Opinion, Analysis, Discussion
Letter: Consideration is key when enjoying public areas
June 19, 2013 —Consideration is key in public
I read with interest a recent letter from a writer who complained because others criticized her group for being loud in a restaurant. I will agree with her that the man who yelled “shut up” was rude and could have handled the situation in a more dignified manner.
Learn more »Letter: Will The News-Review comment on Stewart Parkway S curves?
June 17, 2013 —Give us ‘why’ on S curve
In noted writer Dylan Thomas’ wonderful story, A Child’s Christmas In Wales, the young boy states about a new present: “... this book tells me everything about the wasp but why.” Recent readers of The News-Review might ask the same question. After four letters questioning the wisdom and sanity of straightening the S curve on Stewart Parkway, we have no response from the city, city council, or chiefly, our newspaper, on the magic question: why?
Learn more »Letter: Quesion the tax exempt status, not IRS targeting
June 17, 2013 —IRS targeting
In regards to the “IRS Targeting” article in The News-Review’s June 7 paper, I see no mention of the fact that purely political organizations don’t qualify for tax exempt status and that the Tea Party is certainly a political organization. The scandal here would seem to be that any of these conservative groups were granted tax exempt status in the first place, not that they were given extra scrutiny. When reading the law (503C), it is apparent that the Tea Party doesn’t qualify for any tax exempt status.
Learn more »Letter: She dreamed of housing for homeless vets in Douglas County
June 17, 2013 —A dream for homeless vets
I am a veteran, one of the luckier ones. Many of my buddies and others were not so lucky. That is why I am so very happy to see the housing at the VA grounds almost completed.
Learn more »Letter: Raising animals for slaughter is not civilized
June 17, 2013 —How civilized are adults?
Sigmund Freud wrote that “Children show no trace of the arrogance which urges adult civilized men to draw a hard-and-fast line between their own nature and that of all other animals.”
Learn more »Publisher’s Notebook: Bad fathers provide motivation to be a good dad
June 16, 2013 —I had a father, but he never really was much of a dad.
I also had a stepfather and he turned out to be an even worse dad, so I suppose I should have quit while I was ahead.
Learn more »Editorial: EPA must recommend thorough Formosa Mine cleanup
Cleaning up the pollution at the abandoned Formosa Mine near Riddle must be done, despite the high cost.
We cannot let the toxic waste further contaminate groundwater and the streams near the mine. Not only is it killing native fish, but the drinking water for the city of Riddle could eventually be at risk.
Learn more »Letter: Roseburg dentist remembered
June 14, 2013 —Local dentist remembered
I was sad to read in The News-Review of Dr. Allan Drews’ passing. When I moved to Roseburg in the early 1990s, it was a pleasure to have Dr. Drews as my dentist.
Learn more »Letter: Shortage of logs is not the problem
June 14, 2013 —Log shortage not at fault
The News-Review’s June 11 editorial, “Timber counties and taxes: rubbing salt in the wound,” began with “Let’s see if we’ve got this right. Federal forest policies and litigation by environmentalists have caused a shortage of logs.”
Learn more »Letter: Thoughts on gay marriage and immigration issues
June 13, 2013 —Let voters decide issues
Gay marriages: The question of whether gay couples should be given the right to be legally married should not be decided by the government, a judge or any other entity. It must be decided by a referendum vote by the people and the sooner, the better. Why not in the upcoming 2014 election? The results should prompt Congress to act accordingly and make it the law of the land.
Learn more »Editorial: Roseburg should consider dropping council wards
June 13, 2013 —With the Roseburg City Council in the midst of what appears from the outside to resemble a game of musical chairs, perhaps it’s time to take a closer look at how councilors are elected and appointed.
Ken Averett was the second city councilor to resign this year, leaving one of two Ward I (Northeast Roseburg) seats on the eight-member council empty with three-plus years remaining on his term. Averett ran unopposed for re-election just seven months ago. Melissa Smith resigned from the council in January and moved to Texas. Four residents applied to replace her on the Ward 4 seat and the council selected Lew Marks.
Learn more »Letter: How America is still losing World War II
June 12, 2013 —How we’re still losing WWII
During World War II, some 15 million young men were on active duty and nearly 3 million women were out supporting the war effort. Between 1938 and 1944, some 17 million children were born, all of whom spent at least one of their first five years during those war years and many of whom spent that period in a “single-mom family.”
Learn more »Letter: Laws alone do not prevent violence
June 12, 2013 —Laws won’t stop violence
Consider changing talk of gun control to an honest debate about violence in America. Let us be open to what can be done to prevent it. Laws alone don’t stop us from hurting someone.
Learn more »Editorial: Timber counties and taxes: rubbing salt in the wound
June 12, 2013 —Let’s see if we’ve got this right. Federal forest policies and litigation by environmentalists have caused a shortage of logs. The shortage leads to closed mills, high unemployment, poverty, social ills and an inability to fund public services. Meanwhile, tree stands grow overcrowded and become more susceptible to fire, disease and insect infestations.
So the solution is ... raising taxes?!
Learn more »Letter: Overspending leads to disaster
June 11, 2013 —Overspending ends in disaster
This is in response to a May 5 Public Forum letter. It sounds like the writer is a Democrat. Not me; I used to be a Democrat, until I figured out that all either party cares about is getting re-elected. I would like to make two points.
Learn more »Letter: Respect for Douglas County veterans, families is more important than mowing schedule
June 11, 2013 —Respect should trump mowing
As a retired U.S. Navy veteran, I was livid at the total disregard and lack of respect for the flowers placed on the veterans’ graves and removed right before Memorial Day. If the person responsible for this worked for a private company, he would be looking for a new job. Mowing grass is more important? Give me a break!
Learn more »Editorial: Flexibility needed at veterans burial grounds
Anyone who has dealt with bureaucracy can attest that it’s not always driven by common sense.
The Roseburg National Cemetery has a maintenance plan built on good intentions. Its crews aim to keep the grounds spruced up by regular mowing and ensuring that floral tributes don’t wither for weeks on graves.
Learn more »Letter: Fund Casa de Belen in Roseburg
June 10, 2013 —Casa deserves funds
Local governments in Roseburg and Sutherlin are considering withdrawing financial support from Casa de Belen — Roseburg’s only shelter for homeless teenagers and their families. Elected officials have suggested that it is not their role to fund nonprofit organizations and recommended that instead community members and churches should be supporting Casa de Belen.
Learn more »Letter: Focus on greater need than straightening S curves in Roseburg
June 10, 2013 —Focus on greater need
I’m not happy to hear the city will spend $2.5 million on the Stewart Parkway S curves. I think the money can be used in other areas in greater need at this time. We have a school closing. Many departments throughout the city have cut budgets due to money issues.
Learn more »Letter: Limit computer time for elementary students?
June 10, 2013 —Computers, or no computers?
Carol Meyers and her fourth-grade class at Fullerton IV Elementary School believe that fourth-graders should not be allowed on computers whenever they want.
Instead of sitting at a computer all day, fourth-graders need to be playing and being active. In the U.S.A., there is a higher percentage of obese children than ever before. One possible cause is lack of exercise.
The Internet can be dangerous for children. Parents teach children about “stranger-danger,” yet children often communicate with strangers on Facebook and other sites. Personal information can be shared and used by evil people to prey on children.
In conclusion, parents should restrict the amount of time fourth-graders spend on the computer and carefully monitor their use of the computer.
Carol Meyers and her
Fourth-grade class
Fullerton IV
Roseburg
Publisher’s Notebook: There’s no air-conditioned lunchroom on a logging landing
June 9, 2013 —So I was out on a block cut Wednesday with a bucker and watched a butt cut resulting from some impressive butt rigging while chokers and a chaser danced around and under the landing, counting the hours until the crummy finally took them down the mountain.
Welcome to the world of logging, a profession I would not recommend to the faint-of-heart, or air-conditioned desk jockeys such as yours truly. My ankles broke just watching the chokers hop from log to log.
There is a reason I went into journalism and one of them is comfort. There is no lunchroom on a landing.
I’ve been here almost a year now and figured it was about time I learned a thing or two about the timber industry, which has carried our economic water bucket since pretty much Day One. The only thing I really knew about logging was what I watched on the Discovery Channel. I am a faithful follower of Deadliest Catch and Ax Men, which details the plight of small Northwest logging companies who battle to see who can pull the most logs with mostly dysfunctional loggers.
As you can imagine, most loggers don’t much care for Ax Men because there is a heck of a lot more to it than TV producers can squeeze into 30 minutes of entertainment.
Bob Ragon and Audrey Barnes from the Douglas Timber Operators group coordinated the tour. Retired forester and logger Rod Greene also helped explain the industry during the daylong trip to the woods.
Rod learned about the forest in college classrooms on the East Coast (he is a native New Yorker) and at Oregon State University. Then he went to the school of hard knocks, working for various local timber companies in almost every capacity.
He is also a history buff. Diaries from early settlers indicate that we have a lot more trees today than we had in the 1800s. In his book, “Early Days In Oregon,” George Riddle wrote, “At the time (1851) Cow Creek Valley looked like a great wheat field.” He recalled that “the fires set by the Indians prevented young growth of timber,” and that they were fortunate to find a grove of pine trees they could use to build houses.
The federal government might learn a lesson on forest management from our own Native Americans. Duane Grant from Lone Rock Timber Co. met us at the bottom of the Adams Creek logging site above Yoncalla. Duane has been a logger for 37 years and he looks like you’d expect a logger to look — complete with suspenders and a pair of caulk boots, a logger’s classic high-top, steel-spiked boot designed to provide steady footing. Think golf shoes on steroids.
He gave us our hard hats and led us to the landing, where the yarder (it powers the mainline that is used to pull the fallen timber up the hill) and a nasty-looking machine called a stroke delimber worked side-by-side to haul, prepare and load the wood for the ride to various mills.
I climbed up to the cab of the delimber and was surprised to see the operator (19-year veteran Bill Thorp) looking at a computer screen. It’s designed to help measure the length and circumference of the logs as the mechanical arms grab it off the landing and run it through the machine’s teeth, peeling off much of the bark and limbs before cutting them to proper length.
It might be good to pause here for some translation:
Choker setters are the guys down the hill (usually a VERY steep hill) hopping from felled tree to felled tree attaching the chokers to the logs. The yarder can’t pull the logs up the hill unless the chokers set them correctly. This is not a job for newspaper guys (like me) with pins and screws in their ankles. In fact, this is not a job for newspaper guys who are healthy. I’ve never met one I would recommend as a choker setter and I’ve known a lot of newspaper guys.
A chaser is the guy on the landing who has to unhook the choker (a piece of cable with a knob and fitting bell used to attach the logs to the butt rigging of the skidders). I watched the chaser from the cab of the yarder and quickly determined that they would have kicked my skinny butt off the landing my first morning on the job. It’s a safe bet that chasers and choker setters probably don’t have gym memberships.
A crummy is what transports the loggers to the job site and back. It originated from the notion that the vehicles and the drivers were generally — there is no nice way to say this — crummy.
The logging site was privately owned (Lone Rock manages and maintains 115,000 acres of timberland). Most of the logging today is on private land because the government and the courts can’t get out of each other’s way when it comes to forest management on public land. That’s why most of our government-owned forest (which makes up 55 percent of Douglas County) will eventually burn, taking the spotted owl with it, unless the barred owl takes it first.
The second toughest job in a timber company is reforestation. For every felled tree we passed on the tour I saw where they had planted many more (if you can see a new tree from a distance it’s probably at least three years old). Imagine what goes into planting hundreds of baby fir trees maybe 6 feet apart over a couple of hundred steep-sloped acres.
Imagine, too, how many miles of roads these private timber companies have built in our forests and then ask yourself how we’d fight a forest fire without them.
All in all it was a great day to get out of the office. It gave me a deeper appreciation for the buckers and bull cooks, chasers, chokers, gut robbers, high-ballers and hook tenders who live and work in the woods. We enjoy the fruits of their labors every day.
Postscript: Last week I wrote about the planned parole of a guy named Sydney Dean Porter, who was scheduled to be released today after serving 21 years for killing a John Day police officer named Frank Ward. Porter was sentenced to 30 years to life for the murder, so his early release angered Ward’s friends and family and many law enforcement officials. The governor this week canceled that parole and ordered a new hearing in September.
Jeff Ackerman is publisher of The News-Review. He can be reached at 541-957-4263 or jackerman@nrtoday.com.
Editor’s Notebook: Tasty Tuesday next addition to themed days
June 9, 2013 —What do the words “Umpqua Food & Harvest” mean to you?
We hope they get you thinking about the bounty of fresh foods that can be grown, harvested and placed upon your Umpqua Valley table for a tasty meal.
We’re fortunate to live in a fertile area where such a variety of fruits and vegetables ripen in abundance from spring through fall. And that fresh produce, as well as locally raised chicken, beef, lamb, eggs and more, can be purchased at one of the many local farmers markets, produce stands, grocers, or even directly from the farmer or rancher.
The availability of so much fresh, local food is worth celebrating. That’s why the next new section coming to your newspaper is Umpqua Food & Harvest. To remember when you can find this section, just think Tasty Tuesday. The inaugural edition debuts in two days.
In this new section, you will hear from people who are passionate about preparing locally grown food, whether they eat it at the peak of its growing season or preserve it for use in the wintertime. We hope their recipes will inspire you to spend more time in the kitchen.
You’ll also learn about the many local farmers and ranchers who are vendors at area farmers markets. Those who bake bread, make chocolates, candies, jams, jellies, honey and much more will also be featured.
We hope to pick up some tips and techniques from students and instructors at the various culinary programs across the county. And we plan to check in on the nutrition education classes taught to schoolchildren through a partnership between the Oregon State University Extension Service and the Mercy Foundation Healthy Kids Outreach Program.
We’ve got columnists lined up who will share great recipes and tips. Our monthly wine column, Canes & Casks, written by Chris Lake and Dwayne Bershaw of the Southern Oregon Wine Institute, will move into this section and we’d like to pick up a column of interest to home brewers or microbrew enthusiasts, as well.
Restaurants, caterers and food truck owners can expect to get mentioned in the new section as well as cooking contest winners.
We’ll need your help to make this section as valuable as possible. We’ve started a calendar of food-related events that primarily includes farmers markets, at this point. But we want to hear about cooking classes, winemaker and brewmaster dinners and other special events featuring local food and beverages. Announcements of such events as well as tips for stories or press releases about the accomplishments of local producers can be sent to food@nrtoday.com.
If you’ve got an outstanding recipe or a food column you’d like to have published, use the same email address to send it our way.
We’re big believers in eating fresh local food when it’s in season and we hope to spread that practice. We’d like to encourage our readers to eat more nutritiously and to sit down with their families to share a meal. It’s a wonderful way to come together and enjoy each other and good conversations at the end of the day.
News-Review Editor Vicki Menard spent 13 years as the food editor of this newspaper and looks forward to seeing stories, photos and recipes appear every Tuesday once again. She can be reached at vmenard@nrtoday.com or 541-957-4203.
Guest column: Financial Instability is Putting Children at risk in Douglas County
June 7, 2013 —While many of our urban areas are thriving, it’s important for our state and federal officials to understand that rural communities are continuing to fall further behind.
As child advocate for Douglas C.A.R.E.S., I have seen how financial instability in Douglas County has led to heartbreaking increases of child abuse and neglect.
As Oregon’s congressional delegation considers reforming federal forest policies as a way to help our rural communities, it’s important that they focus on permanent and comprehensive solutions that rebuild our safety net over the long term, while combatting the high levels of poverty that have devastated our families and harmed our children.
Forty-eight percent of children living in Douglas County live near the poverty level, twenty-six percent live below the poverty level and 71.8 percent of public school children were eligible to receive free or reduced-priced lunches during the school year.
Our rate is twice that of the state level. Our median family income is $50,600, which is 18 percent lower than the state median. Douglas County had 480 children in foster care during 2012, which in per capita, equals urban Clackamas and Jackson counties.
Faced with high unemployment and few economic opportunities, the rates of physically and sexually abused children are reaching pandemic levels.
That’s why it’s critical that our officials find solutions that create quality jobs that help end the cycle of abuse we are seeing in many local homes.
We need our leaders to act because the future of Douglas County is at stake. Those who experience child abuse and neglect are 59 percent more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28 percent more likely to be arrested as an adult and 30 percent more likely to commit violent crime.
Abuse leads to poor physical, emotional and mental health, as well as cognitive dysfunction and high-risk behaviors.
Most longtime residents recognize that it wasn’t always this way in Douglas County. Because our communities are surrounded by abundant natural resources, there were many good, family-wage jobs available in our national forests and nearby mills.
A strong economy helped foster strong and healthy families, along with lower rates of poverty and child neglect. Then timber harvests were drastically reduced, thanks to conflicting regulations, endless environmental litigation and many broken promises by the federal government. As a result, we lost thousands of jobs along with several sawmills and other businesses that were tied to our forests.
Our local leaders have worked tirelessly to keep our communities together and sustain vital services during these challenging times. Though we have had some success in diversifying our economy, we have yet to replace the jobs and business activity that timber-based industries once offered.
Though we will never return to past harvest levels, it’s important for our elected officials in Congress to find a long-term solution that helps restore many of these jobs and the tax revenues they generated.
Douglas County is blessed with abundant and renewable natural resources. Our forests are our greatest asset and should be managed for both economic and environmental benefits. Increasing timber harvests, such as on local Oregon and California timberlands, can help provide good jobs, lift more families out of poverty and help more children lead healthy and productive lives.
Evelyn Badger-Nores is the executive director at Douglas C.A.R.E.S., a child abuse response and evaluation service provider based in Roseburg. The views in this column are hers alone.
Editorial: Roses and Thorns
June 7, 2013 —Spring cleaning
The campaign to collect junk Saturday in Roseburg’s Mill-Pine neighborhood was a tidy bit of work.
Volunteers conducted a community spring cleaning by picking up castoff appliances, thrashed furniture and other eyesores.
The scrubbing was a celebration, with music and free hot dogs. Several businesses and nonprofit organizations helped.
The event was spearheaded by NeighborWorks Umpqua and the neighborhood group SERVICE, South East Roseburg Voices in Community Enhancement.
SERVICE member Gordon Brown served hot dogs and observed that the neighborhood is on the rise. “We’re at a low point, but people are starting to buy in and fix places up,” he told News-Review staff writer Carisa Cegavske.
The day showed there’s pride in the neighborhood, which would rather be known as historic than rundown.
THORN
Spiders wanted
Whether you’re a backyard gardener or a full-fledged farmer who grows berries and stone fruits, there’s a new enemy in town — the spotted wing drosophila.
The fruit fly has been here before — and it’s ruined entire crops — but now its numbers have proliferated, partly because of our mild winter.
The fly lays its eggs in ripening fruit and then its larvae hatch and chew on the fruit.
Those who grow soft fruits like blueberries, cherries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, peaches and plums will have to protect their crops or they may lose them entirely.
Some farmers are having success with putting out vinegar traps. This alerts them to the presence of the fly and attracts and kills some of them.
But the only way to ensure their extermination is to spray the fruit with an insecticide just before ripening.
That’s discouraging for those who avoid using chemicals in the gardens and at their farms. Researchers are looking for a natural predator but haven’t found one yet.
Somehow “pest” doesn’t seem to be a strong enough word to describe our dislike for this insect.
ROSE
Shear energy
There was no reason for sheepishness at Saturday’s Douglas County Lamb Show and Barbecue.
The number of student competitors was up, rising to 183 from last year’s 170 young contestants. Just as important, the quality of the lambs increased dramatically, according to longtime county ag fixture Mark Hopfer, who volunteered to help guide two- and four-legged participants in and out of the show ring.
Two of the student winners were clear about what helped them net their awards. One spoke of hours spent walking his lamb an monitoring her closely to ensure an optimal diet and exercise regimen. A second attributed her success to the months she spent feeding, grooming and working with her lamb.
As Hopfer pointed out to News-Review reporter Carisa Cegavske, programs that pair kids with potential show animals teach life skills essential to the next generation. Discipline, goal-setting and decision making are all part of the package. The programs also test a community. Will parents, business representatives and club members step forward to support the youngsters’ efforts? Judging from comments made by buyers and civic leaders, the county has a tradition of coming through for kids who are starting on the road to self-reliance.
Call us old-fashioned, but seeing our region’s rural roots emphasize gives us a warm and woolly feeling.
Letter: Transforming America, or accumulating scandals?
June 7, 2013 —Bon appetit, Obama voters!
Concerning the Obama Administration’s accumulating scandals:
It must be much like the making of the proverbial omelet, in that if you set out to “fundamentally transform” a country, you are surely going to have to break some eggs — or as is the case, laws.
You voted for him, America. Bon appetit!
Pat Conley
Yoncalla
Letter: No vote on school levy will cost Roseburg job losses and school closure
June 7, 2013 —No vote costs jobs, school
As a Roseburg school kid in the 90s, I felt the devastating aftermath of Measure 5. Now, with my own daughter about to enter the public school system, I am once again reminded of how unfriendly a place Douglas County is for children. Come on neighbors, you were unwilling to pay an average of $55 a year so an entire elementary school could remain open? When are we going to start calling this whole anti-tax movement what it really is — basic greed? When did Americans become so downright selfish?
To the 58 percent who voted “No” on the recent school levy: The next time you buy that $50 pair of shoes or fill up your gas tank, remember that your selfish refusal of that small yearly amount will cost hundreds of kids their school and dozens of teachers and staff their jobs this fall. That is the cold reality of your ‘No’ vote, regardless of your justifications.
May is “Honesty Month” at Rose Elementary. This month, teachers and parents will be forced to tell kids the honest truth: your community doesn’t care enough about you to save your school.
Kate Comiskey
Roseburg
Guest column: Need tutoring at UCC? The Success Center has it
June 6, 2013 —Since the 1970s Umpqua Community College has offered free, on-campus academic tutoring to all enrolled students.
Since that humble beginning, the college’s tutoring services have expanded beyond the campus and the center strives to serve UCC students and the public alike. Students such as Matthew Thompsen have benefitted greatly from the tutoring lab, now known as the UCC Success Center.
Thompsen is a cabinetmaker and a recent graduate of UCC. For nearly 10 years he worked at Monaco Coach in Coburg, north of Eugene.
“I was a flunky, but it was a great job. I did almost everything. I swept floors, I did installs, I performed quality control on the finished busses. I loved it,” he said.
However, his favorite part of the job was fitting the coaches with custom cabinetry.
“I’ve been working with wood since I was a boy. It’s a great hobby, and an even better profession,” he says with a laugh.
Thompsen’s world came crashing down when he and the rest of the plant received a pink slip in 2009. As a single father, his first and only priority was providing for his 9-year-old daughter.
“Roseburg had cheaper rent than Eugene, so we moved. We didn’t have a choice.”
One day the quarterly schedule for UCC arrived in his mailbox. That evening after tucking his daughter into bed, he idly started flipping through it and was surprised at the offerings. Then and there he made the decision to return to school and earn a college degree.
Thompsen enrolled at UCC as a business major and while he excelled in most of his classes, he felt that some extra help in Spanish was warranted. Despite having an outstanding instructor, he knew more one-on-one practice would help his atrocious Spanish improve exponentially.
The UCC Success Center provided the atmosphere Thompsen needed. He learned they primarily provided tutoring services: Services that were free of charge and that would work around his schedule.
Two native Spanish speakers were on staff, and after a few visits Thompsen felt his confidence skyrocket and saw his grades improve dramatically.
The expanded Success Center provides a calm, quiet area for students to study — with tutors, with other students, or by themselves. The center shares space with one of the college’s many computer labs, offering 21 stations for students to use for assignments, homework and research — all free of charge.
Computer Information System and writing tutors are on hand to provide answers to computer questions. In addition to writing and CIS, tutors in math, social sciences, foreign languages, engineering, business and science are available.
All tutors are currently enrolled UCC students. Tutors are chosen from the student body by their academic distinction and ability to communicate and empathize with their fellow students. In addition the tutors handle much of the day-to-day operations of the center.
“It’s a holistic approach,” says director Terrance Bradford. Record keeping, scheduling, and public relations are all responsibilities that are placed on the tutors. Under Bradford’s direction, the Success Center has seen an increase in both student services as well as visitors.
Bradford also initiated the Supplemental Instruction program, a service that provides in-class tutoring for students who want extra guidance during lecture periods. The effects of these changes are already apparent, as students who utilize the center’s available services report higher confidence and better grades.
Matt Thompsen finished his studies at UCC in spring 2012 and moved to California. He bought a houseboat in San Francisco’s East Bay. While walking along the pier one day introducing himself to his new neighbors, he mentioned he had been a cabinetmaker before moving.
He was asked if he was willing to do interior repairs on sailboats, houseboats and yachts moored at the marina. Word spread and by the end of the day he had enough work lined up to keep him busy for six months. Today, he runs a cabinetry and furniture fabrication shop, specializing in boat installations.
Thompsen laughs when he talks about his new life. “I’m doing something I love and without those tutors I wouldn’t have been able to finish school and I wouldn’t be here.”
Today his Spanish has advanced enough that he can hold his own in conversations with native Spanish speakers and also helps his now high school-age daughter with her Spanish lessons.
The Success Center is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday during the school year (9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday during summer session) and is located in room 15 of the Education Skills Building on the UCC campus. No appointment is required to see a tutor and walk-ins are encouraged.
They can be reached by phone at 541-440-7733 or academic.success@umpqua.edu.
Nathan Anderson is a UCC student studying applied mathematics and a tutor for writing and math at UCC’s Success Center. He can be reached at thecountsdilemma@gmail.com.
Letter: Save the S curves and the money in Roseburg
June 5, 2013 —Save S curves and the money
The Stewart Parkway S curves add a delightfully quirky nature to our Roseburg area. I love that we are not a boring “cookie cutter” copy of other cities. Did all town planner’s go to the same school? Let’s keep a little originality, it adds to the charm of our town.
Of greater importance, this area is home to a variety of wildlife and a major recreation area for residents. A previous writer noted that we will always have congestion around the YMCA, tennis area, etc. This is true. How will speeding up the traffic in this general location affect the safety of our children and families, people biking and the wildlife. This is not the area to be trying to speed up the traffic.
I also agree with the previous letter writers regarding the ridiculous amount of money involved with this plan. Maybe the newspaper could organize a poll and see where Roseburg residents would rather spend $2.75 million.
Allison Gottfried
Roseburg
Letter: Honesty, integrity and ethics are key
June 5, 2013 —Integrity and ethics are key
At the risk of stepping on the liberal toes of a May 15 letter writer, I’d like to comment on her latest literary contribution to The Public Forum.
The letter indicates she believes the Republican party is guilty of every negative deed and policy this country has experienced in the distant and recent past, the present and the future. She states the Republicans are doing their best to “bring down the first black president of the United States.”
It’s my opinion that:
1. Democrat and Republican politicians can share the responsibility of the dismal mess created in Washington, D.C.
2. The president and his administration are doing a dandy job of bringing down that office (or at the very least, bringing discredit and dishonor to it) without help from anyone else!
It’s about honesty, integrity and ethics. Skin color has nothing to do with it.
Marian M. Owens
Glendale
