Late December,
tragedy will strike. It will be revealed that due to a metric sys-
tem miscalculation, the rocket will miss the Red Planet by 5
million miles. Unable to turn the spacecraft around, the colo-
nists will continue to drift through space until they eventually
leave the solar system. When questioned how this error could
have occurred, the president will respond by saying "I don't
know, but 2013 will definitely be a better year."
Letters to The Sun
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, 223 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
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 Build-
ing Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone (202) 224-3753. Salem Of-
rice: 495 State St., Suite 330 Salem, OR, 97301. Phone (503) 362-
8102. Website: http://merkley.senate.gov/
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' Represen-
tative Message Line 503-378-4582.
Sen. Brian Boquist- Dist. 12; 900 Court St NE, S-305, Salem,
OR, 97301. Phone 503-986-1712. E-maih
sen.BrianBoquist@state.or.us
Rep. Jim Thompson - Dist. 23; 900 Court St NE, H-388, Sa-
lem, OR, 97301. Phone 503-986-1423. Emaih
rep.jimthompson@state.or.us
Rep. Jim Weidner - Dist. 24; 900 Court St NE, H-387, Salem,
OR, 97301. Phone 503-986-1424. Emaih 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, Me- "
Minnville, OR 97128. Phone 503-434-7501.
Polk County Commissioners: Mike Ainsworth, Craig Pope,
Jennifer Wheeler. Polk County Courthouse, 850 Main St., Dallas,
OR 97338-3174. Phone 503-623-8173.
The Sun
-~1~£ 493-940
Clinton Vining
EDITOR and PUBLISHER
POSTAL NOTICE: Published weekly by The 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,
)ress 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-marl: news@sheridansun.com
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Sun, RO. Box
68, Sheridan, OR. 97378.
National
Convention quite
the experience
To the Editor:
Retuming from the National
FFA convention with 8 stu-
dents, Gall Bennett and Mr.
Forster was one of the greatest
trips I have been involved with!
In education we are continu-
ously challenged to engage stu-
dents in their learning. As an
educator, the hardest thing to do
is "let go of the control," and
allow students to become inde-
pendent thinkers and problem
solvers. It is so much easier to
plan a course of action and lead
them in the direction that you
want them to go. I believe that
of the most misunderstood
people I know. As a teacher,
coach and administrator for
over 30 years, he said he is al-
ways amazed by students and
their decision making abilities,
for better and for worse. Many
of the students refer to him as a
big teddy bear. During our Na-
tional FFA Convention trip
each student was responsible
for directions, or co-pilot re-
sponsibilities and would have
to yell directions as to north,
south, east, or west, Hwy. 65,
etc. to our driver, Mr. Forster.
He covered a good portion of
their cost to get into a Bears
game, scolded them when they
were out of line and needed that
gentle reminder about how to
be appropriate and respectful,
and really enjoyed the heck out
this method only teaches stu- of waking the yo yo boys up at
dents to be good followers, with 4:50 a.m. our last day in Chi-
limited problem solving and cago, before.we headed to the
leadership skills. Ipreferto fol- airport. Mr. Forster was headed
low ~the group and allow them ,.~ out to re~ the ren3alyan and
to seek out information, plan
their course of action and learn
as they go. For years I really
thought that was the lazy
teacher's way of doing things,
(I was so wrong). Allowing stu-
dents to research, gather infor-
mation and communicate with
each other, and yes, have
lengthy debates about the deci-
sions they need to make is ben-
eficial to their leadership devel-
opment.
A good teacher provides in-
struction and allows students to
problem solve, determine their
direction and gives them lati-
tude to work "outside of the
box" as they develop a plan or
presentation. Teachers must
monitor and speak up for the
shy, make decisions that may
deviate from the prearranged
itinerary if there is a greater
educational opportunity, and
then be prepared to deal with
the consequences of each ac-
tion or decision, because in life
you will never make everyone
happy.
I must say that this group of
students were the most engaged
group I have had involved in
the planning process, hence this
was one of the most powerful
trips from an educational stand-
point.
A real key to winning pro-
grams are the assistants a coach
or teacher has! Gail Bennett, a
20 year veteran as a 4-H leader,
parent and volunteer, was a
valuable asset. She is calm and
caring, yet stem, when a heavy
hand is the right choice. Our
driver, Mr. Forster- our Super-
intendent, is a hard act to beat.
He thinks about kids, supports
student activities the way he
supports academic and athletic
endeavors. He is probably one
meet us at the airport before
most were up.
I, on the other hand, was
able to enjoy the trip, washing
laundry, working on grades,
helping fred driving directions
to locations, networking with
teachers from across the coun-
try and watching our students
grow.
As I look forward to retire-
ment and helping my wife care
for my aging mother, I only
hope that trips to the National
FFA Convention will continue
to be an annual trip, or at the
very least, an every other year
opportunity for students.
Roy Whitman
tJSllamina
Recycling
creates jobs
To the Editor:
It's time Riverbend Landfill
stops their tmending destructive
expansion antics, sends their
Texas bank-rolled seven fig-
ure PR/legal army packing, and
replaces the dump with a proper
recycling/composting/energy
system and a lot more county-
wide jobs.
The EPA reports that for ev-
ery job at a landfill there could
be 10jobs in recycling.
Every time we recycle a
newspaper, a tin can, last
night's dinner scraps, we cre-
ate a job. Every time mixed
trash makes it to the mountain
landfill, where it is buried for-
ever, we create more green-
house gas and lose an opportu-
nity to employ more local folks.
Recycling, creating energy
from landfill diverted waste,
and food composting are the
domestic job creating systems
that ar~ springing up all over
this country---everywhere but
Yamhill County.
Yamhill County misses the
State recycling benchmarks
every year. Why? Because we
host a giant regional dump that
makes a huge profit importing
poorly recycled trash for dis-
posal on our river. Although
Waste Management creates
new jobs, advanced recycling
and energy &eation in other
Oregon counties, here, in Yam-
hill County the presence of the
Texas Landfill inhibits jobs.
Riverbend makes their money
by NOT recycling by NOT
making compost by NOT turn-
ing plastic to crude oil. They are
throwing our now jobs away.
The landfall smells like a dirty
diaper all the time, it destroys
lives, it hinders our tourism, it's
imported arsenic, asbestos and
PCB's°onto our river leaving an
evitable aquiferdisaster and .mas-
sive tax payer clean-up bill. The
expansion plan creates NO new
sustainable jobs.
The reason new waste/energy
jobs are not springing up here is
because our Commissioners en-
able a landfill monopoly.
Commissioner's Lewis and
George do not believe in com-
petitive bidding. If they did,green
trash systems would be answer-
ing our call to stop destroying our
valuable farmland, tourism and
future garbage rates.
Ramsey McPhillips
McMinnville
No apology,
I guess
To the Editor:
Gee! And I was expecting
an apology from the city coun-
cil and what do I get, threats and
un-substantiated accusations
from City Councilman Rene
Quinones. Re: letter to the edi-
tor Dec. 21.
He didn't even acknowl-
edge he was a city councilman
in the letter. I wonder why?
For the record, a city
councilman's e-mail address,
known to be used to transmit
city council business, re: e-
mails from Mayor Adamson to
Councilman Quinones using
the e-mail address, can legally
be assumed to be a public e-
mail address not a private one.
Some "Sunshine Laws" (Open
Meeting Law) even prohibit the
use of private e-mails for city
council business.
So if you somehow fred out
a councilman's e-mail address
send them an e-mail and tell
them how you think they are
doing. You don't even have to
be polite like I was in the one
and only e-mail sent to Mayor
Adamson and copied to other
councilpersons. I recommend
the next time Councilman
Quinones draws his gun he
makes sure it's loaded.
By the way there are 84,000
people in Yamhill County, 3.8
million people in Oregon and
307.2 million people in the
U.S., all vying for the use of
state and federal tax dollars. It
took a person like Commis-
sioner Mary Stem to secure the
hundreds of thousands of tax
dollars for the state bridge re-
conditioning. Information pro-
vided during a town hall meet-
ing with the commissioner
prior to the last election. Un-
like some, she was elected by
the majority and did not have
to be appointed to her position.
• ~ ,Happy New,Year ~veryone.
Terry Oavis
. ; S her}dan
Thanks for the
Legion support
To the Editor:
The Sheridan American Le-
gion Family, Post, Auxiliary
Unit, and Sons Of The Ameri-
can Legion Squadron #75, wish
to extend our heartfelt thanks
to all of the Businesses, Con-
tfibutors, Volunteers, and all of
the Citizens that took the time
to attend our fund raising Auc-
tion that was held on Dec. 10.
Withyour contributions, at-
tendance, bidding, and support,
we raised a bit over $1,000
profit. Thank all of you once
again for your support of our
local Veterans organization and
our efforts to aid in it's survival
in these harsh times.
FOR GOD AND COUN-
TRY and for the American Le-
gion Family of Sheridan.
James D. Gordon
Post #75 Commander
Sheridan
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 P.O.
Box 68, Sheridan, OR, 97378.
You may also e-mail to:
news@sheridansun.com.
Obituaries
Sharon L. Agee
Aug. 16, 1932-Nov. 18, 2011
Sharon L. Agee of Wil-
lamina, Ore. passed away on
Nov. 18 after a brief illness.
A celebration of Sharon's
life is planned for 1 p.m. Sun-
day, Jan. 8, 2012 at the Wil-
lamina High School, located at
1100 Oaken Hill Rd., in Wil-
lamina. Memorial contribu-
tions are suggested to the Or-
egon Humane Society, in care
of Dallas Mortuary Tribute
Center who is handling the ar-
rangements. Online condo-
lences may be left for the fam-
ily at www.dallastribute.com.
Obituary policy
The Sun will publish free of
charge a basic death/funeral no-
tice for persons who are (or
have been) a resident of the
West Valley.
The notice will include the
name, age, birth date, death
date, city of residence, and
time, date and location of the
funeral service. A photo may be
added for a $5 fee.
The charge for a more de-
tailed obituary is $20 per 10-
inch increment. A photo may be
added for an additional $5.
For more information, email
us at news@sheridansun.com,
or fax The Sun at 503-843-3830.